What have you done in the garden today? Part 7

[Jimmyneutronsforehead]

Continuation thread from MereDint's previous threads.

I wove some wisteria vines around an ugly hanging basket which has made it much nicer to look at. I did the same to another one but with garden twine. Both are planted up with nemesia wisley cream & Mexican fleabane, one has a gypsophila and the other has some trailing red geraniums.
I planted my tomato plants into the flower border along with some red achillea, some Clarkia, some night scented stocks, some zinnias & asters, some echinacea, some more gypsophila. I think that's it...

Oh and the garden landscaping work has begun. We removed a huge mound of soil which filled a 6 yard skip and then started to dig out the area for our conservatory we are going to build. We hired a small digger & our ds & his gf came down and worked very hard to help us.

Today I am going to plant out my sunflowers & the rest of the zinnias & asters, maybe in pots, not sure yet.

Also, does anyone know about lilacs? Do they come in shrub & tree types, or is there only one type? I have one my mum gave me but it's just spreading & not becoming tree like, and this year it didn't even flower! I'm thinking of putting it back into a pot & planting a rowan tree in its place. I think this would be better suited as it's right next to our bird feeding area, and I think the birds would love the tree there to hide in.

I have spent the morninf deadheading some of the plants that have finished their first flush. My Gertrude Jekyll is now just leaves. It had a fair few blooms which I got to enjoy despite only planting it this year. How soon can I expect a second flush?

Not sure about a second flush on a new rose @Rosemaryandlavender1 I'm just starting to get my first flowers on my new New Dawn. I hadn't banked on a second flush, but if I get one it will be a bonus.

I watered the plants in the conservatory this morning and most of the pots outside. I'm not sure I can face the watering this evening. It's so hot and overwhelming. As a disabled single parent with AuDHD I don't know what the hell I was thinking. I definitely need to rethink the amount of pots!

I don't know much but I do know you can get lilac "trees".

Basically anything that says standard means that they've grown it in a way that has a single long thick stem with a bush on top, no matter what plant.

Similar to a cut of jeans, doesn't matter what brand, bell bottoms will always be bell bottoms and a standard lilac will always look like a little tree.

Eta: it doesn't sound like you were given a standard variety but you can get them if its still something you want. Im sure you can also train them to be like that but I don't know how and it sounds like a lot of work.

I think with lilacs is mainly down to pruning. If you want it tree shaped, keep chopping off the lower branches.

Not much. Just more picking and drying of herbs: chamomile,calendula,yarrow,hyssop,sage and mint. And rose petals

I'm so silly.

Earlier in the week a relative told me that there was a hosepipe ban, and I believed them because it has been roasting I've seen the drought notices, and so obviously it made sense.

The water butt was absolutely empty by this point anyway so I've been using dregs of water from baths and the sink but it just hasn't been enough water and about £100 worth of plants have died.

So I looked up the hosepipe ban and it isn't even in effect yet so I've gone and given everything a bloody good drink.

I still won't be watering everyday because a drought is still a drought but I can't believe all my lovely plants I got for my birthday have all been so parched theyre twigs.

I'm so close to doing a naked rain dance.

@Jimmyneutronsforehead

I still won't be watering everyday because a drought is still a drought but I can't believe all my lovely plants I got for my birthday have all been so parched theyre twigs.

even if there's a hosepipe ban, you're still allowed to fill up watering cans (or maybe I've misunderstood your post, which is quite possible!) so your plants didn't need to suffer.

I made comfrey tea last week. It’s the stinkiest batch ever and it’s not covered. I don’t know what to do. I can’t stand the smell. I found a huge pot which I thought would cover it ,but it doesn’t. I could decant it into something else, except it’s so so stinky. Too hot to do anything else today apart from some desultory deadheading

I've spent several very hot evenings planting out all the sweet pea and morning glory that I grew in the greenhouse this spring. They are looking a lot more healthy than in previous years, because I pinched them out and they're really vigorous and bushy.

Amazing what you can learn on YouTube!

