What are we doing in the garden 2024

Finally, a dry day so, being perverse, I went out and got wet - attacked the terrace with the Karcher to clean off all the winter muck and grime. No matter how careful i am, I always end up with wet trousers and splashed face and hair and enough trickles in my wellies to get wet socks.

Remind me next year to borrow OH's waders.

 

Enjoy your beers @Loofah.

I always get very wet using the Karcher @Obelix-Vendée but find it very tiring work these days. We have paving right around the house, three lots of steps and three terraces so it usually takes me about two days to do the lot. I did manage to twist my son's arm last year so he came up to help but they do have three sets of elderly grandparents to look after as well as full on jobs and two teenage children plus a dog so don't have much spare time!

We actually had sunshine today which was a very welcome sight so I pottered about, tying in clematis and roses plus weeding one of the front garden borders.

 

Another very wet day, but yesterday I at last pottered in the greenhouse while listening to a BorrowBox story and sowed some seeds I’d been given from a friend’s garden- cosmos, hollyhock, clary sage and sweet William. Today I’ve potted on a rudbeckia and two echinaceas given me by my nephew in the autumn, some self rooted bits of a hebe that my OH was digging up to put in the bin (it had got very leggy), six decent rooted cuttings of a woody red salvia and six Amistad. I’m pleased because they’re all jobs I’d been meaning to do for ages.

 

Got rather poor germination of my carefully collected Primula florindae seeds, perhaps half a dozen plants, though I'd sown a lot more. Not sure whether to be pleased or irritated to find that there are about 30 healthy-looking self-sown seedlings outside, around the parent plants...

A note for @RowlandsCastle about those little spheres you're finding in compost. They're quite likely to be the remains of slow release fertilizer. Slug and snail eggs are about the same size, but are white or cream in colour and squishy.

 

That’s like fritillaries here, I save lots of seed, but find them popping up under their own steam much more successfully. I think I’ll start just slinging the seeds about

 

I have problems with the fritillaries being eaten, which is a pain. When I was looking for something else, I came across a product called Grazers G4, which is meant to deter lily beetle. Wonder if anyone has tried it? They do attract the ineviatbel slugs too.
I got a lot done yesterday as it was a very mild, dry day with a good breeze. Lots of tidying out of storage areas and general 'stuff', which was mainly boring, but very neccessary. Potted on a couple of young plants, and looked at all the others I have and wondered for the millionth time where they're all going to go....
The variegated Camassias have got some flower spikes, but not the plain green ones, which is interesting, but I'm not going to get excited about that. Repotted some water lilies, and I've planted the new lilies 'L. Henryi', so hope they'll do well.

 

I don't like pressure washing my paving as it is a horrible yellow colour when it's clean! I prefer it dirty.
It was a lovely day here yesterday and I got nothing done as I was out. Hoping to catch up today.

 

Several days of dry sunny weather here for the first time in ages. I may need to lie down from shock!

Lots planned in the garden as I have some shrubs to move around. All on my winter jobs list but the weather just hasn’t co-operated so grabbing this window to try and catch up. Have to say that the rain has resulted in the garden looking particularly verdant. All the forget me nots are opening so there’s a lovely blues haze across the garden this morning

 

I meant to reply to you @Februarysgirl re the seed soaking - sorry. I suppose when I first bought Ipomoeas I must have read the info on the back, but I can't remember! I certainly don't soak them though, but I expect my compost or soil mix doesn't dry out easily, so it's like the s. peas - they just get on with it and do their thing without much interference from me.

 

@shiney, mine desperately need replacing as they are cracked and broken and uneven, but I can't face moving all the pots and garden furniture and the compost bin and cold frame. And I can't afford it.
So I keep buying more pots and plants to go in them to try and hide them!

 

As it's supposed to be a dry day maybe the paving will be cleaned with the magic patio stuff. Not used before, hoping for good results ...