What have you done in the garden today? Part 6

[MereDintofPandiculation]

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

I removed the Wayfaring Tree suckers from my Viburnum carlesii, a job I haven’t got round to for at least two years. So I now have a big heap of twigs to add to my dead hedge, and an evening’s firewood (for 2026-7 when it’s dried out thoroughly). Also coppiced a bush honeysuckle. Now I have a better view of my beautiful Fothergilla.

I walked my mower to the park (not easy, had to get DH to help me lift it over a stile) and mowed up four packed bags of leaves. Walked the mower home again and then drove the car back to pick up the bags.

I feel leaf-rich! It's been a good day. Before and after:

Bulbs are in. And have now spent an hour looking at Sarah Raven bulb collections (which I will actually buy cheaper on Farmer Gracy, thank'you Mumsnet for the tip) for next year.

Potted up the last canna that I didn't have a pot for and put it in the newly repaired greenhouse. Broke the handle off the greenhouse - don't have the heart to tell DH.

Spent the morning in a garden project where I volunteer. It was glorious. I dug up some plants that need to be moved and wheeled barrow loads of compost around and got thoroughly muddy. I can’t believe that I was outside in December in jeans and a vest top.

I expanded the leaf area (again) yesterday and have re-named it Leaf City. Added eight bags of assorted leaves collected in the park and from the green in front of the cottage.

I am once stayed in a Victorian house where nothing much was done to the garden, but for decades all the leaves and grass cuttings had been stacked up in one corner. It was now home to the biggest variety of fungi I’ve seen anywhere, all colours including lilac, and with several of the wonderful earthstars

We went on a fungus walk last autumn in the grounds of Arley Hall in Cheshire - there were so many different ones in the woodland/shrubbery area once you had them pointed out and started really looking. I think there must have been over 50 varieties, many with wonderfully evocative/descriptive names. That included some lilac ones and earthstars.

I absolutely love fungi. A walk like this would be right up my alley. We don't have mature mature woodlands in our area, or undisturbed grasslands so we don't get a huge variety round here but I was fortunate enough to come across the phallus impudicus stinkhorn in the grass verge that leads from a coal stack hill into some wooded areas last year. It was a real treat because as a child that's where the giant puffballs used to grow till they added an industrial park at the other side of the wooden area and it's been at least 20 years since I last saw any mycological activity there.

I’ve been peripherally involved in looking for waxcaps on old cattle grazed pastures. They are incredibly varied and colourful, though I find it hard to distinguish between all the different red species, ditto the yellow ones and the oranges. And my nose is not good enough to distinguish the smell of “Russian leather” or “bed bugs”. But the Parrot waxcap is an absolute joy!

Today I successfully searched for the parcel of plants delivered by one of our esteemed delivery companies (actually round the other side of our house and not on the next street as shown by their location map) and dealt with it. And I killed a banana by leaving it in the cold of the porch. I’m not unhappy, I didn’t want it, DS gave it me to resuscitate last time he nearly killed it, then refused to take it back

Lovely fungi - I didn't know about either of those. How does the middle part of the earthstar release the spores?

I think mushroom spotting is practically my bird spotting/stamp collecting era.

I'd love to see a parrot waxcap.

Another treat to spot is the witches hat waxcap which is hygrocybe conica in the hygrocybeae family, and I just love how their colours deepen as they mature through their cycle. They grow in very similar places to parrot waxcaps so if you have spotted parrot waxcaps you might also have spotted witches hats too.

I don't get to go out exploring much these days, and don't drive so can't get to many mature woodlands so I will live vicariously through you and just say how happy I am that you get to see them.

As the mushroom matures it develops a spore sac with layers and the outer layer peels back as the entire mushroom starts the breakdown process, and usually due to environmental disturbances like wind or rain or foot traffic applying pressure to the mushroom, the spores are forced out through pressure through a hole called the peristome and are then carried by the wind to their new location.

Very similar to a breast, where milk is formed in lobes, and when external pressure is applied the milk exits the lobes and eventually the breast through the nipple.

Not my picture BTW, but think it beautifully shows the layers and peristome.

I'd love to see a parrot waxcap. It’s one of the commoner waxcaps. Whatever the colours on the cap, you can recognise it by the green tones n the stem.

I got out at about 3pm and did an hours tidying up - sorted out the mess of canes, twine and hoop plant supports which I'd left on the table but which DH had unceremoniously but entirely reasonably tipped onto the lawn when he went out to flip it over on Friday evening, our normal practice when high winds are due to prevent it being blown into the borders, windows or fences. Then chopped back ugly leaves off Japanese anemones (there's fresh green ones coming through) and sprawling dead ferns, the latter had some nice evergreen ground cover underneath. (The name of which I've long forgotten).

Planted garlic. Put the greenhouse away after it collapsed the other day. Will try and rebuild it at some point.
Looked at the fungi growing around the garden as I have piles of leaves and branch's around that I've piled up when pruning. Planning on doing a few no dig beds soon.

Cut back the climbing rose between us and next door. It was a bit of a battle.
Did a general tidy up of things that got battered by the storm.

Pruned some of the honeysuckle, and at last planted out the wallflower plants I bought a few weeks ago.

I have piles of leaves and branch's around that I've piled up when pruning. You need the right terminology - they’re “habitat piles”

I took down the virginia creeper that I had grown up the back of the house. It was finally too much for me, growing up to the chimney and into the gutters and onto the roof and in through second floor bedroom windows. I hate climbing a ladder to prune it every year (heights) so I decided the creeper had to go. Massive pile of branches, which included an old bird's nest.

It was a lovely mild winter's day to do it in.

I had a revelation the other day - in that my long thin garden basically showcases my shed which stands nearly at the end. If you sit at the kitchen table, your eye is drawn to the shed. It's quite a pretty shed, but not all that to look at. So today I went out and decorated the front of the shed for Christmas! Nothing much, just a wreathe on the door and a garland over the top, but it looks so pretty! And when I'm sitting in the kitchen (which is almost impossible to get Christmassy, because all surfaces are needed for cooking, eating etc) I can look out of the enormous window at the decorations on my shed!

We used to have a shed at the end of our garden that we painted blue. In winter, especially if it was snowy, it really caught the eye as the only spot of colour. Here’s to your decorated shed!

In a world first DH suggested we went out in the garden. I was so shocked, as he is not a keen gardener, I immediately agreed.

Got the back garden all weeded and tidied up. DH pruned the minarettes only he has no idea what he is doing and I'll need to do it again

Only job left for December is cutting back the lavender.

This morning I am clearing out my potting shed.
😮😣😩😳🙄😐😂

I pruned two and a half apple trees. Another six and a half to go. So another 2-3 hours.