Yes, and it usually makes headline news when we have hosepipe bans. Thankfully, it hasn't gone above 22 degrees here yet, although Friday and Saturday are looking properly hot, so I've put as much in the ground as possible. I didn't actually realise that I have almost 100 pots which is just stupid. I fill any and every containers (like empty milk cartons) and line them up so as of yet I've not had to use a hosepipe (the lawn can die as far as I'm concerned) I just try and do concentrated watering. It is starting to wear a bit thin now though.

Today I planted out my sad looking sunflowers into a bed just so they can grow. Not their intended spots but thought better they fulfil their potential rather than wither away.
Also planted out some morning glory and the artichokes I bought a month or so ago from the local market.
It was quite nice gardening after 9pm, and a darn sight cooler than in the day. I couldn't touch anything metal in my greenhouse!
After a failed attempt to cover the outside on the greenhouse with leftover net curtains, I bought some shading fabric to try and cut down the scorching on the seedlings I have in there. Apparently it can be left on all year and can help retain warmth in the winter months

I used shading paint yesterday on my greenhouse. Have never used it before. It was a hot and sweaty job with an extension on the brush and reaching as far as I could. So sweaty I looked down and my glasses slid off my face into the bucket of paint.

Greenhouse is still hot but not VERY hot and plants are happier.

Ah I didn't know! Now I feel even sillier, but there wasn't a ban to begin with.

Don't watch tv or read the news and my uncle doesn't usually tell fibs he was just misunderstanding when he relayed the information to me.

I've got mobility issues and wouldn't be able to carry watering cans around everywhere anyway but I have seen some solar powered drip waterers that I am fancying giving a go.

A lot of the plants in my garden go through the gauntlet, and only the strong survive so I will water them but they have to grow deep roots to access water deep in the ground between waterings.

My birthday plants were all in pots though 💀 and they did not make it.

I have a solar powered drip waterering system in the greenhouse, running from a waterbutt. Does a good job.

Cut the grass yesterday before it got too hot,then sat in the garden with a nice cold beer!

I am going to reluctantly dig up an everlasting sweetpea and put in some plants I bought for my new border in its place or I will lose them. I’ve been waiting for DH to do something to a wall so I can create a new border but he’s done something to his knee so it’s just not happening.
I don’t like the sweetpea anyway, it goes bonkers and swamps everything else.

So glad to know they work. I've just ordered some. Trying to automate as much as I can.

Mine was a little fiddly to set up, but has now been running for 3 years with no input apart from keeping the tank topped up, and turning the watering level down in the winter.

For the second day running I’ve cleared up pieces of seagull entrails and heads and wings etc. my round succulent bed has been double netted now. I’m sick of getting up in the morning and dreading going into the garden. For the most part it’s looking lovely but I spend so much time repairing when I could be doing other things.

Gone away for 4 days! We were up at 5.30 watering everything and turning on the watering system for the greenhouse. The allotment will be at the mercy of the weather, it might rain for an hour this evening then that’s it!

Seagull entrails and heads????

Yes, we have a resident Fox even though we live right in the centre of a seaside town.

DH bought himself a cordless extendable hedge trimmer yesterday and trimmed (decimated) the bay tree. He’s had a vendetta against that tree for as long as we’ve lived here. He made it into more of a lollipop than a large shrub so it does look better (and gives me 6 feet of new border to play with).

I could see him casting an eye around the garden to see what else he could attack. I’m slightly worried about a couple of things.

We had a beautiful 30 year old conifer (which did need to go because it was planted too close to the garage wall, admittedly) but every week our elderly curtain twitching neighbour would pop over with his loppers and chainsaw and announce "oh I'm just going to sort your conifer out" and we'd be like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The day we got an arborist out to do the job properly he stood at the gate inspecting every movement to make sure it was as good as gone.

Came back from the school run and he'd poured the growth stopper stuff all over the stump and covered it in a tarp for us, then stood about telling us how much better it looks.

Had a lot of grief because I was oddly attached to that tree, but then he said look how much space you've got for some new plants now.

That sold it for me. Suddenly I was team Ronnie.