What have you done in the garden today? Part 7

[Jimmyneutronsforehead]

Continuation thread from MereDint's previous threads.

@Jimmyneutronsforehead Thanks. Don’t mean to derail your shiny new thread, but actually that has helped, I think we will turn the tests down.

It's clearly very wildlife friendly, you should put the orca back, attracting both mammals and err...distant relatives of birds.

@Jimmyneutronsforehead we got a packet of forgetmenot seeds from our vet too in a lovely card, and one with more seeds from the lovely vet who came to our house when we knew it was her time. We scattered her ashes last weekend in our local park, I wonder if I could do some rogue gardening and sow some of them there? 🤔

@Trueloveneverdies that took me back! I used to love making little gardens like that when I was small, as did my kids.

Thanks for the new thread. I was waiting for June to roll around, to invest in some new plants for my containers. We're prone to late frosts here. Anyway, I was at the garden centre first thing (before it even opened), and I picked up a lovely selection of plants. I'm off until Wednesday, so I'll plant them over the next couple of days and keep them well watered. The weather has been very unsettled - humid but lots of showers, some of them very heavy. So I'll be planting them in between showers.

Popped to the market this morning and a tenner was well spent on some calendula and cosmos to fill some (tiny!) gaps as well as this beauty which I have just planted in a prime spot in honour of Loretta Swit 💜

@IDareSay I didn't realise she had died until my dh told me this evening. She was fantastic as Hot Lips Hoolihan. I have two plants in my front garden which I have grown from cuttings which I planted out yesterday so they will be my tribute to her.

I bought what I thought was a white peony at a local gardens a few weeks ago. The buds have been getting pinker and it finally flowered yesterday. It’s not what I expected but I’m delighted with it. Think it might be Bowl of Beauty.

I had the same thing happen to me. Bought what I thought was Sarah Bernhardt and it's Bowl of Beauty.

Took couple of years to do anything and I've had it around nine years now but had lots of heads this year. It's really quite a tall peony too, now the flowers have all gone, I've trimmed it down a bit.

A load of these have sprung up, not sure if they’re supposed to be a weed but bees like them and they’re a pretty colour, so I’m letting them flower but not seed:

@InMySpareTime it looks like a fox-and-cubs. I love them. I know they are weeds but they are so small. I keep trying to gather their seeds & sow in my garden. No luck yet

I think this could be a hawkweed. Don't take my word for it though. I walk past so many beautiful weeds and try and find the names for them but I'm not good at remembering them all.

In fact, I post pictures and ask on here lol.

Excited to go home today and get back to my garden.

Been informed the ends of my beans have gone floppy but I dont know why they've gone floppy.

They've had a big water on Friday and a moderate water yesterday.

Everything else around them is doing fine like my squashes.

My melons are doing fine, like they're alive but they just dont seem to be growing taller or anything. Genuinely confused why things just seem to have stopped growing.

Maybe it's just the sudden lack of sun.

Wet and miserable the last few days but a rare burst of sunshine tempted some of the poppies to open.

Love poppies. Continued to work on the neglected sunny border. It is starting to look much better, and there are some nice gaps to fill.

I finished building my new poly tunnel! 4m by 3m, timber base with a raised bed on one side and growbags on the other, proper door, irrigation system and new potting bench. We’ve been working on it since the start of March, digging out the old hedge etc.

I planted out some of the celeriac seedlings and the tomato and chilli pepper plants in it and am now having a glass of wine in it, listening to the radio.

Regretting planting blackberries in the raised beds.

Pulled them all out in the beginning of the year and about 20 more have popped up. Wouldn't mind if they were just in the raised beds but they're all around them too. Grr.

Anyway got back and my beans really are suffering. One of them has crisped up at the top but has put out a healthy side shoot so im hoping that the others follow suit.

One of my melon plants has also perished. I've got 4 more that haven't but they also haven't really grown much. That area doesn't get a tremendous amount of sun though so I have probably misplanted them. I never manage to grow melons.

My polenomiums have all flopped over. Not sure if I can prune them now or if I have to wait a bit. Foxgloves are all looking very end of life.

Did treat myself to another raspberry though which was very lovely.

Out of about 500 onions that I planted, most germinated but somehow I've only got 4? I know I did accidentally pull some out thinking they were grass but I definitely should have been left with most of them.

Trying to find a space to cure my volunteer garlic. I'd not planned for this this year.

Considering building another tree trellis thingy for my grapevine though thats been swallowed by the dogwood that I just can't get rid of no matter how hard I try. It came up through the neighbours fence and then she flagged her entire garden. Every year I cut it all the way down and it grows faster than a willow. Got some wonderful dried canes from it but really want it gone as it's taking up so much garden real estate.

Didn't go to any garden centres while away. Just didn't have time to squeeze them in. Tried to look round the garden centre bit at b&q in Bridlington but can't say I took much in.

