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?

Oh dear Lord. I really am trying to understand those instructions, but I just can’t visualise the U. I got some bits of house leek and sedum for my little pots of alpines (from my sons garden). I’m going to sit out in a bit, planning.

We've got our yellow book opening next Sunday so busy doing the terrace pots which are many, and 4 big Cretan pots round the pond. Brugmansias, gingers, and scented geraniums mostly but also rhodochiton and Verbena 'Sissinghurst'. Olives tidied up and a lemon tree repotted into a terracotta (Ikea lemon tree:cheap but good). Pleaching limes. Still got cosmos to plant. Pricked out a few precious meconopsis seedlings (integrifolia).

Zebra, starting under the pot thread 1 end of the fabric up through a drainage hole, then thread it down through the next hole.

@BinturongsSmellOfPopcorn aah, now I get it . Thanks. Excited

@Bideshi now I want 4 big Cretan pots around my pond, which is really more of a puddle so the scale would be so wrong.

I have spent most of the afternoon trying to persuade a metre-square mass of marjoram to give up its vice-like grip on my rockery. It is putting up quite a fight.

Potted up the rest of my tomatoes, cucumbers and chillies in the greenhouse. Gave the remainder away. Potted out ther gangly sunflowers my daughter brought home from nursery, alongside some borage seedlings. Then spent ages trying to remember how my water pump works... set up my drip irrigation in the greenhouse, and got confused by all the connectors, but after a trip to buy a new bit, it's all working without leaking. I also got a new outdoor tap... would prefer to be able to use the tap with a timer while I'm on holiday, but currently there is too much leaking going on at the tap.

Yes, that’s it!

Sorry, @Zebracat , I was struggling to explain it properly.

A word of caution - don’t overfill the reservoir or you end up with insects laying eggs in the stagnant water, and it can get a bit whiffy. Still works, mind you.

I did trial 6 different ways of doing the wicking fabric and they all worked the same, so I went for the easy one using the least fabric.

Sniffed my not Sarah Bernhardt although it said so on the box peony. Distinct whiff of fish. Sigh.

Today I weeded an admittedly small part of my front garden but I did it, potted on four fuchsias into an arrangement, and potted on an newly bought apple mint.

More on the vegetable raised beds - now there is butternut squash, courgette, lettuce, green beans, strawberries, fennel, rocket and rhubarb. And the most amazing tomato plants from seed given to us by a 99 year old friend!

Sniffed my not Sarah Bernhardt although it said so on the box peony
We've had no luck with this peony, unfortunately. So beautiful but it just doesn't come back. The crimson ones are rampant though!

Think one of my amazingly-not-sulking peonies is a SB. But I've had it years so not sure!
I've got a load of 'lucky dip' end of line peonies planted out, so I've no idea of type/colour. Two of them (all pretty dinky) have got buds, so am excited to see how badly they'll clash with whatever's near them.

Shortly off out to plant a hibiscus in the pink border. Am doing more watering this year, given everything is new in, and we have sandy soil. It's really weird, we only moved up the road, and the soil at the two houses could not be more different!

My mother never forgave me for the marjoram I gave her

Planted out some perennials, which involved weeding, so my compost heap is now 2ft higher. Checked the weather forecast to reassure myself that there will be other gardening opportunities, took a picnic over to the cricket and stayed there the rest of the day.

@DiscoBeat - you bean poles look good!
we did some at a group allotment yesterday, similar to yours but put canes horizontally about 2 ft from the ground for more stability but am thinking perhaps we didn’t need that.

will you plant anything to run along the ground space while the beans climb?

we are considering putting pumpkins in the space.

“your”

😂

I plant quick crops under mine - radish, rocket etc. Once the beans get large the area underneath is heavily shaded, so I stop planting then.

That’s what I was wondering - how shaded the ground will become.

Marjoramageddon day 2 and I've won the battle!! Well, kind of - without actually dismantling the entire rockery I couldn't get the roots out, but I have razed it to the ground. Managed to find an entire flight of steps under there as well.
You'd be proud of me @MereDintofPandiculation

@Yamadori I've being doing the same, but against ferns and mind-your-own-business mainly. Haven't discovered any steps, but I've found a path, some nice york stone edging, and our gas meter.

Good opening line for a book.

I also found a fuchsia, a bird bath and a Scots pine.