What have you done in the garden today? Part 5

[MereDintofPandiculation]

What have you done in the garden today? What went well? What surprises have you had? What could have gone better?

I’ve cut back the euphorbia that’s slumping over the bed, and given the cistus a very light trim. The last surviving ipomoea Grandpa Otts seems to have died but, hurrah, there are tiny tomatoes on the garden centre giveaway plant.

Such a gorgeous smell @catwithflowers. Phyllis Bide 😍

I’ve just dug up the unsuccessful peony and am agog at the huge roots - they were like those huge yams you sometimes see in the supermarket. I’ve planted a few things - the cut price rose, some nemesia, a lily.

I also dug up a couple of roses that were struggling and put them in pots. Probably won’t help but worth a shot.

Trouble when they get that large is they get unstable. I’ve taken to putting the pot inside a large stoneware pot to give it more weight at the bottom and more stability.

I like your Mammilaria front left. Do you manage to get it to flower?

@MereDintofPandiculation the tall one has a half-brick in the base of the pot for stability.
The sideways-spready cactus in the front left of shot (is that a mammilaria?) on the shelf flowers every year, loads of lovely pink flowers. It flowered a month or so back so still has ex-flowers among the spines but I CBA tweezing them all out yet.

I've had a morning glory flower come out today! I love morning glory. Especially mixed packets so every morning you go out not knowing what colours you will have today. But I find the don’t do well on an early sowing (Yorkshire), and on a late sowing they’re just coming into flower when the cold weather hits. And I can’t be bothered with the battle with red spider if I grow them indoors.

The sideways-spready cactus in the front left of shot (is that a mammilaria?) Yes on the shelf flowers every year, loads of lovely pink flowers. It flowered a month or so back so still has ex-flowers among the spines but I CBA tweezing them all out yet. Do you get fruit if you leave them? Worth trying if you never have - it gives a second display. And they’re edible.

My favourites are Mammillaria, Sulcorebutia, and Gymnocalycium. All relatively small with good flowers and lovely spine formation. Also the section of Echinopsis which used to be Lobivia. Rest of Echinopsis and Rebutia still have good flowers but are dull the rest of the year.

DH knows the names of the cacti as his mum was involved in the RCHS and displayed cacti at the Cacti and Succulents something for years.
Most of our current cacti are pups from her stock, though we don't take as good care of them as she would like.
My favourite is the one on the left here, mostly because when the sun is on it, it casts a delightfully rude shadow.

Taking a break today and off to Aberglasney with a friend. I love it there.

I gave up on morning glories when we lived in Yorkshire. We usually have it a bit milder over here, so I'm hoping they'll have time to come on a bit now it's warmed up - the unusually cold late spring didn't suit them at all I think.
Mine are all heavenly blue - I've got lots of pinks and purples elsewhere so that clear sky-blue is what I wanted.

My morning glory were fantastic last year - I'm in the North West and they were in a pot and disappeared right up the drain pipe.

This year - they are only just starting to think about doing something - about a foot high....

I remember seeing a hillside in Portugal completely purple with morning glory. Beautiful sight.

All 4 raised veg beds now in and full, I went and picked up some starts to get it filled for this year and now have an entirely random selection of veg (garden centres are already winding down for the year here, they only reopened in May!)
Threw away the cucumber seedlings that failed to thrive, still have a tray of lupins and echinacea that don’t technically have anywhere to live. I must do SOMETHING with them before they give up the ghost.

Three of my 7 cotoneasters look at deaths door, I think they’ll be in the way of where I want the new fence next year so might cut them right back and transplant at the very edge of the garden to hide the bins. If they die they die but worth at least attempting a rescue mission.

Borders around the round lawn are pretty well filled (although I keep buying perennials…) Probably need to stuff the aforementioned lupins etc in there but next year things might be a bit cramped!

The Therese bugnet and John Davis roses are both blooming and look lovely, the William Baffin didn’t get the memo and just continues to get larger with no sign of buds.

Rain has stopped play for now which saves me watering at least.

I need help identifying a beautiful weed again please.

It was tall and spindley and had dog daisy like flowers but they were baby blue. The flowers weren't bunching, just singular, and happily grew roadside.

Hello @Jimmyneutronsforehead could it be chicory?

My morning glory had a very slow start both last year and this. Spring was slow in coming and I had to keep my seedlings in the greenhouse for fear of them either being ripped to shreds by the biting wind, or rotting due to all the rain.

That sounds dreadful, doesn't it, just goes to show how bad we've had it. But of course we aren't fair weather gardeners are we. It's just another challenge to overcome, along with the slugs...

