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 wanted to get to the wall roses today but someone who shall remain nameless fired up the petrol hedge trimmer to tidy up the box parterres and I didn't want to be around the noise. Instead I pruned eleventy thousand fuchsia stems and now they all look very tidy and ready to go. Three more fuchsias to go elsewhere in the garden and that's it. Pruning them is a faff but they always look better for it.

Once those are sorted, it's back to the roses. I put in three 'Champagne Moment' in 2016 and they're absolutely romping, I'm really pleased with them.

A job I dread every year is the pruning of two 'Seagull' roses which grow around a large window and are far too vigorous for the spot they're in. They're absolute monsters and send out huge stems which can reach about 4m, and they do this every year. I resent them deeply. They've got wicked thorns too. My dad has just one in his garden and it's managed to grow through two trees, so you can imagine what having them either side of a window is like.

@ErrolTheDragon If Dickon brings his squirrel he can go right home again. One of the little perishers has been rootling in a container of tulips and has snapped a lovely healthy one. This is the thanks I get for not chasing him away from the bird feeder.

@SarahAndQuack Another DWJ and Green Knowe fan - hooray! Do keep trying to book a tour of Hemingford Grey; both the garden and the house. They are both beautiful and it is like stepping into the books.

Today I tidied a bit more acacia pravissima, pruned a bay tree which was trying to swamp the lilac bushes, and pulled up some more dead fern stalks and the stems of a dead annual euphorbia which self-seeds generously every year.

As I grow more experienced I find I am more inclined to let the garden choose what it wants to grow - if something interesting or attractive pops up I will leave it. Less work and less disappointment when something you’ve set your heart on and imported at great expense fails.

The Japanese ornamental cherry (which was planted about four years and at a fair amount of expense - yes, I am inconsistent) is now about nine feet tall and smothered in buds of what is going to be the palest pink, almost white blossom. It will be heavenly. I would love to see the cherry blossom in Japan one day.

A squirrel (i assume) rootles in some of my pots too. It had a good dig at some lilies and left a half chewed bulb lying around.

Whereas I am the recipient of squirrel-planted bulbs. I get loads of bulbs sprouting in my garden that I definitely did not plant.

It's acorns here. And the occasional fatball.

Pulled out more Spanish Hyacinths, found some Carex Evergold grass and moved it to pot, moved a dwarf lilac to a big pot too!
just a bit more bamboo to move to a temporary home and then everything else is either coming out or is too old to move. Leaving a cherry tree - morello I think, a pale pink hydrangea and a bright pink multi stemmed camellia. Fingers crossed I’ll have a few survivors.

the petrol hedge trimmer to tidy up the box parterres Have you NC since the “wonky parterre” or do we have two people with stately homes?

No, the previously unnamed person was Mr Veg. He fired up the hedge trimmer just as I was about to start work on some nearby roses. The beast.

Japan in blossom season is on my bucket list, too. We went to Hemingford Grey many years ago, because young MissJekyll was keen on the books. It was delightful.

No gardening for me today, as I’m still ill. Boo.

Finally got our vegetable patch underway today. We've planted broad beans, climbing beans, peas, mangetout, radishes, lettuces, beetroot, and brussels sprouts. They all say sow outside in March so hopefully it's not too early!

The next step is to add marigolds and bunching onions between stepping stones as they don't grow too high, and then some nasturtiums along the edges so they can spill over the low wall. I also plan to put in some blackberries and blackcurrants somewhere in there, but the blackcurrant plan is somewhat in flux as the chap who removed part of our hedge left all the roots in and FIL thinks they might regrow if we cover them with dirt. We had intended to plant blackcurrants in that space. I THINK the hedge is viburnum tinus, which apparently can come away again if you let it. FIL suggested finding someone with a grubber to munch up all the roots but we can't afford to pay anyone for such work right now so I'm not sure what to do. Might have to wait till my Dad makes it across from NZ in May and make a new plan then. (He grew blackcurrants commercially for many years so should have good advice.)

Indoor seed planting is on hold as I didn't notice that the seed trays have holes in the bottom so I've had to order some without holes to go underneath! Hopefully they'll arrive by the weekend so we can belatedly get our tomatoes etc started.

We had intended to plant blackcurrants in that space.

That sounds divine. They've always been one my very favourite fruits and I've said before 'blackcurrants are the most enduring love of my life'.

I can't imagine my garden without blackcurrants. Growing up with jam, juice, muffins etc was marvellous - and I'm down to the last 1/4 bottle of concentrate from the blackcurrants at our old house!

