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 cut the Cotoneaster hedge and coppiced a hazel. At this rate winter pruning is going to take me a lot longer than I hoped. Then I sat down in the greenhouse to clean my shears, and was hit on the head by a broom-wielding cat.

A broom-wielding cat? That is a story that demands to be told.

A broom wielding cat??

Just noticed our first daff is almost open. Looked in my diary and it was Feb 17th last year and Feb 7th in 2022.
And a single crocus!

Did the big prune today of the lovely David Austin roses

Growth sprouting already so even though not all with rose hips went for it

Felt good, and very mild here

I did another 3 metres of border, very very slow progress here, but I was happy.

I’ve abandoned the garden in favour of lunch and the cinema.

Today started with a trip to Lytham - too windy on the prom for DHs liking so we diverted to Lytham hall and were rewarded by carpets of snowdrops.

Back in time for some more mindful destruction in the garden, the hori hori really is an excellent multipurpose tool. Poor little buttercups...

I had a clematis in a pot which didn't thrive on the sunny side of the arbour, and when moved to the shaded side (pretty much NNW) grew leaves well, but no flowers at all. So I've moved it into a border to take its chances there. So now I want to find something for that pot. I could do with a rethink on the sunny side too - currently has a jasminium beesianum which is a bit meh.

Wasted money on snowdrop bulbs only a few up so buying in the green this year
my first staff opened 30 Dec but only one so far!
got a few crocuses and anenomes poking through. My hellebores are flourishing so it’s not too bare
I've cut back all the perennials now. Trying to decide whether to move a jasmine in a pot that did well but needs somewhere to grow up against.
mainly been topping up bird feeders I seem to be feeding a whole neighbourhood of green and goldfinches this year
cant wait for the gardening year to properly start !

daff not staff!

Commiserations on your snowdrops @ipredictariot5 mine are a bit lacklustre .

I think they may need another year to really settle in. In the green are the best though.

Finished off weeding the pink border at the front. Loads of snowdrops (OK, they're not pink, but they disappear before anything pink flowers, and they're beautiful) and also at the back, with lots of croci too.
My weird mini daffs, with flowers like a star/bell in pale lemon have come through too. I planted a few hundred spring and summer bulbs last year so delighted to see the first come through!

One of the joyous things about seasonality is that you don't have to have the same 'rules' re colour all year.

We have a lone snowdrop. Not sure if the rest are late, or lost to squirrels. Sudden flush of crocus flowers though, the first tiny daff, and lots of assorted bulb leaves just starting to poke through.

After a slow start, my snowdrops planted in the green last year are looking good. Patience is a virtue, although in short supply chez moi, as I watch the witch hazel do very little.

Well, the crocuses I complained about are starting to pop out ... but not where I put them! There are several beautiful, thriving clumps all along the guttering over the outbuildings, and a couple of very large group that have clearly been dragged under the shelter of larger evergreen plants, where they've been joyously nibbled and half-buried.

Some are coming up where I meant, but it's a bit of a rout!

At work we are enjoying the witchhazel, which is absolutely amazing - so beautiful and you really notice the scent when you're working in and among several different varieties.

There are several beautiful, thriving clumps all along the guttering over the outbuildings

Squirrel garden design services?

I think mice! Until my ex-partner and I separated, I had lovely, energetic mouser kittens, who were absolutely on the task. But they've gone, and all the evidence suggests that the mice carried the bulbs up to their safe place, had a cursory nibble, and then abandoned them. We don't get many squirrels, because there are hawks and owls.

I am in the market for more cats.

I’m feeling quite proud that I did another 2 hours today. Cut back the dogwood, pyracantha and roses by the back door, bagged up some leaves, and more weeding.so I’m now about 2/3rds of the way round my big tidy up ,of the first third of my back garden. I’m not usually systematic, just dart from job to job. But this way is definitely better. And I have 3 crocuses, but they are in the next section.
When my garden was landscaped, about 10 years ago, we had lots of lighting put in. Cost a fortune but looked pretty. Stopped working after about 5 years, and now I’ve got cables running thru my borders and a controller face down in the rosemary. Scares me. Does anyone have experience of this? I need it all taken out. Don’t know how big a job hat might be. It’s definitely my biggest garden regret.

Can the garden electrics be turned off from the house?

I'd have thought you'd just need a qualified electrician to physically cut it all off from the mains and then anyone could deal with the dead cables etc?

They are turned off in the the garage, but they dont have their own circuit, so we have no light or power in the garage. I kept asking for a certificate for the work and never got one. Whole thing just seems dodgy and unsafe. I am so bad at working with tradespeople, I think I’m so nice that they either think I'm coming on to them, or that I’m a pushover, or maybe both.

Thanks though. I’m glad I mentioned it. I feel so ashamed at the waste of money and crap work I accepted butI will get an electrician round. And to anyone consider8ng garden lights, can I just say tha5 solar has come on in leaps and bounds recently.🥴

They are turned off in the the garage, but they dont have their own circuit, so we have no light or power in the garage. Well, that’s a lesson for next time Our house electrics are all designed so wall sockets and lights for one room are never on the same circuit, and each circuit has a mixture of sockets and lights. So we always have some power and some lights. I think that’s normal practice now but it wasn’t in the 90s when my dad did a complete rewire for us.

You need an electrician to disconnect and to reinstate the garage circuit. Once that’s done you can do as much or as little of the rest as you like - it’s all inert wire.

@MereDintofPandiculation . Thank you so much. I know what to say now.

@Zebracat Are you certain all the lights are on the same circuit? I know they're all on the garage circuit, but is there only one connection or more than one from the garage to the garden? The electrician should be able to check that for you, and make sure everything has been disconnected.