Plant the new plants!

This is my 'Plant the New Plants' week. Buying them is easy - grab, wheel the trolley, load the boot of the car, unload proudly by the garage. But what about the planting? Walking past the collection of pots every day, occasionally remembering to water them. Oh dear.

Monday 13th May

Will try not to get too distracted by the need to drag out more mess from under the hedges for the bonfire. This morning I am planting. That means digging holes, wheeling in organic matter (mainly rotting wood chips), watering - taking the time to plant properly.

Right. Stern words. Put on the gardening shorts. Put on the little hoses, dig proper, deep planting holes. Please. No short cuts.

Three hours later...

I planted (properly!) some daffodil bulbs and three Lavenders by the dog kennels. At the same time the bonfire was blazing away. And I chopped down one large and rather ugly Phormium by the kennels. Also cleaned up a bit more of the Gunnera by Willow Bridge. Doesn't seem like much for three hours solid work...

Tuesday 14th May

A colder start to the day - zero degrees Celsius, get over it! Speckles the stray cat spent the night snuggled up in his new woolly blanket in his cat box. I've been in the house by the log-burner, lazily scrolling though my Facebook feed - as one does. I look at pictures of bathtubs in fields, watch Australian snake catchers removing carpet pythons from bedrooms, oggle at beautiful summer flowers (from big bearded irises to dainty wildflowers)... For me it sure beats reading the morning newspaper.

 So small!
New shrubs in the Driveway Border

But really all I'm doing is waiting for the day to warm up (ever so slightly would be nice) so I can go outside and get planting.

Much Later...

Planted two rhododendrons and two Choisyas in the Driveway Garden, plus the rest of the daffodils. Wheeled in wood chip mulch, watered everything. And at the same time, simultaneously (aren't they the same thing?), I dumped six loads of mess onto the bonfire. All burnt.

Naughty

Naughty - I caught myself thinking about a return trip to the nursery. No! Stop right there! Plant what you've got first!