What have you done in the garden today? Part 2

[ThreeRingCircus]

A continuation of the last thread.

I think you have started at the end of the story I was wanting to hear! My fault for not being clear.

When you say you were freelance, were you someone who had worked as a journalist who went freelance? Or did you move from other types of writing into it? Again, of course, don't feel any need to share if you're not comfortable. I am just interested to see how different people have approached things.

@NorthernChinchilla

Just checked, you don’t seem to have uploaded your peony pictures onto the “Have your peonies sprouted yet “ thread.

I am sure this is just an oversight, but you do know it is compulsory . 🙂

I can't find the thread!
So....this first one is my Bowl of Beauty. Normally a gaudy beauty, but being moved and lack of rain = Thimble of Beauty

Next two are my end of line no labels no ideas!

Love the peonies. I planned a lot of gardening today but got derailed by a very sick dog. Havent even put my tools away. Tomorrow!

Lovely. 🙂There is a lot of peony love on MN this year.

Gorgeous peonies @NorthernChinchilla . That Bowl of Beauty is a real showstopper.

Thank you all, very kind This was it last year though, not a great pic and before it had properly got going.

I have done the grand total of naff all today, not even watered, as had to go out to get Father's day gifts. Will try tomorrow but I'm in the Office, so a long day... but needs must!

Hope your dog is OK @Zebracat

One of my rose shrubs was leaning forward over the lawn, so today I bought a tree stake and have knocked that in and have tied it up, it looks so much happier now the heads are off the floor. Gave everything a good watering tonight, had to use the hose as the waterbutt is empty.

Yes, sorry @SarahAndQuack. That is confusing. I've been a hack writer pretty much since I left university. Nothing major because I had a young family (4 dc), but stuff like articles for periodicals, rewrites, a bit of ghost writing. First husband was a reasonably popular historian who was always behind with his deadlines so he used to say stuff like 'Can you do me 4,000 words on French military fortifications' and I'd become an instant expert on same before forgetting it completely and moving on to the next thing. His books sold well and I still feel irked that whole chapters were often by me rather than by him. But he was the one with the name.
Then the garden started to get noticed because there was a young presenter on a Channel 4 series called 'Bloom' who had been a friend of my son, lived here, and whom I had mentored horticulturally. There was a book of the series and I wrote his third - others were by Ann Swithinbank and somebody I've forgotten. Then the same young telly presenter was headhunted for a newspaper column but he couldn't string two words together, so I ghosted it. After a while I thought 'to hell with this' and insisted on doing it in my own name. Picked up various other commissions and did pretty well for about 15 years before all the Mirror group newspapers cut costs by going to franchise. Recently I've done a few articles on the garden here, more to get it better known than anything. I could have done more but I had a commission from Harper Collins for a book. I was way over deadline because of illness and then widowhood so that didn't come off. It's a good book though and it's sitting with my agent now.
Now I concentrate on the garden. I write, but only things I want to write about. Mostly I garden.

@Bideshi sorry to hear about the illness and widowhood. I hope your book gets published.

I have watered and removed several slugs which were feasting on my dahlia. Every night my laptop tells me there's a thunderstorm due and every day it fails to materialise. It's not that I want the fine weather to end - this is Ireland so fine days are always welcome. But I keep thinking, "Grand. I'm off the hook for watering tomorrow".

I have watered and also removed an intrepid snail which had made it as far as the hanging basket. Still no sign of rain.

Ha! We used to joke that the snails round our way could levitate, as that was the only explanation for how they got into some of the places they were found.

@Bideshi sounds like you've triumphed over some serious adversity, and a fascinating life journalism and gardening wise.

Sitting here this morning looking out at the garden, feeling happy with what I've achieved in a few months. Need to do some more weeding this weekend, will net the fruit bushes, feed the garden and do a bit of staking I think.

