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?

Yesterday I moved my brugmansia pots from near the greenhouse to the patio- very big pots, two of them, and one slightly smaller, so it was an accomplishment.

Then I cleared the road verge of the allotment which had been ignored for maybe fifteen years. Why do some nettle stings hurt more than others? One on my thumb still hurts this morning.

Then I decided it was the day to deal with a large stone mostly submerged (vertically) on the path just at the entry to the allotments. I tried to remove it. Ha!! After an hour I called in reinforcements with pickaxes and mattocks, and DH and I gradually lifted a 30" X 20" flagstone that had been thoroughly wedged in at the base with other large stones. Two inches thick! I think it originally formed a step, although that makes little sense when people would be bringing wheelbarrows in and out? It has been a gentle slope as long as I can remember.

Today I have been pollinating some squash. I think it can be very hit and miss to do it by hand, though. Someone said the window for pollination is three hours? I just give it a go if there are a lot of male flowers. I am a bit of a control freak. But also there seems to be not as many pollinating insects this summer.

Why do some nettle stings hurt more than others? One on my thumb still hurts this morning. Did you know there is a nettle, very rare in UK, only in E Anglia, which doesn’t sting. Urtica dioica ssp galeopsifolia, Fen nettle

Probably some nettle leaves have more of the cocktail of chemicals that cause the sting, and it may depend on how/whether you rubbed it. They were one of the plants featured in a very good tour of the Almwick poison garden we did earlier this year, apparently rubbing makes it worse and definitely don't rub with dock leaves as they'll just add a bit more irritant of their own.

Unearthing the stone.

I planted the lovely but probably doomed slug food dahlia I bought yesterday.

That was quite an achievement!

I thought the treatment relied on overstimulating the nerves so they shut up for a while? In which case extra irritant would be good

Yesterday I cut back/renovated some overgrown rosemary & lavender in the front garden to make space for some rescued David Austen roses (Molineux & Eustacia Vye). The rosemary & lavender are still there just cut back lots of deadwood & any over arching branches. They're several years old & getting a bit big & woody now, so may still pull them out & start again. It's a south facing spot so they love it there. Hoping the roses take off.
Also did a bit of weeding & deadheading.

@ErrolTheDragon The Poison Garden talk and wander is good isn't it? I've been examining my pumpkins. I read somewhere that you could grow pumpkins on the compost heap. I put six plants I had grown from seed on our, thinking that at least half of them would die or be eaten by pigeons on mice. But actually they all survived and we now have the most ridiculous triffid like growth with dozens of baby pumpkins 🎃

@catwithflowers depending what variety they are, you might need to choose the best ones & pick off the other baby pumpkins so the plant channels all its nutrients into the one.

Some nettles have popped up in my raspberry beds, but I'm going to leave them in because I like nettle soup in the spring when the leaves are young and fresh, and they can't be urinated on by the dog in the raised bed which is always a bonus 😂

I also quite like the sting! Hated it at first but it's quite soothing on aching hands after a while.

Had a look round after I got home from work. Bloody hell the weeds! And the bindweed is staging a fight back.

I found that nettle stings as an adult lasted way longer than when I was a child. I've never seen nettles in Victoria, they're different and grow near streams and in temperate rain forests, and are edible, just as the northern hemisphere one is.

Oddly I have seen dock here, always growing near nettles as a child, and remember holding them against nettled legs and held in place by long socks.

@APurpleSquirrel I'm sure you are right. There's no way all the flowers will fruit. I don't even know the variety as I just found a seed packet with 'pumpkin' on the front and no more information.

I've been stopping the cherry tomato plants too as they are now over 5' tall and need to focus on ripening the existing fruit rather than developing others.

Cut the grass,dead headed some stuff.

Dead headed/pruned the buddleia, cut back some dogwood which was growing over a hydrangea, pulled out quite a bit of bindweed in an odd hour this afternoon. Just been out for an evening sniff of the sweet peas and a bit more deadheading.

Just picking as many blueberries as I can eat, though I've hardly made a dent so far.

Our buddleia started into flower this week.

This is my first year gardening and everything is exciting 😂

This morning I've noticed some tomatoes ripening and a whopping FOUR sugar snap pods.

I've also deadheadded the fuchsia and tied in the passion flower.

@ObliviousCoalmine Take one of your sugar snaps and eat it raw, noticing the difference in taste between pea and pod. There’s nothing quite as delicious as peas straight from the plant.

I love eating peas straight from the plant.

The back garden is being turned into a play area for the children, but I want it to be surrounded by plants they can just pick from.

It's one of my most favourite childhood memories, coming out of my play house and eating chives and blueberries and the neighbours apples that overhung our fence, and strawberries straight off the plant.

Planting the right plants is half the battle though because I can't get a fruit or vegetable into these children whether it's boiled, fried, candied, pickled or mashed.

Fell in the pond.

Stepped backwards, into the deep end.

Oh no! Are you ok?

Good day for it, as long as there's no damage!