What have you done in the garden today? Part 7

[Jimmyneutronsforehead]

Continuation thread from MereDint's previous threads.

Storm is about 4 years old. He seems to have been a lost/abandoned pet as he was tame rather than feral but not microchipped/neutered. A homeless couple in Kilmarnock were so worried about his raging eye and ear infection that they handed him into a vet. Said vet lived in Edinburgh and that's how he ended up at a rescue through here where I got him.

Love a black moggy.

I have always had black cats or tuxedo cats, until one day I simply couldn't breathe and my eyes would swell and go crusty despite doubling up on antihistamines. Had to stop being a crazy cat lady after my last cat passed away, so became a crazy dog lady instead.

I keep forgetting I am allergic to cats as I haven't had one for so long and can't resist pspspspsing cats I pass on the street.

Aaaahhh love the Black Cats , they do seem to suit a background of green don't they
Our two black cats love the garden , him more than her . He has some Cat-Sized holes in the border that he hides in and a space under a flowering shrub. If we look close we can see his green eyes .
In nice weather he goes out in the morning for a perambulation and some domain surveying down the path before breakfast
They were both rescued from a garden with their mum and siblings . So having their own garden is important to them

Can another black-cat-loving lurker join? I’ve recently bought my first home at age 48, after so many years of longing for a garden I could actually do something with - only to realise I have no idea where to start! And I didn’t think ahead enough to ask Santa for a spade!

You've joined at the right time. Gardens love a winter reset ready for spring planting.

I am, ahem, yet to reset mine. But it is on my to do list!

I’m looking forward to getting stuck in, I’m hoping for nice dry weather over the Christmas break, after the torrential downpours we had last week. There’s lots to do!

I've been outside this afternoon raking up more leaves, mulching the clematis and honeysuckle ready for spring and getting the pots and containers ready to plant bulbs over the break. It looks like being cold and dry with plenty of sunshine which is ideal.

I've had a long list of jobs I couldn't face doing because of the awful weather, but I feel like I've come out of hibernation 😀lots of greenhouse things and clearing up the last debris from autumn,

I am just a master procrastinator. The hollyhocks are looking like Halloween decorations now. Considering hanging baubles from the dry branches for a more festive look.

I have been justifying my laziness by reminding myself that old foliage is a wonderful habitat for minibeasts and birds need a winter protein source.

The real bother is that I'm frightfully terrified of ladybirds and their presence has been highly noted this year and I don't want to encounter one. Quite happy for the work they do with mitigating pest pressure but I just can't shake this irrational fear.

I spent a sunny hour in the garden yesterday cutting back a buddleia that was taking over. There’s a load of ivy taking over the place, and a wild rose that’s getting a bit out of hand, so plenty to be getting on with.

Today I’m going to go and buy a spade, as I have a couple of shrubs in pots that can finally have permanent homes ❤️

I start my garden planning on Boxing Day each year. I've a list of things to chop back and remove. Need to relay gravel, build a new path and do some general maintenance before spring.

I love winter gardening getting everything prepped before the season starts brings me a lot of joy. Xx

Went for a little wonder round the garden to see what I could get started on and now I've lost DH who has got starred right away. Lots to do as it's been a bit neglected because of all the rainy weather.
I need to tidy up dead leaves, some fallen tree branches etc.
Love seeing all the spring bulbs popping up here and there. Glad I managed to plant some extras in October.

Realised my new cherry tree has mould growing on the top of the compost. Same as my tulip bulbs. I have learned the hard way this (my first year of gardening!) that horticultural grit is a thing! Off to buy some tomorrow and will repot the tree, probably won't bother with repotting the bulbs.

(Cherry tree is in a pot, going to bonsai it)

Is it normal for the tips of spring bulbs to be appearing already? I've had them sprouting since November, though they haven't come up much.

If I get time I'll do some weeding tomorrow...in the recent mild spell the weeds have got everywhere in the bulb beds.

I've got green shoots appearing from my crocus, iris and daffodils. Nothing from the tulips. (Disclaimer: this is my first year and I planted them in too rich compost!) I hear that shoots as fine - as long as they don't FLOWER early, it's fine.