Will have to find out if they'll be happy in pots and just have some on the patio until the root/stump situation is sorted.

We have grown blackcurrants for the last 15 years. The older bushes aren’t as productive so we have some newer ones too. Usually get a drawer full for the freezer by the end of the season. The birds aren’t interested in them so we never lose any. We get through loads as a family favourite is blackcurrant pie - no apples or other fillers just the blackcurrants so it uses up loads.

They need little care and survive well on our rubbish dry soil.

I cursed the bloody deer who ate my only decent patch of crocus at the top of the drive!

The 180 bulbs that I planted in one of the lawns have put on a terrible show. A few have surfaced but they are leggy and pathetic looking. Which makes the deer helping themselves all the more aggravating!

I've done very little else for a week or so as a tummy bug has slowly worked it's way through us all.

I have a huge amount of blackcurrants each year though (not planted by me), many of which go to waste... So if anyone would like to share their favourite recipes they would be very much appreciated.

Blackcurrant pie!!! Add sugar and a few teaspoons of cornflour mix and spoon on top of sweet shortcrust pastry base - top with same and crimp, egg wash and dust with sugar bake for about 25 mins.

Also these are delicious:
https://bibliocook.com/2009/07/blackcurrant-al/

https://www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/desserts/blackcurrant-and-pistachio-tart

This is my Mum's blackcurrant concentrate recipe. It's about 6000 times nicer than Ribena. (It's a Kiwi recipe, so sorry about the cup measurements.) The last batch I made has lasted nearly 2 years because I have been very sparing with it. It keeps very well.

3lb blackcurrants
16 cups (4L) water OR fruit and water to cover

Boil until soft then strain through jelly bag - old pillow case, inside-out works.
Add 1 cup sugar to 1 cup juice (taste while adding sugar for flavour which suits).
Bring to boil and boil 10 minutes, add 1/3 to 1/2 cups of vinegar (never more than 1/2c) then pour into hot, clean bottles and store.

Dilute to taste with water, lemonade, tonic water.
Enjoy hot, warm or cold.

All three of these sound lovely, thank you!

Ooooh I will try the blackcurrant concentrate thank you!

Ooh. I don’t grow blackcurrants daren’t admit here that I don’t like them but elderflower season will soon be here. Has anyone got a good recipe for cordial which keeps well? My first attempt soon went mouldy.

I swept the decking and marvelled at the two flowers we have in the garden just now.
Tomorrow i plan on sorting the bare root raspberries that have arrived and planting some bulbs. I also need to check that there are enough big planter pots for all the stuff I want to grow this year. To be honest I don't have enough space for all the stuff I'd like to grow but I can try.

I bought 3 erysimum from the sad plants shelf at the garden centre today. They seem fine, just needed a bit of deadheading and a good soak. Bunged them in one of the beds at the front, fingers crossed. Total bargain (I hope).

I'd also lifted and divided some potted geum 'Scarlet Tempest' a couple of days ago and replanted them in a border. Delighted to say they're definitely still alive even though my technique for dividing them was...ummm...slapdash (let's just say the hori-hori knife was involved). I really love these flowers, they're so cheerful and were such good do-ers for me last summer, so I hope they take to their new homes.

I have a load of really pretty saxifrage to put in my pallet planter, plus yet more erigeron. Also, got some salvia Nachtvlinder, geum Mai Tai and 72 lavender plugs on the way for planting out this weekend - need to stop buying plants for a bit now - and I need to get up to the bloody allotment at some point too!

While out for a walk I got a trio of nice pink saxifrages to replace some plants (identity forgotten) on the rockery which didn't appear to have survived the winter. Although when I dug them out there were signs on life on one so I shoved them into the saxifrage pots, so they've got a chance of resurrection.

I may have misidentified my pot-digger (though there may be more than one culprit). Looking at the back garden when we got home there was compost being furiously shovelled out of a pot by a blackbird. When I moved the pot to scoop the compost back into it I found a large worm hiding underneath so maybe that's what she was after. I should probably water the pots to make them less easily diggable, they've dried out very quickly... I'm not too convinced by the compost I've bought recently, it seems very wood chippy.

More digging.

Spring onions and lettuce germinated, wahoo!

Today I dug and cleared my narrow shady flower bed ready for the new plants. They arrived (ordered online) and I am so disappointed. There is barely any greenery and it mostly some small bare twigs sticking out of the pots. Is this usually for perennials ?

@maybeCornish it's not uncommon. I've had many arrive looking like that, especially early in the year, and they've been fine. Keep them somewhere warm and bright and they should get going soon. If they don't the company should replace them.