Today is my last annual leave day and having met a friend for coffee and cake & catching up with tasks, I spent a couple of hours in the Magic Garden planting things out & weeding with some time spent just enjoying being out. Ben wasn’t impressed with my efforts and spent most of his day in the front garden.

I planted the alpine primula and the pulsatilla in the alpine bed between the summerhouse and the pond. This is the spoil from when I dug out the pond and is solid clay at its core but is covered in specialist alpine compost and grit. I’m pleased by the number of daffodils that have survived along the fence and the survival of the shrubs in front.

I planted out two distinct forms of lavender - augustifolia (English) & stoechas (French) along the five lines extending from the inner pentagonal planting. In this main planting area I also planted out the sea hollies and lupins that have been waiting in the cold frame. A further heuchera went into the catnip patch too.

I always water in new plants but today I was giving a soaking to other plants including the pots as it has been dry for the last week and more. Its odd to be thinking of using the hosepipe in March but I may well need to give the Magic Garden a soaking this weekend.