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

That made me properly grin, @GertrudeJekyllAndHyde. You pitch it to Gardens Illustrated.

@GertrudeJekyllAndHyde Haha, I live on the east coast and have tried planting more Mediterranean type plants lavenders etc as it is so dry here in the summer which is great they do well and then we get a 'Beast from the East' or loads of rain and it all goes to pot.

Yes, my experiments with drought-tolerant plants have generally not gone well.

I always was rather puzzled by gardening programs going on about using more Mediterranean plants as a response to climate change. Surely they've noticed we're still on an island with a maritime climate and understand that water+ more heat is likely to mean more rain?

Exactly - certainly in the early stages of the discussion, it was focussed on hotter, drier summers with far less attention given to rainfall patterns or winter weather.

Yes, I've found it irritating too, TBH. I like Monty Don very much, but I am tired of the pious interludes about choosing different plants, without any indication anyone's thought very hard about what that means!

It's also annoying because a lot of larger Mediterranean plants/trees are still imported from Europe, which is not sustainable and not very eco. It'd be much nicer if we could focus more on British native plants that are under-appreciated, and on developing new cultivars.

I was pondering that yesterday. The bay tree in a pot by the front door has been looking miserable for a year now - pruning, feeding and replacing the compost haven’t helped much - so I was thinking about an olive tree but disease risk, import ban etc …

YY, exactly.

(Would you think about maybe eucalyptus? Much easier to grow in the UK and they love being damp, though that would mean you had to water a lot in the summer. I have a potted one that I'm really pleased with atm.)

Hmm. I love eucalyptus - I used it in my Christmas wreath where it looks great - but I think I’d struggle to keep it small enough for the pot and the space. I’ll put the bay tree on probation and perhaps in the autumn I’ll turf it out and replace it with the olive tree from the back garden, instead of buying a second one.

There are dwarf/slow-growing ones? But I take the point!

In the 30 years I’ve lived in this area the difference has been that streams are getting larger and Lesser Celandine has become abundant. Advice to look at drought resistant Mediterranean plants couldn’t be more irrelevant.

I've got an accidental eucalyptus in a pot, self-seeded from the totally unsuitable copse that was planted by the farmer in a very misguided bid to screen him from our small estate when it was built. They rapidly grew too tall (so long spindly trunks not a screen) and then started falling over in high winds - fortunately across the farm lane so only damaged one neighbours fence and the farmer got rid and replaced with (i think) hazel. Much better.

Anyway, the sapling worked as a small loose headed standard for a while before becoming too top-heavy so I coppiced it - it's bushing out, I probably need to prune some of the taller branches.

So maybe not exactly what you want to replace a bay but if you like eucalyptus perhaps it is possible to have one that can be kept small and get cut foliage as a bonus!

DH has nipped out to check the level of the River Wye, as it tends to flood at Monmouth Bridge Further along, there's an area of flood plain that's likely to be so high it will reach the valley road.

Weirdly during COVID 2020, that summer was a draught with no rainfall at all in our area for about 7 months and the river dried up to the extent you could see the rocks that are normally submerged under several feet of river.

People remarked that our grass was very green but that was only because in previous years the field adjoining us floods (we're on a slope) so our garden gets the run off and the water table stays high!

I think the worrying patterns are the extremes. Too much or too little and uk infrastructure can't cope, not helped by developers building big housing estates on or near flood plains.

Gertrude maybe there are some bays that don't like being in pots. I had a truly pathetic specimen that has taken with relish to being planted in a rather poxy narrow bed.

I think the worrying patterns are the extremes. Too much or too little and uk infrastructure can't cope, not helped by developers building big housing estates on or near flood plains.

The infrastructure issues probably apply in many countries tbh. But for sure there isn't enough joined up thinking re developments. There's a massive amount of new housing estates being built near us, and some big roads (though not afaik schools...). Unsurprisingly, people are finding that their water pressure has significantly diminished and one of the roads is now impassably flooded all the time as far as we can see.

Done today: replaced the old and sagging chicken wire in the allotment plot for fresh stuff. Was perhaps the most time outdoors / fresh air I've had since before Xmas and I feel all the better for it.

Though my muscles are all complaining about being used without warning.

Took another look at the plot next to mine that I've just emailed about to see if I can take on as well. There is SO much to do in it I started to wonder if I am not mad to take it on. I've only just got my first plot into a good order and routine

I got some primulas to replace the sad cyclamen (wanted violas but none to be had) and potted up a couple of new small sage plants - DH cooked something recently that required nearly all the leaves off my straggly old plant, he didn't realise that buying sage just after Xmas would be impossible!

And started hacking back the overgrown climbing rose and intertwined ivy. I need to be drastic... one section the ivy is so thick I discovered a bird feeder in it, and there's a vertical leaf mould layer formed. It'll look a mess but I don't doubt it will regrow.

Last autumn I helped my mum hack back a very overgrown honeysuckle, and we found a fairly large lantern in it.

The most shocking thing I've found was a long dead cray fish in a climbing rose. We're near a river and water meadows so I suppose a heron must have dropped it. I was stunned.

Oh my!

I once found a decapitated guinea pig...

I havent done anything in my garden today, or indeed for weeks, beyond the Odd bit of poo picking and hosing down of the patio. The view from the house is generally ok, but not a closer inspection. The bit beyond looks , well, beyond. I’ve been Ill for about 4 weeks, but beginning to revive now. I got a beautiful alpine trough for Christmas , and yesterday went to buy alpines for it. They were half price which is great but meant, of course that i bought twice as many as required. Also, I’m not sure where to put it. I dont want the dogs weeing on it. Of course , I threw out an old garden table last year which would have made a perfect stand. I may have to start looking in skips. It’s cold and crisp here so I may go out now and plant it, I have a temporary position in the depleted herb patch. Posting for accountability.

I was going to go into the garden today but pulled a muscle in my groin whilst getting dressed, so am now hobbling about. The perils of the passing years!

Eek to the pulled muscle!

Skips and the like can be great sources of gardenalia. My best find recently was a discarded shop display, which will have auriculas on it if the weather ever improves.

On the topic of gruesome finds, my best/worst ever was the severed leg of (I think, although I’m no vet) next door’s pet rabbit. Urban foxes.

Now im dreaming of auriculas when I cant look after what I have. 2024 really ought to be the year I actually get produce from my vegetable garden, but I wouldn’t bank on it. Trough planted.

Gruesome finds, a frog that didn’t get out of the way of the mower, I jump up and down for hours now, and my cats old habit of eating the whole mouse except for the head. No less ghastly for being small. She’s got too old for that, thankfully.