What are we doing in the garden 2024

I have just potted on three Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. a Yellow, a Yellow Pagoda and a crinkly Pink. Watered the Adenium Nursery as they need it daily.

 

Planted my salvias this morning. Got bitten again by ants - but not so many as before. Probably because I killed so many.
Still, the job is done. If the wife wants them moved, SHE can do the digging!!

 

Upcycled the door frame from the old polytunnel to make an arch for honeysuckle to grow up and around. Looks great.
Weeded around the replanted Gladiolus papilio. Strong growth but not sure if they will flower this year.
Put up some internal shading in our "laundry" room where we grow about 30 different orchids.

 

I’m tackling the area under my big Acer, next to the pond, today. It’s over-run with ivy so I’m pulling that out, then there’s a massive pile of prunings from the hedges that needs to be removed. There’s a tree stump in there somewhere, so eventually I will make a stumpery area. I already plant ferns about (mostly pulled from walls and nooks elsewhere). I might do a bark mulch, but the Acer leaves make a pretty carpet under there anyway.

 

Mowed the lawn, decapitating all those delightful daisies, buttercups and more, that make the place look so cheerful - and, at varying heights, untidy. Still, it'll do wonders for the compost!!
Cut back some of the Japanese anemones, which were beginning to block some of the paths. They seem to thrive on being hacked.

Edited to add.
I noticed that a number of the chrysanthemum plants I'd potted up from a divided plant, have died. I still have the original, plus six "babies", but others seem to have disappeared. Wood pigeons, slugs, or just rotted? I've no idea.

 

I decided to have a rest today and i washed my hair in the late morning.

 

Not a lot today, woke up late so the morning just sort of disappeared. Opened the shed doors wide as we had a good breeze and warm sunshine to help dry the floor out all day. After lunch I put the soil back over the Postcrete around the new shed supports, deadheaded the roses and took a cheerful looking nearly new scarecrow down to the local primary school - felt a right idiot walking along with 'Fred' hoisted over my shoulder! The Grounds Manager was excited to show me some native Bee Orchids that had appeared in an unmowed bank. Beautiful sight, pity I didn't have my phone/camera with me.

 

Back from a week in Cornwall, watered the garden and tomatoes. Everything has grown a lot. Also sown foxgloves.

 

Pruned back a holly on the front path. Mowed the "lawn" for the 2nd time this year!
Cut back plants yet again taking over another path.
Weeded in the polytunnel.
Refound poor Buddha. He was in the shrubbery for decades and of course the plants have grown and grown and so he was hidden. We have relocated him so that he is under an Indian Bean tree and next to a tree fern.

 

Planted out the pot marigolds along the path, they grow to about 8in. They're behind the polyanthus.

 

It's garden waste bin day tomorrow so we filled it to the brim with greenery that is not coming with us when we move nor is used to camouflage things from the preening eyes of the rental property leaving inspector.

Then we nearly had an Arboretal Disaster

It so happens that I'm unable to resist playing with plants so the three volunteer Birch tree seedlings have been happily growing in a large container just because I wanted to see what happens if I braid their stems as they grow. (very nice indeed, already two feet tall ).

We also happen to walk under a nice Plum tree quite often and some years ago The Child collected a fruit and asked if we could grow our own. Against my sceptism, the stone rooted and the tree is now two feet tall in a pot. The Child plans to plant it in her own garden someday.

Whilst wrestling a Hebe out of it's pot in the front I asked The Child to get the doomed Braided Birch and whack it in the bin, instructing her on removing as much compost as she can so that the binmen don't have to wrestle with their conciences.

(The council doesn't really accept compost in the bin but our binmen are awfully kind and accept a lot, even things on the kerb that didn't fit in. )

We chatted about the Braided Birch and suddenly stopped-

the poor tree being violently whacked out of its compost was the treasured Plum Tree and not the rogue Birch plait!

A quick remediation re-installed the Plum into it's pot with compost and apologies, and the Birch got doomed.

After this near-disaster I focused on deadheading the roses, tidying up the hedge by cutting stems of wild roses to bring indoors (not forgetting to boast on the spectacular thorn scratches on my forearms ) and daydream planning my new garden

 

I planted 2 Platycodon that I bought in the market this morning, 3 blue bedding verbenas to fill in gaps, 2 purple blue salvias and 2 gazanias. Also did some weeding and strimming.

 

Today I have potted on 15 melon plants into their final pots set them out ......more like I bunged them into the greenhouse where I could get them in !!!!!! I'm not even sure I will get any fruit from them as they were saved seed from a tesco melon. .....so I had sown another 6 from the bought pkt of seeds

This afternoon I planted into big pots my cucs.

 

I like Platycodon @Busy-Lizzie, our has just opened outside our bedroom window.

I came back from my friend's with two more tomato plants and a very tiny parsley so they're just sitting on the kitchen worktop temporarily.

I just had time to water and feed all my roses in pots and deadhead them as I went around.
I have flowers on the new Desdemona rose my brother gave me last year and there are buds on the new Chandos Beauty as well. Can't wait!

 

I like Platycodons too, but I have always resisted purchasing one as it looks just the kind of thing that slugs would relish (and I am harried enough in that department, without adding extras to fret over ). Is it "safe" from munchers? If so, I will get one immediately!

@Selleri, phew, the plum tree lives to see another day!