Smiles in the sunshine & some sadness….

Smiles, Sunshine and Sadness.

Smiling in the Sunshine

The snow has melted, the sun shone and temperatures have began to rise.

Daytime temperatures are rising to between 10 – 15°C but at night we are getting minus temperatures outside in the garden with plenty of frosts….

The Weather people are telling us that temperatures will rise steadily over the next week, but we who have lots of seeds to sow must sow patience and hold off until the night temperatures are of a more seasonal norm.

Over the last few days I’ve been digging up and dividing some of my herbaceous plants, some going into pots for swaps   and some just divided and moved around the garden.

As I’ve made more room in my beds, I’ve been able to go after certain weeds that have been impossible to dig out, such as a few fat shoots of brambles, a small patch of Couch, and several Dandelions with tap roots fatter than my leg.  Over the past couple of seasons I’ve only been able to chop the tops of these few weeds due to pressures of other nearby plants, hence huge roots under the soil.

A good job well done, and several old compost bags full of perennial weeds later. I rounded off a few lawn edges, dug over several areas and fitted my late Nanna’s old Dolly Tub to the little greenhouse to catch extra rainwater.

Weeded through and lots of room for new plants.

By rounding off the edge I gained some extra bed.!

Nana’s Dolly Tub/rain butt.

Some internet purchases arrived over Easter, firstly a box full of plug plants that I purchased after reading about the company Plant me now from The Patient Gardeners Blog  Helen, the author of the blog had been asked by the company to try out its service and plants… you can read more about that on her blog I have highlighted.

I decided that the plants looked good, & Helen’s review was positive so I placed an order.  I chose mostly bedding plants and a couple of Dahlias and a Canna.

The Dahlias and Canna came as dried Tubers and a Rhizome and were duly potted up, the bedding plug plants were all in good condition and were also potted up.  I though the plug plants were a bit on the small size compared to the pictures on the company website.  But they will grow on.

I decided although all the plants were good, that the overall order was a bit expensive considering the amount of plants that I ordered.

Plant Me now Plug Plants growing on.

As they get a bit bigger I will take some cuttings and try to double the amount of my plants.

During the same time over Easter I also received some of the plug plants I had ordered from Thompson & Morgan, 72 tiny plug plants of mixed annuals came.

72 little plugs

I had been expecting these, and had stocked up on compost and small pots, now potted up they are in trays dotted all over the windowsills in the house.

With the warmer weather I have been looking for signs that any hedgehogs have woken from hibernation, in my garden last year I had up to 3 visit in one go.  I have a Wildlife Camera trap which takes a picture of whatever breaks an infrared beam it sends out.

I have put it out several times recently, but not seen any signs of a hedgehog in the garden, I am thinking because of the colder weather that they may have had an extended hibernation.

Then a couple of days ago I saw a signs of a hedgehog having woken up and pulling nesting material out of its overwintering quarters.

It appeared the hedgehog had fallen back asleep in the entrance.

sleeping..?

I gave it a soft nudge with my foot and it responded with a shudder, so I covered it back up with the grass and leaves it had extracted and left it alone.

I put Hedgehog food and extra water out in case the hedgehog went for night wander, however the next morning the hedgehog had not moved.

I found this alarming as it still gets frosty, I was not sure if the hedgehog had gone back into hibernation…. I decided to give it another day, then intervene.

So this morning, after checking the unmoved position of the hedgehog, and getting no response from a foot nudge, I donned my thick gardening gloves and carefully extracted the Hedgehog from its position.

I fear that although I handled it, and took a good look at it, that it had passed away.

I remained in its sleeping/deceased position whilst I weighed it, and it weighed just under 650g which is not a bad weight for a recently hibernating Hedgehog.

I am not 100% sure though that it has expired, so for now I’ve placed it in a big box full of straw in a place that if it does suddenly wake up then it can easily move out from.

But I do feel in my heart that I’ve lost this one.

I guess the cold weather was just too long and too hard for this one.