WHAT JOBS ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2018

Much the same as Our Mandy (aye!); not much of the daylight left once all things were done and dusted today, so "gardening" consisted of spying on the plants My Autumn wallflowers have been a real treasure of colour through the Winter, but, I'm yearning for more!
The Choisya, "Aztec Pearl", is in full bud now and my chaenomeles is showing a healthy growth of buds. Not too long and it will be flowering
Bulbs are now poking up in the same space as last year plus the new places I planted them last Autumn This means I have won a battle against the mice/squirrels Bit disappointed that the snowdrops I planted in the green do not seem to have been a success, but, there's still time yet

Any, and all, water garnered over the winter in garden trugs/buckets/bowls has now been transported to the large water butt at the end of my garden and will be used to top up the Glugs in the hen house. A weighty job but a necessary one - don't wish to waste a drop! - good for exercise too

This weekend, I have plans! Oh yes indeedy!! The days are now getting longer and there is much sowing to be done (in rotation). Just need to get my act together and organise which seed must be sown first and then do succession planting

 

Doesn't look as if there's been much gardening done this weekend.

Hardly surprising - yesterday was a bit of a washout here, today wasn't much better, it started off cold and frosty, then started snowing about lunchtime, followed by sleet and now rain to finish off the day, so most of the plans I had for garden jobs this weekend had to be shelved.

I did manage to get one important job done this morning - replacing four panes of glass in the greenhouse, which took a bit of a battering in the gales we had here on Thursday morning. Not an easy task on a frosty morning, but it had to be done.

We lost some roofing felt off one of the sheds too, I'd hoped to get that fixed this weekend but it'll have to wait until next weekend I guess.

I'm getting quite frustrated at the lack of progress I've made in the garden since we moved here at the end of September to be honest. A succession of other jobs have needed doing before I can really make a start on any 'proper' gardening. Oh well, patience has never been my strong point, I'll just have to keep plugging away and it will all come together in time I'm sure.

 

Similar here @Trunky its been snowing and raining on and off all week, it snowed for a period a couple of days ago, now its raining its gone all slushy. Just stuck in the house getting rather agitated and fed up , not be fit to walk on the lawn for a week let alone move some plants around. Got no seeds to sow either .

 

How strange Shiney, that's exactly what I did today as well . The weather here is pretty dismal, lots of strong winds, rain and very cold. We've even had frosts . Never had frosts before in December and January during my six years on Anglesey. Garden is truly waterlogged and the side garden is turning into a mud lake again. Not many opportunities for gardening. Today was rain all day and tonight wind is picking up ( supposed to be 50mph plus later ). I did discover the above mentioned Snowdrops whilst refilling the bird's feeders and scattering it on the ground. There are two clumps of them in the bit we reclaimed from the wilderness last year. Didn't know they were there. Very delighted to find them

I spotted something else too but didn't get a pic as raining. Will try tomorrow. There are two large clumps of what looks like Daffodils but I don't think they are. The leaves look similar but are a lime green shade and the bulbs are white and smooth. Any thoughts?

 

Look at the whisky barrel if anyone wants a project to do plus with plants

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The big clear up started today. The first thing to do is to shift that big pile of soil. Over the last 2 maybe 3 summers that pile has got bigger and bigger. My 2 piece Poundland soil sieve didn’t quite work as I would have liked. The soil is a bit wet and clumpy. It might work better when the soil is dry. So instead of sifting the soil into the box, I shovelled the soil into the box and sifted it by eye on top of the tray. The clean soil then went in the barrow. At this rate it’s going to take a long time to get through it all. It’s something I need to get stuck into before I get bored and move on to something else. The finished soil will end up here.



The difficulty will then be trying to keep it covered up. It will be alright while the pile stays fairly small. The other problem I hadn’t thought of until a moment ago was the problem of the dogs jumping up the fence.

All in all it’s been a good day. I had some work on first thing this morning and spent the rest of the day in the garden. It’s the first time in 3 days that it hasn’t rained.



G.

 

I think they may be Crocosmia??? I have some growing under the Sycamore and the leaves look very similar although the bulbs are different. They also dig up really easily, no effort at all to lift them. Previous Crocosmia have been a battle to dig out.

 

@Jack Sparrow what are you going to plant in that space once you have the soil in place? Are you thinking of replacing the fence or adding to it to prevent the doggies jumping up?

 

Hi @luciusmaximus I’m just moving the soil for now to clear the space behind the shed. When the time comes most of the soil will go back on the garden. The first priority will be here:

(This photo is not up to date. Sorry)

I can then plant my apple tree at the back, the barrel at the front and then I can start playing with plants.




G.

 

@luciusmaximus I think your single bulb and the clump are Nerine bulbs not Crocosmia corms that is why they are easy to pull apart whereas the Crocosmia grow in chains and are flatter in appearance. If you look at the clump you will see some of the bulbs are starting to get pushed out of the main clump and you can pot those up together with that single one but try not to bury the whole bulb as they like the top of the bulb and the nose part of the bulb out of the soil or compost.

If you don’t want to pot the loose ones up then you can put them straight into the ground preferably in a spot that gets lots of sun as the bulbs like to be baked and also flower better when they are on a good clump or pot bound if they are potted up

When it is light tomorrow I will try and get a photo of some Crocosmia corms to show you the difference

Any questions please feel free to ask

 

That is a space I have never known what to do with. I did once want to have an outside tap there (from the bathroom) and keep my hosepipe and buckets there. The outside tap ended up at the other side of the house outside the kitchen window. There was less plumbing involved.

As this is where my (potential) raised bed would end I could in theory build a wall here too. The drain pipe makes things a bit awkward here. In theory I could plant something here. Maybe it would be safer, rootwise for a plant to hide in a pot behind the wall. This place is in shade 90% of the time. Maybe late summer evenings might throw up some light but nothing else. Would any trees or shrubs tolerate these conditions?

G.

 

@Kandy thanks for the info and id . I dug up a lot of Crocosmia last year, from my garden and someone else's. As you say the bulbs are quite different but the leaves are similar enough to make me think they might be Crocosmia, maybe a variety I have not encountered before. I think the real clue was the ease with which I lifted them . I googled Nerines as not heard of them. They don't appear to be wildlife friendly which is a shame as they are very pretty

@Jack Sparrow there are many choices for shade loving plants, you will surprised how many there are. Depends on what colours you are looking for, do you want something fragrenced, something for the wildlife or something architectural. That space has potential . Don't think the drain pipe is that much of an issue. It could easily be disguised - you could even drill a few holes in it and create a Bog Garden . You can grow climbers too if you wanted something to hide the shed and fence.

 

Hi @Jack Sparrow it might be taking longer but in your own eyes you can see the achievement going into it, even if you cross obstacls and the first pic is making it look totally different already