What have you done in the garden today? Part 7

[Jimmyneutronsforehead]

Continuation thread from MereDint's previous threads.

I found a pot behind the shed with wallflowers in it, they had mainly dried out so I shucked most of the pods and managed to get some seeds out.

I've sown some in a pot and scattered the rest up the back of the garden. Be interesting to see if I get anything worth bringing on for next year.

@Jimmyneutronsforehead
sorry but this did paint a picture and made me laugh
Little 4'11 me tried to pull the long stems towards me, and basically trebucheted hundreds of potential future problems all over 😆

Ive not been doing anything major in the garden this past week, just deadheading and spot watering plants that are drooping.

I did tidy up the greenhouse after the top shelf of a temp greenhouse (the old plastic cover deteriorated so am using the shelves as storage) fell off as I was holding it together with plastic tape. But because of the heat the glue melted...
Anyway, much better in there, and I staked up my chilli plants as they were flopping all over the place.

One of my lovely dds bought me a seed storage case for Mother's Day this year, it's meant for photos, but it is brilliant. My ds bought me a digital printer to go with it, which is also fantastic, and I now have all my seeds in one place and all labelled in alphabetical order. Anyway, I have a notebook where I went through the gardeners world website and wrote month by month what should be sown or planted, be it seeds, bulbs, shrubs, fruits and veggies. I hadn't gone through my seeds so I did so too. Still have my veggie seeds to go through, but it now means every month I can look through and see what I can sow. My ds and his gf are in the process of buying their first house together and I suddenly thought that this would actually make a good present for them the help with their new garden.

Hope you all have a lovely gardening day this bank holiday Monday 😊

Not done any gardening today but have been outside enjoying watching the bats.

It's DDogs birthday today, and he's has a significant decline in health this past week so we've mostly just been enjoying some time with him in his comfy and happy places around the yard.

If the weather is nice tomorrow I am planning on going and doing some weeding and lopping. I did also order some melon seeds for next year despite vowing to myself not to grow melons or pumpkins next year.

@Jimmyneutronsforehead hope ddog has had a lovely day 🥳
It's hard when they start to decline. Enjoy every day with them 🩵

Ah Happy birthday to DDog. Mine was 10 on Sunday and is off to the V E T this morning for blood tests and a scan - suspected Cushing’s disease.

All quiet on the garden front. Think I’m going to bin my pot of sweet peas today. The ones in the soil have been great but the pot raced ahead and then suddenly stopped. I don’t think I’ll bother with a pot again.

Just plucked the last of the green beans. They are still flowering but the bottoms of the stems are starting to brown off so I don't think I'm going to keep them going.

Did manage to get a 3rd tomato off my plants too. Very bountiful harvest this year.

DDog is feeling a little bit better. We've spent £150 on some specialist ramps for his large breed because he's been struggling with getting in and out of the house down the steps. Lo and behold the ramps when down and he just got up and walked round them back into the house 🫠

Have been doing some intensive physiotherapy with him though.

Really excited for back to school because I've bought some lovely new garden tools and I can't wait for 6 uninterrupted hours to just crack on.

I've just stocked my new garden pond with some plants. Had a bonus in the form of a watersnail that I noticed once they were planted. Hope it's not lonely!

I'm not au fait with ponds but my late next door neighbour was, and he used to talk to me about his all the time.

Just be careful with snails.

They can mate and remain fertile for a very long time, meaning when they lay eggs you can end up with a lot of snails very quickly and it can throw off the balance of your ecosystem.

There's only one, so hopefully the chance of them taking over is small.

Picked some dahlias, helianthus and lavender for a small bouquet for a friend. Ate some black cherry tomatoes.

I opened the box of seeds thinking I'd have a browse on what to sow soon. A bunch of little flies came out :( 😷 Turns out some of tulip bulbs I'd put in weren't quite as dried out as I thought. Cue tiny maggots and stench 💀 It's been a few hours and my skin is still crawling. Thankfully most of the seed packets stayed dry, but I'll have to inspect them all in daylight. Poured boiling water and washing up liquid on the grim empty box.

