What are we doing in the garden 2024

You know when you are sitting with a cuppa and think ‘I might move that/it would look better over there’ etc…

well I’ve just up-rooted some Aliums and moved them (eek). I had a mixed bag of bulbs and thought the purple ones would look good in my purple and orange border but most of them are coming up white. They are now in the apple tree ‘border’. They should look good with the Aquilegias, white foxgloves, Astilbes and geranium Roxanne.

 

Just had a good hour weeding and tidying the front garden beds and now hubby is cutting the grass. Should look fairly presentable for a day or three maybe. The garden that is, not hubby

 

I hope the gloves were not too expensive, @katecat58.

 

Will we be seeing you shortly over on "Show Us Your Purchases" or did you resist?

 

Not a lot has been done today. Though I did meanly turf out two blue berry bushes that haven't done anything for about 3 years except breed little wormy things. There've been in a 60cm tub with ericaceous compost. I'll probably regret it, but I was fed up of seeing their almost bare spindly branches. They've been replaced with a large regal geranium (bright red flowers) that's a few years old and is about 2ft tall and wide. I've already taken 6 cuttings from the geranium this spring and they're not doing bad. The 60cm tub is now looking lovely with self seeded pansies and half a doz strawberry plants around the edge.

Gave all young and newly planted plants several water cans full of water so they don't stress too much.

 

@simone_in_wiltshire £1.99! But they actually fit and were waterproof all over. I'm fed up of wearing wet gloves. I shall get some more when I go again.

 

This afternoon planted the tomatoes after checking the soil had warmed up, potted up peppers, sowed some Dianthus and some Helianthus seed.

 

Between the showers I replenished my stock of (peat-based) compost from the garden centre (I used up all I had yesterday filling the tubs for the runner beans which I hope can be planted out soon) and brought a couple of stipa Pony Tails home as well....as you do.... Funny how well everything is growing this year since switching back to peat-based compost, unlike last year (and several years befrore that) when I struggled to get anything to grow well in peat-free...whichever brand I got. Hmmm.....
Stipas planted, many of the narcissus and snowdrop leaves chopped to give the newly-emerging perennials some light, cut back some manky pulmonaria and found more weeds.
We have our daughter's dog staying for a week while they're on holiday....sister to my Dazzle, so two geriatric deaf dogs, and twice the poop to pick up! And twice the number of dogs to trample on my borders.....

 

@ViewAhead So far, the tree that was hideously disfigured by aphids last year is doing OK so photos of the garden as a whole is looking possible this year!

Dug up the common mallow, lemon balm and burnet from the front garden ready to take to work for a colleague but within a couple of hours they were looking very unhappy so they're having a good drink in the pond. I had wanted to give away a big clump of birds foot trefoil but when I took a closer look, it turned out a dog had left a big clump of something unpleasant in the middle of it. Unfortunately, that wasn't the only pile of it I found. Apparently, some people interpret having long grass as an invitation to let their dogs use my front garden as a toilet I did get round to pressure washing the patio, but it hasn't come up well. I may need to crack open the patio magic.

 

Had a great day in the garden. Went to the GC with mum and got a load of plants. Dug over areas of the garden with some compost to plant. Others went in containers. I seemed to spend a lot of time thinking about which plant should go where. Also started digging up a grass area that was awkward to mow, to make a bigger bed for more plants It’s been strange having a much smaller garden now-having to prioritise what I want to grow.

 

Which brand did you manage to get hold of? I had two large bags stockpiled from last yr, but both turned out to have fly infestations. I've sieved out as many as possible, but would rather not use it in pots, especially indoor ones. Am thinking of ordering some Evergreen online, but with postage and all, it works out quite expensive.

 

A cunning plan!

 

As the wind had got up I sat inside the greenhouse to check the moorings on the tarpaulin I put over it. It needed some fine adjustments to cut down areas of tarp.flapping around.
Phase 3, pot washing was completed.
It is amazing how many muscles I discover after doing jobs like this.
I watered seedlings in the conservatory and am planning to move some of them into the greenhouse to harden off and grow on. The courgettes, squash and cucumbers are going great guns.