Yesterday (Good Friday) was ‘Clean the Conservatory’ Day – my annual top-to-bottom (or as high as I can reach without falling off the stepladder) dust-busting, cobweb-removing blitz. This year, it took a total of five hours (including one coffee break and a quick lunch). The furniture is back in place, so are the ornaments, just the plants to go back to finish it off. With temperatures set to hit zero degrees by Monday, I won’t be sitting in there just yet, Soon, though.

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My dwarf raspberry ‘Yummy’ started sending out shoots last month. Now it has tiny flower buds – I could be eating my first raspberries in a few weeks! I’ve already given it a weak liquid feed and it needs a larger pot outside somewhere sunny.

I’m planning to keep it under a temporary fruit cage once the fruits form but haven’t quite worked out the details yet. The mesh must be large enough to allow insects in to pollinate but keep the birds from stealing the fruit AND getting tangled in it. I do have bamboo canes and plastic cane connectors – I’m sure I can rustle something up.

The clematis Montana buds have been growing for a couple of weeks. This is the pink one, which starts a few weeks earlier than the white, and has a stronger scent.

At last, the dwarf narcissi are flowering. I arrived home from the allotment last Sunday and spotted their little nodding heads over the wall. I think these are Tete-a-tete as they have two or more flowers on one stem (narcissi Minnow to follow).

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I now refer to these as the ‘Blue’ pots as both the anemones and muscari are similar shades. A good choice to combine them, I think.

Peonies are popping up all over the garden; not as many as last year as I gave several to my brother, leaving room here for scattering annual seeds.

After my day off from studying yesterday, it’s back to it today – trying to write a commentary on the piece of writing I am submitting for my assignment – last Tuesday I had nothing; by Thursday afternoon I had 1800 words. By the end of today, I must whittle it down to just 700 words, then leave it all to ‘cook’ until next week before re-reading and editing it into something that make actual sense. It’s due by midday on 15th April but I like to submit mine a few days early (before I tinker with it, and in case of internet problems).

Hopefully, I’ll have more time to look at other Sixes this weekend, though I do have to make a birthday card for my husband (for Monday).