Guess it's an excuse to buy some new bulbs.

Given how many they can lay on their own you might be surprised. My dd has giant African land snails and they lay around 150 every time!

Unless they're currently "pregnant", being only one makes it a bit difficult! According to Wiki although they are hermaphrodites, they only take on one role at a time, so need two to reproduce.

@MargaretThursday we have had one, who lives on its own, lay eggs. Now I can't remember how long it was alone so it could have in theory been pregnant before it was in there

😀 Oh well... Watch this pond.

does anyone want any pond snails? 😂

@MargaretThursday no thanks to the pond snails, I haven't got a pond. 😂

Today I have been mostly going to the Gardeners World Live autumn show at Audley End. Had a really good day, and there were some fantastic plants on offer. Did I buy plants? No. Did I buy anything else? Yes. I bought gin. 😎

If it's a bladder snail then Google says they can be self fertile.

Planted some bulbs in pots and in the beds. A tedious job but worth it when spring comes and all the bulbs I've forgotten about come up.

I bought some bulbs yesterday but need more before I decide on planting.
I’ve got some big tubs to free up, the tub sweet peas are over and there are a couple of others where things have gone over so I’m going to use those for bulbs but I’d like some autumn colour as well so need to have a think.

Need to trim down the tomatoes today as well to encourage ripening.
My roses are amazing at the moment. Lots of blooms.

DSs first day back at school today, he went in late.

Then when I came home I walked out in the garden, sighed a sigh, and walked back in.

I have so much to do.

The blooming sudden rain downfalls we have had have awoken the dormant nasturtium seeds that have self scattered absolutely everywhere.

Planted out a big haul of new shrubs and plants in a sparse-looking bed yesterday and the day before. And now there’s enough rain to take over the watering - so happy!

Binned the sweet peas and used the pot for a rose that was unhappy where it was as it was swamped by salvias. Fingers crossed it’ll be ok. I moved a few pots around too. A couple of climbing roses that I planted in pots earlier this year seem to have suddenly taken off and have lots of blooms so I’ve moved them either side of the arbour.
Feels very autumnal now.

My wisteria managed to regrow all the way to the top of the pole, so I wrapped it round the top of the trellis so it could start to umbrella, but silly me didn't tie the umbrella rod bits, so as soon as the wind blew it just chopped the new growth off.

Swearing at myself today, again. This bloody plant is probably sick to death of seeing me coming. I just bring bad luck to it.

I have a caryopteris which has just sprung back into action and looking glorious, but that means there has been months with not much in front of it, and what is there is now swamped by it. Does anyone have a plant suggestion that would be in leaf and or flower from early spring and would now have finished? I do have a white lavender in front of it, but it's quite small, but I guess in theory once it had got up to size it would fill the brief, but I just wondered if there was anything else that might suit. I'm thinking of planting some bulbs there too as they would be over by now, but would have had space to shine.

https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/grow-caryopteris/

I did a bit of pruning and tidying and managed to snip the wrong stem of my crown Prince squash plant, so that all had to come down. I had two squashes off it, which is better than last years only one.

I snipped off a lot of the tomato lower leaves, and topped them out, again.

Pulled up 7 beetroots which I plan to roast to have with dinner on Sunday

I tied in my green heart sunflowers. Seriously recommend these, so many gorgeous flowers and the bees love them.

https://premierseedsdirect.com/product/sunflower-green-heart/?srsltid=AfmBOop8qZn_nx07Ubs8tvuC-RD_ki5qOujA-skbdcuCIjPJ45VYg5MS

@Jimmyneutronsforehead Your wisteria will be fine. I think once established they can survive pretty much anything. I can't wait to get our arches in over the sloped path we are putting in and get it tied in properly once and for all

Gave the grass its last cut. I only cut it about 4 times a year so it was quite long. Cleared the pond out and can actually see the water now! Put in a few more bulbs. Can't remember what I have put on where so it will be a surprise in spring time.