It was all going so well. Then I dropped my phone and smashed the screen. I say phone, but in truth it is my all encompassing communication device. You don’t realise just how important it is and how much you rely on it until you lose it, break it or have it taken away! Mine was sent off to a repair company in Kent never to see the light of day again. Written off, unserviceable, beyond economic repair – take your pick, it was bust and wouldn’t be repaired. Two weeks later and here we are again with a bright new shiny phone. Peace reigns, blood pressure has reduced, apps, contacts and photos have been restored thanks to Mr Google, and normal service has resumed.

My front door pots have been improved with the arrival of pink hyacinths in bloom. They were rescued from last year’s pots and have done well to flower so well again. Always a big decision whether to chuck it all away and start again fresh each year or try to save and store from year to year. I can’t bear to throw perfectly good plants, flowers or bulbs away, I will always try to find them a home and as my wife is fond of saying, “they’ve got two chances”.

Great excitement on Tuesday when the Which? Gardening Trial Seeds arrived in the post. The Dahlia ‘Bishops Children’, Bidens ‘Golden Nuggets’ and Agastache ‘Liquorice Blue’ were sown immediately and put in the heated propagator. The beefsteak tomato, French beans and lettuce will be sown later this month or April. I enjoy monitoring the performance issues requested and giving feedback at the end of the season. It makes an interesting distraction from growing just for pleasure.

This is proof that it is wise to follow good practice and leave the top growth on Penstemons until after the last frost. The new growth below is protected whilst the old growth takes the hit. I cut mine back by a third in December to prevent the wind from rocking themselves out of the ground. I also take a dozen cuttings just in case and pass them to friends if I don’t need them. This one is ‘Hidcote Pink’, probably the hardiest and longest lived of them all.

Just a random daffodil but one with the most gorgeous two tone orange trumpet backed by chucky egg yellow petals. Nothing special to a narcissus connoisseur but special to me and hopefully the people passing by.

The Euphorbia characias has perked up after all the snow, frost, wind and rain of January and February and is now almost upright again. A self sown two year old who will probably have to be relocated or passed on to a friend before it becomes huge and blocks the path. There are plenty more seedlings springing up in the wrong place too! Fortunately they re-establish easily when young so I pot them up and grow them on. People pay good money for what some would consider ‘nuisance’ plants.

If I’m not around next Saturday, it will be due to the Magic Money Plant and its unique powers of influencing the Camelot balls to drop in the right order. I’m in it to win it!

Have a great weekend

David