What have you done in the garden today? Part 8

[Jimmyneutronsforehead]

A continuation thread.

Thank you to MereDintOfPandiculation for threads 1 through 6. We wouldn't have built this lovely gardening community without you.

No gardening job is too small or too big to tell us about.

Spring is springing into action, let's get mucky.

I have spent a lovely couple of hours reporting a palm, planting dahlias in pots, planting out some strawberry plants DH was given and has been nagging me about, moving a few things about and feeding. Out of plant food now so I need a trip out somewhere but I know I will come back with something. Tempted by some peas or beans.

I’m a reluctant gardener & I have ignored my garden for years (after a couple of years of effort).

Over last 3 weekends I cleared it of brambles & have been working hard.

I’ve decided to just use what seeds I have lurking here, though I have bought a few plants from supermarkets.

today I planted a gardenia, a hydrangea, underplanted something I can’t remember & put some white flowers into the newly revealed “rockery”.

watered poppy seeds put out around rocks & fenceline (very old so not sure if they will work).
watered summer bulbs planted earlier in the week.

I listed to audio books and dug up loads of bramble roots. Very satisfying & easier while the ground is still soft.

it’s slowly coming together a bit. Now I can’t wait to see if things grow.

Haven't read the whole thread but love this idea. Alpine Strawberries would be good in this area too.

I weeded the big bed around the apple tree, thinned out the dead wood from the weeping hazel, and thought about what to put in there to suppress new weed growth. I always have geraniums I can divide , forgetmenots, cornflower and cosmos in the veg beds, a Chinese rose that hates being in a pot, a Mahonia Soft Caress with no obvious home , an Iris I got at a plant sale and I might divide some Brunnera if it’s big enough. And I have some gone over daffs in pots so they can go in. Of course if it still looks sparse , I’ll just have to go shopping. I was too tired to tidy up, but I did it anyway, so gold star for me.

@Zebracat I have London Pride around the base of my Acer to keep weeds down. It’s low growing, shade tolerant and shallow-rooted so it works well.

DP has been here with his chainsaw, cutting more of the ivy away, whilst I loaded the cuttings into his trailer. There’s at least another trailer load to go.

Before he arrived I was digging in the front raised bed, digging as deep as I could to pull ivy roots out. It’s against a fence separating the front garden from the paved side bit, so I was going both sides of the fence pulling out roots and stumps. My hands are aching now.

As soon as my grocery shopping is here & put away I’m hitting the wine!

I removed all the dead branches from my two prune trees and also thinned a bit the clematis.
DP clean the path and installed an extension to the small shed (tools)
garden is looking very lovely is the sun!
my potatoes are shooting up - makes me happy

There’s no such thing as a rubbish gardener 😉

what I’ve learnt from gardening is you need a lot of patience and resolve that if something doesn’t work out you will try again.

Re cuttings, I find houseplants easier to propagate than outdoor plants although I do have a good success rate with salvias.

Have you had a go at growing something from seed? That’s always a good confidence boost I think.

@Coracaothe main thing with plants in pots is the drainage and watering, a bit of miracle grow helps as well 😉

The watering is the main thing though, really from April until October pots need watering daily, even if it’s rained 😬

What I lack for in gardening skill, I make up for in enthusiasm!

This is my 2nd year as a gardener. I consider myself a gardener as a) I have a garden and b) I do things to it. Much like in order to have a "beach body" one must simply a) have a body and b) go to the beach.

My top tip would be to keep notes on what you're doing as you go along.

Today I took my baby thistle and seagrass plants that I bought and put them together into bigger pots. All the better for a good display at my front door in due course, I hope!

I have also been researching various types of feed and bought some for my new roses.

And, as detailed on the ShopWatch thread, I bought some sempervivum and bay. I now have EVERY plant (especially herbs) known to man that Chat GPT has recommended for my south facing front garden. Looking forward to finding out what does indeed survive in real life!

I do like London Pride, and I don’t have any in my garden, so if I have to shop, that will be on the list.

My pots are great to be fair! DH waters and I feed.

As for seeds, I managed some sunflowers, snapdragons and cosmos from seed last year but maybe a 40% success rate. I do forget about the watering though. Last year we had a mini greenhouse for tomatoes and chillies and courgettes but I hated every minute of it so I’m not doing that this year and it’s gone to the tip. This means I don’t really have anywhere for seeds (apart from the odd windowsill) plus I haven’t got much more room to plant.

I say I’m rubbish but the garden does look quite nice.

@Coracao 40% success is definitely not rubbish! The folk wisdom for sowing crops is expect 25%
“one for the frost,
one for the crow,
one to die
and one to grow”

That’s encouraging @InMySpareTime.

Or in my case 7 for the next door neighbours bloody fancy pigeons who leave their little white feathers as calling cards.

My problem is the bloody squirrels!! They keep digging my beds……

I’m a net recipient of squirrel activity. I get bulbs sprouting that I never planted, I assume squirrels put them there from other people’s gardens.

I assume it’s squirrels that have taken these bulbs out of the pots and arranged them neatly.

Today I managed some more tidying up,still loads of fallen holly leaves everywhere from last year's big cut back.
Planted out sweet peas and potatoes, chucked in nasturtiums and looked in horror at the number of tadpoles in the pond!!! We are going to be overrun.

I didnt do much in the garden but i did set up the table and the chairs and had my lunch! Very lovely 🥰

I'm so proud of myself today I brought manure and compost , sweet peas and seeds. .
I did loads and loads of pulling out brambles as well which was hard.
I'm determined to get ahead unlike last year ...

@Castlerigg I'm on operation ivy also it's rooted every where in the garden I don't use chemicals but I'm tempted

Ordinarily I prefer to avoid chemicals, but I’d make an exception for the ivy if I thought there was the slightest chance of getting rid of it. However, it’s everywhere here, so there’s best I can hope for is to keep it to a minimum and try and avoid it taking over the place.

I keep the ivy which is all over the bottom of the garden and the shed. Its a great habitat for small birds and mammals, and in the autumn is a massive bee magnet. I can hear the humming from some distance away.

Yesterday I ordered a load of compost and farmyard manure to be delivered this evening, hopefully that will see me through to the end of the years.

I will be mowing the lawn later on today but I need to go out and get some shopping because my fridge is empty, really empty, it needs a lot of replenishing.

I will continue to empty pots that the bulbs have finished so once the compost arrives I can start to look towards getting the summer plants as they come in to the garden centre and shops. I can pot stuff up and leave in the garage until it is safe to get them out.

Getting quite excited about summer planting now.