WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2021

Just decided to remove from greenhouse and bring indoors, 6 young haworthia plants, haven’t had them long and they look a little tender. Was going to dismantle the garden swing and store it away for winter, but the rain has come early, and there’s plenty of Rugby on the Tele today

 

Planted some more polyanthus, just got 6 more to plant and that's it.

 

Brought cacti in from greenhouse, moved tired looking dahlias from the front round into the greenhouse, checked over winter growing gladioli and alliums, most are showing some signs of growth. Finished off by removing the tired tithonia plants and the remains of the butternut squash plant.

 

Sorted out the big trays to go into the greenhouse soon as I feel they add an extra layer of insulation when the temps really start to tumble .
Cut back a lot of 'frosted' plants and pulled out some spent annuals. Dahlias will get cut down tomorrow, hopefully, I decided to leave them today as they're going to be left in the ground again this Winter and we have low temps again tonight but from tomorrow they go on the rise for a while so hopefully it won't be such a shock for them.

 

We still don't have any frost forecasted so I gave the back lawn it's final cut for the year. Pond had to be sorted out too, it's one of the annoying facts of life that natural ponds look so good under trees and shrubs but the falling leaves create a proper havoc.

Cut off the last dinnerplate Dahlia blossom to show via Skype to my 5 years old niece. She admires Dahlias in general, and we had a good discussion about spring bulb planting- she prefers to plant them into the ground but understands my circumstances that direct me towards container cultivation, and is most interested in lasagne method. We agreed that next year she will come over to help out in the garden. (Sadly, as our weekly Skype calls are in the late afternoon and Finland is 2 hrs ahead in time, my niece thinks that the sun always shines in England as it's still light when her bedtime approaches. I may have to disappoint her once we finally get her over here. )

My cactus seeds have all germinated so plenty to fuss about next week.

 

Busy day today in the garden . I've planted the front garden up with perennials now still a few jobs to do in that border mainly bulb planting .

I've also lifted all the dahlias and emptied the large pots / barrels and labelled them , I blast them later this week with the hose and dry them out in the GH . Begonia tubers have been put in the GH for drying and put some tender salvias in pots for storing the GH over winter , potted up some bearded iris I broke of a clump yesterday. I were going to mow the lawn but I'll try and get that done tomorrow.

 

Cleared out all the plants from the planters and awaiting delivery off bark and mulch now to cover them up and stop the weeds coming up through winter…….ready for the daffodils to pop through in spring

 

Lovely wreaths Mrs S. Sis always had wreaths/door decorations for every season/occasion but must admit it is not my 'thing'. I only put a big red velvet ribbon on the front doors at Christmas.


I am pleased you found the voles a new safe home.

Love the pots.

 

@shiney lovely wreaths that Mrs S makes.
Glad that the voles were ok with being moved.

 

Started the final tidy up now that all the frosted plants are either cut back or have been discarded

The 7 Dahlias in this border with get a good protective layer of mulch and a big upturned pot will be added when the really cold weather arrives. Weeded and trimmed up the remaining perennials will leave the hardy Fuchsia for a bit longer before I cut it back.

 

Now that is a clever idea!

 

Thanks Vicky still keep my fingers crossed but so far I haven't lost a Dahlia.
Oops I hope I haven't tempted fate now!!

 

Yesterday collected a lot of leaves around the back of the house on the public footpath to put at the back of the garden for the hedgehogs and around their houses. When I was doing it 2 people went past me and asked why I was doing it and they were supprized when i told them.

I won't cut my hardy fuchsias back until next spring, for us it will give them a bit more protection.

 

We cut ours right down so nothing above ground to protect the root systems are protected by the mulch layer.We are so exposed to the elements.I think they would suffer if left. They're over 30 years old and are still going strong so we must be doing OK by them.