Spring is here

There have been a few flowers in the garden since January, but they are tucked away in the borders and are not always easy to see from the house.
Two months later we have lots of brightly coloured spring flowers, and to make sure that I can see them from the kitchen window when I am washing up the dishes or preparing vegetables, B has come up with a solution  - put some in pots, on a garden table outside the kitchen window.

We cheated a little. The hyacinths and pansies B planted up, but we bought the daffodils and snowdrops ready planted from the clearance section of the  garden centre.  I even managed to get myself in this picture.

These spring bulbs were planted at the front of the herb patch, which is opposite to the kitchen window, so there is plenty of colour still to come when the tulips are ready in  a few weeks time.

F did the major pruning jobs taming the larger shrubs and cutting the Apricot trees to a manageable size.  This year we are hoping for fruit - we lost last year's crop to a late frost.

G mulched the rhubarb patch with leaf mould last autumn to protect the crowns from the worst of the winter weather and the rhubarb s almost ready to harvest.  Some will have to be frozen as it is producing lots more stems than usual - I think the leaf mould fed as well as protected the plants.

We are looking forward to a more settled summer than in 2016, so that the plants don't get confused. B has made good use of the small greenhouse and it is filled with flower and vegetable seedlings ready for planting out in a few weeks time - hopefully.