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?

Oops! I didn't even notice that, @MereDintofPandiculation. But circus siliquastrum would be rather wonderful, I reckon.

I love it when you find an unknown plant! When I first moved to this garden it was basically a field, where someone had left a very mangy and overgrown holly and a very tenacious yukka amongst the brambles. I was so delighted when I realised there were also aconites, which I love. And I always love it when I turn up tree peony seedlings - because they take the two years to sprout, they're always a nice surprise.

It’s why I like hand weeding. You notice so much more.

I've done very little actual stuff in the garden this week, mainly pricking out of seedlings when I could get to the potting shed. We had a brief warm few days last week when I started the mammoth task of washing all the pots I've either used and were already mine, or the ones I got from various people last year.

I have beds to prep for potatoes, still nowhere near getting them in but now I am recovering from Covid I might get some in today.

I've been out weeding & pruning again - had some sun so took advantage whilst I could. Saw my first hairy-footed garden bee enjoying the pulmonaria.
Happy to find my salvias & nepetas have survived all the rain.

Hope it’s ok to join. Have already looked up the Judas/ circus tree mentioned earlier as I’d never heard of it - looks amazing. Not sure where my gardening mojo has been the past few months but today it resurfaced in a few hours of sunshine . Spent the day very happily hauling horse poo around for various beds and digging up and potting the random tomatoes seedlings that have appeared in the greenhouse floor . Finally getting round to putting a watering pipe into the raised bed which I’m hoping will make a big difference but may just guarantee we have a wet summer. I bought a boysenberry yesterday so that went in. I don’t have much luck with berries but the label said lots of things about it being robust and hardy. I’ve got a gooseberry that looks fine and a gooseberry that may or may not be dead. I am giving it a couple more weeks. It’s been a good day

I discovered my Cornus Kousa hasn’t made it through the winter. I’m not sure why but it looks completely dead

We have a Judas tree - had it about 5 years but it doesn’t do much. We have chalky sun baked soil which I’d’ve thought it’d like but 🤷

Had a lovely few hours in the sunny garden. Weeding, pruning and tidying. Planted on some rhubarb and painted some planters with a fresh coat of paint.

It’s been lovely in the garden here, too. I’m continuing to plant out the things that have been overwintering in the cold frame and disposing of the winter casualties.

MrDragon has excavated the damp area ... we now have a hole with a small spring bubbling up. Hopefully the neighbours 'upstream' can sort their drainage out again at some point. Fortunately the downstream neighbour doesn't mind that the water is now spilling over into their garden.

I've tidied up the front garden, deadheaded and taken dead stems out of the hydrangeas, started pruning the dogwoods, hacked back some overgrown pyracantha, finished edging the back border and done some weeding. The lawn is now covered in debris.

Today I weeded and mulched the rose, agapantha, rhubarb, sambuca, cordyline, strawberries and bought a load of gravel.

So hot in the sun today! So happy that my garden is getting some TLC though after the wet and sodden winter it's had.

Had a go at a central flower bed that previously had a conifer which was removed last year. There’s a hardy fuchsia which had lots of dead wood so have cut that out and pruned the rest.

Lots of crocosmia as there is all over the garden so have got rid of some of that and think it might be a good spot for my Tranquility rose.

I have just been out to weed my woodland path.

It's possible I have never weeded it before as it turned out to be less weeding than pulling up one plant and discovering a giant mat of path came up with it. 90% of the path is now in the bin.

There were even tree roots tracking along it.

This afternoon I am planning a bit more weeding plus a fun job of planting sempervivums.

Boysenberry is a cross between blackberry and raspberry, both of which are British wild plants, so, yes, it’s tough. Grows 4m stems each year which flower in their second year. Then you prune the fruited stems to the ground.

Hopefully it will do well in a sunny corner. I’ve got raspberry canes in another bed which are the ones you cut to the ground completely each year. They come up and look fine but the fruit goes mouldy - grey mould. I’m considering digging them all out and trying something else.

