RAINY DAYS AND TULIPS

They said on the news the other day that April 2015 had been the sunniest since records began.  Now, when they say that, I think they mean in London.  Whatever the case, we did have some pretty decent days not so very long ago here in the north of England, on the Pennines of West Yorkshire, although this last week it feels like we've had almost enough rain to refloat the Ark.  Rain is good in moderation and the garden needed it.  Now everything is growing lush and green with the nitrogen that rainwater brings with it.

Red Riding Hood tulip

a short tulip with dark, striped leaves

The Red Riding Hood tulips which I have in a small trough outside, near the swing, are very pretty; dazzling red when I view them from my kitchen window.  I had my doubts when I bought the bulbs but they look good in a group.  I'll say this about them - they are survivors!   I originally had them growing in a strip of soil near the swing but decided, before the tulip buds opened, that I wanted to grow violas in that spot.  So, I dug up the poor things and stuck them, quite unceremoniously, in a trough where they have bloomed wonderfully and clearly forgiven my rough treatment of them.  

I still have to watch out for frosty nights before I can plant out the many plants I have growing indoors (mentioned in an earlier post, 30 April).  It's like Kew Gardens in here!  It's too early to plant out my Wisley Magic runner beans which are now almost 3ft (90cm) tall (they were nowhere near that in my post of 30 April).  The little tumbling tomato plants are doing well on the window bottom and both are flowering.  I put them outside when the sun shines.  The trailing tuberous begonias are growing too and I am looking forward to planting them in the troughs which go under my kitchen window.  I've pinched out their growing tips to make them bush out a bit.  I know they are trailing but even trailing plants can do with a bit of pinching out or else you just end up with one long flowering stem. 



At the front of the house, in a long trough under the window, I shall grow my wonderful pelargoniums as I have done for a couple of years.  I do love the colour of them.  I only grow one colour now.  The flowers are strikingly cerise and make a fabulous show through summer.  I keep taking cuttings from them and they keep on rooting and growing well.  Something for nothing.  Imagine that!  I never see an insect on them, or signs of disease.  I've got a dozen or more plants from just the one or two bought years ago.

Red pelargonium flower

If you are on a limited budget and want something that grows easily, fairly trouble free, grow pelargoniums (geraniums).  If you only buy one, you can take cuttings from it and have more the following year.  Keep them indoors over winter in climates like in the U.K. as a frosty winter will kill them off.  They'll flower happily indoors too.