What have you done in the garden today? Part 2

[ThreeRingCircus]

A continuation of the last thread.

It’s only about 8x3 feet @Bideshi so not on your scale :) and I have a stupid dog who eats plants and a DH who hates ferns so I’m limited to what I can have. I’d love hostas and foxgloves and ferns. Caught the dog gnawing on a very thorny dead bit of rose bush this week. Honestly!

That was swoonily. What I really hate about predictive text is its banality.

@BestIsWest What about some of the polygonatum. Not necessarily regular Solomons seal, but the dark-leaved 'Betburg' or the variegated ones. Or a lovely disporum like 'Night Heron' (if you can get hold of it). Or white candelabra primulas like 'Postford White'. Kirengeshoma, anemonopsis, anemone rivularis? Or that nice little Japanese woodland peony, P veitchii? Trilliums....
Get the DH educated re ferns. Error of opinion! They're fabulous.

Ooh thanks for the list, I shall have a happy hour over lunch with Google.

Also the scientific name Circaea, which makes it clear which enchanter they were thinking of

My Digitalis purpurea tries its best to get into the sunnier bits (its habitat is woodland clearings, hence the long lasting seeds, waiting for a clearing to form) but other foxcloves like Digitalis lutea with small cream flowers and Digitalis grandiflora with larger cream flowers are doing very nicely under my apple trees, with shade from taller trees on all four sides. They're also perennial rather than biennial so they stay where they're put.

Kirengeshoma has been on my wish list for years. Top of my wish list right now, though, is rain. I’m wilting faster than the garden.

A couple of months back I was given 2 of those grow pots from Sainsbury’s, a blue one with I think corn flowers and a yellow one with sunflowers. So I thought as they came with the pot , it must fit ? No , they looked very sad , so today I sweltered , filled a couple of big pots and tried to get the blooming things out ! Had to soak them out , but the sunflowers fell head first and snapped most of the heads off !🤦‍♀️I was too hot and bothered by then so I watered it and left it looking like it’s from the Adams family… just a pot of stalks 🤣

I've planted out my lupins, which I grew from seed, in the cottage bed and done quite a bit of dead-heading of roses, geum and cornflowers. Last night we emptied one of the compost bins so have spread some lovely crumbly organic compost around some of the roses 🌹😍

Just about to start another marathon watering stint (with a glass of cold white wine in hand 🥂😂)

So. the sun has gone and it's been very overcast with a tiny bit of rain but no proper showers. So I've resigned myself to another evening of watering.

@ComeIntoTheGardenMaud I have a lovely tray of kinrengeshoma seedlings in the nursery waiting to be pricked out.

How delightful! I often fantasise about how lovely it would be to be a full-time gardener or run a nursery, but then I remind myself about the early starts and the need to be outside in all weathers. I’m a lightweight, really.

I am too@ComeIntoTheGardenMaud. I don't do much in the nursery. My background's in garden journalism rather than actual gardening. I enjoy it but if the garden had to rely on me to look smart it wouldn't. I'm a designer and planner, and a decent enough plants person but I have an enabler. Not a very cooperative one to be sure, but it's something.

Goodness, I want some of this rain some of you are talking about! It's been parched here. I did a nine hour day in the greenhouse and came home needing to soak the garden as it is like dust.

@bideshi - your situation/career sounds amazing! Please don't reply if you're not comfortable, but how did you get into garden journalism?

I watered the garden and put up the hammock

Didn't need to water the garden ⛈️ so swept up all the moss and crud the rain bounced out of the driveway then pulled enough weeds to cover up the soily layer in the green bin so the bin men will take it.
The soaking from rain and a trickle hose seems to have saved my blueberry, the crispy leaves are now greenish again and the raisins are now tiny fruit again.
I'll need to keep an eye on it until it rains properly again though.

We had a couple of hours’ rain yesterday too, so I had a reprieve from watering. The plant supports are arriving today, so I’m hoping to put those in place around the gaura and other perennials this evening. And will then begin the weeding tomorrow. Trying to psych myself up!

Well I've been trying to sort the chaos I have caused myself after not labelling my seedling trays so I now have Zinnia, Stocks, and Echinaceas all in the wrong place as I have got them all mixed up...well turns out what i thought were stocks are echinacea and they haven't really germinated and the huge Zinnias are the stocks (I think) and the Zinnias are planted where i wanted the perennial echinacea's to go...lessson learnt - always label your seed trays 😁

@SarahAndQuack I was freelance and probably could have hustled for more work but my main gig was 2,000 words a week for a tabloid. I did more upmarket stuff as well but that didn't pay NUJ rates. I've always been a writer, mostly ghosting or rewrites. The garden stuff came from the garden being quite well known and it being picked up after being on telly a couple of times. It's not so easy now as a lot of niche stuff - gardening, health, ands on - goes through agencies. If I was younger and could be bothered I'd blog now. I think that's the only way to go really.

I’m just home from work and looking after 2 of the DGC . Watering will have to wait till after tea , but I did do toms and veg beds at 6 before I left . Bonus of the day is my lovely work friend brought in 7 more toms a Lilly and a lucky dip of plants she has run out of room for . Iv plonked them by the greenhouse and will plant in the morning. I’m going to put the toms in the boarder as no other room . I think there’s a salvia in there and a daisy thing but haven’t looked at the rest . I had a mad dash to John Lewis in between finishing work and picking up DGS from school , so grabbed one of the last hand held fans as a thank you .

Bought some plants for the gaps in my sunny border. Hollyhocks, nepeta and gypsophilia. The hollyhocks were reduced, as were some HarlowCarr primulas which I also bought, because I’ve wanted them forever. They had some very good large shrubs also half price and I thought about buying one to replace my photinia that died, because it leaves a lovely empty pot, but I thought I would resist that.. But it’s been too hot to plant them, and the ground is so hard.

I have a number of shrubs sitting in pots Zebracat, waiting until Autumn. Ground is solid here (well, as solid as sand can be), still no bloody rain! We're not due any till next week

On the positive side- two of my random selection peonies have flowered, one very pale pink/turned white, one far more mid raspberry pink. Transplanted peonies also flowering, but they're tiny, probably lack of rain.
Mum's rose about to go mad.
Front borders still very early days but looking so much better than before.
Lillies poking through, finally.

Downsides- ominous warning from water company about careful use of water.
Being bitten! I've finally got a lovely garden but am being bitten alive. Never have been before, but Saturday I was got 7 times through (light) clothing. So now can only go out after 5 wearing Deet and jeans/hoodie combo

My courgettes are flowering! I was very excited this morning to see the flowers had opened.

Dahlias are also starting to flower, but no sign of a bud on my rose so I think I was too brutal with the pruning back in January. Lots of healthy foliage but absolutely no flowers.....so a bit pointless unfortunately!

We had a trip out to a local garden centre, came away with some white campanula, some leucanthemum and foolishly, a yellow calla Lily which is very pretty but I know it will get devoured by the slugs and snails.
Put them in and did some feeding, watering and deadheading this evening.
I’ve ordered some anemones and penstemon online.

Oh, I am jealous, @BestIsWest, I couldn't find white campanula today. I have some that is looking beautiful, and just wanted a bit more.

Today I planted more creeping thyme between the path stones, and planted out a very late pot of peas. I need to motivate myself to do some proper work tomorrow!