Today I have planted a clematis, and a honeysuckle.

Yesterday I set out to sow the next batch of seeds in the propagator, which turned into sowing the first batch of seeds, which turned into emptying some of last year’s tubs and refilling with new soil, harvesting beets, planting out some swiss chard that was lurking, and taking down one of the panels of bubblewrap. That seemed enough for one day. Then today DS took me to a garden centre so I could advise him on populating his front garden, and this afternoon I drove DH to our town nature reserve to admire the wild daffodils and primroses, and we saw a Little Egret (a big pure white heron with gold slippers) on a branch above the lake.

I’ve mowed the lawn. I have a few days off so plan to get seed sewing and properly edge the lawn again.

Today I did the magic trick of disappearing the heaps of dogwood and pyracantha into a two thirds full brown bin and a couple of large tubs - the latter will need to go to the recycling centre. Repotted a couple of peace lilies and potted up a baby spider plant. I'd meant to repot more houseplants but didn't have enough compost.
Then I edged one side of the lawn.

I thought garden centres had to close on Easter Sunday, has that rule been relaxed now?

Our local garden centre was closed today @ErrolTheDragon not sure if that was regulation or not though.

This weekend has been very productive, the weather was very well behaved.

today I cleared and swept the hard standing where I store my compost bags and a spare plastic compost bin where I can sling occasional bits and pieces produced in the greenhouse. DH dutifully piled a few new bags of Jacks Magic ready for action.

i also gave twin compost heaps a turn and left them uncovered as it looks like rain is coming over the next few days. Hopefully it will start building up some
heat.

I've done some tidying up of pots and have freed the old bench from the broken solar lights I'd attached to it. I've asked for a new (human weight bearing) bench for my birthday so plan to make the old one a bit of a decoration.
The large planter I cleared earlier was absolutely full of mint, lesson learned for the herbs this year. I'll use that for courgettes instead I think.

Managed some weeding but that was about it. Pond is overflowing with frogspawn so sadly,am going to have to cull some of it or we will be overrun with froglings this summer. Neighbours will go nuts. Again!

A bit of weeding and started to plant out the 72 lavender plugs that finally arrived on Saturday. Got bored of that quite quickly! Gave a few to my neighbour and the rest will get shoved in to nooks and crannies along our oddly-shaped front paths and borders.

I need to plant a buddleia 'Morning Mist' which is slightly languishing in a pot in a too-shady part of the backyard. I think it'll be happier in the ground instead.

Planted beetroot and the last of the potatoes at the allotment. The site supervisor gave me two more autumn-fruiting raspberry canes and dropped some hints that the plot next to mine might soon be available if I want it. The owners took it over at the same time as I got mine but haven't done anything to it at all. It's a mess but I reckon I could whip it into shape...exciting!

Glad I got so much done at the weekend, it's pissing down now. I'd thought if I was awake before DH I might go out and do the last bit of edging of the short side, no chance!

Found you all. Have done so little in my garden that I didn’t know where to start, so I read the thread for inspiration. I’ve got some primulas to plant, haven’t started on seed sowing yet. I think I’m going to primp up my pergola, check my seeds and wash some trays and pots. I m going to put tomatoes in the green house and just some salad greens on the edges of my veg beds, then throw flower seeds into the middle. I never seem to eat any veg we grow! Always too manky, and the beds are full of nigella, cosmos and cornflowers already, so why fight it. I spend 80% of my gardening time failing at veg.I am better at soft fruit. My dhs friend has 3 allotments (at 85), and keeps us well supplied. Makes me feel ashamed .

I can’t mow the lawn until I’ve moved the huge pile of Pyracantha that I dumped on it a few weeks back.

DS took me to a garden centre yesterday. First one was closed, second one, which is pure plants with no tat, was open. I wonder whether nurseries selling plants are OK but ones with lots of non-plant selling areas are not?