Crocus - the Tulip wannabe?

So today we're battening down the hatches ready for these storms that are supposed to be hitting us overnight and tomorrow. Already the wind is picking up and I'm finding myself looking out at my garden more and more as it starts to whip through - the damage from the last storm has been recified but I don't want to subject it to another onslaught.

I'm happy to report though that I am now quietly confident that the Yucca which had its root snapped during the last storm is looking like it is going to survive.
I really did have my doubts because the main root was snapped to halfway though but we staked the Yucca up using a scaffold pole, insulated all round the base with straw held down with slate and the Yucca appears to be thriving (if not a tad wind burnt).

I grew Crocus in pots last year and left them in my polytunnel pretty much forgotten about so I was really surprised to go in there a couple of days ago and find them flowering their little socks off despite my neglect. I bought them in doors onto the kitchen window whereby they very quickly seemed to wilt and as I've never grown these before I'm not sure if this is normal or whether they didn't like being looked after - ungrateful so snd so's.
Anyway with the weather outside being naff for a change (yes I joke. Not about it being naff but about it being for a change) I decided to get to grips with an Olympus bridge camera that I got for xmas 2 years ago after much moaning to MrTG that I desperately needed one (I've used it about 4 times...including this time).
As it turns out my Nikon Coolpix camera that is only 2 years old has finally given up the ghost. It's been repaired 3 times under warranty but I'm not paying for this new needed repair (dropped it in the pond for literally 1 second) so I figured I should get used to this Olympus bridge camera.
It has some really weird and strange functions and I can't imagine why a person would need to use them but I thought I'd try a couple of them:

Here's the reflection setting

I kind of enjoyed playing with that setting, it made the Crocus look so arty.

This next setting is called starburst I think and it adds a sparkle to the white highlights

The next two are just the usual P setting meaning that I could set all the white balance etc.

I'm not actually a fan of Crocus - they look too much like a Tulip wannabe to me, so I suspect these bulbs will all be planted out once flowerng is over along with some Iris retuculata in pots that seems to be determined not to flower despite producing lovely foliage.

Super rats!

The wind is really gusting today so I certainly won't be venturing outside any time soon. Mr TG closed up the polytunnel and the greenhouse yesterday so hopefully they'll stay safe but I always have visions of the tunnel taking to the skies when the wind gets this bad. We positioned it in the most sheltered spot we could that still gave direct sunlight but you never know do you..........

The other day I ventured back into the greenhouse to check out that rat problem, kind of wish I hadn't! I certainly wouldn't want to kill the rat despite Mr TG offering to put poison down (he didn't think what could happen if poisoned rat somehow ended up in one of the bird of prey aviaries - duh) and the thought of catching live also doesn't hold any appeal.
Think I'm going to have to come up with some ingenious method of convincing them they need to go elsewhere cos damn, they're getting a little community going by the looks of things.
I think my super rats are having a party!

Much worse than the last time I went in and I'm getting too scared to go back now lol

I have an image of a colony rats staring up at me ready to take my eyeballs out if I lift those boards up - so wish I could go back to convincing myself it was a mole problem.

Mr TG got me some gardening goodies for Christmas including an entire box full of spring bulbs. I can't plant them out just now because the garden isn't ready so I was going to find a spare piece of veg beds and plant them there temporarily however I've decided to pot them up like all the others so they're ready for planting when I'm ready.

My daughter also bought me this gorgeous chiminea. I think she must have felt sorry for me using my washing machine drum firepit and this new fancy piece of kit is all set up so that I can cook Potatoes and kebabs on it .......... not that I will!
It's going to look fab on my new patio though - once I've convinced Mr TG that he DOES want to lay one for me and that's it's the most important part of the second phase of the garden.

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Tilly's Nest

Spring bulbs

This weather really is screwed up right now isn't it!  One minute we have mild, sunny days and manage to get a whole heap done outside and then BAM! down with the snow, ice cold winds and frozen earth and no hope of getting anything productive done outside.

All these years of gardening and I've never ever planned for spring colour. I have the odd clump of Daffodils planted sporadically around the flower beds but that's it and so I've really missed out on Spring interest in the garden.
I don't know why I've never bothered to incorporate Spring bulbs into the garden - I guess maybe I thought it was pointless (I hear that intake of breath y'know) but having spent so many months getting hooked on other gardening blogs and seeing the riot of colour available this time of year I've decided to make a change this year.
On Sunday we took a trip out to to the town and I managed to pick up a few Spring bulbs at some bargain prices (We have no garden centres here so it's basically a case of seeing what's available in Tesco, Homebase or Poundstretcher). I managed to get 16 Lily of the Valley for £5,   90 Muscari for £1.50 and 30 Pushkini for £0.49.  It's a start!

Muscari, Pushkinia & Lily of the valley at bargain prices.

All bulbs/plants have been potted up ready to grow on and then I'll plant them out at the end of summer when I can see where I want them to come up next year.

The Tomato seeds I sowed a few weeks ago are all doing well and I'll get them pricked out pretty soon. I'm so excited because I have never had seedlings up this early in the year so I'm quite confident that this means some ripe fruit this year.

Tomato seedlings.

I've also sown Brassica seeds (Cabbage, Cauli etc) and I'm hoping this years attempt will be better than my last attempt.  I didn't bother with much veg growing last year because I'd become cheesed off with the whole thing but the year before this is what happened to pretty much all my Brassicas

Dessicated Cabbages

Well can't get much worse can it! guess I'll have to be more on the ball with removing those caterpillars or else getting some netting over the lot of em.

However my Climbing French Beans gave me weeks of regular pickings, but I did come to the conclusion that growing them in the polytunnel was not one of my brightest ideas - they grew to Triffid proportions and literally took over and decided to use the Sweetcorn as an extension of their own poles.

Climbing French Beans.

It's always nice to get a surprise in the post isn't it!
Well look what came for me yesterday

OK It shouldn't really have come as a surprise but I ordered these bulbs months ago knowing (at the time) that the dispatch date wouldn't be until March but as time has gone by I completely forgot about them, until yesterday......surprise!
The best bit about these bulbs is that they were FREE via a 'Gardeners world' magazine offer (I often go for those offers as they're good value and quality plants), I just had to pay £5.60 for p&p.
So what are the bulbs..................................



Paeonia 'Karl Rosenfield'

http://www.vivaipriola.it/paeonia-lactiflora-karl-rosenfield.html

Paeonia 'Shirley Temple'

http://www.nemesia.co.uk/paeonia-shirley-temple-127-p.asp

Paeonia 'Sarah Bernhardt'

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paeonia_lactiflora_%27Sarah_Bernhardt.jpg

Gorgeous huh!
I already have a Sarah bernhardt that grows in a pot and flowered for the first time last year - absolutely beautiful.
I've never dared to plant it outside though in case the winter kills it off as they like to be planted fairly shallow (I'm not one for sticking to winter protection methods) so I'm thinking if I plant these into large enough pots I could then sink the pot into the soil and lift them out for winter.
Paeonia hate to be disturbed and can take a few years to settle and flower so lifting the corms every year is just going to really pee it off.
I'm not the most patient of gardeners though and I dislike anything that doesn't produce worthy flowers in the first year so this is going to be quite testing for me - as are the Hollyhocks I recently sowed as I get no flowers until next year!