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?

Very productive day for you @MereDintofPandiculation

Thank you @daisychain01 . I can’t get into my big one yet but very helpfully have a wall one by the back door. It definitely does lift the spirits.

Does any one know the best way to get rid of about 100 set to seed dock plants that are deeply rooted in clay soil?

There's a spot in the garden I have neglected. I need to put weed membrane down on it and it will eventually be set with playground bark.

I've broken the strimmer trying to strim it and it's too much to get done manually.

I keep waiting for a "just right" goldilocks day where it's not wet and cold and windy and my bones won't ache and where it's not blaring sun because I'm whiter than a sheet and the sun gives me the collywobbles.

The entire task is just too big but I can't afford to get any one in because I spent a small fortune on weed killer that just hasn't worked.

Wishing you a speedy recovery, Seaitoverthere.

If you give them a good thrashing with a hefty stick or a spade before you apply weed killer, it helps the chemicals penetrate. Otherwise add a bit of washing up liquid to the weed killer to help it stick to the weeds.
Learned from bitter experience…..

Hello all, I haven't managed much gardening recently as I hurt my back quite badly so I've been taking it extremely gently. But I've just spent half an hour pottering and giving things a water with the hosepipe. Even that was pulling on my lower back so I think I still need to be careful. It did mean that DH mowed the lawn for me which was nice (normally I do all the gardening which is usually fine by me!)

We have harvested our first courgettes, cherry tomatoes and dwarf beans. My rhubarb this year has been a disaster..... I did stop picking it at the end of July rather than June so I wonder if I just really weakened it. I'm going to give it a feed and just forget about homegrown rhubarb this year in the hope that it'll regain strength for next year.

Thanks @GertrudeJekyllAndHyde 🙂

I spent a small fortune on weed killer that just hasn't worked. Which weedkiller did you use? How long ago?

If it’s only 100 or so plants, start by lopping off all the flowering spikes and getting rid of them

@Jimmyneutronsforehead the RHS website suggests that Spring is the best time to eradicate dock, because they are at their most vulnerable / weak. You're probably fighting a losing battle at the moment, trying to get rid of them when they are at their height of vigorous growth currently.

if they're in a small spot in the corner or edge of your garden, I would just leave them for now, put your feet up and have a cuppa 😊 sometimes nature wins on these things. I've decided to do similar with an area by my compost heap, and comfort myself that it's a habitat for tiger moth, capsid, ladybird, beetle and spider. 🐜 🐞 🦟

Three warm days plus heavy rain today might be just what is needed to get things moving. It’s very humid today. Got sidetracked by a plant sale on my way into Asda and got a dahlia, a gerbera, a chili plant and a leucanthemum for £12.

Lots of deadheading, weeding, tieing up, planted out last few cosmos in gaps left where poppy foliage etc had been. I was outside all morning, thought I'd just get a bit more done before the forecast rain ... which hasn't started yet, I just came in for a cuppa and was amazed to see what the time is.

It’s raining! Really pleased. About 3 days without rain and I need to water my pots. So tomorrow I’ll only have to do the greenhouse.

I'm in the Midlands and we've not had rain but I did get the hose out yesterday to my pots. Today I planted out the last of my cosmos purity, tied in the Paul Scarlett rose and did a bit of seed gathering from the nigella, glory vine, honesty and some stunning deep red snapdragons. I'm going creative tomorrow and will be attempting a wreath for the shed. Hoping to use dried seed heads, cones and grasses but first I need to cut down some overhanging willow from next door's tree to make the frame.

The rain, when it arrived, was good and heavy.

Mostly tidying up and watering pots today, but I did pause to lament the disappearance of the nigella from the back garden. They were quite chunky plants but presumably succumbed to slugageddon.

I got rid of a gooseberry bush. Only 3 more to go. They’ve never cropped well (at least 3 of them are random seedlings) and they’re nasty vicious things. Nice to see my Rosgersias again.

Upset the frog in the old sink though

I have done nothing. However my builders have remade the beds in the back garden.

Guess I will need to plant veg next year instead of ignoring it.

c@charabang please post a pic of your wreath. This is the kind of thing I imagine doing in the garden, but actually my garden is like a runaway horse and I’m desperately hanging on to stop it joining the herd of wild ponies. I’ve been trying to restore order to my veg patch. We have no veg at all, thanks to the slugs and snails, and the soft fruit areas are weedy and unloved. I’ve cleared the paths . I’ve pruned the summer raspberries and weeded beneath them. I’m going to move the strawberry plants to that bed so they act as a weed suppressant. My Dh has dug another bed over, and I think I’m going to sow a green manure in there, not sure yet. May just cover it with something and leave it. Or research if it’s too late to sew something else. I know diggings unfashionable, but it was such a horrible mess, and hand weeding was taking forever.
Today I’m going to try and make my greenhouse function, by tidying up all the failures, weeding and sowing some salad leaves. I have1 tomato plant to tie in. This does feel like Groundhog Day.

Sorry, I just really want to share some pictures of my tomatoes because they have absolutely thrived off being neglected this year and they're one of the only things that have pulled through The Great Slug War of 2024.

I've never tried this variety before but I was really worried after planting when it said to be grown indoors only as I don't think they're especially blight resistant and I clearly haven't pruned.

If they taste nice then I might grow these again next year as they're doing so well and I can already see some little green trusses.

I have taken some inspiration from a neighbour with a beautiful blue flower hedge with borage and cornflowers and lobelia and this beautiful purple lavatera for next year though. Trying to find the exact variety of lavatera as its not as reddish as the pictures I can find on the Internet.

Could the Lavatera be a Hibiscus? Same family but more blue tones

It could be. I'm going to ask if I can take a photo next time I pass and they're outside.

I've never tried this variety before but I was really worried after planting when it said to be grown indoors only as I don't think they're especially blight resistant and I clearly haven't pruned.

do you know if they are the cordon (indeterminate) or bush (determinate) growing habit?

particularly for the indeterminate types, which keep growing upwards, You may want to consider giving them support and also cutting off the lower leaves and some of the leaves growing up the stems. The reason being, fewer leaves gives a better airflow and mitigates against risk of blight

it doesn't harm the plant in any way, in fact it enables it to focus on fruit production. Also, give the plants a weekly dose of Tomorite as they are hungry devils, and will reward you with beautiful trusses of sweet smelling toms through to Oct.

They are indeterminate.

I know I should, but my mental health and energy are down the pan this year so we're practicing "neglect gardening" or survival of the fittest.

They're thriving, there are a lot of pollinated trusses, they get full sun, and they haven't succumb to disease.

I've really had to baby other tomatoes in years past and never had a yield as good as this.

Yesterday I had 3 rows of spring onions coming along nicely. The first row was about a week off picking. Went out this morning and I have a single spring onion! One! One of my broad bean plants has been ravaged overnight too.

It’s rained all day again.

It's yesterday now, but I sawed up thick stems of a thornless bougainvillea I had to cut right back so my balcony could be re-built. Also planted more mini cos lettuces as the last lot are starting to bolt. The spring onion seedlings I put in have all failed, so I've sowed seed directly instead.

On the flower front I've cut back a cymbidium orchid and brought forward the pots of native orchids into the sun. Ditto a pot of velthemia capensis,

The weeds are going bonkers as winter is their prime month here.

I almost forgot, I planted a tree! a one-foot high pepper tree - schinus molle, so I have one growing in the front garden, one in the back.