May flowers (and foliage) – by B

Euphorbia, allium, variegated sage, chives, with buddleia, salvia ostfeiesland, white lupins and alchemelia mollis waiting in the wings

Tulips have given way to more autumn-planted Wilkos bulbs: this time allium purple sensation. I am rather enjoying the emerging structure, and spotting and noting the gaps to be filled with more bulbs and divided perennials in the months and years to come. In the end I set up my raised bed cut flower patch in the back garden. The Sarah Raven seedlings and a few home-sown sweet peas are growing fast, and I’m glad I chose mostly perennials as they should turn out to be a lasting investment for the house as well as the garden. We have enjoyed our first home-grown rhubarb crumble his week too. Apples will have to wait as I’ve pinched off most of the fruitlets from our Stoke Edith Pippin (a local Apple, grafted by a friend last year), to get some good growth on this season. We’re having a new rear fence built in a week or so too, which will make a huge impact on privacy and tidiness at the sunny end of the garden. The only bad news is that our neighbour has vigorously pruned her grape vine so the sneaky branch we trained along our fence has bitten the dust, so no grapes from the garden this year. They were so good we might have to invest in our own vine.

Raised bed with Ammi, echinops, poppy, dianthus, cosmos, sweet peas and a brave little dahlia surrounded by slug pellets, with a cental apple tree

The other side of the garden with already triffid-like cardoons, hebe, euphorbia, allium, white bleeding heart, forget me nots, sage, and some yellow-green shrubbery of unknown origin