Hello! I've been lurking here but would love to join in 😊
I popped to my favourite nursery on Saturday, bought a weiglia, a dhalia and some geraniums. Then in the car park there was a rack of free plants. Loads of leggy petunia and fushias, not good enough to sell apparently. So I took 3 trays of those too. 45 free plants! I'm over the moon. I gave them a bit of a chop and a good water and they've filled in some gaps in my planters round the patio.

I moved a camelia that was very unhappy, dug a massive hole to back fill with ericaceous compost to hopefully put a smile on its face. Then put the weiglia where the camelia used to be.

Then took the chicken wire off one fence and a tired wooden trellis off another, painted both fences and tied up the honeysuckle and clematis straight to the fence with wire which looks much neater.

Then gave all the boarders a quick tidy and a water and it looks miles better. Found 2 self seeded foxgloves (I think) so moved those to where I want them. I'd emptied a few very old seed packets of sweatpeas and wildflowers into a planter in front of my shed a few weeks ago and can now see some seedlings poking up, fingers crossed for those

I have a massive peony inherited with the garden which huge dark red flowers, but each flower only lasts a couple of days once open, less if it rains heavily or someone accidentally waters it from the top. (It clearly needs support, so will buy a frame for it for next year if I keep it.) The plant looks great for about a week and a half. Are all peonies like this? I'm considering replacing it if there's a variety that has longer lasting flowers

We've had our peonies about 45 years. I'm only 30, but they were the first plants in the garden when my nan moved in and every year they just grow more beautiful. It is a shame that one gust of wind and the flowers are gone though.

We introduced a green peony, which is actually just white. Not sure why it is called a green peony or if it was mislabelled, and that has its first blooms this year.

I saw this bee post on tiktok last night and I think this might be my next garden project. We get a lot of solitary bees passing through and we're doing a lot of reshuffling so any hiding spots they have already might not exist much longer.

Going to get out and pot up some more plants today that are desperate for it.

I couldn’t settle today. I knew I should be finishing the border, got about 5 metres left, but didn’t, just bumbled about looking at all the other things that really need doing. I might need to do another list. I could spend most of tomorrow in the garden, so with a bit of focus, quite a lot can happen.

I got nothing done.

DS wanted DUncle to come on our walk to school. DU likes to carry my son and my son likes to be carried but the problem is my uncle doesn't know how to walk at a normal speed. He just zooms everywhere. Going on holiday with him is a nightmare because he's twice the speed even when you say slow down!

Anyway by the time I'd locked the door they were both half way up the street, and I had to chase after them. That did my foot and my hip in and that decommissioned me for the rest of the day.

I'm also devoting tomorrow to getting stuff done in the garden. Got an amazon gift card for my birthday and want to buy some bits and bobs that might help make gardening a bit less physically taxing.

Also been eyeing up a new shed with a bigger layout so I can just walk in, grab my stuff, and walk out because at the moment everything is crammed into a tiny shed and by the time I've got to everything I've no energy to use the things I've gotten out.

I will just be giving everything a big drink and then retiring to the bench with a glass of sangria.

I have planted up a HUGE pot at the front with brugmanisa that I over-wintered in water. I am going to have to get some spill over plants for it, it looks quite stark atm.

Started planting out the squash. Three Crown Prince have their own bed with a support for them to sprawl up. The Marina de C.s are planted in another bed with Sweet Dumplings to join them. Still to plant: Candy Roasters and Mystery Squash (the ones that germinated in my compost).

DGS's birthday coming up, he's asked me for step-over apples! Just the one thing I've wanted forever. What a boy.

Cleared a border at the bottom of the garden. It’s about 4m by 2m and has two apple trees and a maple in it. It’s north facing so I’ve never got much to grow in there apart from spring bulbs and creeping buttercup. So we’re going to make it into a quiet corner with a water feature and a little bench. I sat under the canopy of the maple listening to the birds weeding away and it was blissful. The soil was so dry.

Popped out for compost and came back with a small olive tree and a salvia to add the the growing number of plants waiting to go in to a sunny border which I can’t plant until DH does something to the wall behind it. Unfortunately he’s hurt his back so it may be a while so some of them have gone into containers.

Aberglasney were using step over apples as a border plant. They looked great.

Nothing yet, but I'm waiting for DD to come back with my car, so I can head to the garden centre for a container or two and some compost.

I had a lovely day at Bloom yesterday (garden festival in Dublin). I only bought three plants, so I was quite restrained really mainly because I didn't take the car with me. Some fabulous show gardens, as you'd expect. It's been very unsettled here for the past week or two, so I agreed to go with my friend, but we were a bit wary about the weather. We didn't bother booking tickets - said we'd skip Bloom and just go for lunch if it was raining. Happy to report that we got the nicest day of the weekend. Came home with two insect bites though.

I watered my plants when I got home, to make sure they'd survive until I plant them properly. As soon as I'd finished, we had a massive downpour.

We had a tremendous downpour that lasted ages and I loved it. Until DH told me he had left the roof of the car open.

Went to the garden centre and brought home three step overs for DGS, two apples and a pear. Love to encourage an interest :)