Wordless Wednesday: Muscari in waiting…

Spring teacups

Spalding bulbs sent me some freebies in December and I planted them in the greenhouse, given that they'd arrived at the tail end of the planting season. Here I rehome them into more salubrious surroundings, ready to go for spring.

Finding buried treasure

There are many benefits to a tidy greenhouse - fewer slug and pest harbouring pile ups of old pots and detritus, the banishment of plants and cracked plant pots long past their sell by date, the mental stocktake of potting materials it facilitates, and the delight of having short-lived space on your greenhouse staging.

Tidying and insulating the greenhouse was my task yesterday - it was going to be sowing seeds initially, but I thought it wiser to do the more prosaic task first, rather than filling the staging with more seed trays that would just have to be moved when I came to insulate.  And so the job finally got done.

I find myself repeatedly peeping through the door to marvel at my bubblewrapped micro-climate, and at my tidy (by my standards) stash of pots and compost stacked under the bench.

But best of all, I refound these:

which makes me feel like a trip back to my old stomping ground in North London is imminent, just so I can stock up on them again - with a few holes in the bottom they make exceedingly charismatic herb containers.  Imagine that topped with some lush green basil leaves.  Brilliant!

Any old iron (or tin)?

Juncus in a watertight tin tub - set up your own mini water garden!

Hello Dolly tub - it's so nice to have you back where you belong - in the garden, filled with tulips.

Don't pack off your old tinware when it starts to spring a leak - plant things in it instead, like I've done with this old dolly (wash tub) which was a legacy from the seller at a previous house.  It's never going to be abandoned by me though, as it sets planting off so well - particularly these gorgeous orange Ballerina tulips and the purpley pink Passionale.

Here are some other herbaceous hairdos the tub has previously sported:

The patina of this tub makes me keep an eye out each and every time I pass a skip, in the hope that I can find more splendid metal containers to employ in the garden.  So far, I've found two zinc mop buckets and the small tub above - love them all.

So keep following the mantra - reduce, reuse, replant it.

For more on tin tubs, try Lead up the garden path.