Six on an April Saturday

How can it be the middle of April already? Time is moving far too quickly and with all the dry, warmer weather we’ve been having, the garden is on a race to perform!

This Brunnera Macrophylla was pretty small when it was planted two years but because the conditions are right – damp, shady soil – it has more than doubled in size and thrown out the prettiest sprays of small, bright, blue flowers this year in the shady border. With lusious, large, heart-shaped leaves, it will come back year and year, bigger and better and now that I have three, I think I’d like to get a few more!

Ribes Sanguineum or Flowering Currant is an unexpected joy for me each year! I was given this shrub a few years ago by a friend who dug it up and wanted it out of their garden as they were changing things up. I have to confess, having nowhere to put it, it lay slumped in a random, ill-fitting pot in a corner for over a year until I finally planted it. It was so worth the wait, as every year, it never fails to disappoint with these fabulous, drooping flowers.

Vinca Minor, otherwise known as Periwinkle is a plant I use to edge the trampoline area: it’s tough, no maintenance, ground hugging and is slowly spreading under the trampoline too which is just great as not much else would want to grow in that dark hole?

I get a real thrill of excitement when I see the Hosta buds emerging from the soil as they start their upwards trajectory! It is both a thrill and a relief to know that have decided to come back and grace me with their majestic presence. This one is by far the furthest on in terms of emerging growth.

I’ve finally managed to sow some seeds this week, too many to name, but a mix of veg and flowers. I’ve sown more flowers seeds than I usually would but given the lockdown restrictions at the moment, there’s no better time for a bit of experimentation with some random seed packets. I’ll hopefully be able to come back to you in a few weeks time with signs of life, all being well!

Grass, or lack thereof! My husband used a petrol scarifier to attack the extreme build up of moss in our lawn. It’s been a few years since we scarified properly and having damp, congested, heavy clay soil means we get a lot of moss! It turned into a two day family effort to rake it all up.

And then, he scarified it again, and again, four times in fact in some places as he was absolutely not letting a patch of moss remain! That also meant that there wasn’t much more than a patch of grass which remained either, leaving me with more jobs to add to the to-do list!

Do feel free to me leave a comment on these six and let me know what you’ve been up to this week!

Enjoy reading other #SixonSaturday blogs for information and inspiration. #SixonSaturday is hosted by The Propagator, a gardening blog you should most certainly check out. You’ll find lots of links on Twitter on the #SixonSaturday hashtag and you can find The Pink Wheelbarrow on Twitter at @PinkWheelbarrow.