It's a beautiful day

My often cynical son ( yes it is possible at seven years of age) woke up marvelling at the world- at the things that weren't here a hundred years ago. He smiled the most beautiful smile and talked about how amazing electricity is and the way it comes into being. The garden makes me feel that way.
Here are some photos of the Fritillaria imperialis I mentioned in my last entry. ..














..and the Fritillaria meleagris. The heads of these flowers start to appear when the plants has hardly pushed it's way out of the ground. The petals are an anaemic version to begin with, gradually darkening to the colour here. The checked pattern is so unexpected on a flower.



The plum tree blossomed really well this year. The petals are now fading. This picture was taken last week. Frost killed most of the blossoms last year and there were hardly any plums. Hopefully the bees have done their work already and we'll have more fruit.

Following an Alan Titmarsh tip, I put forget- me-nots (free from the allotment) with tulips. I think the idea is that they hide the dying foliage of the tulip. They also look good together. I've run out of space in the garden so my tulips are mainly in pots which I think works well.




I put a line of parsnips in at the allotment. I made holes with a big dibber and filled it with multipurpose compost and sowed three seeds into each hole. I dented the top of the compost to mark the position of the hole as I went along so that I would know where to sow. I lifted and separated the strawberries as they had made lots of babies that were huddled too close together. Think I should have done it earlier but I am hoping better late than never. At the allotment we get free deliveries of the compost made from the green waste that is collected from each household. It's ok apart from it sometimes has bits of glass and plastic bags in it. Still lots more to do but I am concentrating on one particular job each time I visit.