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 slugs have had every seedling I put out so have given up and bought some mature plants instead. Red geraniums for the pots on the steps and some scabious for the butterflies. Will sow some Cosmos in the greenhouse,hopefully not too late for this year,and some more basil. Everything else has been eaten.
The ferns are slowly uncurling.

There's another thread in the Gardening board all about swing seats, and yes they do recommend trying to cover up or bring it undercover over the winter. I just can't see ho that would be possible, so we've never bought one as they do fall apart after one or two years of GB weather.

I have reached the bottom of the compost heap and need to turn over one of the other bins

I did just that earlier this week, and it nearly killed me! Heavy work, take it easy. I had to do mine in several stages. It's lovely stuff though, very sweet and earthy smelling, good enough to eat!

And they are guaranteed to tell everyone they meet about the rats in grandma’s garden. Your reputation is sunk

I’ve got history with rats. Our current house was infested when we moved in and it took 5 years to clear them and involved threatening divorce and gutting the place from top to bottom. Rewired twice because they ate the cabling. Took all our savings. The rat was at the farm but the family was teasing me that it would follow us home.It is definitely what they will talk about forever. I love animals and garden organically, but I would poison the whole plot before I let those things anywhere near my home. I feel bad about it though.

DD was always disappointed if there weren't any rats at the small bird feeding station at Martin Mere. (They've recently changed it so the feeders are over the pond. )

It's a great pity we can't sit down with the rat and tell it to stay away from the house, and coexist happily as we do (mostly) with other creatures. But zebra's is a salutary tale.

If your composter is a Dalek type one,how do you turn it? I've poked about in the mess of rotting vegetables as best I can but thats probably not enough. And the reason it doesnt turn to compost.
Planted more basil and more cosmos seeds in the greenhouse in the hope that something germinates. Been a very unsuccesful year for me with seeds.

I’ve sorted out the collection of things overwintering in pots, removed weeds, chucked things that didn’t make, planted out those that are big and tough enough. I’ve also potted up the plants from the conservatory, which also involved grubbing around in the bottom of the compost heap for a sackful of compost. Had plans to turn the next heap into this one to get at more compost, and to mow the lawn, ut we’re currently in the middle of the thunderstorm so that’s me done for the day

Hi Hedjwitch - I have a dalek and had to get all the compost out of the little door - I put an old square of carpet down to drag it out onto, then chopped and mixed it with a spade then put it all back in the top.

Bit of a palaver but that's the only way I could work out that would mix it up properly

When we had a dalek heap we just used to lift the whole thing up (leaving the compost still on the ground), put it down empty a metre away and shovel the compost back into it. Not the most comprehensive aeration but it mixed everything up adequately.

I take it off completely, move it next to the pile and then using a pitch fork, put it all back in again.

I used to work in the next office to a sustainable waste dept and the little door used to do their heads in. They'd been asking the manufacturers to stop putting the little door in, as it was a complete design flaw and never worked.

I also struggle with a dalek composter and its puny little door. It does eventually turn to very good compost, even with inadequate turning, but every so often I upend it, take out the good stuff from the bottom and reload it from the top.

I also empty my Dalek composters, onto a tarp. I wait until I have a large amount of fresh greens and mix it through. It seems to get it going again.

<bin envy>

Cheered myself up by doing an image search for 'dalek compost bins', delighted to find some people do dress their bins appropriately.

Meanwhile, my patio tub of blue irises has started to bloom, I adore their delicate flowers. I'm going to miss quite a few of them on holiday for the next few days but the other tub and the ones in shadier areas will be a little later.

I’ve promised myself new lawn edging and a new compost bin this year. Oh the glamour.

i just ordered myself some nice tall bamboo poles for beans! How my life has changed !

They’ve been saying for years that gardening is the new rock and roll.

Gardening rocks! 🎵 🎶 sounds like everyone has been busy.

I spent the afternoon in the greenhouse, potting up my lambs lettuce, basil, tomatoes, chilli and rocket. I'm hoping the new compost and larger pots will give them a burst of growth. I've left DH in charge of the greenhouse as I'm going to be away for 2 days for some work stuff, I just hope they survive!

I notices some nice juicy buds on the dahlia in the troughs so they could be ready to go outside soon and make way for my grow bags, so I can plant up my Toms 🍅 and chilli 🌶️

Two days should be fine. Give them a decent water before you. Check the weather forecast and see whether you want to leave the greenhouse open of closed

I have potted up tomatoes, courgettes, dwarf french beans and sunflowers. The cosmos seedlings have appeared but no sign at all of the pumpkins or borlotti. I sowed some red kuri squash which I've never tried before.

Pulled bindweed and creeping buttercup out of the border. I'm fighting a losing battle but I keep pulling it out in the vague hope I'll eventually weaken it.

My buddleia was absolutely covered in black fly and the leaves were completely withered so I've given it a drastic chop....almost right back to the ground. Hopefully it'll recover, it's normally pretty bomb proof.

I've almost emptied compost bin 1 so it'll soon be time to fill it up again from compost bin 2.

I’ve planted the plants I acquired at the weekend, potted some more for an upcoming plant sale and pruned the daphne (I’m aware this could kill it but frankly I wouldn’t mind much). I was pleasantly surprised to see the nigella hispanica seeds I sowed direct gave germinated - they usually sink without trace.

Weeding and feeding. Cut the lawns back and front and potted some bedding plants in containers where the tulip bulbs were. Looking forward to the next phase of plants putting on a show. It’s lovely in the garden today as most people back to work , very peaceful.

I went to the garden centre just to pick up some Ajuga to plant in my son's garden to fill in some gaps.

I came back an hour and £75 quid lighter, with cobbles to add around my pond, compost, potting grit, a climbing rose and some plants. I wanted a climbing rose anyway to go up my arch, so I've put that in and I've planted up the things I bought, although I've had to make room for some of them (being not really the things I needed, ie container plants, but instead big tall things that need to be in the border).

I took cuttings of sage and rosemary to root, pot up and pass on at the village fair.
Also pulled up many clumps of chives and transferred them to a tray of compost for the same fair.
Moved several foxgloves from the blueberry bed to the front garden. I know it's the wrong time of year, but I didn't want to spend the whole summer watching frustrated bees hitting the fruit cage netting trying to get at the foxgloves.