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?

You could sow some seeds. I did that last year and they’re flowering now. I know they’re cheap to buy and are more successful, but it’s so satisfying seeing the home grown ones.

Tied in the clematis (all are going mad) and watered all the plants planted a few weeks ago.

Before I took over this garden it had been untouched for 15 years. The weeds are rampant. They're heavily established in a gravel-muck compacted garden.

I'm a disabled person who also has a high needs disabled child and an elderly dog who can't venture much further than the garden, and I've had to regularly de-tick.

I've tried pulling them out at the roots. I've tried smothering them. I've tried spot weed killing. I've asked here for advice over the years and I've tried a bit of everything.

I want a garden where I can let my kid and my dog out without worrying about ticks and prickles and stings, but I am sadly battling a generationally established perennial weed issue with limited mobility and energy and time.

I am working with the tools I have available. That's all I can do.

Some constructive suggestions on practical, effective, alternatives to weedkiller would be good. I don’t really have any useful advice, I’m afraid, because I’m fortunately able to do enough manually. Our NDN has got one of those flame devices, does anyone know if they’re worth bothering with?

We’ve got a flame device. Other than singeing a few leaves, I don’t think it does much. DH loves to use it though.

I have a flame weeder. I don’t use it, mostly because the smell of burning weeds is awful. But on the H&S side, once it caught some dry grass, wearing Crocs I stamped on the flames. Not a good idea.

I really fancy one of those flame devices for the driveway. Really don't want to be told they are shite 😭.

They are not shite, they are brilliant. But you do need to be careful, a Mumsnetter set her neighbours fence on fire with one after it was switched off. I go over the ground with a watering can after I've done a patch, and make sure the business end doesn't touch anything until its cooled down.

The shaming and judging in the gardening culture is ugly. Shaming is a common technique amongst those with a differing opinion. Also see parents and teachers who shame kids - it’s not nice behaviour. Sorry you have to face such difficult challenges in your life.

I use Round Up on the plot if I have to. I use it sparingly and carefully on things like brambles.

I think some judgy people may be getting mixed up with herbicide and pesticide. Round Up is a herbicide and is strong and dangerous stuff and the reason people hate it is because big agricultural conglomerates used it without taking proper care of their workers - especially overseas. I mask up and make sure nobody else is on the site when I apply it. Insects don’t like it but it doesn’t have the same devastating effect as pesticide.

Pesticides contain neonicotinoids which cause all the damage to bees, aphids and other pollinators. That’s really awful stuff and should be banned.

Today I have weeded our bottom patio which was awful. Grass in all the cracks.
Took 1.5 hours .
It was very satisfying.

Today I put some posts on the back wall and attached some trellis. Only one old piece so it doesn’t look great but I did it anyway!
Also attempted to cut back and thin a very top heavy clematis

Weeded the final bed in the back garden. Then spent ages picking stones out of it.

Needed to get rid of 2 large pots that are falling apart so thought I'd mulch the bed with the spent compost in the pots.

Got DH to help, the man knows nothing about gardening so he tipped the whole contents of the pots on the bed. Including all the stones at the bottom for drainage.

Great, thanks DH, more fecking stones.

This afternoon I repotted a hydrangea & a Rowan sapling. Also weeded out nearly every pot. It’s lovely to see so many plants bursting back into life.

Weeded the lavender and was surprised how little time it took - reminded self to mulch as this was the key difference.

Had a go at about half the remaining hybrid bluebells. A fair few came out with bulbs, every little helps.

Noticed my weed proof membrane that has been covering the ex-snowberry for a year had moved. And surprise! The snowberry is back 😡Will cut the new bits back, root kill and then another year of membrane.

I pruned the last of my hydrangeas and cut back quite a lot of the overgrown dogwood. Today weeded (mostly grass) the side border and along the front of the big back one. The brown bill and a large tub are full.

Tied in new growth from pleached trees planted last year - really exciting to see these fill out a bit. Planted out sweetpeas and potted on tomatoes. Lots and lots of weeding - bindweed has been appearing over past week and seems to put on inches in a day.

