Spring (finally) hits the garden

Yay! Spring is finally here and the garden is starting to burst with colour. Living in central London I am lucky enough to have two patches of ground. Out the back I can plant into the soil, out the front everything is in pots. Yesterday the sun was shining and colour was starting to spring up. First up the back plot which is a mixture of flowers and vegetables.

I absolutely love these tulips which I bought from Sarah Raven's website. At first I was worried that something had dug up the bulbs I'd planted last year as there was no sign of life for ages. 

But then things started to peek through towards the end of March and I was finally rewarded by these beauties. 

If you're interested they are called Flaming Spring Green 

Now you may think that these are Forget-me-knots - well you would be wrong. They are something called Jacobs Ladder which I first saw on Gardeners World where they were doing a feature on shade. Now my plot is quite shady with heavy clay soil, hardly ideal growing conditions but this should (hopefully) love the space I've given it (unless I manage to kill it). 

For the past three years I have been growing courgettes from seed. These are Soleil again from Sarah Raven, As their name indicates these are yellow courgettes, rather than the usual green, and they are simply divine. Much more buttery than green courgettes but I could rarely find them in the shops so I figured I would try and grow them instead. Only downside to them is that they take up so much room so this year I've planted one in the ground but I'm trying a second in a large pot with lots and lots of compost. 

Another thing from seed are my sweet peas and my makeshift staking. Last year I got a few flowers last year but it wasn't a wonderful crop due to the weather I think so I've got my fingers crossed that I'll do better this year. Sadly I have no idea what is growing in the middle. I'm hoping it's not a weed but I should have made a note of what I'd planted last year! If anyone knows please let tell me. Or I'll just have to wait for it to flower so I have a better idea. 

Here is a shot of the plants I've been growing on in pots ready to plant out (once I can find room!). A few I've grown from  seed but most are from plugs. 

I love, love, love geraniums and so I've stocked up on them this year, hoping that they'll like my rich clay soil. I think this is 'Bill Wallis'. Jeez I should really pay more attention to what I'm planting shouldn't I!?! 

Now I admit this doesn't look much but it's a euphorbia I grew from seed last year. 

Last up from the back plot is a tomato plant which I grew from seed. I have a few more indoors which need to grow a little more, and I think I'll grow some more now. 

And now to the front garden - well strip in front of my ground floor flat. The soil here is awful so I've taken the easy option of planting everything in pots. Also makes it easier for people to access the walls if they need to do any work. 

I think these tulips are possibly my favourites. The colour is incredible, flaming gold and green. They are called 'Artist' again from Sarah Raven. 

I'm cheating a little as these wall flowers are in the communal parts of the garden but they look magnificent at the moment 

Osteospermum are another favourite of mine as they seem to flower for ever if you deadhead them. 

  As you can see I have them in lots of different colours. 

Yep back to my favourite tulip again. I just can't get over how wonderful they look. I feel as if I'm looking at a dutch painting. 

But these are a close favourite. They are called 'Helmar' and can also be found in the Dutch Still Life collection from, yep you've guessed it, Sarah Raven. 

So there we have my little patch of heaven. I'm no gardening expert but I think I'm getting better and I just love the spring colour. Now the evenings are getting longer there is nothing better than going out in the evening to water the plants before dinner.