What have you done in the garden today? Part 3

[ThreeRingCircus]

The old thread was filling up so I've created a new one!

Link to old thread: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/gardening/4823202-what-have-you-done-in-the-garden-today-part-2?reply=128367673

I really wanted to mow the lawn today but then it absolutely threw it down all afternoon so it’s still a damn jungle out there.

🌱 🌸 🌳.

Today I headheaded a few dahlias and the cosmos. This is my first year ever growing cosmos as I don't normally bother with annuals but it's absolutely fabulous! It really cheers me up when I look out on the garden so I'm definitely hooked and will be sowing more cosmos seeds next year.

I picked a LOT of cherry tomatoes and cooked them with pasta and cheese for dinner. I also weeded the driveway and managed to persuade DD1 to help me.

*Deadheaded....not headheaded 🤣

I was glued to the World Cup, and then it was peeing with rain, so all I did was nip out between the showers to pick some of my thornless blackberries, prune one of the honeysuckles and weed the patio.

The world conspired against me. Every time I went to go outside the heavens opened. I have a bunch of stuff that I need to plant, which means I need to dig some borders to put them in (new build house - lots of plants in pots either given as presents or potted up earlier in the year).

Picked blueberries and made them into compote and sponge pudding. Picked elderberries and began the process of turning them into cough syrup. Did not mow the lawn or harvest the spuds because it was very wet.

Apart from watering the pots, I’ve done very little, although I did resolve to order some more plant supports tomorrow.

I've been building a gardening to-do list in my head and it just keeps growing. The weather yesterday was irritating, with a few silly showers that stopped me from wanting to go out and get soaked, but then again I mustn't complain, my water butts are full up (again!), my gro-bag reservoirs in the greenhouse are fully replenished, the chilli, chard and radish are all topped up. Last year was such a struggle with water, this year is a very different story.

Today's weather is looking a bit more settled so I'm hoping to make headway on my tasks:

1. Prune back some hebe that have doubled in size. I like them when they're smaller and compact, and some daylight between them. They've taken over a whole corner bed!
2. Deadhead and tidy up my roses on the rose arch which are a complete mess and in need of TLC
3. Tidy up the honeysuckle and clematis which are rampant on the other arch, as they've suddenly had a late summer aka middle of winter growth spurt.
4. plant out a couple of shrubs that have been sitting patiently in their pots by the greenhouse waiting for a time when it stops raining and I'm not working.
5. Plant a new crop of lettuce varieties. We've eaten plenty this summer, they've been one of my success stories this summer, but the plants have become too tough and no longer that beautiful tender lushness that make them a delight to eat with radish, chard leaves and rocket.

Nothing yet. I’m place marking. Hope to do some weeding later. Try to find a few plums without codling babies.

Going up the allotment (weather permitting) to pick runners, climbing beans, sweetcorn and brambles. Hopefully some tomatoes as well.

I think today will just be a bit of watering. Yesterday was taking a pot of Geranium rozanne to new garden.

I'm hopeless at gardening but have what could be a lovely garden. I keep trying! Today I weeded and mowed the small front, dead headed the rose by the front door, and tidied a couple of shrub/whatever that were getting too big. I've also mowed the first part of the back lawn. (Garden is in 2 parts, first walled area, then gateway through to the wilderness....) the brown bin is full to brimming ready for tomorrow's collection.

Just going to feed the tomato plants before they give up (been away for a week) and will water later.

Spent most of the day at a local National Trust place admiring the garden whilst the kids did a trail. Decided i definitely want a lace cap hydrangea!
When we got home, I deadheaded/pruned the lavender & cut back the sage which has grown humongous & was crowding out a baby lupin.

Taken out another 3 outdoor blighty tomatoes, and weeded loads. I have friends coming for coffee this week so I need to at least pretend I have some control over the veg patch.

Planted three perennials from my latest mystery box, all (thanks to another MN thread) to a soundtrack of Leonard Cohen.

I like your style@GertrudeJekyllAndHyde. Sounds like a great combination to me.
I soothed a customer who had bought a meconopsis 'Marit' a couple of weeks ago which had died. He's a good gardener so it was our fault (well not mine, but the buck stops here).
Inspected all the plants that'd been slugged and was glad to see signs of recovery.
Walked round the garden with a notebook until the list got overwhelming and gave up.
Looked for somewhere to plant Hydrangea 'Runaway Bride'.
Looked up how to prune actinidia kolomikta which looks ( as Christopher Lloyd said about unpruned clematis) like a disembowelled mattress. The answer is February which means I'll forget to do it. Tempted to take it out. It's on the house and DH dislikes it as he hates most variegation. The punters love it though🙄
DH planted parsley fern in his fern garden. It needs lime-free scree so that was a challenge.

