Garden Destruction

A great deal of my outside gardening activity recently has involved removal of plants and features. So much so that a couple of areas look a bit post apocalyptic. I like conifers... their colours, shapes and smell. I even like the retro 1970's look of a mixed conifer island bed! One sniff of a conifer always takes me back to working in a polytunnel as teenager, striking thousands of cuttings listening to Radio One! 

All this is leading to the fact that I am in the process of destroying two beds of conifers, planted I think with the idea that all the varieties were slow growing 'dwarf' conifers. They are not and as our house is single storey, will be in danger of making a dwarf of our house.
Here is a section of one of the beds before.....

 During.......

 'After' will follow in a few weeks! Still trying to work out what I wll replace them all with?

I have  sown nothing outside or in the coldframes due to the cold weather so the greenhouse, windowsills, propagator and spare room are all brimming with seedlings. Here are a few....

Tomatoes

Chilli plants in the foreground

Rhubarab Victoria, one of the few varities to come true from seed apparently.

Sweet Peas, spring and autumn sowings.

Primula denticulata sown last year

    
  All the veg and flower seedlings are coming through or have been pricked out... just waiting for a milder spell now just like everyone else. A few spring photos from around the house and garden to finish.

 My next round of garden destruction is to rid the garden and paddock of huge clumps of Carex pendula. Out with the pick axe once again!

Bees and Good Advice

Recently I made more fondant in case the bees had eaten down what I made before.

 

The finished result looks rather like a slab of Kendal mint cake in a plastic take away tray!

As it happened, when Paul checked, the last lot  had not been finished! As it was such a freezing day, there was no sign of the bees.

Since then, despite the freezing weather, bees have been flying in the middle of the day and it has made me think about early sources of pollen and nectar to plant... more trees, Erica, more bulbs and early flowering shrubs. With this in mind I bought a Daphne mezereum at the Plant Hunters Fair at Plas Newydd, from the Aberconwy Nursery stall. The alpines were so colourful and all very tempting.

Kittens and hens (and humans!) can be very inquisitive creatures and we are still considering a hedge an fence barrier around the apiary. 

Some good advice given by Alys Fowler I believe was that during this cold spring, better to weed the garden rather than sowing and planting. I have followed this, sticking to all indoor sowing, but the raised beds are all ready and I am fed up with weeding out the ground elder in the front garden so I have been weeding out a few conifers...more later!