We've had several days of sunshine lately and it has been glorious being able to sit out on my hammock swing admiring nature's work. The plants have been lapping up the sun's rays but, following clear skies, the nights have been cold with ground frost. I've had to protect the fuchsias which are in their hanging baskets already. I had overwintered last year's Swingtime and Southgate fuchsias in the mini-greenhouse, a cheap plastic but also award-winning affair, and those plants which had survived were repotted a few weeks ago into the hanging baskets with fresh compost. They are coming along nicely. The runner beans, Wisley Magic, are a 12in (30cm) tall now but it is too early to subject them to night-time temperatures; the tuberous begonias are kept safely indoors, as are the tumbling tomato plants. The numerous pelargoniums are waiting indoors to be transplanted into tubs and troughs when the risk of frost has passed. Spring is a wonderful time, especially when the sun shines. But we needed rain, and we have it.
.JPG) |
| Southgate fuchsia on a rainy day in summer, 2014 |
I love the way thirsty plants all sit up and pay sparkling attention when it rains after many dry days. I have been watering those in tubs but there is nothing like nitrogen-enriched rain to spur plants into further action. It is almost as if you can watch them growing.