Getting to the end of Lockdown

Hopefully this weekend will see the last two days of lockdown - on Monday there is a massive relaxation and now it will be pretty much up to us as individuals how we decide to protect ourselves.  Masks are still mandatory in most situations in public spaces but hopefully this may too be relaxed because as it gets hotter and hotter I find masks really difficult and they get all hitched up in the arms of my glasses.  

With only one text each to go out this weekend we had planned to spend most of the time around the house.  I was still nursing a dodgy bite on the back of my leg so had opted not to walk and neither Nicky nor Rachel could make it anyway - the day started out so hot I was rather glad not to be walking anyway.  I had a load of things I wanted to sort in the garden so when Liselotte said she wanted to check out the garden centre at Agia Marina but needed me to be navigator I chose to use my exit pass and grab myself some pots and saucers and a couple of fill in plants and that would keep me busy for the remainder of the day!!!  The main polytunnel has a couple of water features and there must have been some frogs in each of them calling to one another.  If you look closely you can see one in the middle of the photograph above.  This little fella had one hell of a pair of lungs on him - he was clearly looking for a mate!!!

There is so much to see in this garden centre.  I am usually only looking for one or two plants or something special for Dad's grave or a gift so that I have never taken the time to investigate all the plants and the tunnels which are outside.  Liselotte however had a massive list so we went into areas I have never been to before!!!  In the main polytunnel most things are priced - outside amongst the masses they are not so although you can assume that individually the plants are not overly expensive it all mounts up and before you know it you have racked up quite a bill!!

I got some of the pots that I wanted and the saucers but I couldn't find a nice trough to go outside the backdoor for the herbs - they may be having some more soon so when we can John and I will go together to have a look.

I got the couple of fill-in plants (calendula which hopefully will self seed) and another basil for the herb garden and was going to call it a day until I spotted the rose which is in the picture on the left.  The colour of the flower was so beautiful I just couldn't resist even though I struggle with roses in the garden.  It had no name but looking it up on tinty web I think it is aptly named 'oranges and lemons' and I bought a pot for it to go in and when I got it home John thought it would look lovely in our memorial garden which is where it has been located.

As I said before the garden is moving into its next phase and all of a sudden the clock vine has started to put out its purply black shoots which will grow almost visibly from now on and if left unchecked grow in all the wrong direction so John spent the morning building a wooden 'ladder' for the one in the kitchen garden so that we can persuade it up the side of the house whilst keeping access to John's shed clear.  

After more than 10 years I have decided that the stack of pots I bought from Horatiu when I was still at work either need to go or need to be planted up with new plants.  It is the last remaining plastic item although that is quite difficult to tell from a distance.  Plastic they may be but they were built of very robust stuff so there isn't a crack to be seen on any of them.  The succulents in there have seen better days so I will clear it out but if no-one can make use of it I will probably replant it as it adds height - thinking about it, it would probably make quite a good herb container!!!

My final container job was to clear the two pots that were up on the roof terrace of the ancient cacti in them and replant with the geranium cuttings I have been nurturing.   I don't know how long the cacti have been in there but they were rock solid with roots wrapped around two big stones which had been put inside for drainage and ballast.  

It took me forever and I reckon I shall be feeling it tomorrow because that was one hell of a workout.  I eventually managed it - the cacti which were old and crusty have been consigned to the field next door where they may provide the goats with a prickly snackette when they are next passing.

The final job for the day and one which I find tremendously therapeutic was to dead head the verbena in my two hanging baskets.  I did this in the shade with the help of Boris who was desperate to get to the ants which were running around on the leaves!!!  I can see the benefit of the dead heading although it is a bit time consuming but it does ensure lots of flowers.

My final picture of today was taken through the fly screen on the kitchen door.  I have never seen so many bee eaters sitting together on the wires.  I knew that if I had tried to capture them from outside they would have taken flight so I took this snap and then crept out the patio door to find that they had indeed buggered off!!!