What have you done in the garden today?

[ThreeRingCircus]

I thought it would be a nice idea to share what we've been up to in our gardens.

Today I planted potatoes in buckets (with drainage holes drilled into them.) Six buckets in total, three second earlies and three main crops. I have fond memories of digging up potatoes with my dad when I was a child.... I still get excited rummaging around in the buckets when my potatoes are ready!

I also made up a herb planter from an old plant pot that had been hiding behind the shed. Mint, parsley and thyme planted in that so I'll see how that does.

I fed my pot plants with blood, fish and bone and gave them a water.

What have you been up to?

Pumpkins look great growing up a wig wam. One of our local gardens does this, even with quite large pumpkins. They use substantial branches to make it though, perhaps about 8 feet long. I think a pumpkin would do ok in a pot if it is large enough, yes.

Yesterday I sowed khol rabbi, beetroot and chard. Put courgette, pepper and what I think could be munchkin squash seeds on kitchen roll in a plastic bag in the airing cupboard to start them off. Sowed climbing and dwarf French beans and 2 different varieties of runner beans in toilet roll tubes. Had a gentle rummage in the compost to see if my chilli seeds are germinating. They are.

Today I bought hoops so I can sow spinach seeds and cover them so my cat and Mr or Mrs Fox can't roll in the raised beds. I've also bought a few seed potatoes which I've put to chit.

I've tried growing pumpkins (for Hallowe'en )
Tried seeds , followed all the instructions ....nil

Bought some plants (from Aldi) about 4" high at the time .
One snapped before I could plant them.

I put them in a huge pot ( a trug ) well drained . Read all about putting straw under the pumpkin as it grows to stop it rotting .
I got one pumpkin the size of a tennis ball...which shrivelled snapped off .

My NDN had Accidental Pumpkins in the front paved garden wih a thin flower bed . They'd had a Hallowe'en pumpkin which seeded itself . And they grew , amazing long tendrils and pumpkins about the size of a grapefruit

So, so unfair <sigh>

Planted a reduced Allium Gladiator I couldn’t resist in the ironmongers, weeded yet more nasturtium seedlings from my planters, sowed Tansy, Hyssop and marigolds as companion plants for under the fruit trees. Tried to work out which tray of seedlings is Heartsease and which poached egg plants - enthusiastic ‘help’ from child has resulted in missing labels!

Relocated some sunflower seedlings that ds had sprinkled, relocated our carrot, tomato, apple tree and butternut squash seedlings. Mowed half the lawn before guests arrived! Just ordered a patio fig tree too

Weeding, and more weeding.

Removing jasmine which is now invasive, mulched camellia, azalea, rhododendron, planted Acer, refresh compost heap with cardboard, removed moss from gutters, pruned hydrangeas and removed leaf litter.

I finally managed to get out into the garden today.

I removed a load of unhappy looking flowers from my camellia - it flowered early this year but didn't appreciate 8 inches of snow being dumped on it last month.
Pulled out loads of sycamore seedlings.
Tidied up the flowerbeds
Removed toadstools from the lawn
Trimmed the lawn edges - the lawn is still too wet to cut though

When will nature get the memo that it is spring not autumn?

My main gardening activity today was consuming tea and cake in a garden open for the National Garden Scheme.

Dug some more holes for our polycrub that’s arriving soon. V excited!

I had to look up a polycrub as I'd never heard of it before and it looks amazing. Please could you post a photo when it's assembled.

Today was mainly spent picking broken bits of clothes peg out of the lawn as DP was definitely, definitely going to mow it and moans if there are any plastic bits in there, despite it usually being him that breaks them. Did he mow the lawn in the end? What do you think?!

I noticed some of our bulbs (in pots) have just rotted away now, I think they just got waterlogged in the persistent rain - we need to plant pumpkin seeds too @ThreeRingCircus and sunflowers @meow1989! The trouble is that DTS2 adores the idea of the fully grown plants but isn't patient enough to plant the seeds properly or look after them...

You've just described my favourite gardening-related activity @ComeIntoTheGardenMaud

It has a lot to recommend it, RebeccaSharp, although it does mean I come home with a wish list of new plants and projects.

Next door took down a huge clematis montana that covered the fence down the garden and all the birds have now disappeared. It's been there years, long before I moved in 8 years ago. Front garden also completely cleared.

Could cry at the loss of the birds, the little robin, blackbirds and loads of sparrows, their cheeping and squabbling in the bush was lovely, they were always in the clematis. I am hoping they will move into my tree further down the garden.

Vandals!! 😥

It is very upsetting to witness neighbours’ environmental vandalism. I slightly rethought my opinion of one otherwise lovely neighbour when I realised they had plastic grass.

I'm going to see if I can get a Montana at the garden centre on Wednesday, a large one if I can and plant it my side in the hope that by next year it will cover a fair bit of the fence.

Can't bear to look out into the garden now, it's so open to everything down that side.

Do it! I had a pink Montana which grew to be huge and covered much of the fence with hundreds of flowers. It didn’t survive being moved when the fence was replaced. I still miss it.

The pumpkin variety I bought was Amazonka so I'm going to try it and just see what happens.

Tea and cake in an open garden sounds absolutely perfect!

Today I've weeded the lawn and topped my potato bags with some straw.

Love montanas. I've got 4 of them around the garden climbing over the brick walls. Such reliable pretty plants

Picked aphids off the roses and acers. They move so quick!

Watered the seedlings in the greenhouse and swooned in horror at the number of tadpoles seething in our tiny pond. This AFTER removing 3 full buckets of spawn to thin them out a bit! I love tadpoles and froglings,but the neighbours didnt appreciate last year's invasion.

I've just been given a cucumber plant, something I've never grown before.

I don't like cucumber very much and the donor of the gift grew 8 last year which is 7 more than I want. 😁

Sod the neighbours - frogs have enough problems without people throwing perfectly good spawn away.

My blob of frogspawn seems to be surviving in its bucket. I’ll move it to the pond later in the week.

I’ve just been wrestling with a very pot-bound pittosporum which was long overdue for planting in the border. I’m glad I’ve done it but it was hard work. I’ve also planted out a skimmia which had been dumped on the pavement. I’m never completely happy with the borders but these two additions have been a big improvement.

Had a happy hour in the garden center.
Have planted up a couple of hanging baskets and tubs with geraniums and lobelia. Cut the grass and weeded. Even managed to sit in my new garden chair. !!

Did some more tidying yesterday, pulled out a gazillion more ash/sycamore seedlings and removed more dead flowers from my camellia.

I finally managed to mow the lawn today after two dry days.

I'm afraid I had to hack our clematis montana in the autumn because the fence underneath was rotting and it was taking over our neighbour's garden. She was very grateful, especially now that she can walk up the path by the fence without being hit in the face.

I will replace it with another climber though.