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 got a delivery of ladybirds and larvae so put them on the roses, apple and plum, all of whom are being attacked by aphids. The ones on the roses started eating the aphids on the rosebuds straight away. The larvae went on the plum that always suffers a lot with aphids.

Tomorrow I have some climbers to plant.

I've just planted up a big pot with Eringyum, red creeping thyme and lobelia.

Then did the one hour watering regime.

Love the sound of ladybirds by post for greenfly control. I had ro give up growing lupins because of greenfly. I squashed all the buggers that were on my newish Peter Beale Rose New Dawn earlier this week and do far, they haven't come back. Might keep the idea of online ladybirds in my back pocket though.

The Whitebeam tree is covered in bloody blackfly as usual. I'd cut it down, but it has a beautiful Jasmine and a perennial sweet pea (both bright pink) growing through it that I'm rather fond of. Some brutal pruning may have to take place tomorrow.

Sorry about typos. Am currently being mostly overpowered by my cat.

My common wormwood seeds arrived! Lordy, they are tiny. Really tiny.

My beans aren't faring so well and I only got them on Wednesday. Hoping a good deep watering will resurrect them.

The kids came out in the garden and we were identifying weeds, and they had a good chortle at nipplewort.

Free entertainment. Can't complain.

Need to find some bell shaped cloches for my cabbages, the butterflies have been spotted and my trusty dusty self seeding nasturtium hasn't popped up yet this year.

Thanks for the update @longtompot Glad meredint is OK, that's the main thing. I hope she comes back, we miss you @MereDintofPandiculation

Sounds like we're all having a glorious time in the garden this Spring, what great weather.

As soon as I finish work, I'm out in the greenhouse making sure all my seedlings don't dry up. Today I'm going to get my tomato plants into grow bags. They've been doing fine in pots but I need the space and I want to feed them as they've got quite a few flowers on them, so it would be great to get an early crop.

my other job is planting out all my dahlia (7 tubs and pots) which are at least 2 weeks more advanced than previous years. Hopefully as they're bigger it might deter the slugs, which seem quite absent this year - maybe due to the warm dry weather.

Ive volunteered to look after the village planters, there are only 4 but it's such fun, and I get a small budget from the council to buy compost and a few annuals. For the first time in living memory we might even get a nice day for the Carnival in early June, normally it's wet windy and cold! It will be good to get the planters looking colourful for the event.

i wonder if it's too late to plant cosmos seeds.... I've got several packets of mixed cosmos seeds, I suppose the worst that can happen is they will flower a bit later in the summer.

I planted loads of flower seeds outside last year in the May half term and we had a lovely display of flowers by the end of July.

I might try that. I have some cosmos, nicotiana and antirrhinum seeds left over. May as well scatter them about.

Well, the iris reticulata I complained about months ago on the thread and which turned out to be iris Hollandia have come into their own. I put them all over the place and they are gorgeous at the moment. There are white and yellow and pale blue ones as well.

Plus I’ve emptied an old dried up pot and found what might be the canna lily I put in the shed to over winter three years ago and it’s attempting to shoot so I’ve given it new compost and water and put it in a sunny spot.

They're lovely, I have some that are white and they are the only bulbs the squirrels don't steal.
I finally have some courgette and French bean plantlets.

Planted up tub of dwarf beans plus did a few extra in case of failures or can pass on to someone else. Potted up Charles Darwin rose, has lots of buds so hope to see some flowers out early next week.

Admiring Gertrude Jekyll rose which is flowering, am sat very close to it and every time I go past I have to smell the fabulous perfume.

Gorgeous rose. I’m try to decide which David Austin climber to grow over the arbour DH has resurrected. It’s painted a dark blue. I have Zephirine Drouhin one side but it’s not doing very well. I quite fancy Gertrude Jekyll.

The GJ rose I have is a bush one but it does get quite tall. I love it, the smell is just so gorgeous, I will have a look at the one you have, haven't heard of that one before. 😀

I have the Generous Gardener on my pergola, and it’s fabulous, almost thornless with lots of flowers and a pleasant scent.
I roped in my non gardening Dh today and we tackled the dumping ground - a long narrow border as I walk into my veg patch. Really overgrown with lilac, covered in pots of questionable soil, 2 dustbins, 1 full of rotted turf and 1 with old canes in stagnant water, a big bucket of sludge, and lots of weeds and crap. We each started at one end. Unfortunately he got antsy as the Cup Final kick off approached, so we have nice tidy ends and a truly awful bit in the middle. If I ever move house, I will ensure that my garden shed is in the middle of the fence rather than in a corner and have a large working area where I can store big pots and soil and canes. This garden used to have that but I didn’t understand it’s value and did away with it. It was in the sunniest corner though.

I've rescued a few plants from my bed that didn't establish properly last year including two Dianthus. They're alive, but very straggly. So I've potted them up with some fresh compost, hoping for the best, and will plant them back in the ground when they look healthier.

@zebracat, I’ve got a Generous Gardener in another spot and it is fabulous. It’s taken off this year. So much choice! I am a rose addict.

I picked herbs for drying: plantain,rosemary,sage,yarrow.

Oh, my thyme is currently going mad so I should probably cut that back a bit and dry the cuttings for the kitchen.

Planted all my crocus order and watered in well, the ground is so dry, I'm getting jncreasingly worried about the lack of rain (probably will get tons in July and August). Tutted over the aphids which are on everything (except one rose that I clearly put a very hungry ladybird on yesterday) including my strawberries which were looking fabulous. I suppose it's to be expected after such a good spring.

DD1 has friends coming over tomorrow so I'll have to tidy up a bit in the morning, there's a stack of 9cm pots that need cleaning and putting in the shed.

Lovely neighbour has retired, closed his flower shop and given me all of his plastic tubs!

What a win!

I got home from just over a weeks holiday yesterday to find lots had grown and one or two drought deaths - neighbour kindly watered pots at the front but DH locked the side gate. The tub of irises on the patio all flowered in my absence but the clump in the shade at the bottom of the garden are beautiful, and the Nellie Moser I put on the shady side of the arbour last year which didn’t flower then has started blooming.
apart from watering, pulled out quite a lot of gone-over forgetmenots and tied in some climbers. Need to tackle pruning the clematis Montana next, it had just one or two flowers left with their sweet vanilla marshmallow scent.

Not a lot of gardening work today but I have sanded and stained our dining table and given it two coats of teak oil. I need to do the dining chairs too but will see if I can get away with just doing the arms for now. I'm hoping this will look nicer and last longer than the varnishes I've used previously which just seem to flake and peel off and look unsightly.
DH and our neighbour have made a start on replacing the fence between us. They have been fighting the concrete that is holding the posts in and it's hard going. The lumps of concrete are about 2ft sq and the hydraulic lever thing dh bought to remove the very things can't do it and it van supposedly pull our two tons! So it's lots of drilling with the jack hammer and brute force. Dh is now snoozing on the sofa.
Once the new fence is in place then we can start work on that side of the garden which is very exciting. It faces east so I am planning on planting some Japanese anemones and ferns amongst other things.

Oooh forgot one bit of exciting news. The holly I rather forcefully pulled out of its previous growing site and put in a pot about a year ago has two new leaves! I saw recently it had the signs of some new green between the two original leaves and they have grown.

I'd acquired some morning glory seeds, and decided to give them a go. Noticed today they've started sprouting!

They've got a really interesting leaf shape haven't they. Mine have come up and I am hoping they won't get eaten like previous years did 🐌

I've seen pictures of the leaves but mine haven't got that far yet <excited>