Things you don’t want to find in your greenhouse

The weather has been lousy.  The rain has been torrential, but in a sneaky way.  It rains solidly all night and apart from the moments it is so intense it rattles the roof and windows, I’m mostly unaware as I blissfully sleep, dreaming of sunny days in my garden.   Then when I wake the sun is shining and so the above ground water table just doesn’t make sense.

The soil spends all day making that satisfying sucking noise as the water slowly drains away, only to have its efforts undone overnight.  I fear my garden will never dry out again.  As tempting as it is to carry on with the digging, weeding and pre-spring preparations, it would be fool hardy.  I would seriously damage my soil structure, remove more soil than necessary as it clings tightly to the roots of stubborn weeds when it is sodden, and not to mention the muddy mess I’d make of the grass around the garden as I sloshed about the place in ankle deep water.

Nasty Wasps appear to be hiding out over winter in unsuspecting places, like in this bottle. I hate wasps!

Just one puff of breeze through the open door and a nightmare will be spread through the greenhouse, into the cracks of the pavers and into my seedling soil.

I’m pretty sure this shiny black spider is harmless, but I’ll just evict him… just in case….

Spring is just over a month away and there is no lack of chores to be getting on with so I’m getting a little anxious.  So I decided to do some indoor jobs and cleaning out the greenhouse seemed like the perfect thing to occupy my time.  I had tidied it up in autumn after the last growing season came to an end, but somehow it managed to attract dirt, clutter, rubbish and nasty bugs.

Stumbling across an ants nest between my shelf slats was a most unpleasant surprise, especially when they raced up my hands when I tried to remove the slat. Fortunately they aren’t at all dangerous.

A slug parade, led by a wood lice taking them off to the hundreds of other wood lice cavorting under a upturned pot.

You’re a cutie, you can stay!

After a couple of afternoons toiling away I managed to remove all the shelves and give them a good clean and put them back, remove all the weeds growing up through the cracks in the paving stones, give it all a thorough sweep, throw away a mountain of rubbish, sort out things to be giving a good wash like labels, tools found in the deep recesses of the greenhouse, and pots.  Lots of pots, but it will be nice to know they are ready for the new season.  I want to give the glass a good wash down and tighten all the bolts but this is also a job for another day.

It feels good to be working towards spring and the knowledge the greenhouse will be clean and safe for my little green babies.  I think I may be nesting.

Come again soon – I’ll either be digging or tidying my shed – weather permitting.

Sarah the Gardener  : o)