ARUNDEL CASTLE PLANT FAIR

Brrrr! It’s so chilly. It’s almost May yet colder than an arctic roll. Thank goodness there’s a log fire to keep the frostbite at bay.

Big woolly knickers that’s the answer. I never leave the house without mine. I’ve put on an extra posh pair befitting a visit to Arundel Castle, home of some Lord Snooty or other who probably burns fivers to keep warm. At least he has the good sense to enjoy gardening and has organised a plant fair for the great unwashed like me (too cold to bathe).

Arundel Castle

Clearly a popular event judging by the queue at the entrance gate. 

Plant fair popular with the locals

I expect many people have come to see the marvellous tulip displays recently featured on an episode of Gardeners World but we’ve just come for a mooch round the plant stalls.  There's always something that catches the eye which you rarely come across in garden centres and I've already spotted a couple of plants which might be making their way home with me.

Red tulips as far as the eye can see

I have camassia envy! Lord Snooty has planted swathes of the blue variety around his nature reserve and they look stunning. 

Gorgeous woodland display of camassias

More eye-catching than bluebells

Starry blue clusters of camassia flowers

Lovelier than your average bluebell wood, the elegant tall fronds provide a colourful repose for butterflies and ladybugs.

Lazy ladybirds enjoying the sunshine

And just look at this lovely butterfly

My yellow ticket camassia’s have returned this year albeit not in the quantities of Arundel but I’m hoping that with time they’ll all multiply at the back of the border.

Last year's garden centre bargains

I may not have a castle sized garden yet my borders are not looking too shabby thanks to all the rain we’ve had this year.

Side border exploding into life

The pieris is in flower, its beautiful fire red leaves adding a vibrant splash of colour against the grey fence.

Beautiful pieris in flower

All those alliums I planted way back in the autumn are also on the point of flowering so we’ll have a random smattering of purple globes rising above the greenery. I can’t wait to see them!

Alliums getting ready to flower

While we wait for the alliums to flower, I'll leave you with a few more snaps of the lovely Arundel Castle nature reserve. 

Wish I could have a pond like this

Nesting swans prevented us from walking all the way round

Not sure what this tree is but it looked lovely with its lilac flowers

Gunnera manicata plant also known as Brazilian giant rhubarb

HOME OFFICE ASSEMBLY

With my seedlings growing happily in our sunny extension, it’s time to get our arses in gear for the next phase of the home office project.

The decks are cleared, the room is now fully decorated and all is ship-shaped and Bristol fashioned. Aaarrr, me DIY hearties – time to set sail once more across the ocean of furniture fitting.

Decorated room ready for unit assembly

Step one - shove all of the base cabinets into position under the desktop then work out how to fix the spacer panels firmly in place between each unit. 

Base units to go under the desk top

After a lot of head-scratching, we decided to use small right-angled brackets affixed to the desk support batten since we couldn’t attach them to the wall or skirting board because they didn’t go that far back.

Anchoring side panel to the batten with bracket

Fitting spacer and panel to the end wall

Base units nicely separated with black panels, now repeat on other side.

Nice snug fit

Step two - position all the tall units carefully trying not to scratch the worktop surface in the process.

Now for the top half

Each tall unit has been secured to the wall using a heavy-duty angled bracket which should prevent it from toppling forward under the weight of anything placed on the shelves. Metal jointing plates have been used to stop the individual units from gaping apart. This isn’t pretty but as it can’t be seen then no problem. These units are not going to move and that’s the main thing.

You can always hide these by fitting a cornice to the top of the units

All was going swimmingly until the point when the bridging unit had to be slotted in the middle. Unlike my bank balance, the thing had mysteriously swelled in size overnight – there was no way on earth to force it between the tall units. Aahhh! These things are sent to try us!

Oh no!  The bridging unit is too big for the gap

In the end after much swearing, a gallon of tea and a good cry, we had no option but to completely rebuild the thing shaving about 3mm off each panel to make it fit the gap. One thing is certain, I definitely don't have the patience for furniture building – next time I’m getting the carpenter back in!

Bloody thing fits at last!

Unbelievably what I thought would be a quick assembly job took an entire day. The home office unit is now fully assembled but that’s not the end of the story as there’s still the tech to install and a million other snaggy bits to finish before it can be officially declared open for WFH business.

Not bad for a home made effort

LUNAR GROWTH

Spring is finally here (fingers crossed). Skies are blue, sun is warm and there’s not a drop of the wet stuff on the horizon for the next few days. Hurrah!

Earlier this week

If you’ve all been waiting with bated breath for the next instalment in my crazy lunar mission then wait no more. Here it is and yes, Houston we have lift off!!

We're both waiting in the warmth

Just look at these darling little baby tomato plants. In the space of a week almost all the tomato seeds I planted have sprouted so provided there’s no voracious predators lurking behind the sideboard, I should have enough to fill both my planters.

Tomato seedlings

Sweet pea seeds have also germinated. I planted 3 seeds per pot, again almost all have appeared.

Little sweet peas

I’ve the perfect pot prepared as a sweet pea nursery for when these little babies are ready to stretch their fronds and climb, climb, climb. Sweet peas with their delicate, fragrant flowers should add a lovely bit of colour to this corner.

Ready to fill with sweet peas

No sign of sweet peppers as yet. Perhaps it takes a little longer for these to put in an appearance. Checking the pots on my return from work gives me something to do each day, imagine the surprise when I eventually see something in them.

No sweet peppers yet

Spooky coincidence or is there really something to this lunar planting methodology? For once, the Ancient Mariner wasn’t wrong.

LUNAR PLANTING

The Ancient Mariner has forecast a ‘growing moon’ in the middle of April and recommended the first week in April as the best time to plant seeds.

Moon phases

Now I’m not one to usually take any notice of such superstitious peasant talk but for once I’m going to listen to my parents (really?) and take this advice on board to see if it really makes a difference or not.

For my ‘lunar’ mission, I’ve prepared a few pots ready to sow seeds indoors – peppers, tomatoes and sweet peas will be my test subjects.

Sowing veggie seeds indoors

Instead of following the packet advice, I planted the seeds after Easter during the new moon phase. Now, it’s just a case of watching to see if anything germinates. There could be something to father’s lunar ideas about planting.

Baby hostas germinated from seed earlier on