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?

Maybe this is where I've been going wrong.

It hasn't produced winter buds but that's probably because I've left all the summer buds on.

Tomorrow, I shall chop all the buds off

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/toffee_apple_upside_down_02328
@MereDintofPandiculation this is quick and easy to make, a current favourite here.
use a mix of cooking and eating apples.

I have a Brown Turkey which produces particularly well if I thin the fruit out( I didn’t this year). They need to be constricted at the roots, grown in rubbish but fed weekly with tomato food from when buds appear. Good sunny position too. We are in the East Midlands.

Can I ask if any one has fig trees that actually produce figs that successfully manage to ripen, what variety do you have and where abouts in the country are you? Brown Turkey, Yorkshire. About 200 figs each year. But my trees are bigger than yours. One about 30 years, the other about 20.

Thanks. That’s basically a Victoria sponge with a topping. Just a bit of milk added. I’m not sure I’d microwave that, I suspect microwaving fudge/toffee/caramel would be risky.

it would be good. Morrisons cafe of all places used to do an “apple granny” which was basically apple tart with a thick fudge topping.

I don’t feed mine.

I prune them to stop them taking over, which increases crop because they fruit at branch tips, so the more branches you can encourage, the more branch tips and hence fruit you have.

Thank you.

Just found the old pot for mine with the label still attached. It's a little miss figgy. I remember thinking aw that sounds adorable, and it was half price so I picked it up.

It does produce figs but like someone else said maybe I'm just letting it bud at the wrong time of year.

Ok. So must remember to prune fig in June. Should I remove current figlets or will they ripen next summer?

Thank you for the posts about figs - I have a sad looking, neglected fig (it's a white fig, unsure of variety) in a dolly tub and wasn't sure when to prune it or how to revitalise it. Little Miss Figgy has been on my wish list for ages @Jimmyneutronsforehead

I prune during the dormant season so they don't ooze copius sap.

Usual guidance is to remove anything that's bigger than pea size at this time of year. These won't come to anything, but pea size and smaller may.

This is what the RHS says about Little Miss Figgy. basically hardy dwarf species

Prune in Jan or Feb. In summer pinch out the growing tip on any branch that has grown 5 leaves and knock off the summer fig buds as they form.

Hmm. That says 2 crops a year. Maybe, but I suspect that was written by someone in the south of the country.

In the south of the country in a good summer I suspect.

Most of them would give two crops a year in s suitable climate - that's what all those fruits that we remove in autumn are about. The fig isn't producing them for fun.

Peas are really small!

Finally some sunshine and a very productive afternoon in the garden. Four bags of weeds, clippings etc. ready for the recycling centre tomorrow.

Potted hostas from the front garden repatriated to a quiet spot in the back garden for the winter. Huge clump of dahlia separated and ready to be popped in the shed for the winter.
Two choisyas, two camellias, and three lavenders planted. One evergreen clematis and a huge clump of pinks removed from pots and planted in the borders.
Hyacinths potted up for Christmas (fingers crossed).

Still can't bring myself to pull up the cosmos! Very battered and bent over after the heavy rain over the last 48 hours but still flowering so joyfully 🌺

Still jobs to do but beginning to feel we are getting there.

Dug & weeded a lot and checked on my garlic.
Just got our first very very overgrown allotment plot!
Absolute nightmare as it was covered in gravel & glass and keep finding it in the soil but getting there. Am going to follow along this thread for motivation.

Whoops - thought you were talking about the figs and the instructions to remove anything bigger than a pea. Post deleted

I was talking about the figs. I turned the advice into bigger than plums in my head, removed those and came in only to find I needed to go back out.

All figs over pea sized have been removed. There were a few buds that were definitely smaller than pea sized.

I'm going to try growing onions from seed again this year. Last year I sowed them in cell trays and they germinated with the frost but I forgot to plant them on, so this year I've cleared a space of weeds and I am just going to chaos sow them directly on the patch.

It might finally be time to take the tomatoes down, they're showing some signs of blight but I think they've been extremely productive and I will probably grow this variety again next year.

My premature hollyhocks are looking darling as ever. The nasturtium have come back for round 2, most of them were volunteer plants so it's no surprise that they've been able to withstand pests better.

Today I'm going to give the blackberries a hard prune back because they're touching the ground and I don't want them to take root and spread.

Almost time for the garden to rest. Decided completely against doing bulbs, but might treat myself to some cyclamen from the garden centre on Sunday to see us through till the daffodils start poking through in January.

Picked apples until my shoulders ached. Had lunch. Went back out and picked more apples. Three bread crates full.

Today's plan is to hose off my dahlia tubers so they're nice and clean ready for storage.

Tomorrow is due to be very wet, so I will spend a couple of hours in the shelter of the greenhouse dividing them, remove long straggly roots and rotten bits. Then I will label each one using masking tape and Sharpie pens. I categorise them by height and colour so it makes it more reliable for next year.

I don’t do it, but my trees are big, it’s impractical. They all fall off of their own accord in spring. But of course some energy has been wasted in growing them, so probably is worth doing on-a smaller tree

Planted last of the bulbs. Bagged up and labelled the dried herbs,some need to be ground down with a mortar and pestle but thats a rainy day job. Had a small fire to burn the last herby bits and twigs. A few cosmos still flowering so have left them alone. Think I'm pretty much done.

Made up two more planters of bulbs, was lovely to do today with my little girls wanting to help. I don't currently have any bedding plant to cover it with and I'm worried about the cat coming to poo on them so covered them with some dried lavender on top. I'm hoping that keeps them away for now.