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?

If you click on Plantlife no mow May you can enter the results of which flowers appear and help their research.

Slight caveat - if you've carefuly re-laid or re-seeded your lawn in the last few years, and conscientously applied "weed and feed" ever since, you probably won't get a good display of flowers.

Oh no, Maud! We’ve all done it though. I remember a few years ago nurturing a Campsis that was refusing to thrive, then just as it had finally started to get properly going, I lost my balance whilst picking my way through the border between plants, and stepped on it. That was the end of the Campsis.

SBAM there are some good Euonymus with interesting foliage. Euonymus fortunei ‘Emerald Gaiety’ always looks good and will trail waftily or can be clipped into a neat blob if you prefer. Euonymus japonicus ‘Paloma Blanca’ is another interesting one.

Yesterday I tackled the raspberry and strawberry raised bed, which had become horrifically weedy. It’s all nicely mulched now and I’ve planted out my sweet peas around the base of the obelisk in the middle. Today I was planning to do likewise to the equally neglected asparagus bed, but I’m appallingly hungover, to my shame, so I’ll probably just sit on my bench staring at the weeds and tell myself off. I’m too old for this nonsense.

I like No Mow May. I always leave the grass to grow long in the orchard until August, but it’s too lush for much in the way of wild flowers. Solomon’s seal and cats ear are the only things that cope. Last year I sowed some yellow rattle, so fingers crossed that will come up.

Last year I left the grass in the bottom garden to grow long too, just for May, and some more interesting things popped up there. It’s under the copper beech so the grass is less robust.

Yesterday, I meant to pit on tomato plants but didn't have time.

But I did get time to put out slug pellets in some areas (my lovely new chamomiles were reduced to stalks in just days!), and I put copper tape around the raised planter to keep them out of there too.

I plucked 9 and a baby slug out of the planter as part of the "operation slug" - they were having a field day amongst the salad leaves and radishes. And my garlic has all disappeared as well from the bed which I assume is down to the wee beasties.

Oh no, VenusClapTrap. Campsis is such a beautiful thing.

We do less mow May.

I have two Nursery areas, all I have to do is teach DH that a pot with a twig must under no circumstances be thrown away!
Its so lovely seeing a cutting develop into a fully grown plant.

I do normally take part in no mow May but I find it a bit difficult with the dog and clearing up after her, so not sure if I'll take part this year. I last mowed it on 30th April, so I'll see how long I can last. We do have a lot of wildlife areas around the edges of our garden, so I like to think that's my bit for wildlife.
Yesterday dh and I pruned the bottom half of some hawthorn plants. Originally I was going to grow one as a tree and the rest as a hedge, but it's a bit inaccessible to prune, and we think our cat is getting scraped by the thorns, so I think having them all as trees is the way to go. They are in a sleeper wall, so high up, and hopefully the tops will hide the flats behind us. I have a thyme which is spreading nicely, but I read about another plant which is good for ground cover, but I can't remember what it was called, or which thread it was on. I know it had white flowers. Any ideas?

I read about another plant which is good for ground cover, but I can't remember what it was called, or which thread it was on. I know it had white flowers. Someon suggested white clover

Camomile is good ground cover with white flowers.
We also have Marjoram which doesn't get much over 10cm tall but the bees love its purple flowers.

My marjoram's about 50cm when in flower!

Not a lot here today with the very heavy rain. Went to the garden centre and got a beautiful red robin. Picked up some plants for the hanging basket but might still need to keep the basket indoors at night for a couple of weeks. Picked up a couple of other plants too. Also got some very reduced buxus which I’m hoping I can revive into a small hedge along a garden wall that looks past it’s best.

I pruned back my pieris that looked a bit dead on one side. Hopefully comes back better next year so it’s not so lopsided.

Visited Elizabeth MacGregor’s nursery in SW Scotland. Fabulous so many plants grown and propagated by her. Wonderful plantswomen, have a look at her website.
I bought a Brunnera as a gift for a friend, but I’m popping back there for me!

We don't do no-mow May on the back lawn because when we tried it we lost all the short flowers - daisies, speedwell, clover etc. So we keep that short (with the odd long patch around the edges and under trees) and the flowers are gradually returning.

The front 'lawn' is no mow
Not just for May, it gets a late autumn strim and a single mow in January just before the spring bulbs come through. There's something in bloom there practically all year, with dwarf fruit trees planted in it and and winter heather in the neighbouring border to fill the short gaps without bulbs or meadow flowers.

@longtompot might it have been alyssum?

Thanks for the suggestions all, I’ve got several hebes, some euonymus, a couple of hostas and a few other things on order now.

We will mow the front lawn this week but after that will leave it for a month or so. The dandelions are just about over and we won’t cut it too low. We had a great mix last year (I posted a pic on another thread).

The back lawns will have to be mowed as we have dogs and the grass is very vigorous. Nothing doing here today as it’s rained but we mowed, painted the shed and planted some roses, salvia and lavender in a new border.

2 tip runs ( dose that count ? ) then I finally finished operation bark ! I had 2 grab bags delivered, last of it went down . Back bed . We only moved in last autumn, so Iv weeded , and barked to make it more presentable, now waiting to see what comes up 🤞best news is that DH finally has surrendered re the potting shed , mowers are moving to the garage 🎉happy days 🙌😎

We also have a no mow front garden, although I am slowly trying to convert half of it into a cottage style flower garden as it just looks a mess most of the time. I've been gradually moving excess japanese anemones, hardy geraniums and lychnis coronaria which self seeds like mad from the back to the front. Various cuttings like lavender and rosemary will go there once they've grown big enough. Today it rained non-stop so I didn't get anything done and tbh the rubbish weather makes me want to sleep all day.

It was gloomy here today but we managed a brief mooch around a National Trust garden. I was interested in (and jealous of) their mulching, as they clearly had tons of the stuff and the muscle to pile it on thick! I also noticed that they weren’t bothered by the mulch touching the stems of the plants, which gardening mags always say is a no-no.

Had a hefty three days of weeding, digging out new beds, removing a huge patch of Spanish bluebells and more weeding! Bin is utterly full.

PP, sorry can't find your name, thalictrum are an absolute fave. Given their delicate little stalks they look like they should be munched in seconds but slugs seem to ignore them! Given I've had sedum, daffodils and magnolia flowers eaten this year it's a relief.

Off to the White Cliffs of Dover plant fair next weekend and will stock up mightily.

We don't do no-mow May on the back lawn because when we tried it we lost all the short flowers - daisies, speedwell, clover etc we have an area of long grass with spring bulbs and taller flowers (bush vetch, field cranesbill, meadow buttercup, greater burnet, melancholy thistle etc) and a mown path with daisies and white clover. Red clover and zigzag clover do OK in long grass

No, and I still haven't found the thread with it on, but I googled ground cover plants with white flowers and recognised it's common name, Snow in Summer, aka Cerastium 😊

I planted out some bluebells today and refilled the bird feeders. We are doing no mow May in the middle of our lawn with the edges and a path mown through it. It's actually looking quite pretty at the moment.

I didn’t do much today as was nightshift last night and it had rained heavily overnight. Tied up my peony with some twine, pulled a few weeds and and did a bit more pruning. Was just glad to get a washing out today.

I took a large fuchsia out of a pot and planted it in the ground, watered my seedlings and weeded the pavement outside Maud Towers. I was delighted to see a frog in the pond, even though the frog spawn perished.

Nothing today - it absolutely chucked it down with rain this afternoon and I was in zoom calls this morning. I did find 10 minutes to step outside and admire the peony and rose buds though!