Soaked my sweet pea and morning glory seeds. Let's see if this year will be a better growing year for morning glory as last year was really tough going. So wet, windy and cold, exactly the opposite growing conditions needed for morning glory. I may keep the plants in the greenhouse a bit longer. Mind you, I went to Rococo Gardens last summer and their morning glory was stunning as they'd planted it in an area of the garden that was a real sun trap, so I need to find that place!

potted on my overwintered geranium, they're growing vigorously which is pleasing, as it's the first time I've ever overwintered them by storing the plants in a brown sack, incredible how little sticks burst forth with new green leaves after a winter with no light and water.

weeded the seating area - I'm regretting having block paving, weeds just love those cracks, grrr. Oh well it looks nice now.

I once stayed in a charming guest house which had a gorgeous stone paved area which had the likes of primroses, forgetmenots and violets growing from the cracks. It looked artless and natural but it must have been a heck of a job to keep the grass and rank weeds out!

I planted my sweet peas and morning glories some time ago - they’re doing much better this year than last (still inside on window ledges). You’ve reminded me to go and water them and see if they need pinching out.

Haven't been on here for a while so hello everyone.

I wanted to say about something I saw yesterday. This year I'm growing some sweet grass (Hierochloe odorata) to make braids with later in the year so started a load of seeds yesterday. Did the usual, filled containers with compost, watered them, sowed the seed and patted it lightly. The strangest thing happened - all the seeds immediately put out tiny hair like threads and started moving, some of them turning over more than once. It was really weird. I went and got my DH and repeated the process so he could see it too and the same thing happened. I've never seen anything like it.

The threatened rain didn’t materialise this afternoon so was out mostly weeding beds. So needs doing so I can see what plants have actually survived the winter & where there are gaps.
Pulled out a lupin - it was ravaged by aphids last year & looked awful, so didn’t want it again. Replaced it with a Claire Austen DA rose as its next to the fence.
Also pulled out a straggly dianthus & will probably put another DA rose in its place.
I bought 7 reduced DA roses a few weeks ago & need to find spaces for them!! 😆
Also used string to try & pull the wayward raspberry canes into shape.

The grass seeds sound weird!

I have repotted some hydrangea cuttings I took from DMs last winter. They look good but I don’t know which ones they are as she has several and I stuck all the cuttings in one pot. Doh.
Planted a festuca glauca. Moved some pots around while deciding where to plant things to see how they look. I bought three cheap cordylines in the supermarket so I need to decide what to do with them.
Pleased to see that the antirrhinum and nicotiana seeds I planted weeks and weeks ago seem to be germinating at last and last years dahlias seem to be poking through.

Sadly my lovely potted eucalyptus seems to be dying back, Probably because of the lack of rain last month. I bought it at a country show when DS was a baby (he’s 26 now) and it does this every few years then shoots up to 10 feet again. Every time I think it’s the last.

The grass seeds sound weird!

It's seriously weird. So much so that I wish everyone would get some and try it for themselves.

Potted up a lot of malope trifida, and a few brugmansia that were rooting in water and needed a pot to call home. Don't know if the brugmansia will do, first time trying to carry them over winter this way.

Helped my DGS (10) start to plant up his bed. Onions he grew from seed, and potatoes. His from seed runner beans will go out a bit later. He mowed the lawn too, star that he is.

DGD (8) helped me plant 40 potatoes in another bed. Truly I am blessed with enthusiastic garden loving DGC.

Popped to the garden centre to see if they did a monstera compost mix (they didn’t) so had to console myself with a reduced DA Dame Judi Dench rose & two reduced salvia’s - Amethyst Lips & Cool Cream.

Weeded half a bed, planted a DA Kew Gardens in a space where a plant hadn’t survived the winter; & saved a baby bee. It had emerged from our bee hotel - think it’s a baby Mason Bee & had fallen off & was amongst lots of damp weeds I was clearing. I scooped it up & put it on the crab Apple blossom in the sunshine so it could dry out, warm up & feed.