Garden Diary April: Lizards, Projects and Seedlings

This week, we have been giving the garden a Spring clean—but not too much so we do not disturb the wildlife that also call our garden home. When Mr Piglet moved a pot, he encountered an Iberian Psammodromus lizard the size of a small snake. He didn’t scream, kept calm, and took a photo.

I don’t mind lizards but I am terrified of snakes and you will hear me s

1. The Weather Gardening this week, and in fact since 2nd January, has amounted to chasing the sun and dodging the rain clouds. Shortly after snapping this photo, the rain lashed down. We have never had such a wet and windy start to the year. I am not alone when I say vegetables, I normally plant in February, have now moved to April because the weather has been so cold.

2. NORTH TERRACE

We power-washed the back patio every spring to remove the winter moss and grime. (Mr. P worked and I supervised and pointed out the patches he had missed.)

3. RAISED VEGETABLE BED

Once again, roots from the melaleuca hedge have invaded this bed, rendering the soil useless as a growing medium unless I remove all the soil, reline the bed, and replace it. I did that last year. This year, I am not going to play that game again. Instead, I have put a layer of black plastic on the soil and will be using large pots.

4. POTTING ON SEEDLINGS

I have now transferred the seed plugs I bought at Rogil Market at the end of March into large pots filled with compost and processed manure. Emptying, cleaning, repositioning, and filling the pots has been back-breaking work for me, but I was determined and B-minded that I would complete the task by Easter weekend.

The cucumber plants are coming along nicely. I am unsure what these plants are – maybe squash?

The black tomato plugs I bought at Rogil market at the end of March have grown like weeds. Hopefully, we will be enjoying tomatoes before too long.

Planted zucchini plants one per large pot. Let’s see if they fare better.

Three cucumber plants and two aubergines.

5. STRAWBERRIES

The strawberries continue to thrive and even though they are in small pots are producing more and more strawberries.

Most of these plants are destined for the vertical strawberry planter.

6. TOMATO SEED SHARE

I am pleased to say that the black and orange cherry tomatoes Fred, the French Gardener, sent to me are doing well! Thank you, Fred!

Thank you for reading. That’s my six for this week’s garden meme over at Jim’s blog.