What are you doing in your garden now?

[Appuskidu]

I’ve been out this weekend and tidied things up a bit-mowed the lawn, raked some leaves, but I was just wondering what else I should be doing! When are you starting to plant things?

I'm sitting in the warm drinking coffee and reading MN while my resident under-gardener is out in the mist cutting down a Berberis darwinii that is overhanging the neighbour's garden. The branch in question is about 6 inches diameter and getting on for 10m long. Berberis in our garden isn't a shrub, it's part of the tree canopy.

I cut back a very overgrown shrub/hedge at the front . Think it is a pyracantha and has gone from about 4 ft deep to 2! My neighbour reckons it’ll grow back ok , although we might not get flowers or berries this year

I've been raking leaves, generally tidying things up and digging over beds ready for planting. I've sown most of my seeds inside ready to plant out around May time and planted over seventy gladioli bulbs in one of the borders.

Also repainted a trellis along the front of the house and an old garden bench in the same blue colour - cuprinol's 'forgot me not '- a very powdery french looking blue. Next job is having the raised beds replaced plus a few more and planting some dahlia tubers when they come in the post.

@Thefirsttime

Digging out 3 billion bastarding Spanish bluebells.

Me too. And I'm not done with them yet.

We also dug in our green manure at the weekend to prep the bed for vegetable planting in a few weeks. Inside I have sown lots of seeds, some of which are already coming up!

I'm experimenting with growing outside 2 cuttings of some mimosa, bought from flower stall! I've created a plastic cover for them to be under out of an aerated old, light, plastic box. I'm doing similar with honeysuckle and rose cuttings which have responded well (I don't have a green house).

Because it's been dry recently I'm carefully watering my last year's pot Valentine evergreen azalea, with acidic water. Plus my pot
hyacinths and bulb tulips, they need it.

I'm worrying about a hole which is opening up to the left of the terrace where we had a huge leylandii removed 2 years ago . We have many caves\holes in the garden

Trying to hold off on planting as we've had some seriously chilly nights but sowing what seed I can manage to find space for inside.
A lot of wishlist plant window shopping.
Otherwise, getting the weeds off before they go too far and make more weeds, pruning fruit trees, we cut some hedging back to just stumps before nesting season, so I have a line of stumps to dig out. Clearing ivy. There is a lot of ivy.... Oh and digging out monbretia bulbs. They're nice in small quantities but my god they multiply.

I've been ordering things online in preparation for a better growing season this year. We got our Aldi Mini Greenhouse arrive yesterday; & today I've bought brackets for hanging baskets, seed potatoes, artichoke plants & ordered some mini thornless blackberries that can be put in hanging baskets or pots & some seeds (courgettes, peas, chard, tomatoes & sunflowers).
Got lots of deadheading & tidying to do outside.

I've been lifting, dividing and re-planting snowdrops. ALL DAY. we inherited a mature garden and it really needed doing. But there are A LOT of snowdrops! Feel very satisfied as a novice gardener though. Real sense of achievement!