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?

I repotted a load of my house plants yesterday, mainly peace lilys, in the greenhouse so I class it as something I've done in the garden 😉
I then sowed a load of seeds, veg and flowers and a few herbs
I have some potatoes from the veg basket which are sprouting and as they are King Edwards and Charlotte varieties I've saved a few to plant out.

Today I have dug over, and de cat shitted the raised bed, covered an old tri fold airing rack with some netting to cover the bed to hopefully protect it. Worried the netting is black and if I stand it up the birds might get stuck. I need to see if we have any old cds to hang up to help deter them.

Lawn still to be mowed but the grass is a bit wet still (n w facing so not a huge amount of sun over the whole garden this time of year)

I dug up a smokebush that was planted in a place where it never did anything and replanted it elsewhere so fingers crossed it will be ok. Hardly any new growth showing so hopefully it will be fine

Mowed the lawns (ugh, why did we leave it so late) and did a bit of weeding. Popped out to buy some border edging and paint for an old trellis.

To clarify,I didnt throw frogspawn away! I relocated 3 buckets of it to friends and other ponds. Not recommended practice I know but it at least gave them a fighting chance of surviving. Seventy billion tadpoles in one small pond would had them.either eating each other or starving.

Sowed some borage, fennel and mixed wildflower seeds with DD. I fully expect the slugs to devour them... but thought i should try!

Toad spawn is in long strings, frog spawn in clumps. I have seen frog spawn on the lawn but never toads spawn.

Today I potted up 2 dozen plug plants (nemesis and verbenas), sowed French and runner beans in posts, a tray of calendula and I am running out of space on my greenhouse staging. I already have young perennials x 24, 8 tomato seedlings, various succulents and trays of cosmos, aquilegia and zinnias.
DH mowed the front lawn, it’s 75% moss 🙄, the edges need recutting properly. The back lawn is a mess because new patio being constructed.
At least my borders are doing well and primroses are coming up everywhere K

4 hours weeding and edging a border this afternoon. Looking very sharp

Nearly finished weeding my big vegetable bed, should get the last corner done tomorrow. I don’t really know what to sow. I am so behind. I have lots of seeds, so could sew direct. I think I will try to make a potager effect with peas and beans as centrepieces surrounded by chard and lettuce. Think I may have written a plan somewhere… I pricked out some cherry tomatoes, They look really sad, hope they perk up tomorrow. weeded under my raspberries. Harvested lettuce from the greenhouse for tea.

Planted out my sweet peas, potted on the Lupins and heavily cut back the Elderflower.
I also met up with friends and gave them some spare perennials that I’d potted up. As a reward I found two shrubs and a Rose on the cheap plant stand, all 3 for £6.50!

Bought the montana I said I would up thread, it's a fragrant one and I bought the biggest one they had.

I soaked it when I got home and planted it a couple of hours later. It has quite a lot of flower buds but there is no way it will cover the fence for a couple of years but it's a start.

I also sowed some zinnia seeds and morning glory seeds and emptied some pots with grape hyacinths that had finished.

On the plus side, the birds are in my pittisporum tree and have been on the feeders so hopefully they will get over having their clematis hedge ripped out from under them and spend their days in my tree.

Chopping back the sambucus is top of my list for tomorrow, although I now feel an urge to buy a clematis Montana too. Today I’ve mostly just been watering.

Been at work but DS has cut the grass and DD planted up some lovely old stone containers she picked up second hand.

My husband mowed the grass today and I purchased some gladioli bulbs (40 for £4.50 in Sainsbury’s)

I've ordered an ornamental hop plant for a sunny brick wall. Never grown one before

Dwarf or full size? Hops get big.

We had (I think) golden hops growing in our previous garden - they were robust! Grew each year from under quite dense shrubs and trees, and at the end of the year covered a lot of the shrubs and trees. I would have preferred they were not there, although they were quite attractive plants! I could not manage to dig them out due to location.

I love golden hops but have never got them to thrive here - I suspect that even in the sunniest spot they can’t cope with the clay soil.

It's a big one . The wall is big and bare and there's an old tree it can tangle its way up too. I'll report back at the end of the summer to say whether it's been too much of a thug!

I've reported a house plant that hasn't been thriving. Planted a reduced white hellebore into a new bed, planted some reduced English Bluebells & weeded around my sarcococca & another hellebore. Found our triffid of a boysenberry had set babies behind all this & located a Jasmine I thought might have died, but is actually ok. Just need to get a trellis up for it to climb.

I have cut lawns front and back, trimmed the hedge, done some weeding in front garden and got rid of the weeds in the cracks of the brick paving in the driveway. It was glorious weather, I tidied away and came in and now I can hear the rain. Glad im done!

My goodness, who do you report it to?

Seems harsh but if there's a service near me which deals with recalcitrant house plants it would be so helpful!

Ha! This house seems to be fatal to houseplants but I’d like to be able to report them for their recalcitrance!

I’m continuing to empty pots of dead or blind bulbs, but had a pleasant surprise when I found that the trailing begonias in the window box in the darkest corner of the garden hadn’t in fact perished over winter and the tubers are sprouting.

I’m also waiting impatiently for my latest impulse buy from Farmer Gracy.

I’ve spent four hours weeding and started to dig out a new border. Well, it’s an old border but it’s been grassed over. It’s only about 2.5 x 0.3m but it was hard going. No real plans as to what to plant there. I am totally done in.

I picked my first radishes that I've been growing in the greenhouse. So nice to be able to pick the first veg of the year.