Where to begin ?

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our guide to growing your own in Raised Beds. What a glorious day it is too, quite fitting in celebration of St Patrick's Day. Let's hope wherever you are, you're having a great day, maybe even quaffing a couple of glasses of the liffy water ?
There's been quite a lot happening here in the last couple of weeks. Mum got the ball rolling a couple of weeks ago, when she came to stay for a couple of days. Mum can't resist a weedy patch of earth, and quickly set about clearing the weeds from one of the borders in the back garden. Thanks mum!
Going against the grain somewhat, we have been busy planting some summer flowering bulbs. Seem's a shame not too really, especially considering how much time and effort mum has put in during her short visit. Hopefully we can now reward her next visits with some lovely colour ?We bought most of the bulbs relatively cheaply at a local market, as well as some from Aldi's & Wilkinsons.
These two are Anemone (Blue & White mixed), and Gladioli (v. Traderhorn & White Prosperity).

These 2 packs contained Sparaxis (Mixed), and Dahlia (v. Orange Nugget). The latter is one of wifey's favourites, and we couldn't resist buying. It's only 1 bulb, but should grow in size over the years. When it came to planting all these bulbs, we opted for the random look! We simply emptied all the bulbs into one big container, mixed them around and planted 1 by 1. It will be interesting to see how they all turn out!



The last 2 packs contained Triteleia (v. Queen Fabiola) and Lily (v. Asiatic Yellow). The former were purchased last summer at Aldi's in their clearance stock, and were hidden away ready to plant out this year. The Lily is also a favourite of Wifey's, and will hopefully provide a riot of colour. We also purchased a bag of 30 Freesia bulbs from Wilko's for just £2.00, and mixed these in the plantings too. Considering the small outlay (approx £8.00), we should be in for quite a show of colour!


Hopefully you will pop back soon and check on our progress! Hopefully all these flowers will help to attract the wildlife - specifically the Bee's, that are in such decline in our gardens.

Take care all, and enjoy your gardens / plots.

TTFN.