WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2023

Been out cutting and stacking rotten decking boards for a waste company to collect Friday, also one large water butt with a split bottom, old watering can with a leak; plus a load of stuff from the house and garage. Rain has been steadily increasing since about 1000 hrs.

 

I planted up the hanging baskets with the Aptenia cordifolias that came yesterday (4 Purple from Italy and two Pink variegated from Spain) putting two Purple and one Pink in each. Then I put three three small Nepetas I did from cuttings in a third. Just letting them rest till we decide where they will go.

 

Planted onion and shallot sets as my onions from seed look like a complete failure. Went with centurion, red baron, golden gourmet and red sun. They are under fleece now to deter the birds.

Managed to drop the module tray of multi sown leeks, about two thirds fell out of the modules and I have three different types in there rather annoyingly, so have scooped them up and put them in a tray. Will also sow some more of different types again, still got seeds of blue de solaise and Bulgarian giant

 

Pricked out 60 cosmos seedlings into toilet roll tubes.

 

Nothing today it's raining

 

I'll be tying everything down, it looks really rough the next couple of days.

 

Final checks on all the seedlings in the greenhouse and making sure the shading is secured.

Generally just nervously battening down the hatches prior to the winds arriving and us going away for a few days.

 

Is it a good idea mentioning that on here?

 

I've dumped 6 Fantasio Tom seeds that have done nothing and sown 6 more.

Funny that good old Shirley Toms are growing well in the same seed compost.

Also a cheap packet (75p) Wilko Supersteak Toms are growing well.

 

People post when they go on holiday.

Who knows where we live anyway.?

I think I'm pretty careful, and have Police for neighbours ( who have direct access to our back garden) and very good security that will come on site to check should any of the alarms trigger . We take it seriously as in the past we have be broken into, younger son was here alone ( daytime) and was threatened. Fortunately when he stood up and the little burglar saw his 6ft 4in. muscular frame he turned and ran.
But point taken and thanks for your concern.

 

All we are doing at the moment is walking around and planning work for when we feel a bit better, the rain stays off for more than a few hours and the temperature climbs a few degrees.
Delighted to see that one of my Quince has started flowering. The other is just bare branches.

 

I have a very cheerful flowering quince as well.
I've not sown any seeds at all as going away at beginning of May and lost most of last year's little plants when they were left for a week in June. I hope mid May is not too late to catch up....planning to put runner and broad beans directly into plots rather than pots. I usually do lots of annuals, so will have to see how that goes...

 

At last this week I've been able to do some gardening! I spent a couple of hours repotting some Geranium & Pelargonium cuttings that had been overwintering in small pots on the kitchen windowsill. I also repotted my Amaryllis today. Yesterday I removed the dead flowers so I could put it into a slightly larger pot but one with drainage holes in it. The original pot it came planted in had no drainage holes. I also potted up some Tradescantia zebrina cuttings & put them on top of the fridge, to join the other two pots I planted up several weeks ago.

All this I was forced to do in the kitchen as with the strong winds of today it was impossible to work with compost on the balcony. I emptied out a couple of pots whose plants had died & the wind whipped dry compost all around the balcony. I also moved most of the pots with Begonia tubers in them to the mini-greenhouse where I hope the warmer temps will entice them to start growing. These are the trailing Begonias I want to put in the hanging baskets & I hope to have them flowering by June.

On Tuesday morning I moved all the pots on the balcony floor up against the railings further inside so that they wouldn't get so wet from the forecast rain while we were out. This morning I put them back in their previous positions. There are lots of Hyacinths & Daffodils as well as Grape Hyacinths all flowering their heads off. The strong wind is causing them all to bow down but, hopefully, not break.

 

Watered everything in greenhouse as 40 degrees with autovents all open today so all very dry. Pricked out loads of cosmos sown at end of Feb but the newest ones will have to stay in the trays as I have sown so much yet again. Very fond of cosmos I am! Normally ok to sit in the trays, I just transfer straight into borders as soon as I think the weather will be ok, all have been fine in last few years so fingers crossed for this year and then they flower straight away. Checked my 170 dahlias and large number of them are shooting. Dahlia seeds all growing well too.