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'm not saying they're a good idea - I think they're ridiculous, but I'd buy one if I had more money than sense - or £150 left in a budget that needs to be spent before the end of the financial year. Basically if I had the opportunity and fancied wasting someone else's money.

Aha, same. We do go camping a lot though, and have made a lot of frivolous purchases in the name of "multi-functionality" that have come in very handy.

And compared to when DPs DF spent £200 on a glass toaster just because he wanted to see his bread toasting there isn't much we've bought that seems like a daft spend. Also the glass kettle to see the water boiling.

Still, I'll not be getting one any time soon, there's far too much that I need to spend the money on first and it just doesn't come in fast enough these days.

I''ve planted summer bulbs today and dug up and divided snowdrops.

I’ve just looked this up. Fab idea but crazy money. We only live 5 minutes walk away from our allotment and we have great big flasks so I can’t justify it. 😂I am a women who likes her power tools though so will put it on a wish list. We have a cordless strimmer and a cordless chainsaw now 🤪 and recently a cordless drill since getting the allotment Great for camping in the middle of nowhere in the pouring rain. I think we will head back there this morning and plant up some more. Although we have some garage sorting to do to. Happy gardening today everyone!

Just found my way over from the old thread under a new name! Lots to catch up on but I’m off to a project where I volunteer this morning, it’s an old historical garden that is being very slowly restored with the aim of opening to the public one day.

I have a small damp, dark spot where nothing used to grow. I asked a friend to consult another friend who is a garden designer, and the advice came back to try skimmia rubella, euonymus Silver Queen, and any type of heuchera. They have been in for two years, have grown bigger, put out flowers where appropriate, and still look fine. Hope this helps you.

That sounds really lovely and a worthwhile use of your time. I hope the weather stays mild for you today. Make sure to stay hydrated.

I've never been into heucheras until I went to that Nursery in Reighton, they had a whole garden of them and it looked like a rainbow salad, and now I'm planning my next trip to the coast just so I can go back and pick some up.

I really recommend that nursery to anybody who happens to find themselves near Filey. Also their café stand makes the loveliest pasties and breads.

Yesterday afternoon I dug up more things that are some kind of bulb and pop up in the lawn. They don't smell of wild garlic, so something else similar but I'm not entirely sure what. I'm moving them all out to some empty stand alone beds under trees in my front area (not a garden as mostly paved). I'm not overly fussed about them spreading like crazy there and equally if they don't like it there and die, I'm not that fussed either. I also moved a small euphorbia I spotted, as I think it is one of the wild invasive ones and I didn't really want it in the lawn, so thought I'd see how it did in the stand alone beds.

I planted two trays of violas I bought from B&M for £1.49 for 10 in a long planter for a bit of colour.

About 50% of the sweet peas I planted have shooted (not sure if that is the correct term). They are in plastic milk bottle mini greenhouses (I saw it on TikTok!). I topped them out yesterday to stop them getting too leggy.

I picked up a lovely Silver Bush (Convolvulus cneorum) when I popped into Waitrose at the end of last week. It likes the sunshine, so it will end up in my west facing bed when I get around to clearing and preparing that.

Another fan of a power tool here! My DeWalt leaf blower is one of my favourite bits of garden kit. I bought it because I have DeWalt drills and battery packs, which I also love!!!!

I do want a long arm electric branch cutter. There are quite a lot of trees on the borders of my garden, some mine and some my neighbours and there is only so high I can get on the stepladder with my loppers. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.

Oooh what a lovely, inspiring thread. I'd love to join. We have a large-ish garden with so much potential. The DC have outgrown it now so, I hope to fill it with colour. It's so green just overgrown trees, bushes and ivy. We started on Saturday trying to dig out the ivy which is proving a mammoth task. Once that is done, I'll be asking some advice.

I have three Heucheras, two with green leaves and red flowers and one that came in a made up planter for my birthday year before last that is a deep burgundy colour with off white coloured flowers.

I quite like them but the flowers can be delicate if you get windy conditions and I do as I'm right on the south coast and about two minutes from a tidal creek so wind can be a bit of a problem.