My daffodils were certainly showing in October, although they haven't grown hugely, they're definitely still growing.
The bluebells are taking over the flowerbeds too now, which normally I wouldn't expect to see them until February.

The crocuses are sprouting too, although I expect them by now.

It's mainly daffodils and crocus shoots in my garden. Some of the daffodils are quite large. Mind you my garden was rather confused this year, some of my summer plants only started flowering in late October and are still going.

The plants haven’t got a clue what they’re doing this year. My strawberries had flowers on mid-November, and friends’ strawbs did too, so not some freak occurrence in my garden!

I bought a garden fork and spade today. A digging spade specifically, as advised by the label at B&Q. I felt like a grown-up.

My spring bulbs are all up with quite significant shoots....in Scotland!

Yes I'm in Scotland too, near the east coast!

My rosebush had a 2nd flowering in about October.

I do think it's warmer and milder than it can be. Mind you, often it's mild at Christmas and then a snowstorm at New Year!

I haven't done anything significant in the garden since about the beginning of December, it's been so wet and dreary my enthusiasm really dropped.

Today, it's been dry for about five days now, it's grey and dismal outside but I have successfully grown two Penstemons - Amanda Jane - from cuttings and I am going to repot them into larger pots to bring on. I've promised one of them to a friend but I may keep the other one myself.

Bulbs are coming up in pots and border, I do try to go out each day and spot where some more are peeping through the compost/soil. Forget me nots are everywhere and I have planted dwarf daffs in with them so I hope for a very pretty display in the garden once spring is here.

I received a £50 garden voucher as one of my presents from my niece so once we return to normality again, I am going to go to the garden centre and possibily buy yet another rose. I seem to have become obsessed with them and the David Austin range appears to have a lot that they didn't have before so I will start looking them up to find one with perfume, colour and will go in a pot and then see if they have it in stock.

I love hearing what everyone is doing in their gardens.
I have started pruning my apple trees. I have four- two of which haven’t been pruned for a few years. It takes ages but I love it when they’re all done.

Pleased with the progress made yesterday. Lots of dead leaf clearing, broken branch tidying, raking, washed out bird baths, filled all feeders, trimmed buddleia, filled up garden waste bin, though isn't being collected for another 4 weeks annoyingly.
But the garden looks so much better for it.

I've been out for a couple of hours today and managed to get the greenhouse clean-up started. Cleared out the grobags, did a bonfire as the wind was NNE so the smoke blew over the field not into anyone's garden. I also cleared all last year's residual seedlings that were going a bit mouldy.

i use the old spent grobag compost for wild flowers that prefer a low nutrient growing medium. It worked well last year and also died it to an area for bee friendly plants like borage, cornflower and poppy varieties which I hope will come back for another year from the self-seeding.

lots to do to prep the greenhouse for Spring.

• sanitise the staging
• wash down the floor to rid the greenhouse from any disease and pests left from last autumn
• wash all the seed trays and cells that will soon be full of seedlings and transplanted cuttings

main task in the next day or two is to plant my tulip and spring bulbs. They are sprouting already, so they'll soon take off once I've lasagned them. I've got about 6 large tubs to fill. I tend to leave bulbs until the Christmas break because we get vermin and squirrels that cause mayhem.

I use a mix of regular general purpose compost, bulb fibre and a few handfuls of horticultural grit to keep drainage under control. It has been so wet over the past two months in my area, I think they may have rotted if I'd planted them in Nov as I used to,

procrastination is my middle name @Jimmyneutronsforehead after so many weeks of horrible wet cold weather I kept putting off the jobs, but the last couple of days have been dry and not too cold, so it gave me the boot up the bum I needed! Once I get started I can be very productive, it's just the getting started that's the problem....

Raking up the remaining leaves on the verge outside our house, I noticed the daffodils and crocus are all coming through. They tend to be the earliest because we planted them by the wall so they enjoy any winter sunshine and are sheltered from the icy winds at this time of year,