WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2022

Greenhouse day nice and warm inside but a bit bitter cold outside in the shade . Sowed some more seeds not to many they isn't enough room in the propagators yet, Potted on some coleus seedling which are doing really well. Potted up my dahlias today most have come through the winter fine but for 1 tuber but it be fine .

I do have some dahlias called waltzing matilda which I was very pleased with last year but I suspected Crown Gall maybe forming when lifting last autumn, I still suspect crown gall now and may have to discard them , has anyone had any experience with it before ?

 

Separated my salvia seedlings, sowed some forget-me-not in memory of my beautiful old girl fudge, lobelia and had a general tidy up in the rock garden. Most of my poppies have germinated too so quite a Happy bunny

 

They are absolutely stuning birds!!! Are they native around you up there? Our local castle - big tourist attraction up the road - recently advertised for a falconer. They do displays in the summer. It said no experience needed, but presumably that was a typo!

 

Planning to finish off mulching - shifted a tonne and a half on Saturday - and then start planting winter squashes. If I get through that I'll sit and moan about the useless folks on Ebay and elsewhere, who acceept orders and payment for kit (some water barrels in this case) they then decide they can't and won't deliver to Jersey. Grrrr. Pointing out that a contract is a contract, is all well and good: the remedy for breach is damages and and I've not suffered any. So just being a grumpy old git is about as much as I can do...

Nice sunny day for being a grumpy old git though, so that's something.

 

We took advantage of the nice weather yesterday and managed to move a large Jasmine trachelospermum that had rocked over pretty badly in the last storms so broke the bottom of the obelisk it has been growing around for years.

Broke my shovel half way through so had to dig with a hand trowel for the final bit I've put a small hedge plant in to replace it (a little privacy from next door) I can't remember the name
Oh and have a little space left for another rose bush I'll have to sneak the next one in

 

I've been turning in some of the hungarian grazing rye I planted on the allotment last autumn.
It's turning over fairly nicely, unlike my back and knees.

 

Today I planted the Rhododendron lifted yesterday and prepared the ground where it came out for the Sarcococca we have on order. I then cut a load of dead wood from an old Mock Orange we inherited with the garden.

 

What is this? Something you eat or graze on?

 

It's green manure as it's known, not actually manure but you plant it in spare ground in autumn and it slowly grows all winter, then in spring you dig it into the ground.
It stops nutrients being washed away over winter, the fibrous roots are good at breaking up clay soil .

 

I've got clubroot in my allotment soil so mustard is not really an option.

 

Postcrete applied today - just need to wait a bit for it to go off and then reinstall the patio furnture:

 

Not to much today , done some woodchipping which is technically work , I've been spreading it on the garage site where it waterlogs I am going to commandeer that bit for a bog garden I got a few plants already to plant some iris sibirica - lythrum - ligularia - cornus sibirica , a hydrangea has already found its way there some how , it better than some unloved scrub land I just strim down instead.

Got the allett cylinder mower out today to see if it will run, I got it going and attached the power rake for scarifying the lawn tomorrow. Minus 2 tonight to not ideal for lawn work just yet but the weather looks promising after that .

 

Cut every single one of our overwintering Fuchsias and Pelargoniums back hard today, hubs helped as we have so many , they all had a good long drink while they enjoyed the warm sunshine.

Tulips are coming along well in the pots although I did notice some gaps ,not sure if the bulbs there are late starters or non starters. All will eventually be revealed!!

 

I have a lovely Fushia that is now leggy and woody. Can I just cut it back hard?