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?

Thank you. I was so caught out by it. I expected small plants not empty looking pots!
I was planning on planting them out this weekend. Should I hold off then?

If they were mine I'd hold off, just to make sure they're okay. If they're in those tiny plug containers pot them on and keep an eye on them. Give them a good staring at every day and hopefully they'll start to grow.

Bear in mind it's still very early in the season and a lot of stuff outside isn't really showing yet. Already established plants might be putting up new growth but even there it's not much.

They are in 9cm pots. I'll keep them inside and look after them until they show sign of life!

Totally normal. What are they?

I work in a plant nursery and we're currently potting up masses of bare root perennials and also perennial plugs - many of them do look like nothing. It amazes me how soon you have a lovely healthy plant! Today we potted up some plugs that were so small I had to keep calling to my colleague to check she'd put a plug through the machine, as there was absolutely no sign in the pot. But very soon they'll be bursting out.

This is the order plus a hosta.

All of that, it sounds ok if it's not showing anything. A lot of our stock is kept in polytunnels out of the frost, and even then, to be in good condition now, all of those things would be barely through or only showing leaves. You don't want them to be up too soon - it would only mean you had plants that had been forced/had been grown in a warmer climate and imported.

I'd just keep a good eye on the pots and let the supplier know if you do find there's problem in 3-4 weeks.

Thank you! 🌱

A month or so ago I planted a load of cosmos, nasturtium and sweet pea seeds in the greenhouse. Nothing happened for weeks, but over the last week or so they’ve started to come though! Does anyone know, do these need potting on or do I just leave them like this until they are big enough to go in the garden? And the sweet peas, only a dozen have come through out or at least 50, do you think I’ve lost the rest or might they still come through?

I suspect you will need to pot them on, just because they'll get leggy in those trays long before you're past the risk of them getting frosted outside. I'd pinch out the tops of sweet peas when I do this. It could be mice helped themselves to the other seeds, but they can just be really slow germinating, especially if the seed is old/you didn't soak it.

Thank you, I might pot the nasturtiums on today in that case. We do have a mouse in the garden but I don’t think he’s got the seeds as the soil isn’t disturbed- maybe I’ll just leave the sweet peas and keep my fingers crossed that more come though.

Yes. It’s why you buy and plant at this season - a bundle of soil with bare twigs sticking out is very difficult to damage in the post. Leave it till new growth is coming, and the tender new growth would be very easily damaged, leave it till summer and the plant would be too big to transport safely, and with not much growing season left for recovery.

Remember when I was suddenly reminded of the propagator full of seeds I’d forgotten about? Well, I was just in time for the water and now have germination, 100% for sweet peas, 100% for Gardener’s Delight toms, and apparently 140% for Jen’s Tangerine. Don’t know how that happened - either I can’t count to 5, or a couple of volunteers from the compost, which will be interesting.

I have admired early rhododendron praecox, now in bloom.

I have repotted a camellia and blueberry, and finally ordered some fruit bushes - another blueberry, two blackberries and four blackcurrants. RHS says you can grow blackcurrants in pots for a few years, so I'll do that while the space I want them in sorts itself out.

The camellia might be happier in the ground, though our soil is pretty much neutral, but I have it in a pot over the place where the internet comes into our property so I don't accidentally plant a shrub or whatever over it.

Is it OK to start planting in the ground yet?

I have done a lot of destruction and weeding, have more to do but am honestly getting a bit bored and wanting to plant stuff back in.

Is it too early or can I crack on? Was in the garden centre today and they have put all their plants out so presumably some people are starting.

I planted out my first early potatoes having dug up all the raspberry runners first 😫. I love my raspberries and they are amazing croppers but the runners drive me mad. They are heading towards my 'no dig' bed which is going to ruin the vibe a bit when I have to dig them up...

I'm growing patio raspberries this year because the runners were so annoying at my old house Dahlia.

I've never grown them before and was warned. I should have listened! I thought they would be manageable like strawberry runners. I hope yours do really well. I'll never plant in the ground again.

Though on the plus side I assume they are also running into my neighbours... who I love and also love their cats... apart from that they use my garden as their toilet. This is my subtle revenge 😆.

We've got a row of raised beds out the back and I put raspberries in one of them. They made their way from that raised bed, into the next one and between the slabs around the beds. Took me three years to get rid of them.

I have (although I'm definitely no expert!) I've put in erigeron, salvia and geums over the last few days. They're all just plugs really but I bunged 'em in the borders. However, I'm in a sunny part of the country and we rarely even get proper frosts here.

Today I planted up some of the above, trimmed the tops of the hedges and cut back a ton of suckers from the lilac, hawthorn and sycamore trees in the garden. My dumping ground 'wildlife hedge' has been well replenished!

Then I moseyed on up to the allotment, marvelled at the fact I actually have proper broad bean plants growing and dug over a bed for potatoes, which I'll probably put in next week. My sweet pea seedlings are looking a bit pathetic but given that two weeks ago I had to rescue them all from the floor of the plastic greenhouse and hastily re-pot them (very windy night!) I'm just grateful there's any life poking through at all.

Eek, I put raspberry canes in at the allotment a couple of weeks ago...now I'm worried! 😁

Oh, gosh, I join the raspberry-cane weariness. When we moved here the field (very overgrown patch of waste land) behind the garden was thick with raspberry canes, so they had a head start on me. They're well into the veg garden now. I try to be philosophical and remember that DD loves being able to pick fresh berries when they're ripe. But they are bastards.

I have also done some 'admiring' rather than gardening. I put a metal support over my peony 'Molly the Witch,' which is a piece from my mum put in 3 or so years ago; it is finally starting to look as if there's something vaguely there! They are really slow growing so it is nice. I also admired the prunus cerasifera in flower, which is lovely, and my little 'Kojo-no-mai,' which is in a pot, is all covered in buds.

Aside from that I haven't really done much except clearing up! It feels as if there are leaves and prunings everywhere.

@MereDintofPandiculation, it'll be exciting to see what those extra seeds are!

In the week I planted out some bearded iris which arrived in the post. They had nice green shoots and I made a mound and popped them on and then backfilled to cover the roots. But now the shoots are yellow 😬. I realised I hadn’t watered. So I’ve watered and that washed all the soil off them 😬😬😬 so now I’ve covered the roots in potting compost which is damp and it’s due to rain tomorrow so I’m hoping they will perk up?

literally the first thing I’ve done this year and it’s a potential disaster.

Right then I am going to start planning some planting.

As so far 'gardening' has looked like pruning hacking weeding digging up grass because I didn't do anything last year then weeding again as loads of weeds have come up in the bit I've just cleared.

I've also lugged a lot of gravel and manure from the garden centre.

It's currently feeling over-rated.