WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2021

I've been hampered by all the rain we've had but finally got my water feature finished.

 

Sorted the lawns out and revamped the new pond. I originally ran out of pond liner so was only able to fill it up to the shelves. Now a new liner went in and the water level is 10cm higher and actually visible from the bench.

Bits and bobs still to do, but already much nicer to look at than a corner where nothing grew.

Five Frogbits will arrive next week



Did something odd with my hand and now can't divorce for a while. Usually the rings nearly slip off my finger.



I will still nip out to hide a fairy in the Ivy on the border fence. The neighbour's young daughter has a new sign up to show that the shed is a Fairy Garden so of course fairies are bound to show up

 

Ouch @Selleri that looks painful. About 20 years ago I had a reaction to my wedding ring and in the end I had to have it cut off...I was so upset. I still have problems now with the replacement ring but thankfully I now recognise the warning signs and go ringless for a few days until it passes. I can't wear gold earrings for more than a couple of hours either. Just as well I prefer silver earrings!

Did quite a bit more in the garden this afternoon and have a few little bits left to do this evening.

Tidied the pets resting place garden, I don't really do much to it ....I allow it the run free! There is a hardy Fuchsia there that we cut right back each year, but it still grows huge in the summer, there is also an Acer , Carnations and Poppies, as these return each year all I do is a little light weeding and maybe add some left over bedding plants, today I added a couple of Geraniums and some Stock.

Planted out some Red Hot Poker plants, yes I know I should've done this earlier...never mind we'll wait and see what happens Also planted some Liatris Spicata too.

Threw out some weak and struggling seedlings as it was obvious they weren't going to become healthy plants.

I am definitely learning to be more ruthless.

 

Got the roof netting on the fruit cage this afternoon, planted a couple of courgettes and a squash.
Repotted a Dahlia merkii. Removed over enthusiastic growth from base of gooseberry bushes. Removed invading shoots of Dianella tasmanica from Fasicularia canaliculatum; hands look and feel as if I've been sorting the knife draw with my eyes shut.

 

Had a busy afternoon in the garden. Got the empty pig trough out and planted it up with a load of red hot pokers. The planted up the individual feeder sections with various plants-ajuga, heuchera etc.

Moved my tree pots and other planters around it. I got the garden sofa out and all cleaned down etc. Now this seating area is more private-well will be when the fig trees leave grow.

 

Eight months after ordering it, the greenhouse finally arrived at the end of last week, and despite my plethora of concerns the base we'd built was deemed "good effort" by the guys installing it and the whole thing was up within an hour. So the rest of the long weekend has mostly been spent moving into it. Tomatos and cucumbers are in their final pots, though the cucumbers are having a dramatic wilt about the move at the moment, and the chillis will follow hopefully tomorrow.



I've also sowed some more carrots and spring onions, and earthed up the asparagus crowns that have finally started to send up a few stalks.

My pumpkin seedings were looking brilliant a few days ago, but one by one have shrivelled and died; on close inspection the stems have rotted at the base near the soil line, so I'm assuming over-watering? I've resown fresh, hopefully not too late...

 

That is awesome! Pure envy on my part.

 

@2nd_bassoon Like the greenhouse; just a thought you might want to shade your tomato and cucumber plants until they get used to the light levels, temperature and humidity of their new home.
I use agricultural fleece

 

Love your greenhouse @2nd_bassoon ....I'm green with envy too like Lori

I'm paying the price today..my lower vertebrae are playing up somewhat. I have only managed to plant out a couple of Fuchsias in the raised patio beds and two troughs with the remaining 8 Strawberry plants, the 5 biggest ones are in hanging baskets.

I have been walking around the garden ( very gingerly ) placing some of the remaining pots of plants in the places I think may be good.....then deciding otherwise!!

May plant up some of the smaller Fuchsias if and when the pain killers kick in.

If not ....an afternoon of reading one of my Library books is beckoning.

 

Thanks @NigelJ , I hadn't thought of that - they've mostly been in the conservatory until now, which if anything is worse for direct sun, but would it still be worth shading? I've only ever grown them outside before so this is all new!

 

@2nd_bassoon I think I would for a day or so, just to be on the safe side.

 

Busy..trying to find some shade.

 

@Selleri I can only rate your post once so just wanted to clarify I went with "funny" because your "can't divorce for a while" comment nearly made me spit out my coffee. I hope your finger gets better soon and I love the pond

 

Tomatoes out front are growing insanely fast in this warm weather. Giving them plenty of water and they are looking fantastic. Suckers are growing in thick and fast though so I'm pulling them off on a daily basis! 5 of 18 plants now have flower trusses forming.

Yesterday worked quite a lot in the garden. Intention was to finally build the damn pumpkin patch but it was too bloody hot! Instead I decided to transplant some onions... basically most of my onions have started bolting so they will have to be eaten as "spring". I am sick of waiting on them to bulb up and not being able to grow anything else so I decided I would risk transplanting them all to the top section of the tiered bed and hope they just stay alive enough to be harvested for spring onions over the next week or two. This meant I cleared the bottom bed. Surprisingly the onions do seem to be OK and when I pulled them up some of them had quite a lot of flesh so we'll just have to see how they go!

I sowed out: summer spinach, rocket, more butterhead lettuce, red lettuce and perpetual spinach. I left a bit of space for a second sowing of lettuce in 2 weeks. And in 4 weeks we will have space for a further sowing of the other variety as I'll pull up the current 4 lettuces over the next 4 weeks (we eat pretty much the same things on set days of the week so I always know how many lettuces we consume a week... 1!)

Rescued the tomatillos and pumpkins which had wilted in just the one day I was away... they bounced right back. Need to keep a closer eye on them in this weather. Gave the tomatillos a larger pot so hopefully they will retain moisture better.

Still waiting on the new cucumber sowings to pop up, they're indoors in a propagator.