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The potatoes which I planted up in to containers really early have, at last, poked their noses above the soil. They were planted during the really cold spell and kept swathed in fleece in the greenhouse. I'd hoped that getting them in early would give me an early harvest, but as they didn't seem to want to grow, I thought they'd rotted. They obviously just wanted to stay in the warmth, and who can blame them? I was a little premature in getting them in some soil.
The grass has had it's first mow of the year, and is already growing at a rate of knots again. I have to call it grass, not lawn. It's a bit of a state really as part of it is shaded by the trampoline, and this bit is covered in dandelions, which is ok really as it's something to feed the rabbits. Other parts are full of other weeds, and the whole thing holds water really badly so it turns in to a mud bath in winter. We move the rabbit hutches down on to the patio in winter so we can avoid treading on the grass too much, though the hutches have been moved back on to the grass now, a sure sign that the weather is improving.
The pond, and flowers look great. One of the latter might do well in my new log pile pond as it's bigger than the old washing up bowl.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like all potatoes planted early have been slow to appear.
I'm not a fan of grass, but I'm grateful that a plot neighbour gives me a wheelbarrow full of clippings for the compost heap whenever he cuts round his plot. Flighty xx
I don't think you can go far wrong with Marsh Marigold in a pond. I've still got some potatoes to go in, I try to stagger planting so that the harvest is staggered too. Grass clippings are great to add to the compost, though not in large quantities.
DeleteI tried growing water lilies in a pot of water. It worked well for the first year and after that the flowers got smaller and smaller. I must dig out the pot and have another go.
ReplyDeleteI finally got around to planting out my potatoes today.
I had a water lily in my little pond, and it flowered the first year but then disappeared. They're really suitable for much bigger ponds than mine, even the tiniest ones. I haven't planted all my spuds yet.
DeleteOur puddle pond needs a renovation job. We have a marigold on our fish pond but no flowers yet!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the flowers won't be long now, I've seen Marsh Marigold flowering all over the place just recently.
DeleteI've been marvelling at how the recent warmer weather has brought everything to life. I saw the most beautiful camellia flowers on a shrub under my window today - I don't think it flowered at all last year - and my fruit trees are covered in blossom (and bees! hooray!). That splash of yellow is very cheerful - a bit like dandelions! I noticed how many were growing in the grass today, I rather like them!
ReplyDeleteThe trees have certainly greened up over the past week, the weather seems to have brought everything to life all of a sudden. I'm not a lover of dandelions, not since I took on the allotment and am continually digging them out.
DeleteHow come tidying up the pond is Hubby's job, eh? Poor bloke gets all the rough jobs!
ReplyDeleteWhen are you going to do what I did and get rid of the grass altogether? I think grass is a waste of time and space - too much effort for almost no benefit.
Ha ha, I know. There's no way I'm shoving my hand in the water though, you never know what's in there. We had grass in the garden for the kids when they were little, and the bunnies. My daughter still wants to keep the trampoline, even though she's 15 this year, so the grass will have to stay for now.
DeleteI love ponds, I can't imagine a garden without one now. Mine is full of tadpoles now, and also algae as the hatching frogpawn tends to have that effect I find!
ReplyDeleteCan't blame the potatoes for wanting to stay tucked in bed really can we, in all that cold weather it's where I'd have stayed if I could!
Ponds certainly add something to a garden, and it doesn't have to be huge, even small ponds are great. It's amazing how a bit of warmer weather brings everything on and coaxes things to pop up out of the soil. I thought the fleece might have encouraged the potatoes to grow, but they weren't to be fooled.
DeleteI finally got all the potatoes in this weekend too.
ReplyDeleteLove your pond, a real splash of colour. I had a similar one in our previous house, and you're right, all manner of wildlife make a beeline for it.
Well done on getting the potatoes in the ground, it's always a job we're pleased to finish. My pond is tiny, but it's still a lovely feature in the garden, and I love it for the wildlife it encourages.
DeleteWhat a fabulous little pond, your Marsh Marigold seems very happy there. Mine has just started to bloom in the various little ponds I have and it really does add a great splash of colour.
ReplyDeleteI think Marsh Marigold is a great pond plant, it really doesn't need any encouragement to flower and it looks after itself. I love the bright yellow flowers too, so cheery in the spring.
DeleteGosh that little plant has really grown at a rate of knotts since you planted it Jo. Hope that frogspawn makes an appearance at some stage in the future. Can't blame the spuds for wanting to stay where it's warm and cosy :)
ReplyDeleteI think the plant really likes it in my pond, it certainly looks happy enough. I'd love to have frogspawn, but perhaps the pond is too small.
DeleteI like your mini pond. I looked at the link to compare and saw that you had put logs around the edge which looks good and also serves to attract the beetles. It's a nice feature for a garden, which I've never thought of including as ours is so small. My husband would like to take up more of the grass to plant more vegetables rather than at the allotment. At the moment the veggies are in tubs and in between the flowering plants in the borders.
ReplyDeleteEven small gardens can have a pond, and it's amazing the amount of wildlife even a small amount of water attracts. I'd like to take up some of the grass eventually, but that's a project for later. I think borders look great with a mixture of flowers and edibles, and veggies are very successful in tubs too, it's how I grew all mine before I had the allotment.
DeleteOh I thought I had commented on this post already - obviously not. Love your pond every garden needs one in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI agree. They're a great addition to any garden.
DeleteI don't think it matters how small a pond is,wildlife will enjoy any size.Glad that your potatoes are showing,it is worrying when things don't show when you expect them to
ReplyDeleteThe wildlife certainly enjoys it. The potatoes are growing at quite a pace now that we've got some decent weather, they'll need earthing up again soon.
DeleteHello Jo! I've finally found time to read and comment and it's wonderful to check out your updates! I love your pond and it's really grown!!! We have a little pond behind our greenhouse and Adam found a water snail in there last week. We were both really spun out as to how it got there?! My spuds in containers are coming through too! Isn't this just a great time of year and we finally have the sunshine!!! Hope you're enjoying it too and it's so nice to have time to read your fabby blog! :)
ReplyDeleteThere's loads of water snails in my pond, it's amazing how everything seeks out the tiniest bit of water. The weather today is fabulous, so warm and no breeze either, for a change.
DeleteThe Marsh Marigold - Caltha Palustris is really lovely, I haven't seen that before.
ReplyDeleteIt's wonderful having a pond isn't it, even the smallest attracts so much wildlife.
I glad your spuds survived, mine are just popping out now that the weather is warmer.xxxx
Marsh Marigold is quite a common plant, especially around ponds where it thrives. I love having my pond, even though it's tiny, as it attracts so much wildlife in to the garden.
DeleteHi Jo this is my first visit here and I just had to comment here as this plant is my 'nursery' for red damselflies here in my Perthshire garden pond. The metamorphosis all happens on the stems of this plant.
ReplyDeleteAs your blog doesn't allow us to have name/url and just google plus I'll leave you my blog as you'll get lost over on my very active G+ account :) www.leavesnbloom.com
Thank you for visiting and leaving a comment. How lovely to have damselfiles visiting your garden, I've only ever seen one in my garden, though I don't suppose there's enough water in my tiny pond to attract them. It must be fascinating watching the metamorphosis.
DeleteYour pond looks great. I really could do with a flower in mine. I am going to be putting a pond in the bee plot too but a bigger one than what I currently have in the form of on old bath!!
ReplyDeleteI can definitely recommend Marsh Marigold, they look after themselves and thrive in water. Don't forget to put the plug in, you don't want your water draining away.
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