What have you done in the garden today? Part 7

[Jimmyneutronsforehead]

Continuation thread from MereDint's previous threads.

I spent another hour stripping out ivy, and clearing weeds and grass from the raised beds at the front, and feel like I’ve made a noticeable difference.

I also checked what’s in the compost bins. There are two, Dalek-style ones. the contents are the same in each - looks like a solid lump of grass cuttings. Is it worth breaking them up to add other things, or is it better to clear it out and start again?

I don't think my apple tree is going to make it this year.

I have been considering getting an Avalon Pride peach tree. I ummed and ahhed about it last winter and I'm doing the same again this winter so I think I am probably going to just go for it.

You need equal parts green and brown waste in your compost as well as enough moisture and on those dalek style ones you have to manually turn the compost. You can use a drill with a plaster bit in the end to turn it.

If you don't turn it the outer edges aren't heating up so degrade slower than the bit in the middle. It will still compost, but you'll be waiting a long time.

Fresh grass trimmings are green waste so you need to chuck some cardboard or paper trimmings in there too. Just keep layering it up.

Thanks @Jimmyneutronsforehead. Looks like tomorrow’s job will be digging about in the compost bins!

I mowed the lawn!

The bulbs I planted in autumn are up by a good couple of inches. We have a cold spell and snow forecast. Will they all die now?

What sort of bulbs did you plant?

Some bulbs like daffodils produce their own anti-freeze so they can survive harsh winters and are usually fine down to -10°c

If they're a hardy variety of plant to the UK then they should be fine.

My daffs and iris are up too.

I was given a David Austin Elizabeth bare root rose as a Christmas pressie so I’m off to the garden centre today to choose a pot for it as there’s no room in the borders. Unless I dig a new border but realistically that’s not going to happen in the next few days.

I've got to do this!

I've been off since before Christmas so missed the cat love. I'm always ready for a bit of cat love.

Except the sneaky local cat that comes through our cat flap and eats our cat food and anything edible on the counters, including bread 😯

Moved a dahlia I'd been meaning to move since last year when it outgrew its place. The tubers were showing at the top. Mulched and fingers crossed it'll survive another winter.

I've been away for nearly a week and the crocuses have made an appearance, and the first head on a daff. I think it's Rijnveld's Early Sensation.

The cats are glad I'm home and now P (the tulip crusher) wants me to chase him around the garden. He's a bit dog-like.

My bulbs are daffs and tulips so hopefully they'll be OK. Thanks.

Turns out I'm not quite done with (thinking about) the garden today. Went for a walk and saw a bin bag with some sticks poking out. It was a 1m high potted acer with a healthy amount of buds! It only says acer on the B&M label, so I'm excited to find out the variety in due course. Some fool paid £37.50 for it, only to then discard 😎

There were also two small Harlequin euonymuses in the same bag - not to my taste, but I'll take some free filler.

Wow! Lucky find @Agapornis!

Are you in the UK?? 🤣

Had a rethink of our garden over Christmas - we did a huge amount of landscaping in autumn removing a dead hedge, dead 8m cherry plum, derelict shed and 6 skips full of builder’s rubble/rubbish that somebody had dumped behind the shed before we bought the house.

So now I have a lovely big lawn, and a new 1x20m long border in front of my new fence, which I was planning to fill with jasmine and various herbs. I also have a weirdly-placed flower bed smack in front of my patio which ruins the sight lines down the garden, but which does have a lot of lovely plants in it.

I’ve decided to try to transplant the whole flower bed into the fence border, which is going to be a mammoth task and will probably kill half of my plants! But will be worth it in a year or two.

Just trying to work out timelines for doing it - I’ve got hellebores which are already in bloom that I probably shouldn’t disturb, peonies that I should probably shift sooner rather than later, and salvias which I should probably move in a few months when they start to wake up. And a million tulip, crocosmia, daffodil and bluebell bulbs all mixed up which I have no idea when to move.

Yes - very south.

I planted the last of my tulip bulbs (25 in an east facing border & 25 in pots) and discovered that the narcissi planted a month ago in the border are peeking through!
Also did a very half hearted weed of the tulip bed which I'll finish off tomorrow, and pegged out a new flower bed - the start of negotiations with DH who likes a big lawn (I'm Team Flower Border)

I'm not doing any tidying even though it looks a mess. I'm leaving the fallen leaves for the beasties to shelter under and hopefully they will repay me by not eating everything in the spring.

That sounds like a very ambitious plan @LemondrizzleShark will you be doing it all yourself or can you get help in to do the 'heavy lifting' aspects?

I planted up 50 tulips in 3 large tubs today. I've still got about 30 more, plus some agapanthus, and a bucket full of mixed bulbs (tête-à-tête, grape hyacinths, crocus) which I will finish planting tomorrow, as a lasagna.

did some more leaves and twigs/ branch clearance today and made another large bonfire, everything is now quite dry again after quite a wet autumn.

ive got a climbing hydrangea that I want to get in the ground this week as next week is looking quite awful in the South West, with sleet and cold night temps. I've got a nice protected wall it will be happy climbing up, which has dappled sunlight in the summer. They don't like too much direct seeding sunshine so I'll be mulching it well.

I haven’t done any gardening today, but I did have to chase off a random stranger who I found standing on my driveway, casually letting her dog have a mooch around my garden. Honestly, who earth thinks that’s ok? I was in my pyjamas so didn’t physically chase her, but I rapped hard on the window and she jumped out of her skin. I made some polite hand gestures and she seemed to understand my meaning, because she picked up her dog and left, giving me a look that suggested she thought I was being rather mean.

I managed to toddle down to the greenhouse yesterday and watered some plants that are in there awaiting my decision on where to put them. Other than that I have done nothing much at all but the garden doesn’t seem to mind!

I’m in the south west too and we are forecast some very cold weather so doubt I will do much until that passes. Enjoying the bulbs popping up with some fresh greenery but otherwise the garden is sharing my desire for hibernation at this time of year 🙃

Generally by mid-January I am in full tidying up mode for both the house and garden, ready for spring and the return of the light, so I am enjoying these quiet days while they last.

DH took a lot of old stuff to the recycling centre. Mainly old wood, broken trellis and tree cuttings that were overdue a clear out.
The whole garden looks much brighter.

I bought a new Hebe at B&Q - should flower purple. My existing Hebe was the first plant I bought for my new garden - randomly picked it up in the stands outside Tesco during the spring - but says it's only hardy to -5 whereas this new one is apparently hardy to -15.

Also bought some Oregano as that was almost the only frost and drought hardy herb I was missing. The front of my house is a v difficult environment - things fry there in the summer but also get a lot of cold wind. So in terms of containers anyway, I'm sticking to hardy herbs and heather.

I spent about two hours out there today. I pulled out a load of ivy, and some other berry-producing plant, and about six smaller stumps of buddleia. I’m leaving the biggest one for the pollinators, but I’ll cut it back. There are still a couple of bigger ones to pull out, but they might be a bigger job. My hands are aching this evening from it all. I’m loving it though ❤️