WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2022

Today I put the Sweetpea seedlings in the cold frame. They have already gone a week without heat. I potted up most of the Morning Glory and put them back on the heat mat. The remainder I put in the cold frame. They can sink or swim.

 

Yup - mine are looking very sad indeed! I’ll do do more in a month or so

 

I went and collected a good load of manure this morning to make a hot box. Never done it before: any tips?

 

Dug a hole - for 'The Lady of Shallot' rose - which is going in Monday. It's raining now.

 

Oh..I thought poppy seeds had to be sown in situ, didn’t think they liked to be moved? I’ll try some in trays now I know. Once germinated when can they go out in the flowering position would you say @NigelJ ? I’m in Suffolk.
Thanks, Tink.

 

O.m.g. you have a soul sister here!!!
I dont understand what the hell is going on in UK with those cats. Theyre not homeless - everyone has owners aka it will be your nearest neighbour. In every single location that I have lived (~6 in 11yrs) there were cats who always comes and shi** everywhere as they pleased! I had multiple conversations with owners telling them KEEP YOUR ANIMALS INSIDE. Everyone were telling me "we cant do anything - theyre used to be outside". Oh come on.. Lets imagine - i do have a rottweiler who enters your garden and just sits at your door. Lovely dog - doesnt bite, very friendly. But you dont know about that and thats why you literally cant go outside.

Same goes with cats and any other animals. Its your animal - you want to have it - pleaese keep it to yourself.
I do have cat myself - and he never is alone at the garden - i will watch him and he wont be able to go anywhere.
There is a nice way to keep your cat inside, or other cats outside of your property - install the roller on your fence - cat wont be able to jump on it.

And by the way, I do hear loads of stories that someone poisoned someones cat. Firstly i thought what a cruel people, but after facing all those digging and poo issues - i can relate.
I wrote multiple posts in uk cats group on fb that people - dont be surprised, if your cat ,who roams on the streets, gets poisoned. Someone just had enough of your cat in their teritory.


Anyway. I can talk for ages about this HUGE UK issue haha


I sew some seeds and I can't believe!
So 1melon and watermelon, agrettii, and rudbeckias, echinaceas.

 

@Tinkerbelle61
There are different types of poppies.
Annual poppies (Papaver rhoeas, P somniferum etc) these I would sow in situ; with me, as I let a few seed heads mature and dry, they come up like weeds in spring.
Long lived perennial poppies (P orientalis) I would sow in pots/trays etc, then grow in deep pots for a couple of years.
Short lived perennial poppies (P apokrinomenon, P atlanticum) I sow in trays, these are tough smallish poppies that are good for rockeries, and sunny dry areas.

 

We put manure into a hotbox in the greenhouse - hopefully it will get hot - and then finished off a load of odds and sods outside, before the rain pushed us back into the greenhouse to prick out spinach and lupins. I'm going to have more lupins than I know what to do with this year: no doubt friends and neighbours will take some, though maybe I should take the @shiney example and pot them up for a charity shop. Nice to be out though pretty dreadful conditions.

 

With a break in the weather here at last, I spent a couple of hours cutting up and clearing debris from the pine trees that came down in the strong winds a fortnight ago. This coming week's weather is not looking good so there may be a 'take two' on this.

 

Not today it's been raining all day and just stopped. Got this video on what materials go into the compost mixes.

 

A very interesting Video. I've been using Coir with my mixes for a few years now and have never had any problems with high salt content.

 

The bad weather that we have been having here has really made the ground where the trees were settle, so I raided the compost and put roughly 600 litres on it to get it more level. Checked the pH of the area as well. That was a bit lower than expected.

 

Sowing seeds today Lobelia - petunia - cleome mainly with the odd other thing . Tidied up in the spare bedroom and got the pasting table out and set the larger propagator up .

Its to wet to do anything outside the rain has been relentless for most of February, looks like its going to be another bad week .