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?

Shingled the roof of the woodstore.

Oh, that sounds lovely. Would love to have a beautiful woodstore and the skills to shingle its roof (even though I don't have any need to burn wood)

Just wandered around my small garden while filling the bird feeders, so many plants still flowering or in bud including my Princess Diana clematis, most of the roses, a white verbascum, pink perennial geraniums, the salvias and the passion flower. The bulbs I put in the raised planter have poked leaves out and the violas are beginning to grow and flower. Any thoughts of tidying up are definitely shelved!

Cut down our huuuuge sunflower to let the head dry out properly to harvest the seeds. Did a bit of deadheading and planted some spring bulbs. Going to mow the lawn tomorrow, possibly the last mow this year and plant the rest of the bulbs.

Every week I take a small posy of flowers to my centenarian father (I’m not sure he likes them but he certainly enjoys the staff in the nursing home making nice comments) and I haven’t yet had to resort to berries and autumn foliage. Or even winter stalwarts like winter jasmine and Viburnum bodnantense. Tuesday’s was perennial sweet pea, greater knapweed and Red Valerian.

DH cut our grass (all 1 acre of it). I sat indoors and nursed my sore arm from my Covid jab today.

I'm away at a family party this weekend, but have come bearing a tub of freshly picked blueberries and raspberries, and a big bouquet of garden flowers. Mostly sedum and roses, but a few snapdragons and lavender flowers too, as they were in flower again for no reason.

Indulging in yet more hacking back and clearing. Have found a path and some lovely mossy stoned which might have been the edge of a bed. Its all so tangled and knotted together that it will be hard to plant anything,but will try and get a few bulbs in and see what happens. Cosmos still flowering along with a few last calendula.

Cleared out some of the pots of summer bedding plants. Planted a load of bulbs, some in the garden and some in pots. Trying out Monty dons spring bulb lasagne. DH is fixing the garden lights that short circuited with the rain. The connection was supposed to be waterproof but failed so now the joints are enclosed in a box with gel and hopefully will stay safe this time.

Actually, can some of you more knowledgeable gardeners help? I'll add photos to show what I mean.
You will see the cleared area around the cherry tree and horrible leylandii. I found stepping stones forming a rough path between house( flats) and garden. The pieces of wood roughly show this. Also found stones which have previously formed a bed border I think...marked in red.
The ground is rich but seriously tangled by the thing which resembles St Johns Wort but isnt. I dont know what it is but it spreads like crazy,so ground is hard to dig. What can i plant in this patch?

Things that have worked for me in very dry shade are the St Johns wort thing( it is, it’s a ground cover variant) ,geranium phaem, dicentra, vinca, dead nettle, some ferns and Carex evergreen. But first water water water, then add rich things, manure, really good compost, then plant , then mulch thickly and water well at least weekly for the first year .

That’s not a leylandii. It’s a fastigiate form of, I think, juniper. Personally, I’d have it out. They have little to offer when they get that size, and every so often another branch gets out of place and has to be either tied back in or chopped off.

as @Zebracat says, give it all a good mulch. It’ll be quite dry at the moment, butwill soon recover.

Went to the garden centre but didn't buy any plants or bulbs 😭 felt like a criminal walking out empty handed.

My sweet onion seeds arrived today in the post though.

I’ve got all my berries pruned and tied in. I planted them too close, so they’re all in swirls rather than spread out straight, and with the pale violet bllom on tge stems of the tayberries, they look rather attractive.

I also mulched the rhubarb and the raspberries. Looking forward to emptying the first compost bin and doing some major repair. It hasn’t done badly for 30 years.

Thanks. I know it looks a mess but that was waist high and impenetrable until today. What is the St Johns Wort thingy? Its a bugger!

I’m not sure which plant you mean by the St Johns Wort thingy? Can we have an in-focus photo? Thing thing on the right of the third photo looks like Solidago, Golden Rod, but that may simply be the focus.

@MereDintofPandiculation for your rhubarb, do you snap off any growth before you mulch in prep for the autumn/winter? I've got several crowns all of which have continued to grow, despite me removing the stems. Or should I have just left the stems in situ and let that growth die off naturally? I've got a couple of crowns in a huge tub outside/at the back of the greenhouse as well, presumably they're fine left there and mulched? Thank you.

That’s not a leylandii. It’s a fastigiate form of, I think, juniper. Personally, I’d have it out.

Gosh yes, I second that! It will suck out every drop of moisture and goodness from the soil. I'm quite brutal about anything that doesn't add value, or that compromises the general health and aesthetic value of the garden as a whole. Get rid and it will give you a nice blank canvas to work with.

I had a go at making a lasagne bulb and ended up making two. My first time so I was quite chuffed and now just praying they are not attacked by squirrels!

I'm in Yorkshire! Long while since there's been any growth visible.

In your situation, I would mulch around rather than over, leave a space just big enough for the crown, and make sure any growing leaves were on top of the mulch, not buried.

If squirrels are a problem, you can bury wire netting an inch below the surface and cover with soil.

This is the stuff. My plant app tells me its st John's wort as the flower is very similar,but the leaves dont have the wee holes and it doesnt give a red oil.

I think you were correct, it's St John's Wort (hypericum). I'm going by the leathery leaves and the small bud that bursts into yellow flowers with lots of stamens.

it's quite a pretty shrub, but the roots are an absolute mare to get rid of because they compact and are very thick and fibrous.

I’ve also been planting bulbs this weekend. I’ve done a lasagne in a big pot and also experimented with growing crocus in the very small grassed area we have left (have gradually being extending the borders).

My Cosmos is finally starting to bud and flower. I’ve no idea why it took so
long this year. Slightly annoying as I’d expected it to be done by now and was going to plant bulbs in those containers instead.

@Hedjwitch St Johns Wort is applied to most of the species in the genus Hypericum. Only a few have perforated leaves. If this had yellow flowers and lots of stamens, it would be Hypericum calycinum, aka Rose of Sharon.

i thought I’d eradicated mine 30 years ago, but it’s still there.

The species sold medicinally as St Johns Wort is Hypericum perforatum, named for the transparent glands in its leaves, looking like little holes.