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'm exhausted after DH and I have spent a couple of hours wrestling bamboo out of pots and sawing them in half to divide them. They've been in the same pots for 4 years so it was definitely time but now I'm shattered! The bonus is we have lots more bamboo plants now for free so we're going to pot them up on the patio to form a screen.

Compost heap turned and potatoes planted out into six large pots.

Now for a shower and a beer!

It's been quite nippy out there today so although there was lots to do, I didn't.

I did find this cute guy all on his own in the scrap ground under the trees at the end of the allotment

Planted 3 shrub roses - Golden Celebration, Iceberg and Ballerina - some lupins, some alliums.

That's a very sweet little lone snowdrop @DougAndTheSlugs 😍

which reminds me, tomorrow I need to get my latest batch in the ground. They arrived from Parker's this week and I don't want them to go all manky in the box.

Today has been a very April showers kinda day, some large hail stones one minute then bright sunshine the next. Tomorrow looks more settled.

It's been quite nippy out there today so although there was lots to do, I didn't.

Me too - we had a decent walk this morning but it's been very windy this afternoon with mixed sun, rain and hail. And I had indoor jobs to do.
But was entertained for a while by Mr Pheasant determined to get more seed - he was really having to work to stay in position on the bird feeder with the wind gusting up under his tail.

I’ve just been snipping bits off the apple trees. I know it’s rather late, as they’re coming into leaf, but if I don’t trim some of the branches overhanging the lawn it’ll be hard to navigate. Fingers crossed.

I think this one is a snowflake. My snowdrops are all done, and this one is shaped differently. It is very pretty, amongst the thuggish weeds

I have snowflake envy. They’re one of many small bulbs to have sunk into the clay here, never to be seen again.

Interesting weather here today, from bright sunshine through to snow. DS was nearly hit by a big plastic flower tub which was seized by a sudden gust of wind, and went on to demolish an advertising board. I stayed indoors. I did however water some seedings.

Hail stones and spring sunshine here too. I put two new hydrangea 'Adula Lila' into pots by our north-facing front door. Beautiful dark purple/green foliage which I think will look rather striking.

Also dragged a sad old pot-bound dwarf conifer out of a big pot (that could be far more useful elsewhere) and put it in the ground, finally. Our front garden is awful stony, rooty soil, but my new hori-hori knife is doing sterling work in helping me break it up before digging holes; it's a wonder. Not sure the conifer will be too happy as I had to chop the root ball around a bit, but we'll see...

Thank you for the tips about protecting seeds from a curious cat!
Today I'm going to plant my tatties and attempt to split the bamboo so I can make a privacy screen between us and next doors curious dogs.

Haha.
Planted some summer bulbs and tubers that have been lurking in the shed. Trouble was, every time I dug a hole there was already something there. Well, it will be a surprise to me later on to see what comes up. This is a reminder to me to draw a plan.

Today I oversaw DH digging out and reshaping a heavily overshadowed bit of raised bed ready to plant a vine to climb up my awning.
He did a lovely job and block paved me a path too.

I’ve done nothing and am feeling like a disgraceful failure. I have a weeny bit of a hangover after a rare night out with DH. Went for a 2 hour walk to clear the cobwebs and it’s wiped me out. DH is nagging me to remove couch grass from a section of the wildflower patch so he can rotavate it but I’ve run out of steam.

The weather is glorious so I’m feeling very guilty. I also have cosmos seedlings that need potting on and other herbs and salads that need sowing. Oh dear.

Pictures of raised bed and vine -twig-

Nice raised beds, @InMySpareTime!

I have been good and resisted anything to do with veg, as I know every year I get enthused too early and end up with leggy veg/frosted plants (you would think I would know by now ...).

Instead I have planted loads of gladioli (and, erm, yes, the bag of tulips I shamefully forgot about. No idea what they will do, but they may as well be in the ground as in the bin). I transplanted tons of aquilegia seedlings out of the paths and into my new bed, just to reduce the bare earth, and reduced my 'unplanted pots of shame' collection by about 1/3. I sat out in the sun for about an hour looking at my lovely winter cherry that's in full bloom, and the new buds on the vines and the pear trees. Annoyingly, some bastard thing (pigeons? slugs?) is eating my daffodil buds before they open.

We had a day's respite from the weather today, in fact this weekend has been well-behaved. Tomorrow it's going to be lashing down so I just enjoyed it while it lasts.

I've managed to get my second batch of snow flakes drops in the ground, to even up both sides of the clematis / honeysuckle arch. Only 11 months to wait ... we gardeners are nothing if not patient.

