The springlike weather shouted spring-cleaning, and since the shed, plot and greenhouse are already ship-shape I tackled the hollies on the bank, cutting them back considerably: I love how it feels airy now!
Then I started on old saved seed, and a pleasant, almost emotional journey in time it was, to when I first came to the UK and had a garden to care for for the first time. It was a beautiful, mature garden, and inspired me to learn more about the plants in it. The collector I am, I looked for ways to reproduce them to take with me, through cuttings and self-seeded seedlings - which I religiously potted on - and saving seed.
How fascinating to go through the brown envelopes, labelled and dated - mostly 2006. Somehow I had forgotten about them at the back of the shed, but most seed looked in good condition, so I sowed them: lavender, geranium, Oenothera, hellebores, some wild flowers I never identified but were probably of the Malvaceae family.
In the greenhouse, I went on sowing: tomatoes, aubergines, Lathyrus latifolius. And was extremely pleased to see that my vine cutting took and now has a huge, downy bud sticking out. I followed a method I read in a library book: cutting 10 cm in all around a good bud, then with a sharp knife slicing the twing lengthwise in half under the bud, laying the cutting - bud up -in compost & sealing in a plastic bag (*).
We also went on working on hubby's terrace garden, and he helped me clear away another two bags of rubbish. We got a compost bin, and a bench to come shortly, for summer picnics.
* the bud never burst open, but I found out that it is easy enough to propagate vine cuttings just the "ordinary" way, by sticking them in a pot, no fuss added.
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