This is my first growing cosmos too and I love it! Such lovely textured foliage.

Mine has been flowering white flowers for months and all of a sudden I’ve seen a deep pink flower - had no idea that it was multi coloured!

Thank you, Bideshi! I often potter in the garden while listening to music. I still remember the ominous silence when I realised I’d pruned not only a clematis but also the earbud cord.

We went to a great place today which was part of the Open Gardens Scheme. It is a new space which is on a farm and a few years ago, the designer was given permission by the farm owners to rent some land and design and develop a garden. There is also a small outdoor teaching space there and the designer gives workshops. It was so interesting and we have come away totally inspired! We can see how we can take the design, scale it down a bit and make it work in part of our garden 😊

The conditions in the garden we saw today were challenging, in a very exposed and windy part of Northumberland. I took loads of photos and we were given a plan of the garden. I'm feeling quite excited!

It was a lovely day today for gardening - sunny, but breezy.

I went around the whole garden blitzing the weeds (which have taken off thanks to recent rain). I tied back my rambling rose, which has been ramblng a bit too much, and cut out some of the dead wood on it. I relocated some self-seeded viburnums and hellebores to fill a few gaps. And I planted out two new plants I picked up yesterday in exchange for a voucher I won at a raffle recently - a goldenrod (next to the fence) and a hebe (in a spare pot).

DH stuck to tasks he's best at - mowing the lawn, and propping up the water butt, which has developed a "lean".

Ended up in the greenhouse today.

I did Number 5 on my list which was planting a fresh crop of lettuce. I always reuse the little plastic cells that plug plants come in. I don't buy plugs anymore as I grow thing in the greenhouse a lot more, but I've been reusing the plastic cells for several seasons and sanitise them with Jeyes from time to time. The lettuce varieties I've planted:

• Frisée (Red and Green varieties)
• Cos
• little Gem.
• Plus some parsley and radicchio
• Dwarf beans, which should be OK in Oct

Im hoping for a nice salad crop by late Sep especially if we get a blast of heat these next few weeks.

I also gave the greenhouse a good tidy up and composted some struggling basil and parsley leftovers that had seen better days. It gave me a decent length of staging for the new seeds, so I can water them easily.

I found two varieties of Cosmos seeds in my stash! Dazzling pink and white. Inspired by @Maggiethecat and @ThreeRingCircus I will put them in a pile I'm building to plant in the new year. I used to grow them in our previous house, and love their impact in a big group.

Will deadhead the dahlia tomorrow after work 👍

Hello!

I kept losing track of the old thread, because (ironically) I was so busy with plants! My own garden has been horribly neglected, but today I managed to do a good bit of weeding and cutting back, and it looks so much better. I have resigned myself to the fact that this year has been a total wash out for veg. Last year I had over 50 squash and we were eating them until a month ago; this year I'll be lucky to get one or two. And I've had a grand total of two courgettes and one cucumber, before the slugs got the rest.

On the positive side, I have found some lovely seedlings of rose rubrifolia (glauca), which I will replant, and I am so happy with my passionflower and grape vine, which are busily colonising the patch of wall I need covered.

@ThreeRingCircus - I'm so with you about cosmos! I almost never bother with annuals apart from that and sweet peas. But cosmos is such brilliant value.

Does anyone have tips about nasturtiums? Years ago, when I was gardening in pots on a balcony, I bought 'milkmaid' and it promptly seeded itself across all my pots and was absolutely gorgeous. It's a really lovely subtle colour, and it's very rangy climber that doesn't clump in that unattractive way they mostly do. Naturally, when I moved, I lost it. I tried in vain to reintroduce it, but it wouldn't play. In my current garden I've got ordinary nasturtiums self-seeding like mad, and there's nothing wrong with them, but I'd love to get milkmaid back. What am I doing wrong? I've tried raising seedlings and planting out, and planting seeds direct.

Hmm. I’ve struggled with nasturtiums this year, too. I sowed Empress of India and got plenty of little plants, but they’ve done very little - nothing like the triffids I’ve had in previous years!