WHAT luxury - a whole day to spend in the garden and the sun is shining. No visitors, no washing or shopping to do, no pressing chores and only my recently-arrived tax return looking accusingly at me from the office desk. Let it wait!
While Keith cut the lawns, I spent a couple of hours constructing some shade panels for one end of the roof of our glazed lean-to.
Attached to the house and facing south and west, this glasshouse quickly overheats when the sun comes out. It's a particular problem at this time of year, when I'm reluctant to go out and leave the windows open, in case it turns cloudy and cold outside.
I used some rush fencing (from my local hardware store), strengthened with bamboo canes, which I attached to the outside of the lean-to by means of staples and wire. It seems quite sound, so I hope the whole thing won't take off in the next high wind. The effect inside the glasshouse is quite dramatic - dappled shade and an immediate reduction in temperature.
External shading is much more efficient than either internal shading or shade paint, because it traps a layer of air between the shading and the glass. This acts as insulation, rather like double glazing, except that it is keeping heat out rather than in.
The rushes look nicer than shade paint too, "very tropical", said Keith, as he came to admire my handiwork.
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I'll take it down in the autumn and, though I may have to replace it each year, if it works it will be worth the effort.
Back in the garden, and we planted out our first broad bean plants. These were sown in the lean-to a few weeks ago, and have been hardening off in the cold frame for the last week.
In an unusual burst of efficiency, we put canes next to each plant and tied them in. Usually I leave this until after the plants have grown up and fallen over - not too clever! Peas sown directly into the ground have germinated well, with no damage from mice or birds, and just a few nibbles from slugs, so I made a tent-like affair of canes and netting for them to grow up.
I forked through a couple of beds, weeding as I went, topdressing with composted manure. I discovered this at the garden centre a couple of weeks ago (four big sacks for £10) - it's a much more bulky product than the concentrated stuff and doesn't smell so bad either. It will add much-needed humus to the soil as well as nutrients.
Keith planted out some over-wintered cuttings of Erysimum Bowles Mauve' and Penstemon Heavenly Blue' and we retired to the patio for much-needed tea and cake. Tax returnwhat tax return?
Jobs for this week...
Keep on top of weeding, forking the soil over lightly so that, as the weather turns warmer, you can easily hoe between plants.
Sow seeds of peas, carrots, cabbages and broccoli in the vegetable plot.
Sow runner beans in the greenhouse for planting out in early June, giving an earlier crop than those sown in the open ground.
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