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 did a bit in ds’s garden while 5he kids played. Repotted some shrubs, pruned the pittosporum .it was lovely.

Did lots of tidying yesterday. Top dressed the hostas and moved them to their summer position, repotted quite a few plants, tied in some climbers, and watered and fed all pots. DH got a forsythia into a border that has been sulking in a pot for months.
Had well earned glass of wine and admired my efforts! Such warm sunshine, a pleasure to sit out.

Still plenty to do today including sorting out the green house. Once that is done I'll crack on with some seed planting.

@Maggiethecat I do but that's because I'm lazy and don't like planting things so can't be bothered doing it twice. If the plant doesn't live then it clearly wasn't tough enough to live in my garden.

Greenhouse now almost empty of the over-wintering plants which have been moved to a sheltered sunny spot. Very pleasantly surprised at how much has survived given it is unheated.

Lots of room now for seeds and seedlings once it has had a clean and a sweep out. I love this time of year

Tried to clear the pond of the unpleasant oily film it has developed. Not had that problem before. Second sowing of calendula and cosmos. Pricked out some of the seedlings from the first sowing. Decided to move the thyme plants to my new pebble bed but need to buy a Stanley Knife to cut through the carpet weed suppressant underneath. Might do that tomorrow as have a day off.

Weeded the back garden and impressed myself by digging up some of the bluebells. All the rest are cut down in hopes it will make them miserable for next year.

Picked stones out of one section of back garden, honestly could do this for ever but I think it made a small difference.

Mulched all the weeded bits with manure. And helped DH sawing the bits of tree we cut down yesterday.

There is still a giant pile of prunings on the lawn.

My bare root plants go from soaking bucket direct to ground, but I'm very much a survival of the fittest gardener.

Mashua blanca sounds interesting. I've grown oca before, but don't really have a long enough growing season here.

More bare roots in the ground here including Monarda (even the roots smell gorgeous so looking forward to that).

Also very belatedly planted some sweetpeas, I am actually getting ads on insta telling me I need to buy plugs because it's too late to plant seeds. A bit of a southern bias there, we're still getting morning frosts so nothing no annuals are going outside for another month.

I’ve planted stuff out but I’m in Manchester (the southern end of the North). Raised beds though, and a sheltered south-facing garden so I should get away with it.

I’m also at war with bluebells. The first spring after moving in I thought how lovely, but quickly realised what thugs they were in the beds. We have Spanish bluebells and hybrid bluebells everywhere - some places I don’t mind, but recently replanted a long chunk of border and despite meticulously removing them / cutting them down over a 2 year period the bloody things keep coming back. On par with bind weed in my garden, which I have just this week started seeing.

Fair enough! 😊

Bit deflated as barely any seeds are germinating this year, except my melons which have all germinated!

Never have any luck with melons so maybe this is the year of the melon for me. I was looking forward to my squashes though.

And I've got 3 outdoor girl tomatoes but 2 are in the same cell and I'm no good at pricking them out to transplant them. Fortunately they're a vining variety so I should be able to propagate some stems for later use.

Having tonnes of luck with the radishes though.

Its so cold here, nothing is growing. A few poppy seeds have come up and some borage. I daren't start any seeds off yet.
Its taken me years to get rid of the Spanish bluebells that came over from my neighbours garden. I've got an infestation of ornamental strawberries as well, they should be banned imo.

Mowed lawn and strimmed over the weekend. Put some wildflower seeds in a border to see what transpires. took out dead canes in tayberries (late I know) and tied them into wires...they are looking good. Tied in roses/honeysuckle into arch. Put in sweet pea plugs in beds...given to me by a neighbour, and it a garden enclosed by hedges, so should be OK. Need to sow cosmos...first batch were from an out of date packet, and no germination. Argh. So, I'll try again.

Discovered my dog thinks chicken poo pellets are a treat lol

DH & I cut out all the deadwood from our blackberry hybrid yesterday; & that filled our garden waste bin so had to stop! Looks much better now though.

We bought some garden waste bags with the intention of using them to transport garden waste to our local waste disposal but by the time any of us have had time and energy to move it, it's all quite nicely returned to compost.

Not surprising really as I had some compost bags made out of the same stuff and it was probably the best compost I've ever made, the only difference is these don't have lids.

Inadvertently saved myself a fortune in compost this year.

Love the accidental compost, result! I sowed climbing beans into toilet roll middles, and tidied another 15 ft of border.

Moved the thyme plants to their new home,and sowed sage. Pricked out the first sowing of cosmos,calendula and chamomile. Planted a big purple daisy type thing in a shady corner to give a splash of colour, and hauled sludge out of the pond in an attempt to clear the water a bit.

Painted the decking today! We only have a tiny garden but I’m getting better with it year on year. Went for a lilac decking paint to brighten up the corner, loving it so far! Keeping an eye on my clematis which I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I’ve got two cuttings which have been a bit shocked to be outside having spent the whole winter on the kitchen windowsill, but I think they will be okay! I also have found an accidental third cutting from a twig that I had killed off months ago - apparently not! It appears to be loving life and seems the most hardy out of the three ironically!

Painted the gate and two fence panels that needed it. Took down all my wire trellis off the two fence panels and redid them so they are more tighter (usijg tension grips). Then faffed about zip tying my climbing roses to the wires so they grow along the fence. 😁

My dog liked to sniff them out in the areas I'd used them around the garden. Sniffing like a pig sniffing out truffles 🤣

More seed sowing today, this time lots of flowers which I hope will grow. My cosmos seeds have so far been successful and I have lots of little seedlings. I've not grown them before but am excited to see how they do.

Today I potted up my apple trees grown from pips of apples we've eaten so no idea what they will become fruit wise, if anything, but they are fun to grow.

I potted on my dhs money tree plants in his garden office which have been very neglected. All being well they will take.

I planted up a hanging basket. I used some wool packaging from my dogs frozen food delivery to line the basket. The wool smelt amazing! I have sown some nasturtium seeds in it, and as with everything I sow, we shall see what grows.

I have put all my new plants in pots into my greenhouse for the night and I think it might be the last time I'll have to do so. Last night went lower than expected as the bird bath had ice in it and tonight is meant to be colder.

Teak oiled the garden benches yesterday. Planted out the cabbage seedlings. Weeded out some more cow parsley (endless). Planted a whole seed packet of cosmos which are in the greenhouse.
Emptied out mower catches which DH left on the lawn.

Today is chipping a bunch of sticks and tidying the compost area.

I've just been outside for a tidy up before bin day, and the soil is so dry!

Took a load of random garden plastic to the tip. Came back and saw about another 4 loads immediately. I need to sort out the garage. Honestly I thought I cleared it a few years ago but it's endless.

Have moved pots around from the porch to the mini greenhouse, potted up some argyranthemums that have survived from cuttings and have now run out of compost.

So off to the garden centre after lunch.