Next job will be positioning the grow bags in the greenhouse. We'll either get the grow bags from the garden centre, or if they're extortionate, our Tesco is selling the Tomorite extra deep ones for a fiver each. I can't remember the last time I thought "wow that's a bargain" about anything!

Plus plant up some new dahlia tubers (purples, mauves and lilac colour themes) in troughs in the greenhouse to give them a head start until the last frost.

Your raised beds look very smart, @InMySpareTime you must be itching to get planting!

I have been offered a free greenhouse today! The people in the far allotment are giving their plot up and offered us anything and everything from their site.

In truth I already have the Mother of all Greenhouses --DS and DS-in-law have worked in the building trade and built it for me, and I am in danger of getting called Two Greenhouses Doug in the vein of Two Sheds Jackson of Monty Python fame but I care not, there may be a name change in my future! For at least three months every year I run out of staging space when the plant babies are not ready for the wide world. If I only use it over that period it is still extremely welcome.

It won't go into the allotment space because I can't face the agro. The allotment mgt. tell us greenhouses are not allowed (yes, I know, there was this very one on the site but mgt. claim if asked they would have said no).

Also, mgt says: no chairs, no bbqs (neighbouring plot asked) or any fire really, can't replace the falling down shed that is already there without getting planning permission, even on same footprint with same type shed; no chickens although allotment holders have kept chickens there for twenty years or more (and I have chickens there 😛); can't put up a poly tunnel without planning permission, can't remove volunteer young trees without planning permission despite the fact they are only there because mgt failed to let out plots and didn't tend the site so nature took over, and also despite the fact that allotments traditionally have rules against trees that are not fruit trees... <breathe>...AND NO SINGING!! Definitely no singing.

Honestly allotment life is an eye-opener.

Wow your raised beds look fabulous @InMySpareTime

DH and I have been out, I did some more weeding while he attacked the phlomis I planted when I first moved in 10+ years ago and then ignored.

When getting past all the leaves, it turned out to have grown into what was more like a small tree than a shrub and was burrowing under out porch. DH put in a heroic effort and dug it up. We've gifted it to our next door neighbour.

We then looked at the pyrancanthus which used to be a small bush. It is now also more of a tree, and the bottom half is encased in ivy and honestly quite unattractive. Worse the ivy was spreading up the front of our house.

So next time the green bins are emptied, DH will be chopping it down. I've never liked it, didn't plant it and so we are going to assess the likelihood we can dig it up when it's at ground level.

Pricked out the cosmos seedlings and planted some more, but this time direct into larger module. Also I filled another couple of pots ready to sow some more morning glories tomorrow after the seeds have had a soak overnight.

And then finished re-edging the back border... this was more of a task than it might sound as the aim was to re-establish a channel running down from the boggy area of lawn to the bottom corner which is supposed to be a bog garden. It entailed digging out lots of stones and chopping roots so the hori hori was a boon though I needed to get in with the loppers for some of the roots. Success! I now have a flow all the way down. I toyed with changing my name to TheCreatureFromTheSwamp ... my gardening clothes are in a heap in the utility room, and my tools are strewn on the lawn as they're absolutely caked with mud and I didn't have time to clean them - it was about 6:40 when DH called me in.

Planted a few herbs in shallow container.
sowed tomatoes, courgettes and kale in heated propagator in the conservatory

I topped up some of the plants that are staying in pots for another year with fresh compost and did a bit of weeding in the border.

It was a beautiful day here so I sat in the sun reading my book and dragged the garden slide out for DDs.

I strimmed the lawn. I had to do it in 3 parts over the last 3 days. It hasn't been dry enough to mow in months. I'm not convinced it was dry enough to strim but it's better than the jungle I was growing

I had a delivery of 100 snowdrops on Thursday and have planted them in groups of 6-10 in the front garden yesterday. The old owners of our house put down plastic membrane everywhere in the front so I had to cut holes through it. I'm still hoping they multiply in the future. I've got 15 ferns on the way to plant behind them.

Your allotment site, DougAndTheSlugs, sounds as zealous as ours (although ours had recently loosened up a little about sheds)!

I achieved a breakthrough today. I commissioned MrJekyll to prune the viburnum bodnantense and the clematis and honeysuckle which were smothering it. The difference it has made to the light reaching the border is amazing. Dealing with the debris, as we’re limited to two bags a week, is a different matter.

All my seeds are germinating, so I might start some more this week.