WHAT JOBS ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2017

This morning I took three boxes of clay flower pots to someone's allotment this morning. He's been quite ill for the last couple of weeks (has a bad chest anyway) and been in hospital. He said he would love the pots and what he can't use the others on the allotments would want them. I stored them in one of his tunnels.

This afternoon I finished tidying the winter debris from the new bed in the front garden and then started clearing the ipomoea and cobaea from the fence alongside that bed. As it grows through the fence I started on the neighbour's side first. With over fifty foot of fence it took quite a while.

On his side of the fence it's a lot easier as he just has lawn below. On our side there's a lot of planting and I had to disentangle it from the plants. The hardest part was the ipomoea as it wind itself tightly around things. It's not too difficult to remove it from perennials and shrubs but getting it off honeysuckles and clematis is quite a struggle. It's all sitting on the bonfire now

I then dug up five Hellebore foetidus for a friend of Mrs Shiney. Three of them in full flower and about 30" high and the other two are younger plants and about 15" high.

Then filled bird feeders and watered the plants in the greenhouse, car port and under the covered pergola. As there are well over a thousand plants I watered them with the hose.

 

Having already decided yesterday what I was going to do in the garden today I put my raggedy mucky jeans on along with boots, fleece and bodywarmer and started with moving the large pot with the Hydrangea in from the top to the bottom of the garden so that I could plant it near to the Arbour. Even with the compost dry the pot weighed around 70lbs and it was an "interesting" time carrying it to where I wanted. I'm beginning to think that 70lbs weighed less when I was younger than it does now at my age Anyway, the Hydrangea came out easily enough and I planted it where I wanted it to be. The empty pot will stay near the Arbour and I will fill it with fresh compost and put some Daffs in there.
After that I planted a Geum Mrs Bradshaw in the walk around border, a clump of Day Lilies that I'd overwintered in the Green House into the border by the lawn. Then as I ambled around I discovered 33 pots of Narcissus Tete a tete, with around 6 bulbs in each pot, that I'd put under some shrubs to overwinter and I'd forgotten about. So I cleared an area in between the Spirea Arguta and the Buddleja Davidii and the base of the Observatory and emptying the pots I planted a "host of Narcissi" making a once weed covered spot into something interesting
I then decided to move some of the large pots containing a Prunus Kojo-no-mai and a Corylus Contorta onto the patio so they would be in view and top dressed the compost with fresh gravel to tidy them up.
While planting the Narcissi I discovered another Hydrangea under the Spirea that didn't look too happy to be there, so I took it out and potted it up into a pot and it's now sitting in the Green House where warmth and light might encourage it to grow on.
By this time, and having a hard day supervising me, the Cat's retired into the House exhausted and were asleep within seconds of lying down, [how do they do that?!] Knowing it is supposed to be a even milder day tomorrow I planned work so that I don't have to go into Manchester until Wednesday unless there's a problem. So I've still got 50 Daffs to plant in containers, including the one that I took the Hydrangea out of by the Arbour, and 10 Gladioli, mixed colours, into the borders. I've also got to sort out the pots that surround the base of the Observatory by de-weeding them, tidying up the plants in them, or emptying those that are finished, and moving some that are on the borders and lawn onto new sites. Then maybe a mug of tea, a sit by the pond, to contemplate what needs sorting out there.

 

@ARMANDII I agree but blame it on the EU, Global Warming, metrication and the youth of today. I blame everything on those

 

@Sian in Belgium after having been given a talk last week and viewed the special collection of snowdrops I've found out some interesting things. Some snowdrops will flower the first season after being planted from in-the-green but there are many types of snowdrops that have different growing habits.

The cheaper to buy (more common) ones flower much sooner than the rarer more expensive ones. The more common ones will flower from a bulb either in the first or second season after being planted. The others can take three, four or more years. So, even when they drop seed and flourish the rarer ones will take four years, or more, to flower. The others will all be flowering before, or by, the second season.

Whilst we were there they were selling in-the-green. Some were £12.50 for 20 and others were £65 each!!!

 

I drove to B&Q in the next town to get 750 litres of their general purpose compost. I've just googled it and found that the 125 litre bags weighs 44kg [97lbs] and 750 litres equates to 6 bags and a total weight 582lbs......no wonder I was out of breath and aching after loading onto the trolley and then loading into the car
Unloading back at home was easier as I have a Porters trolley and wheeled the sacks into the garage.
I filled the big glazed pot by the Arbour, that I'd taken the Hydrangea from, and part filled it with compost. Then I planted around 25 Daffodil bulbs into the pot, and then poured some more compost and planted another 25 Daffodil bulbs and finished it off with more compost. I still had 50 mixed colour Gladioli [Aldi special 99p] to plant so I managed to find space in the borders for 10 clumps of 5 bulbs. After that I rearranged the big pots on the base of the Observatory and moved two or three more to new sites. I've still got to hoe the East Border, the Jasmine Hedge Border, and the area under the Acer Brilliantissimum which is full of Celandine seedlings. It was starting to drizzle lightly by then so I made a mug of Tea and sat in the Arbour with Jenny the cat and contemplated the garden.....Jenny didn't have much to say. It's looking more like a garden now if you get my meaning, the paths are swept and clean, the borders are clear of dead foliage, detritus, etc, the edges of the borders are more defined, and the thousands of shoots are showing up out of the soil. Most of the main jobs in the garden are done but there's a lot of little jobs to be done that interlink and so you can spend a lot of time doing them.
I succumbed to an impulse buy [again] tonight and bought 10 Allium "Caeruleum" and 10 Allium Nectaroscordum Bulgarium as I've always loved them but never had them before.......well, you only live once.

 

I buy mine at Wickes and always ask them to do the lifting for me. They collect them and put them on the trolley, wait for me to take them through the till and then load them into the car. There's never any hesitation in them doing it

Back home I can slide them from the boot onto a wheelbarrow without doing any lifting

@ARMANDII are your Nectaroscordum the lighter colour version with the cream stripes? (not as dark as the ones in our garden)

 

Good morning I can't post on this thread to day as I am going to be to busy

 

Quite right too @wiseowl

I shan't have time to post on here either.

 

Good morning just finished pressure washing the seating area had to take a break got the lunch to prepare and then to decide what colour masonry paint I am going to change to

 

I believe they are, Shiney, but, of course, I won't know until they flower. I've always liked the variety in your garden but if there were any for sale on the day they must have gone in a flash. I'm buying 10 bulbs, if you want I can pot up 5 of them and bring them to you in May and then you'll have two varieties

 

Good afternoon I have enough masonry painting for a week but due to inclement weather the wind I had to stop as it was blowing the bristles out of my brush I have also received this morning 25 Common Hawthorn bare root to create a hedge with but have no idea how to plant them,ie depth and planting hole




Rhubarb waking up