I spent a long time removing side shoots from tomatoes and weeding.. so many weeds after the rain!
Then I sat and admired my Rambling Rector which is gorgeous this year

Thank you all, but it was all a long time ago. Another life, even. New Husband and much less drama.
I thought our last rain was May 2nd but I've just spoken to a man who keeps records and it was May 1st. It's desperate. There's a possibility at the weekend but even so it's going to be touch and go for some rhododendrons and trees.
@Pottedpalm I'd be careful not to linger on that chair lest you be mugged by the Rambling Rector. Mine was 80 feet up in an Austrian Pine. The tree came down in a storm and the rose was cut back to base. It's taking over a whole area of the garden now. But it's a lovely thing.
Got a press photographer coming this afternoon. Nothing looks good.

No need to say sorry at all! I was being intrusive, really.

I echo everyone else being furious you've had such a horrible time - your first husband sounds like a real opportunist, treating you like that!

I will be really excited to read your book when it's out, and I hope that will be soon. You write beautifully on here. I think everyone goes over on book deadlines and usually with much less reason - and I'm so sorry for your loss.

Here's to gardening because we can!

@Pottedpalm I love that rose! Ours scrambles up and around our large laburnum tree. It's crazy but beautiful.

I've spent another two hours this evening watering the garden. Good job I'm retired! We are supposed to have some rain early next week 🙏🏻. Apart from that I've spent another hour or so pulling goose grass/sticky weed from the hawthorn hedges and dead heading some more of the roses. And re-planting the salvias our lovely pup has kindly dug up 🙈😂

Not so much my garden but my neighbours'. She went in to care in December and the house still hasn't sold, fell through this week. There's more viewings at the weekend and I'm in touch with the daughter so I offered to tidy up a bit. Mowed the medium sized, knee high lawn, and then weeded the badly infested decking of four foot high dandelions and probably 35sq ft of herb robert. Have filled my garden waste bin entirely plus another two garden bags. Am hoping the other two neighbours will take a bag each in their waste bins - we're a friendly four house close so I think they will.

For my own garden, I desperately need to mow, and also to tackle the bindweed creeping through the flagstones. I also need to renovate the bay tree I mentioned in the previous thread and probably chainsaw out the dying viburnum. The later two jobs and almost anything else will keep for a week or two I suppose.

I did similar today. There’s a beautiful old cottage opposite us, the owner died intestate last year and I think they are currently trying to trace relatives. I can’t get round the back but I went over and cut back the 4 foot thistles and sycamore saplings that were growing over the windows. I couldn’t bear looking at it any more.

I did nothing in my own garden apart from a bit of weeding and deadheading. DH arrived home from a friends with a lovely rose bush they’d given him for doing them a favour. I have no idea where to put it, it’ll have to go in a pot.

@BestIsWest and @LostAtTheCrossRoad that's a real kindness. I've been on the other side- my Mum was very disabled and her neighbour kept her garden lovely. Then at the beginning of Covid she fell and had rapid (as in overnight) onset dementia, went to a nursing home and died 9 months later. He kept it looking spic and span, and then kindly dug out the rose for me that now sits in my front border, where it can ramble in all it's luminous (slightly garish ) pink glory!

nd then weeded the badly infested decking of four foot high dandelions Would it be churlish to suggest that “four foot high” and “dandelion” cannot both be true?

My “lawn” is definitely beyond “no mow May”! I love it, as do the frogs and the cats.

The garden photographer arrived yesterday, took a few pics, and then said 'Look, this isn't going to do the reputation of your garden any good, nor my reputation as a photographer. Can we just postpone this until you get some rain. I can see it's a lovely garden but it's suffering.'
It was a relief actually. It was so dispiriting wondering around and seeing black and brown leaves and shrivelled plants. There's a noise like rain but it's just the dry leaves falling from rhododendrons, magnolias, hollies, eucryphia. I'm watering the rare and irreplaceable stuff - cans ridiculously. Exhausting.