Yet another update...

Remember this rose?  It now looks like this:

 

 Ok, so it's not a very clear shot, but the close-up shot with the camera phone was overexposed.  The fact is, I'm really quite pleased that where I planted a twig, I now have a rose bush.

All along the wall is a mass of sweet peas.  They're growing steadily and will hopefully fill up the netting placed there for them to climb.  Should look quite spectacular...

And the lavender, which arrived in a tray about 6 inches by 10 inches now looks like this.  Sure, we lost a few along the way, but given they started life as mini plugs a couple of seasons ago, it's nice that they've made it as far as this (again, it's not a hugely clear shot, but it's the strip of green at the bottom of the hedge).

 Some of them have even had the courtesy to produce flowers.  Last year we had one single flower along the entire row (I think there are about 60 plants), and this year most plants have a number of flowers each!  What progress :)

Very pleasing, all in all.  The runner beans are poking their heads out of the pots, the toms sown recently are about an inch or two tall.  Nothing from the pumpkins yet, nor the b'nut squash.  The pansies are growing steadily.  We continue to lose a bunch of them, but given they're from seed from last year's pansies, they are completely free.  Sunflowers are a bit ropey - considering sowing some and planting others along the long bed out the front (where the marigold were last year).
Anyway, bedtime.

Behold a revolution.

It has arrived.  The sideboard of solution has landed.

Yes, it does take up an extraordinary amount of space on the patio, but so does the junk that's there at the moment. You'll see there are five drawers along the front (which is why I'm calling it a sideboard rather than a table).  These very drawers are cunningly going to hide much of the detritus.  (I know what you're thinking; you're thinking, 'he doesn't mean detritus, he's just trying to be fancy'; you're thinking, 'detritus is matter produced by erosion, what erosion is happening on Nick's patio?!'  Well, it's the erosion of order and harmony, if you must know)
This is a seminal moment for the outdoors space.  It is a turning point.  I strongly suspect that once the patio is better organised, I will be able to begin to make headway into the equally important matter of world peace.  So it's really all for the best.

Over the last week...

We have:
sorted the orchard beds (except the T one)
Sorted bean poles (need another stake though...)
Sown Turks Turban seeds in the L shaped bed.
Weeded the raised orchard bed
Potted on a lot of pansies from seed tray to individual modules in a tray (over 100 so far, and only about half way through...)
Potted on the sunflowers from modules to pots (8cm Vipots)
Potted on the chinese lanterns from modules to minipots (but still loads in modules)
continued to fail with the parsnips
Planted out some of the Gazania and Rudbeckia
Planted some spuds in the bins
Harvested some rhubarb (it's not doing famously well...)
Planted the last gooseberry (containerised, not bare root)
Sown toms in pots (cherry, 'normal' and big)
Sown butternut squash in pots
Sown more sunflowers (Joshua's from school)

Some pictures...

Oh, just a boring old update.

I keep realising that I set this up so that I could read what I did last year and learn from it.
So far, I haven't read last year's entries, and certainly haven't learnt from all last year's mistakes.
Anyway, latest projects include:
Sorting out the irises, which had been left to slump all over the garden for winter, so needed a drastic haircut before the new growth came up.  Caught them just in time a couple of weeks back.
Sowing sweet peas in the bed by our 'front' wall.  Staffordshire compost and a bit of seed compost too.
Having Anna build a mini greenhouse (is that a shocking thing to say?)  It was altogether altruistic - she was clearing my garden detritus out of the kitchen :)
Build climbing frame.
Sow herbs in golden syrup tins.  (Still not much success - causes some confusion)
Hoeing places (now there's a blog title for later...)
Employing a gardener (is that cheating?)
Wishing my tiny mind could remember all the other things

... you're very busy, man ...

So, having filled up the wheelbarrow with old bush (I was told it wouldn't have taken too kindly to the cold, so I chopped it out - it's twin is still in there)

I cleared the space a little and popped in some gooseberries.  Two in, one still to arrive.

Then I cleared away the carrot fly barrier and hoe hoe hoed, also emptying the colourful tubs of their weeds and plants remnants.

The plan is to have a lot more flowers in this bed this year, and use the raised bed outside for veg, as well as the other beds in the orchard.

RHS, how I love you.

How cool is this:

I sent off for my seeds from the RHS, and they arrived this morning.
Yay.  Now I have to find space to sow them all, and then more space to plant them...  But what a fantastic deal anyway.  £12 for 20 packets.  All collected from the RHS gardens around Britain.
I'm sure they'll come up again in due course...