If you only have 10 minutes to garden bear in mind the  weather as we always garden by the weather. This year has proved to be drier and at present warmer. This means that you need to water more frequently to obtain the best crops and to ensure germination of those seed which you can now sow directly into the veg plot-all types of beans and peas, carrots, courgettes, herbs, because the soil is so warm but keep it moist for germination and the first seedlings. If they dry out, they die.

 

The flower garden is starting to Bloom and so dead heading will keep your garden blooming and stake all tall perennials

one minute hot -next day cold, very difficult gardening weather. its now cold with a real chill in the air but no frost forecast at present.

 

Many gardeners are hardening off plants at the moment, and most are fine as long as there is no frost. The exception are some of the very tender perennials, such as Morning Glory (Ipomoea) and Cup and Saucer Vine (Cobaea Scandens) bring them back in until the chilly spell has passed, same with very tender veg such as Melons, Tomatoes, some of the sensitive herbs such as basil especially Thai basil retreat indoors for a day or so.

All gardeners are obsessed by the weather and the Sunday Gardener is no exception. Tonight for the first time this year the evening was warm and still.

 

Time to search out, pick and dispatch a few slugs. Up until now the cold and very dry weather has kept them at bay but the warmth tonight made them active, slugging around.

 

The  dry spell means it's a good idea to water newly planted veggies, bedding plants and any new additions to the garden. It's unusual for it to be so dry but its worth the time and trouble to help young plants get established.

 

The bats were active tonight too. The most common Bat in the UK is the Pipistrelle which feeds on the wing catching and eating vast quantities of small, flying insects such as mayflies, lacewings, small moths, midges, caddis flies and mosquitoes. A single pipistrelle may consume up to 3000 insects in a night,  so a real garden friend.  Not everyone would want to entice a bat colony into the garden, but rather the bats choose you and once you have them, they are a protected species, and  so cannot be disturbed. The large colony which inhabit the Sunday Garden are welcome friends and a sure sign of warmer days and nights.