This is day two of a long weekend for me. I started it off with a mooch around the garden, finding six things to share with you. Remember to join the rest of the sixers over at Jim’s

1. Construction – The purpose of the long weekend is to finish off the ‘finishing off’ tasks in the house and garden. The main garden job is to lay slabs to the front and side of the greenhouse and then move in the water butts. I’m aiming for level level rather than allotment levels, wish me luck!

2. Clematis ‘Hyde Hall’ This is its first full year in the garden and its making good growth from the base. I’m encouraging it to grow through a rather boring pittisporum; the idea is the shrub will appear to be flowering!

3. Narcissi ‘Thalia’ New to the sarcophagus, it is as pretty as you all say. I wish she would like her chin a little.

4. Clematis armandii ‘Apple Blossom’ A mid-week therapy trip to the garden centre found me leaving clutching this. There is a huge shrub of it covering a neighbour’s garden fence, so I have every confidence she will settle in nicely and do a great job of covering this patch of fence.

5. Hydrangea cutting I took this as a cutting about three years ago and its thriving. I think this is ‘Glam Rock’. This spot gets the morning sun but by mid-afternoon in summer it’s in shade, I’m hopeful that will prove to be a winning combination. The pyrethrum in the background was putting on lots of new growth, which has been chomped down by the slimy hordes – need to start evening slug patrols!

6. Apple tree – Fiesta I’ve been really disappointed with the trees ordered from nurseries, the quality seems poor compared to previous orders, albeit that was more than 5 years ago. This is on M27 rootstock, so it shouldn’t reach more than about 8ft.

That’s my six, now I really must go and apply myself to the slab-laying.

Enjoy your weekend.