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?

Hi everyone. I'm intending to join in on a gardening thread for September onwards to keep me somewhat accountable... But should that be here or on the September jobs thread I've just seen? Not sure if that's just for jobs or if it'll be chat too. Someone point me in the right direction please 🤔

I think this is probably the general chat one, Frogs . I'm hoping to learn from the monthly ones, I'm rubbish at remembering to order at the right time or think about when to take cuttings etc!

I think it will be helpful for newbies to see on there what other gardeners are doing too.

Does anyone have experience of sedums self-seeding? There’s a mystery seedling under one of the roses which is giving distinctly sedum vibes!

Oki doke. Well here's today's "what I did in the garden". A couple of years ago I bought a small wooden greenhouse, hoping to use it sort of like a huge cold frame and maybe grow chillies in there. It worked well for a year, kept the seedlings off the windowsill inside, and then we moved to a much bigger garden and wind got into it during a storm, damaging the wood and the polycarbonate sides - the doors were all but ripped off their hinges. It's taken probably 6 months for me to face dismantling it, seeing if we can repair it or if it needs to be fully retired into spares and scrap.

Today was the day and we discovered it is in worse condition than previously thought - black areas of wood from water ingress, split frame from wind damage, etc. I'm gutted. But in some ways the guilt of it being damaged has hung over me for months and now I feel I've "released it" by dismantling. Like it can finally rest instead of struggling on. Hence deciding to find a garden thread. Start again like we just moved instead of ruminating on missed opportunities and early mistakes. So here I am.

I work from home and I used to be (at the old house) in a great habit of "finish work, into the garden for 30 mins" and here there's so much to do I haven't known where to start. But the answer is "anywhere"! So, my to do list for getting back into the swing of things...

> Rake up fallen apples and compost them
> Collect apples from trees (soon?)
> Start strimming "the meadow" in sections
> Edge grass alongside path to stop it migrating
> Continued weeding of brick paved patio
> Clean off old herb labels and rewrite for new varieties
> Final coat of fence paint
> Continued vegetable maintenance
> Badger neighbour to finish dismantling the shed
> Dig out new bed for bulbs alongside old shed site
> Sand down and retreat wooden chairs
> Put together and treat new (much shorter, portable, so less susceptible to wind damage!) wooden cold frame

Prep done:
> New autumn planting bulbs ordered (tulip, crocus, snowdrop, alium, anemone, eranthis)
> Old bulbs from broken pots drying for planting
> "First pass" on all brick paving weeding

Collect apples from trees (soon?) My peak picking time is October, but you can tell whether they’re ready to pick by lifting one gently and seeing whether it parts easily from the branch.

The idea with the September jobs thread is that we’ll resurrect it next September, so we don’t get bored listing the same jobs year after year, so probably best to keep it free of chat.

Planted 500 crocus bulbs in one of the lawns. That took some time 😳. And spread lots of compost onto some of the flower beds. Also did quite a bit of deadheading of roses.

We had a think about the veg plot, what has been successful and what we will do differently next year.

@MereDintofPandiculation thanks for the apple picking timing advice! I haven't checked if they're easily pickable yet but I'll go by that. For some reason that's one of the few things from watching Gardener's World that has stuck with me - if it doesn't come off easily its not ready so leave it alone 😁 I'll stay on this thread and just read the other one for now then

September jobs:
-cut back the buddleias if they ever give up flowering (slightly regretting all the deadheading now)
-keep deadheading roses until the frost stops them
-finish picking blueberries and dismantle the fruit cage.
-cut down raspberry canes as they finish fruiting.
-cut back the curry plants so they're off the path (I left the flowers for the bees but it's getting too obstructive now).

@GertrudeJekyllAndHyde most things /can/ self seed but have other ways to spread better.
I've had lone sedum seedlings pop up (I assume you mean the iceplant kind with the cluster of pink flowers at about knee-high. Sedum is a big family!).
My garden is not normal though, I've had all sorts pop up there that I didn't plant.

