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

Todays walk passed some verges, grass with a row of sycamores in them - I say 'grass', but on inspection the shadier ones are mostly celandines and very little at this time of year while the less densely shaded are grass with no celandines in evidence.

I trimmed the French lavender as they are pretty happy in the conservatory

First daffodils showing, so lovely to see

Apparently will be 16 degrees on Thursday, so mild

The only sure way to get rid of moss in a lawn is to get rid of the damp conditions that it likes. But if you don’t, Green Thumb will be happy to remove it for you every time it returns.

Oh well, learn something new every day! Brazen Hussy is a cultivated celandine with bronze leaves. The RHS warns “potential to become a nuisance if not controlled” but they’re widely available so presumably people are buying them.

I’d love my wild Ficaria verna to be replaced by bronze leaved ones but they’re at a disadvantage as they won’t photosynthesise as well as the green leaved ones, not so much sun getting in to the cells.

I’ve given up trying to control celandines a) because it’s impossible to get up all the bulbils b) because they’re gone by the end of May and it doesn’t seem worth the hassle

We used Green Thumb for a few years. They're ok, and I think they can buy the chemicals much cheaper so may be quite cost effective, but they can't always schedule treatments at the idea time - particularly in relation to rain - IME.

We had Green Thumb visit once and they told me our lawn was the most compressed they'd ever seen. Given that the previous owner had been an old lady who lived alone and hadn't got outside much for many years, I wasn't inclined to believe them. I've seen similar from companies like Dyno Rod, who told us our drain was blocked solid with face wipes, which I've never used in my life. These days, if we need something done we get someone independent and find them much better.

I’d love my wild Ficaria verna to be replaced by bronze leaved ones but they’re at a disadvantage as they won’t photosynthesise as well as the green leaved ones, not so much sun getting in to the cells.

Personally I'd much rather have fresh green in spring!

Yes, I’ve encountered Brazen Hussy before, but I would never plant it here, so have no personal experience of whether it (she?!) spreads as rapidly as her green-leaved relatives.

Very interesting about Green Thumb and the like. I rarely see them around here, maybe because we seem to have a lot of independent designers and maintenance gardeners so there isn’t much gap in the market.

I'm really holding off planting anything yet, especially tomatoes. I do have grow lights and heated mat but they always end up failing.

Thinking of a rejig of the garden too. I've lots of things in pots that I think I will plant out but because some like shade or full sun, so I'll need to have a move around first.

Bought a tetrapanax at the weekend which is in the polytunnel until it gets a bit warmer and the hard frosts have passed. I'm very excited for a potential giant.

Ooh. I’d love a tetrapanax but have run out of space (not that that ever holds me back!).

I’m going outside in a minute to empty some pots - some of the old tulips look weak and distorted, so they’re for the chop - but will leave seed-sowing for a little longer. After a few sunny days, it’s drizzly here. Boo.

I’ve got plenty of fresh green - the celandines just merge in

Gorgeous day 'north of the wall' today and I had a lovely morning of pottering bits. Dug up three blueberry bushes which have failed to thrive (I think not enough sun and too many weeds) and potted into big pots.

Dug up a tiny supermarket Acer that I planted long before I knew what I was doing and popped into my 'nursery' to grow on a bit.

Found a handful of tulip bulbs that I'd missed, stuck them in some compost. They were still firm so I'm hoping that they'll last long enough to flower next year (Angelique).

Cleared the turf and weeds from round the still very small cherry trees and gave them a good mulch.

Dug over a small raised bed. Tidied up the strawberry plants. Pruned back the Bramley apple that the deer had nipped at. Cut back a clematis. Tidied the shed.

All much much more fun than the digging I did at the weekend to get out 5 big, old, stubborn but very boring shrubs (possibly poor man's box). Had always wondered what one might use a hori hori for... Figured it out that afternoon (and then ordered one).

Glad to hear of another recruit to the hori hori owners’ club!

Another drizzly day here means the lawn’s still too squelchy for me to attack the celandines, but I did empty one pot of frazzled tulips, gave another a reprieve (which I may revoke) and squeezed some iris reticulata JS Dijt into a third.

Very wet here today, so I didn’t go out. Yesterday I weeded my big rose bed fairly sketchily, admired a clump of crocus before standing on them , and somehow lost my fabulous copper trowel. Even though they are £43.00, I will have to buy another! cant live without it.

Wet and miserable here at the moment. Gardening has ceased.

Thought about adding a horihori knife to my birthday list, then wondered about where to keep it. In the house, I’d keep going out without it and then not be bothered to collect it, in the greenhouse, too handy a tool for a burglar.

Hori horis should come with a sheath. I've currently got mine attached to loops on my gardening coat by a caribina, with the secateur sheath on the other side. I need to get a good belt for warmer weather. My gardening coat and trousers live in the utility room where I can quickly change - I'm incapable of doing more than light deadheading without coating myself in mud.

Mine hangs on a hook in the shed with all the other small tools. It’s in sheath inside a cloth bag (it came with it). The shed is always locked.

I'm incapable of doing more than light deadheading without coating myself in mud.

Glad it's not just me! At this time of year I wear waterproofs to garden, so just those get covered in mud.

Done nothing. Working all week and dark by the time I get home. Might get something done this weekend

I started my feb seed sowing for this year. All going well. Except one lot u didn’t realise and they have gone really leggy. Ugh. I planted them this early as it says three weeks to germination. But clearly as they came up in a few days it’s not. May just re start again.

My hori hori came with a lovely sturdy canvas sheath and a cotton bag.

Yes, mine had both of those - perhaps Father Christmas we got ours from the same place!

I want one of those knives, but also I would chop off my fingers so it's best I don't get one.

Ordered some topsoil yesterday (3 tonnes). Usually they get it to you the next day but it has been too wet so they can't check the quality until it's drier. Hopefully it will come on Wednesday. Once I've got it I can top up my garden beds and then get some more shrubs and my blackcurrant bushes and other important things. The blackcurrants are my most important; I can't wait to have them again.

Which seeds came up in a few days? Only weeds or brassicas come up that quickly.

Yesterday I got covered in mud and now it's about to happen again. My black waterproofs look brown.