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?

is it too early to plant my tomatoes in the greenhouse border? I’m going out there now, and I’d really like to get something in the ground

@Zebracatput the back of your hand into the soil. If it feels nice and warm you can plant tender plants in it. The traditional advice is to put your bare bottom on the soil but there’s no need for that!
The soil temperature depends on lots of things, like location, aspect, shelter, shade.

I need advice from the hive, DP got keys for a house last month but we've only just been today to have a look round and measure up.

On the front lawn when he got the keys there were a few brambles and some bindweed but nothing I didn't feel like I couldn't handle.

Today though it's been absolutely taken over by mares tail.

How do I get rid of mares tail?!

Its only a small front garden. 2 patches of 2x1m. My first instinct is to smother it in a few layers of black tarp for a few months and just stick decorative plant pots on top so the neighbours don't have to look at something so unsightly. Would this work or do we need to go nuclear with it?

Tarp won’t kill mares tail, that stuff can get through tarmac. You need to meticulously dig it out and bin all the bits of root.
There aren’t any short cuts and you definitely cannot hoe or rotavate it.

My soil was warm. I’ve planted 6 Ethel Watkins in my greenhouse. Exciting! And another 5 ft of border conquered.

You can kill mare's tail by smothering with membrane but it will take years not a few months.

As it's a small area I'd probably try a mixture of digging it up, weed killer painted on any ends I couldn't get up and considering if I could put up with membrane with pots on top for at least 1-2 years.

Concentrated on the pots,some needed new compost so did that, planted out sone flowers that had been in thr greenhouse and fashioned a wood chip path behind the greenhouse. I tend to buy plants as I see them ratherthanhaveaplan so going to not buy ot plant anything else till I’ve put proper thought into it x

The lady who had the house before had a lot of complaints about the tidiness of her front garden according to the housing officer but I'm starting to think she probably just couldn't get a handle on it. Some of the new sprouts are right up against the wall of the house.

I'll dig out what I can but I'm also concerned by digging that I'm turning up old seeds to the surface. I was having such a lovely day till I saw it.

The alternative - probably not suitable for a front garden - is to put in lots of more attractive thugs and outcompete it. I’ve got some in my back border, I pull out bits if I see them but they really don’t ever amount to much

Dp says he really likes the look of it when he's googled it 🤦‍♀️ and I've said there are prettier weeds out there if he wanted to go for the native wildflower look.

I think we're going to do a combo attack of dig up what we can, weed kill what we can't, and tarp it over for a few years and pretty the tarp up with some bordering and decorative bark and low maintenance potting plants - if such a thing exists. All my potted plants seem to require more attention than anything else in the garden.

The RHS is fairly sanguine about it, suggesting that lots of plants aren't bothered about it and if you weed the shoots regularly you will eventually weaken it. It's native and incredibly ancient so not the worst thing to have in your garden. They do say the rhizomes can be 2m deep so you're never going to remove it completely.

If its only in the lawn, mowing regularly will take care of it. Although composting the clippings is a risk of you don't have a properly hot heap.

Trimmed all the dead branches from my Acer today. I started doing it three years ago and misting with a hose in the summer and it has grown noticeably!

managed to get outside before DH was up this morning! Sowed some cosmos - I’d almost decided not to bother after last years disappointing results but my other seedlings started indoors (some moved out to the growhouse now) seem to be doing pretty well with all this sunshine so what the heck. Potted up cuttings from my umbrella plant and also a couple of scented geranium and a spider plant baby.
watered pots, seedlings etc.
deadheaded primulas (they are really prolific ones!) , pruned sweet box.

Cut back the honeysuckle as we need to replace the trellis on the arbour and paint it. I felt quite sad as it has really taken off although I feel it might be a bit of a thug.
@ErrolTheDragon I was very excited this morning to see one of my cosmos seeds has sprouted. It took exactly a week from planting.

I went out and looked at my anemones! I planted lots of bulbs in autumn and wasn’t sure how they’d do but there has been a huge first flush and now another wave seem to be coming into flower. Also pleased that my pruning of an apple tree hasn’t killed it - no blossom yet but big fat buds.

I planted the 6 primulas that jumped onto my trolley at the garden centre. Weeded a edged another little bit of my border. I’ve been using a cane to keep a straight edge, but I should have pegged them into place because it is 6 ft straight and then a slight change of angle all the way down. It’s really soggy, there’s an underground stream along it. Might put in some hydrangeas.

Hi, can I join you? This is the first time in years that I feel I'm actually getting to spend some decent time in my garden so hopefully by the time summer comes it will be the way I want it. I've planted some seeds this week - cosmos and nasturtiums, so they are currently on my window ledges. Can I ask how often you water them at this stage? Do I let them dry out between watering them?

Most seedlings love surface humidity to sprout so don't let them dry out.

I usually make a wet potting mix, but not so wet it just turns to mud, then mist the surfaces with a spray bottle a few times a day.

If I'm sowing in seed tray cells then I cover them with a seed tray cover until the first sprouts pop up and then I remove the cover, and do a daily water with a small can, and when they're showing their first true leaves I start bottom watering instead.

I don't think you can go wrong as long as you're not waterlogging them, but don't let them dry out completely.

Planted herbs in a strawberry pot this afternoon. Never have much luck with parsley but always hopeful!

Parsley would probably like a corner of that lovely raised bed. There’s a saying that witches grow good Parsley, I have no trouble with mine! 😂
Today DH and I went to his new allotment for the first time. It’s not really neglected and already has raised beds, nothing growing but weeds. He’s so excited!

Very productive afternoon in the garden - repotted 5 blueberry plants & a patio pear I picked up in the reduced section of the local garden centre.
Weeded the pots of mint, the strawberry tower & weeded a tiny section of a bed before I gave up as too hot & tired.
Tomorrow will continue if weather is good - need to repot 3 hydrangeas, plant out 7 roses, so much weeding & some pruning.

Thanks for your advice regarding seedlings, I now have my very first ones coming through - it's so exciting!

I’ve just seen this thread and I’m thrilled because I’m out in my garden every day! We bought our house two years ago and the garden had a v traditional layout but was also very overgrown. We stripped it right back last year and I’m aiming for a potager/cottage garden eventually. I’ve never had a garden before so I’m learning as I’m going!

Today I planted my first early seed potatoes, tidied the patio and rearranged my spring bulb pots so they can be fully appreciated, dug out some big ivy roots left over from cutting it back last year and some root suckers from next door’s Japanese cherry bush, and sorted out a load of bricks (left from building work and destined to be paths).

I had wild onion weed that has everywhere in my bed. I did 2.5hrs of digging it out ...urghhhhhhhhh so annoying and hard work as the bulbs are super deep. But least it looks better a d hopefully I've got them all.