My lupins have been amazing this year, which is really weird, just goes to show that it's best to let nature get on with it and not to intervene. I'm leaving them to go to seed so I can harvest a few good seed pods and try to grow a new batch for next year. I just love their purple, cerise and lavender spikes!

this afternoon has been glorious, so I took a couple of hours at the end of the working day to plant a few pots now that we've had the patio area pressure-washed. It needs a splash of colour. I've also done two baskets, that's about as much as I'm prepared to look after. Finally got some decent quality bedding from the supermarket, it was dire quality and so expensive and May and most of June. Petunia, fuschia and lobelia. Purple and pink theme. Easy!

Tbf I noticed a railway embankment prettily adorned with similar flowers yesterday albeit white...

Yes!!! I think it could be. So beautiful. Thank you

Need to look at leaves and the way the flowers are arranged on the stem - blue sow thistle is very similar. Chicory has the flowers on short stems from a central stem, so they appear stuck to a vertical stem, blue sow thistle has looser sprays of flowers.

I have faffed on since January growing a long list of things from seed for local charity plant sales. They have taken over our garden and house this year because everything has been so much slower. I am down to the last 80 or so and am now concentrating on them (last plant sale in 3 weeks time) and on sorting out our garden which has been neglected as a consequence.

So today, I have cleared, re-composted and replanted 6 large pots - with Cosmos, Ami, Gaura and Cynoglossum. I chopped back all the Aquilegia, oriental poppies and weeded the large border, re-shaped and thinned out two large shrubs, mowed and edged the lawn. On the bottom patio lurking in shaded pots I found 6 small Anjelica Gigas which I dug out and planted in small pots, and about 10 small Teasels so scooped them out and re-planted them in small pots. Then I cleared out the stuff tucked down the back of the furniture- seed trays and pots- there were 4 huge, huge spiders with funnel webs that shot off as I moved the stuff. They looked like very large house spiders no doubt getting ready to move up the garden to the house. I swept and hosed the patio and was about to water the big pots and I saw sitting in the Geum a large grey and white striped spider (not an orb weaver) carrying a beautiful cream egg sac. She scuttled off with it and I watered carefully.

Then I took all the garden rubbish through to the garden bin to be collected to tomorrow.

I'm knackered.

I've planted 4 and they are still tiny and quite pale. About 3 jnches high. One has suddenly started sending up a long curly shoot- about 5 inches of it in a week.

I chopped down most of the long grass which is past its best now (visually), ready to mow at some point.

Planted a few odd seeds where I've got gaps. Some sunflowers which I've sown close together to encourage them to be smaller, and some more sweet peas. I know it's late but I had them in the shed and am interested to see how quickly they get going. Also if it's a long Summer, they'll probably be fine.

Cut back some sad lavender stems right to the bottom of the old wood in an attempt to get them healthier before the cold weather comes. I've previously had quite a lot of luck with new growth coming out of woody old lavender when cut right back, so I'm happy to give it the chance to refresh itself! Also took a few more cuttings.

Watering. I’ve done a lot of watering.

It was weirdly cold at 9pm yesterday - it had been quite pleasant during the day but at nightfall it felt like Sept/Oct!

Ive cleared out the garage while DH is away, so I wouldnt have to put up with him standing in the background getting all grumpy at me chucking away all sorts of rubbish that, had he been there, he'd have sworn he was purposely saving for xyz project). I'm a chucker, he's a stasher (do opposites really attract!?). I lit an early bonfire as there wasn't a breathe of wind and got rid of all the burnables, boxes, packing paper etc. The daft thing is, he won't miss any of it, he just can't face throwing things away.

I can now see the wood for the trees! And I've got all the lovely ash to mix into the compost heap and spread on the borders. I've just given my sweet pea and dahlia some of slow release granules and watered them in.

I hit on a goldmine. I was looking for rooting hormone and found a new box of Miraclegro, reels of green twine, a pair of secateurs I'd forgotten I had and some sachets of rose feed and mycorrhizal fungi - That's saved me a few quid!

Freezing here today! But some welcome drizzle. My sweet peas are finally starting to flower. Just before we go away for a week 😩🙈. I'm worried about watering but the forecast is for quite a bit of rain. 🤞

Got out into the garden today after a long session working, only to find that the slugs have absolutely DESTROYED my bronze fennel! Never has it been touched before, it is a border plant because I don't like eating it, but now it's just a series of interestingly-coloured sticks. PLUS, just as I thought I might be having a clematis flower (I have no luck with clematis in my garden, but this one has shot up this year and put out a load of buds), but when I checked, the fucking birds have eaten every single flower bud!

I threatened to put the lot under concrete (I wouldn't ever do that, but the plants don't know that...)