What have you done in the garden today? Part 7

[Jimmyneutronsforehead]

Continuation thread from MereDint's previous threads.

They are fun! They seem to have specialised in carnations and auriculas, and also imported some plants from overseas. It's rather nice.

Bitterly cold and windy here. Attended a masterclass in pruning and training roses earlier this week so dying to get out there and have another go at mine but it’s just too cold.

@SarahAndQuack i looked them up ! Very pleased to know that carnations are gillyflowers, always wondered .. I grew some chabord carnations from seed last year, and they look really strong. I think they may be due a revival.

I need a masterclass like that! Really don’t have a clue what I’m doing with mine.

Still haven’t done much of anything but have made a decision for later this year.

I was looking at some pictures of my garden in my previous house and noticed that almost every pot had bulbs flowering over a few weeks, very much in the style of this picture from Monty Don. They looked really pretty even on a grey rainy day.

I look at my pots now, and all I see is bare soil; they all have things in that will come up in the late spring and summer but nothing now! So I have made a note to buy some bulbs later this year in time to fill all the empty spaces in the pots for next winter. I’ll give them all a good clean and sort out after the summer bulbs have finished and completely redo them.

I pruned my roses before Christmas and I am pleased to see today that they are all producing new shoots and leaves. I did put large handfuls of farmyard manure on them at the time of pruning so hopefully, that has given them a bit of a boost.

My bulbs in the garden are starting to come out and all the ones in the pots are coming up well, some are producing flowers.

I just wish I could get out onto the garden to actually do a few odd jobs and move some of the pots around but although it is brightish and not raining for a change, I know it will not be long until the rain comes in ... again! 😡

The sun is welcome but the ground is still sodden so am only managing to reach stuff where I can stand on the path....

Really want to get in and start cutting some stuff back.

I'm planning on two raised beds for veggies in the underutilised tiny lawn. And also to make the pond bigger. I think it needs to be bigger to get the frogs back.

Same problem here.

I have got some wellies for soggy days like this but they give me the most horrible foot cramp when I squat down to do low down jobs.

I need some truly wide/flat foot and wide calf wellies but I've yet to find the holy grail.

A trip to Aberglasney today. Sadly spent most of it in the cafe chatting with a friend due to hailstones but did see a few delightful corners, one with Dogwood Midwinter Fire, Skimmia, hellebores and a few other things and another with half a dozen different daphnes. The scent was amazing.

We took down two greenhouses yesterday from a house that was being renovated. To go into allotments of DD1 and 2. Woah glass is heavy.

Did a bit of digging at the front this morning but it is really too soggy.

Next job is to empty the glass out of the back of the car.

I deadheaded some panolas. The other day I dug up a huge old fern and replaced it with golden oats grass.

It's lovely and sunny but instead of gardening we went to feed the ducks. It was horrible and cold and cloudy when we went to feed them so now I just want to sit inside and warm up when really I should be weeding.

I showed the tomatoes and am soaking the sweet peas and loofah seeds to sow tomorrow

I’ve pruned much own roses this afternoon, realised I have too many climbers and not enough height of wall or fence for them to climb on and need to do something about that. Bought a Phoenix canariensis palm in Tesco. Not sure how hardy it will be but we are coastal and I see a fair few around here wrapped in hessian over winter. It was only £11 so it won’t be a fortune if it doesn’t survive the winter. The rain might be a different matter.

Although it is now sunny here on the south coast, I haven't actually done anything in the garden but I have been down and peered into all the pots and the garden border to see what's happening.

My forget me nots are starting to come out, I have lots of clumps of them, some of the dwarf daffs have had the flowers eaten, slimy scumbags I expect, crocus in pots starting to come out and all pots with tulips in them are now showing leaves coming through. Clematis all showing signs of budding too. I think I also have signs of tiny white blossoms on my cherry tree.

I also found some poo, too big for rats I think, blackish/green in colour but wasn't aware that maybe a fox could get in to the garden, I know they can jump/climb but in ten years of living here, never seen signs before if it is a fox. Not sure what else it could be.

Next three days look to be nicer than recently with little rain so hoping can get round to do some of the cutting back and trimming that I still want to do.

Fingers crossed anyway.

My local charity shop is open on Sundays thankfully so I dropped a load of stuff in including some gardening books that I won't need again. Also donated some pot plants.

I do enjoy a good clear out and just focussing on the stuff that works. Eg i'm quite keen to see what in my pots survived winter and chuck anything that has died or doesn't work.

I have got over my guilt of chucking in the brown bin anything that didn't work or I've changed my mind about!

I'm itching to start some seeds but I will resist until mother's day.

Why? I'm further north than you and I usually do two sowings of sweets peas, Valentine's Day and April 1st.

What's the thinking behind the Mother's Day restriction?

I was going to sew some nasturtiums but it says "Outdoor March" so I'll wait a bit .

I re-potted and moved a rose , no idea what type it is , pink flowers but it kept catching me as I walked by , so it had to move

Once we get to Easter there will be tonnes of plants for sale , I'm looking for a Clematis and a Passionflower .Our local market has some good deals

I don't have a cold frame or greenhouse, I usually do my sowing in our conservatory which gets a lot of heat and a lot of sunlight and things grow quite quickly in there, but it's too soon to sow them and then transplant them out as they'll be ready for transplanting or need up-potting too soon. We often get frost on a morning through April, sometimes even into early May.

We're also not in a very sheltered position we are the last house on a housing estate and opposite is miles and miles of field where we get some quite harsh winds.

I'm not sowing sweet peas indoors, our local garden centre sells the trays for pennies, and things like nasturtium are either direct sown or have prolifically self seeded and become quite the nuisance.

My usual routine is things that take a long germination and my indeterminates go in around Mother's day and the rest get down at Easter with along with second round of flowers, and if my indeterminates have any suckers they're snipped off for rooting separately.

Yesterday DH trimmed the hedges along the back of the house and cleared the gutters.
I pruned and cut back dead growth and a small amount of weeding and pulling out the glut of crocosmia. I get rid of some each year and am making progress.
Nasturtium seedlings are growing fast on kitchen window. Think I'll move them to a colder room soon so they can adjust.
I'll plant some directly outside later in the year. Only 4 germinated inside, I've since read it's a good idea to soak the seeds for 24 hours before planting so will try that with the outside batch and hopefully have a better germination rate.

Oh don’t get me started on crocosmia! Between that and bindweed I feel like I am in a constant battle. Grows in every nook and cranny.
But you have reminded me to go out there today and pull up as much as I can see @Mokeytree because <whisper> it looks like it might be dry and mild today.

Ha - I just planted some crocosmia... Possibly a bit early but it's been warm the last few days. The tête a tête daffs are flowering!

I cut back some calendula marigold that survived the winter, it was getting a bit straggly. I put some wire netting over a big planter because my cat likes to poo in it 🙄 Fine over winter, not so much when everything is trying to grow.

I got a beautiful crocosmia last year but I'm afraid if might be one of the dead plants I posted a few weeks back.

I hope it isn't, it's in a large pot with wood chip mulch. Maybe it's just a bit delayed coming up this year.

things like nasturtium are either direct sown or have prolifically self seeded and become quite the nuisance they are not a plant I'm fond of , don't like the smell , but the caterpillars of the Cabbage White Butterfly absolutely guzzle them. I see it as my act of environmental relocation if it keeps them off brassicas they can have the nasturtiums
And they are so easy to grow !