What have you done in the garden today Part 4 Spring 2024.

[MereDintofPandiculation]

What have you done in the garden today? What went well? What surprises have you had? What could have gone better?

I've just been out for a potter around and found my snakeshead fritillaries are really starting to naturalise. So nice! I bought five of the little Michaelovskis last year, but they seem to have totally disappeared. Crown imperials came back one year after planting, but not again, which makes me sad because they're pollinated by blue tits, and we have tons of those in the garden.

Anyone have better success with fritillaries and want to share tips? Soil is sandy and in places gritty, so in the usual way drainage ought not to be the issue (I accept this winter it may have been). I've just put in some persica and I'd love them to survive.

I got my fruit plants in yesterday. They actually arrived on Monday after chasing up the courier, so that was great, and then Children Things got in the way of planting them. Three were in pots, though, and the others were (much bigger than anticipated!) blackcurrants so they'll all be fine.

I am so behind on sowing seeds. Any point starting tomatoes this late or better to pick up some seedlings from the nursery?

Start some now, they'll catch up.

Thanks. That's today's plans sorted.

SarahandQuack - Thanks to the blandishments of Farmer Gracy, I grow a lot of the smaller fritillaries in terracotta pots of gritty compost. (Crown imperials sank without trace in the border so I never tried again). They survive pretty well from year to year, although fritillaria persicaria Twin Towers Tribute, new last year, didn’t flower last year and hasn’t surfaced this year.

@SarahAndQuack where I am in west Oxfordshire we're on clay and fritillaries do very well, especially in damp meadows. The water meadows in Oxford and in other wet meadows locally are famous for their fritillary displays. Maybe this wet winter is what they need.

I would put wires on the shed and train a climber or two up them. If you’re happy with having to replant annually, morning glories are spectacular. We grow them up the side of a large shed in a sunny spot every year and they are easy to grow and such a delight to see. They seed prolifically too, so after the first batch you can just save the seed for next year. Depends where you are! If I sow too early, they just sulk, if I sow later they grow fine, then come into flower in September or October, and are smothered in buds just in time for the weather to become cold enough to kill them off. I’ve given up, beautiful though they are.

I am off work so managed to do some gardening. Was a bit wimpy about cutting my 1yr old buddleia too hard. Are they really OK with no leaves just stems left?! I n this bit of the world they don’t have any leaves left anyway.

I’ve done very little in the garden this year, despite being on very free-draining, stoney soil everywhere is sodden and squelchy. I did tidy up the front borders and started on the back garden borders but there’s a fence being built so I’m keeping out of the way. I did pot up my dahlia tubers x 14, hoping they’ll do better than last year.
I am getting rid of my greenhouse, I have given up with growing tomatoes (blight got them all for the last 3 years, indoors and out, supposedly blight-resistant or not), I cannot be bothered any more.
I’m hoping to have a summerhouse instead that I can use as a den for me 🤞🏻
My chocolate vine was a complete thug, it grew and covered a 25’ long fence and took off up a tree in the woods behind us! Very pretty but beware!

Have sown tomato, courgette, sunflower and various mystery seeds (I think butternut squash, maybe pumpkin, and a mix of different tomatoes we're trying from ones we got in our weekly vege box). Also put some chitted potatoes into a grow bag.

Have some seed trays with draining holes that don't fit into the non-holey trays so I'll use those outside to see if I can get ancient seeds to germinate, but not today as it's blowing a hooley out there.

I’m glad I got some planting and moving done yesterday, as it’s raining again today. I’m thrilled, though, to see that some of the seeds I sowed on (I think) Monday have already germinated.

Depends where you are! If I sow too early, they just sulk, if I sow later they grow fine, then come into flower in September or October, and are smothered in buds just in time for the weather to become cold enough to kill them off. I’ve given up, beautiful though they are.

I couldn't grow morning glories in North Yorkshire. I'm hoping for better luck in Lancashire, our frost season here is typically shorter at both ends. If I'm organised enough/can find enough space I want to do a few sowings to see what (if anything) works

Oh, you are making me miss Oxford! I lived there for several years in my 20s and I remember those beautiful water meadows. Up here my soil is not clay, but snakeshead fritillaries are fine; it's the others I am less good with.

No garden work today sadly, beautiful day but I had several optician visits and time spent v blind without glasses so.

But I did eventually get to prick out three types of cosmos from seed trays.

I know this will be a rod for my own back as they say, once the cosmos are blooming. I mean, so much deadheading!

This makes me recall last summer when I told DH I was just going out to deal with the cosmos.

He told the DC, "I think your mother's megalomania is out of control."

Ha!

Going to visit a lovely garden today and am excited but weather is a mix of blinding sunshine and heavy downpours so I hope we get to see everything.

Havent sown much yet as I’m out of compost. Any votes whether multipurpose is fine for seeds or if seed specific is worth the extra? I have a little horticultural sand I could mix in but no vermiculite which I usually add.

I just use multipurpose but crumble up the big lumps before putting seeds in.

I love that @DougAndTheSlugs.

I am cross because I went out with good intentions to mow the lawn, and my mower managed about five minutes and then died. I haven't used it yet this year; I am hoping it is fixable.

However I am also really happy because the medlar I grafted onto a hawthorn rootstock has come.

Hurray for the medlar propagation! It's very satisfying when things like that work out.

I find the compost specifically for seeds and seedlings is too heavy and cloy.

I mix up a blend of different types of compost making sure it's broken down into its most granular form. I also mix in some of my own compost from the bottom of the heap, which is very well decomposed as it helps to break down the shop bought compost.

quite frankly compost nowadays is very indifferent. Jack's Magic is still my favourite. The peat-free ones are hit and miss. I know they are better for the environment but they aren't better for keen gardeners and greenhouse lovers. I have to blend a few types just to make them workable and increase moisture retention qualities.

Isn't it?! And I feel as if now I'd know better how to do it successfully another time.

Just be careful or you'll end up with dozens of grafted medlars and will have to force them onto everyone you know with a garden, along with every local institution which might have space for a medlar 😅

Still, it's comforting knowing that you can do it! 😍

That sounds like the voice of rueful experience!

I work in a nursery, so the original reason I wanted to learn to graft was for work. My boss is mercurial, so we might well not do it, but initially, he wanted me to learn so we could propagate our own trees.

This makes me recall last summer when I told DH I was just going out to deal with the cosmos.

He told the DC, "I think your mother's megalomania is out of control."

I was exceptionally pleased with myself a few years ago when I had cause to start a thread I could title 'The Mystery of the Cosmos'

I really ought to do something about my tray of cosmos seedlings but I'm not sure where to put them all, don't have enough room for everything indoors - would they be ok out in a coldframe now do you think? I'm not sure how tender they are.

This makes me recall last summer when I told DH I was just going out to deal with the cosmos.

He told the DC, "I think your mother's megalomania is out of control."

😂😂😂😂😂

😂😂