What have you done in the garden today? Part 2

[ThreeRingCircus]

A continuation of the last thread.

Did some emergency watering, as when even your lavender is starting to wilt.... It's too hot to do ANY of the jobs I want to, bit will maybe wait till about 8 then do a bit of potting on, trimming and weeding.

Built an awning over the patio to keep the worst of the summer heat off the living room. Had to Jack it up on several bricks as the patio doors are a step or two up and the awning is free-standing and 2.5m tall.
DH will get some tannelised timber later to make proper stilts for it, and bolt it to the back wall. For now it's a little precarious and the wind wobbles it alarmingly but it is actually more comfortable in the living room today.

That sounds lovely! Will keep an eye out for it. Mine is Totally Tangerine, which is not as tasteless as it sounds.

I've dug out the last bit of turf from my new bed, yay! And dug out the cobbles underneath. I'm planning a seating area edged with cobbles and it's obvious someone a hundred years ago had the same idea, but the ground level has risen enough that I have to dig them all out and re-lay!

Will need to do some thorough watering this evening.

I got out first thing before it was too hot and moved my clematis further away form the fence. I put it in about a month ago as close as possible feeling very proud of myself then noticed the other day the label said to plant at a short distance. I put an additional viola in a gap in the same bed, before had to go out. I have a number of lupins I urgently need to plant but am a bit stuck for space. I think I'll end up doing a shift around of existing plants to get them in.

@SarahAndQuack it is a terrible name for a great plant, but does sound like a Dulux colour from the 70s! I love geums, so cheery, and mine are the equally daft-named 'Flames of Passion'

Today's gardening hack - chopped up fresh banana peel from our breakfast, added boiling water and leave to steep and get tepid, then added into the holes I've dug for my clematis (see upthread). Full of minerals and goodness for the clematis to enjoy.

We've come away for a couple of days for a wedding, so I didn't want to plant them until we get back on Mon as I know they won't get watered or rained on for 2 days, so I've left them covered in their pots in a shady part of the patio until then. 👍

Despite annual mulching of the borders, the newly planted dahlia are wilting in the heat, so I had to water them with the hose. One good soaking and more leaf mulch should hopefully revive them for now.

Dismantled a tree cabbage which expired last year. Looks like proper wood inside, complete with growth rings, and is too tough for my loppers, definitely a saw job

So true!

I really struggle with some plant names. Salvia 'Hot Lips' makes me never want to buy it.

I’ve pulled out the gone over forget me most and bluebells from under the weeping ash, to reveal the hellebores and some heucheras which have seen better days.

its 28 degrees here today, so I think that’s my lot, save for watering the pots later on. I’ve already had an orange ice lolly and a mini magnum but I think I’m going to have another!

really hoping for some rain tomorrow as the rest of the garden is absolutely parched and the water butts are almost empty.

Hi
Any chance this conifer may recover, I cut back the winter damage

Hurray! We’ve had some rain this afternoon. Not a lot but it all counts.

Still no rain here, weather app keeps teasing me with thunderstorm warnings but the sky remains blue.
The only watering I've done today is refilling the ceramic saucer down the shady end of the garden so wildlife can have a drink.

Not much! Put out some water for the birds and prayed for a bit of rain.

It's raining in Berkshire! I really must buy a second water butt.

I’ve planted out some new lavender at the front to replace the ones that the cold weather killed off over the winter, and done some general tidying.

Has anyone else had issues with their hydrangea not flowering? Mines grown well but would normally been in full bloom by now.

I've dug up some hostas that were in the wrong place at the back of a border and put a couple in pots and one in a new border. Not very optimistic I can protect them from the slugs though sadly 🫤

I also dug up a dead hydrangea, I'd been hoping against hope it would recover but no. The heat wave last year killed it off.

@VisionOfYou I've found everything is up to 4 weeks late growing/coming into leaf/flowering. I know in part that's because my garden is new, but my ceanothus has only just got going. Hydrangea- potted- has only just got buds.

Did a little bit of potting up of some plants- hibiscus that was going a bit yellow, iris which didn't have enough soul, and trimmed some edges. Did get a cocktail in the garden though!

Now that the weather has warmed up, much to my dismay (summer is not my ideal season!) I have found it tremendously difficult to work in the heat. In the last 5 years or so, I kind of gave up - I lost the spirit of gardening even when the plants needed so desperately to be watered. The toms would suffer as they really need the watering, but eventually they would limp on, till eventually the die off, leaving the toms to ripen over the next month or so.

This week, I've had to pull my socks off, and decided to work in the cooler temps when it was dusk time, and the last 3 nights, I've done most of the weeding and planted out my much-awaited annuals (cosmos, snapdragons, phlox, sweet peas, . Also, some of the plants I got from plant swaps such as a bay, fennel and toms.) I've watered the garden 3 times, drenched for a good half hour (only a small garden with lots of pots and raised beds and a border.)

Euurrgh, tonight's a bummer, though. Can't really go out when it's still 19C out there. How I'm going to deal with the impending heatwave later, I do not know.

It's meant to forecast heavy, drifting showers tomorrow afternoon. Can I believe it? Nope, but I do sosoososo wish it would rain. We've been parched for the last 3 weeks of no rain here in the Midlands. C'mon guys, let's pray it'll come for us!!

Thanks- my roses are behind so I should have considered that for the hydrangea!

Also, someone on FB wanted any spare plants, so I gave them two spare clumps of geranium phaeum; however much the bees love them, they do take up too much room in the small flower bed I have. (I do have the lighter, lilac phaeum which I love). I chopped the others back in the hope of it reflowering later in the season. I did pull up most of the dwarf comfrey as it had bulked-up too much and was in the way of my path. Planted out begonia Angelica (fragrant one from Farmer Gracey) and my indoor oxalis triangularis.

Yes lots is behind for me too. Hydrangea not flowering, and neither is my rose. It's very weird this year but the weather has also been strange.