Oops, reposted to correct thread!

DH has just pulled the last of the rhubarb. We have far too much for the two of us really even though I regularly put some out on the front for the neighbours to take. I split one crown last winter and gave it away to a couple of grateful recipients so I'll probably do the same again this winter to keep it manageable.

Rain has just begun so that might be it for today unless I go in the shed and potter

InMySpareTime - Yes, I’m talking about the bog standard hylotelephium/sedum/ice plant. It’s taken me by surprise because it’s not a famous self-seeder (like others too numerous to mention) and it’s years since I had one in the garden. Time will tell.

@GertrudeJekyllAndHyde I had a look in the garden and have a few self seedlings of ice plant, like this one:

I do have plenty of big plants and tend to leave the seed heads on over winter, every now and then I dig out a clump and give it away but there never seems to be any less.

Sedums spread here too, always finding them dotted about.

I've spent some time today cleaning up some secateurs that got lost in my neighbours garden a couple of weeks ago. They'd been hidden under bark, so no rust or damage, and just needed a good clean up. I'd already bought another pair but it's good to have them back.

Is that a self seeded buddleia I see to the left of your photo @InMySpareTime

ive had one growing on my rockery for a few weeks and I'm leaving it there gently growing in the sunshine until I can pull it up and replant it.

I have many self seeded buddleia, I usually donate them to the local scout camp, along with the self seeded ferns, teasels and (squirrel-planted) oak saplings.
That particular buddleia is annoying because it's right beside where I get into the car and has had bees all over it all summer.

Got into the garden for the first time this week today. Continued my renovation of the rose bed. I have bought some bark to use as mulch, finally ready to apply it.

Collected about half of the fallen apples today, straight into the compost heap. Ran out of steam so the rest will be done another time. Still pretty satisfying.

Shed also finally came down, dismantled by neighbour, although it'll be Wednesday before the sides are actually carried away. So at the moment we have a shed stack 🤣

I bought some ferns on the weekend, planted them under our free and it looks lovely. North facing so hoping they will grow. I've just ordered some snowdrops and bluebells to plant in the border too

It will be quite dry under the tree, so keep a close eye and be prepared to move them

@MereDintofPandiculation you told me, somewhere on this thread, how to differentiate between geraniums and buttercups. I am useless at search , but I’ve looked thru repeatedly and can’t find it. Please tell me again.
The gardeners are here again. Cut back all the overhang in the veg patch and now they are moving the greenhouse. I’ve bought broad beans and green manure to sow. So excited. Gone right back to basics in planning the renovation of my borders. I’m going to focus on shrubs and ground cover, moving some shrubs out of pots and dividing geraniums sedums alchemilla, lungwort etc from elsewhere. Then I’m going to really look after them, get the plants established and the weeds under control, and maybe when it’s more maneagable, gussy it up a bit. This is a new thing for me, my renovations usually involve a half assed attempt at weeding, then shove in loads of the wrong plants at great expense. It pains me to admit this.

@MereDintofPandiculation @WoodBurningStov

If the tree isn't that big, ferns can establish quite happily underneath, as in my (north facing) garden:

@Zebracat - I can usually tell buttercups because there's a cluster of leaves coming from one point. Of course because they run there may be several of these near each other, it's a hands and knees job to tell IME.

@Zebracat I tell geraniums from buttercups by the smell of the leaves. Geranium leaves have a distinctive smell and leave a sort of wax on your hands when handled.

@Zebracat Buttercups tend to have deep purple at the base of the stems, and are more likely to have white markings on the leaves. Buttercups have 3 major lobes, geraniums are more likely to have 5 or more. If you have long runners with two or more little plants at intervals it's almost certainly Creeping Buttercup.

Remember I have tended a tiny Geranium seedling with leaves less than 1cm long only for it to turn into a buttercup.