Chocolate anyone?

Weather: Frosts overnight for last four or five days. It has been sunny most of the week, but cool and a cool wind has blown up today with some sharp April showers (including hail!) 9C .


It's not easy to photograph but the climber above is Akeba Quinata also known as Chocolate Vine. It has taken some time to establish (I planted it two or three years ago) but it is lovely at this time of the year with reddish purple flowers that are supposed to smell of chocolate but as they are about 8 foot off the ground I don't often get close enough to smell them!I bought this as a plant from one of my favourite nurseries called Bernwode Plants at Ludgershall near Aylesbury. They stock some really unusual plants and their catalogue tells their stories. For example the Akeba Quinata was introduced by the plant collector Robert Fortune from China, Japan and Korea in 1845. I understand that in hot summers it may be followed by dark fruits but I have also seen that it is not self fertile so I would probably need another plant if I want fruit.

It's been a busy week - I was going to say 'we' but of course I meant - Bill cut our giant hawthorn back to 2 metres high and I pruned it. Our permission to cut it back says we must reshape the crown so I have pruned it accordingly. It looks a bit sad and spindly now but it will be interesting to see what it is like later this year and next season.

Anyway, thanks to Bill's hard work, we have a store of logs for next winter and lots of kindling. He also shredded the twigs to be incorporated into the compost heaps over the summer - so all in all a productive exercise. The only complainants are the sparrows for whom it was a great vantage point but there are plenty of other trees and bushes for them. I am delighted to have the extra light in the house as it is less than 8 feet from the front wall.

Other things in the garden this week: sowed Avola pea seeds (finished last year's packet). Last year's peas hardly came to anything as most were demolished by slugs before they could get properly established. Sowed sunflower seeds from a very old packet. A short row of Perpetual Spinach from a very very old packet of seed show some signs of germination. Seeds of parnsip, radish and salsify (sown last week) still not showing.

A squat pot of leek seedlings in the greenhouse seemed to be suffering from lack of space and as it is too early to put them out I have transplanted them into a bigger pot. It looks a bit of a dogs breakfast but they have a long growing season and I hope this disturbance won't be too detrimental to their long term health.

Planted 4 Lily corms - all bought cheap...two look particularly unpromising but hey they are worth a try!