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?

The LH picture doesn’t look like knotweed. If you zoom in, you can see hairs along the edge of the leaf at the back, or does that not belong? Have you considered Green Alkanet?

@DougAndTheSlugs The greenhouse double doors are open 24 hours a day from May onwards, and the lettuces aren’t in the sunny corner. I won’t have big lettuces till May and a lot of things will be going out then - peas, french beans etc. Cucumber and tomatoes will give shade to lettuces.

@TheSandHurtsMyFeelings If you want to bulk up your fritillary, they grow readily from seed and take about 5 years to flower.

Some lettuces are more heat-tolerant than others. I don't grow them as I'm not that into lettuce, but I know we stock some specifically because they're suited to hotter temperatures.

I have had a good weekend in the garden. My mum, bless her, came to help and motivated me to mulch my new bed (I'm really struggling to remember I own the garden - after decades renting - and can afford to shell out on luxuries like mulch). My boss gave it me half price and I am really stoked by how nice it has made everything look - now here's hoping it actually does the job and keeps the weeds down! I have also (obviously) weeded a border, and I've moved a physocarpus 'diabolo d'or' so it works better with some lovely lime-green euphorbia and mathiasella bupleuroides. I have them dotted through as accents. I also staked the Judas tree and we planted a good third of my 'wall of shame' pot collection. I've trained in the morello cherry, and my mum planted wild primroses under the pear trees.

We've been away for a long weekend, so no gardening done... I may go out for a walk round when I've finished my mug of tea and see if there's some small random job to do,
But we had a nice long wander around Cambridge botanical gardens, and then Anglesey Abbey this morning - I've only been in winter before, its lovely winding Winter Garden path segues well into spring, and the silver birch grove (perhaps Himalayan, they're very white?) has a gorgeous underplanting of small deep rose pink tulips and blue chionodoxa on one side , and striking deep pink Bergenias on the other.

Interesting - we have loads of that in the same area - mostly around the edges of the weed proof membrane. I’ll be thrilled if it’s green alkanet (never knew what it was called).

Ooo lovely to find gardening people!!!!
I've not done a lot today but I did get as far as planting out foxgloves, nerines, and a new clematis, and moved and planted up a trough.
I love this time of year. So exciting watching new growth and making plans!

@ErrolTheDragon they are Himalayan birches at Anglesey Abbey.

I have one in my garden and it is sadly not very white, I don't know what they do to theirs. Although they probably don't have to contend with a cat climbing up theirs and shredding all the bark.

And that leaf does belong to the suspect.

In contrast to @SarahAndQuack’s list (which made me tired reading it), I have potted up 9 tomato seedlings and two tubs of sweet peas, then filled the vacant seed tray compartments with fresh compost and sown the next dozen or so seed packets in the queue, mainly species of Digitalis.

Oh, well, it made me tired watching it! My mum is absolutely inexhaustible. When I first moved to this house, she brought up a pickaxe and resolutely hacked at things until I could do some planting.

Which sweet peas have you potted up? I've just sown Beaujolais and Old Spice Mix (freebie packet, which DD really fancied), and I must see if I still have Cupani somewhere. I will buy Pluto and whatever else I fancy from work.

I fished some algae/pond weed gunk out of the barrel pond which gets infested. The little marsh marigold in it is flowering nicely at least. And trained in a few bits of jasmine and honeysuckle along the wires - one of my resolutions this year is to try to keep the climbers in better order.

The three clumps of tulips which have done well for several years have all pretty much failed this time. Perhaps it's time to replace...not sure if it's ok to put new tulips in the same place or if I should plant somewhere fresh?

@SarahAndQuack Cupani and Chiltern’s Old Fashioned mix, and a single Painted Lady from last year. I grow almost entirely for scent, so either Cupani or Matucana, then another old fashioned one for colour contrast.

Then some years I also grow a different Lathyrus for amusement, eg L sativa with electric blue flowers, Lathyrus chlorantha with big greeny yellow flowers, or Lathyrus belinensis , yellow flowers with stripey red standards.

This seed mixture has all three and a few more besides

I fished some algae/pond weed gunk out of the barrel pond which gets infested. I read that lavender works as well as barley straw at keeping algae at bat, so now when I prune lavender (which I do in spring) I tie the stems in a bundle and lob it into a pond. So far it seems effective.

How lovely! I always have Cupani/Matucana if I can. I must try to find the fun ones you mention - my DD would love those!

Thank you, that's helpful. I'll keep an eye on it - it's flourishing nicely in various parts of my garden, including my border and I quite like it.

I just read that it was likely to be a bit of a nuisance, so wondered whether I should remove some to stop it taking over.

I’ve potted up some calendula grown from seed (and am beginning to fret about where the many other seedlings are going to go, once they’re ready to pot on). I’ve planted a hydrangea and geranium pratense which have been sitting around since last autumn, so my planting queue is now (rarely) almost gone. Hoorah.

Ooh must try the lavender stems to combat algae in the pond.

Today i planted an evergreen honeysuckle I'm hoping will grow up my shed. And buried in two tubs my kids have turned into tiny ponds.

Got a nice bed full of ground elder coming on...

I found a couple of envelopes of Chasmanthium latifolium (sea oats) which are classed as ornamental grasses, so I've planted some of the seeds to see if they take.

did a bit of surfing on the web to find out where to plant them and it sounds like the best place might be on the edge of our land bordering the farmer's field, because they are meant to be good for erosion and irrigation control. It doesn't seem like they are invasive like bamboo, but can be prolific, so I'll have to plant them sparingly. They are very attractive even in winter and are meant to be magnets for butterflies and other pollinators.

Finally I cut the lawn 🍾🍾

Removed the 30yo clematis that died, from the front of my house and planted a climbing rose to replace it. It's called Warm Welcome and has flowers the colour of a tequila sunrise.

Weeded flower beds and gravel, planted sweet peas and night scented stock. Refilled the pots by my front door with lavender and pansies. 😊

Crikey @Meadowfinch , bet you slept well.. I did an hours desultory weeding, in the hope it would get me started today, but hasn’t so far.

The seed mix was, if I remember rightly, from Plants of Distinction, but I usually buy the individual species from Chilterns.

Which one? If it’s Lonicera henryii it’s unstoppable. Lovely flowers, in muted purple and orange shades.

Ground elder roots smell lovely, a nice fresh smell.

@ungarden I dont think that’s Knotweed either, it seems to have little notches in the leaves.