I've noticed this past two days that some of my tulips are almost ready to open. Every day I wander down the garden to open up the shed and garage, weather permitting, it gives me the opportunity to scrutinise all the pots and I have a lot of them, plus look at what's appearing in the garden border.

One of my favourite bits of the day. 😄

My first tulip is out!

About half in the same pot have all been decapitated by small snails :(

@Agapornis congrats on your tulip! Maybe we should have a competition next year:

• first tulip
• biggest tulip
• longest flowering tulip

I note with interest that my hellebores are still going strong (bought them in Dec and kept them in pots). Full bloom red/purple and white flowers.

Skimmias still looking pretty good also.

Lovely!

My tulips are in bud. A month earlier than last year, even though they are a late variety. It might be because I stored the pots on the outside window ledge this time, so more sun and warmth.

I just moved a new rose I planted in autumn as I realised if I did I'd be able to add another rose I didn't think id have room for. The one I moved is Lark Ascending (peach) and the one I'll now have room for is The King's Rose (magenta and white)

Today I planted a load of narcissi and alliums I found dried out in FIL’s porch. He was going to throw them out but I said I’d take them and put them in the ground to give them a chance.
Knowing my garden I’ll either get none at all or hundreds.

A little bit of weeding and scattered some old flower seeds in a bare patch.

Discovered that the willow trellising on the back fence is down again. I put it there precisely because that's the bit where the hawthorn hedge is sparse and people try to get through - it renders the back fence too awkward to get over, but is flimsy enough to give way if they try to get a foothold on the willow.

The hawthorn is trying to shoot out again, so I hope that that'll solve the problem.

The council massacred their side one year. I've been weaving it in and out of the fence and the trellising in an attempt to stop the council slaughterers gardeners from cutting it back again.

Wanted to 'heart' the tulip, but didn't want you to think that I was hearting the decapitations.

I have several February Gold daffs through now and I see that I have two cowslips in blossom at the entrance to the greenhouse. The Tommasinianus crocuses are on the way out.

I can see some tulip leaves, but that's all. The Scotch primroses are doing well.

Golly, it's windy today. Just received a yellow wind warning, on Bin Day.

The first green bin collection this year, so all of the clippings from everybody's gardens are blowing down the road and into our garden as well as paper and cardboard.

I've never liked pampas grass, but I am sat watching my neighbours blow about in the wind and it looks quite beautiful, meanwhile his angelic white sky rats are getting blown hither and thither. Beautiful birds, absolute menace to my berries.

I was weeding the other day and this guy was hovering so I threw him a massive worm. He stayed long enough after he ate it for me to get a photo, probably too fat to fly.

It took a while for your photo to load in for me, so when I read your first sentence I thought we were throwing worms and weirdo clingy strange men for a second.

We avoid doing anything from late spring to mid summer due to bird nesting season. We stop in March and start again in September.
A nice big garden sounds like it could be real project for you and now is the right time. Ivy is a pet hate although I know some people love it! So good luck with it.

What a totally gorgeous photo. We have a robin at the allotment and we call him Harry. Love them.

We went down to the allotment and my goodness it was blowing a hooley - we go out camping chairs in the shed put the blind up and spent half and hour watching nothing. We debated planting out the early potatoes we had taken and eventually decided since it was prepped ready to get on with it. We did it quickly and then went to a local coffee shop to warm up! They are in next to the garlic. We are due rain tomorrow and then a nice sunny Saturday here so hopefully 🤞 they will be happy! Relieved to see our shed and compost bins still standing etc

Blowing a hooley! What a lovely term. I shall be stealing it.

I stole it about 10 years ago off a Scottish friend as I love it.
I also stole ‘You are talking scribble’ off her - she was a teacher. For years (her children were the same age as mine) we encourage all of the children to come up with ridiculous words if annoyed as in - ahhh my fiddlesticks and golden hobgoblins if they dropped something or something so they all laughed and we still do it now 😂 the more ridiculous the better.