What are we doing in the garden 2024

Planted out sweetcorn, sowed green manure to replace the three rows of peas that fed the local wildlife.
Cut some of the grass. Sorted out the, so far unused, mains hosepipe. Replaced the tap on the end of the pipe from the rainwater tank.

 

Nothing much done yesterday as I went to help daughter with a couple of things in her flat.
After a walk, I did a bit of tidying, painting of pots, and moving of vulnerable plants into moats - again. At least the two clems I did that with are starting to revive.
I even looked at the toms in the gr'house, which I've not done for several days. One has a few flowers. The one I've got outside, sheltered in beside the gr'house, seems to have survived the recent, lower single figure temps, quite well, so that's good. I might even get round to planting it out...
I have some small plants which could be planted out. Maybe today. The Eleagnus needs a good hack back too, so I'll get those jobs done in between the showers if I don't get distracted

 

Had a wander around this morning. Is there nothing slugs don’t hold sacred? The morning glory I planted out has been decimated.

And if it’s not slugs it’s just everything being so slow or just not germinating at all!

 

I grow Ipomea and it's always tricky keeping them sound. I sow several in a 3 inch pot [indoors] in late March, then plant out the whole pot against a cane - into their final, large pots, once conditions are ok. It's the only way I can guarantee a decent amount germinating and growing. Putting them in the ground rarely works - they get eaten immediately - same with sweet peas.
I have so many seeds [collected a year or two ago] that I pushed a few more into the main pot I have, and also in beside a clematis in a small raised bed, a couple of weeks ago. They've germinated well, so it'll be interesting to see if they get to any size. The slugs have slowed a bit now, so fingers crossed.
I might even be able to remove some of the new Iris and other plants from their moats soon....

 

It would seem not this yr! Once they start chomping through pelargoniums, you really know they are on a war footing, pesky wotsits!

 

Finally sowed some parsnip seed, Swede, beetroot, fennel and perpetual spinach. I also made a start on cutting down the forest of field grass growing in the raised beds around the pond. It looks as if I have lost one of my Dieramas to the cat making a bed on top of it. The lovely lavender flowered one is still alive with one flower spike. The cat had taken over the whole bed with tunnels and nests in the long grass. She was not impressed with me ruining her domain.
My mulberry bush which I thought was dead has finally developed some leaves and the Eucryphia buried under bracken and nettles has put on a lot of new growth. I also exposed one of the blueberry bushes with lots of new growth. Must explore the depths of the dilapidated fruit cage to find the rest of the bushes, plus the raspberries. The blackcurrant bushes do not seem to have any fruit on them and the redcurrant seems to have some kind of disease so no fruit there either.
My son in law called round to put some picture hooks up, tighten the toilet seat and take down my smoke alarm which was driving the dog mad with its incessant squeaking. He brought some runner bean plants and some kale, next job will be the runner bean pit.
His brother is very sad at the moment, his old dog, 13 years, has just been driven over and killed. Sadly the dog was beginning to deteriorate in her health and he was starting to think it was time to put her out of her misery when she hid under a van without the driver realising and he drove away. Heartbreaking.

 

That's sad about the dog @Goldenlily26. I hope she died quickly.

 

I dug over most of the fruit bush bed yesterday. My wife did it two weeks ago, but she doesn't do a "proper" job, so bindweed was up by a couple of inches. She wants to help, but doesn't have the necessary muscle!!

So while I was down the end of the garden, she worked closer to the house, and has decided one of the hebe's is in the wrong place. She's cut it back to nine inches, and says that I can do the rest, and dig it out.

I liked it, but wife would like the space for spring bulbs. She wants more colour - more flower bed space (and area that needs weeding). I want things that survive by themselves, with a little pruning.

Give and take!!

 

Had some friends around for coffee and cake and then a walk around the garden to see what was growing and what wasn't. They are having the same issues as we are with veg sowing being very poor. A nice morning.
Repotted an orchid and then dug up and transplanted a very sickly magnolia. Totally wrong time to do it but it is in such poor condition we think that maybe ants could be in the roots so digging it out and cleaning it up may give it a chance.

 

Elderly Dog and I had a sniffing competition this morning (which we won! Go Team Old Bats!! ), over to elder daughter's for late lunch (her birthday), now just given a weak feed to the container plants and greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers, and ditched a potted fuchsia that was riddled with fuchsia gall mites, beyond saving unfortunately. Not something I'd come across before, hoping my other fuchsias (all planted out) aren't affected!
Tomorrow we're booked to help with daughter's garden again, hoping to finish edging the lawn with bricks, and finally get on top of the weeding!

 

The rain didn't appear after lunch so cut down the blasted "naturalised bluebells" from the lawn with shears (something I learnt the hard way- trying to just mow over leaves a sight of a battlefield between Space Slimes and a particularly aggressive kingdom of Mushy Peas , plus splattering the remains of the aforementioned on my face. So off it is with shears first, gathering the bodies into the brown bin).

Potted up all the cuttings and stuff that are moving with us into the new house. I have this lovely grow box that used to be a Degus' cage, lined with broken greenhouse cover, where I have just been sticking things up since last summer.

Feast your eyes on the elegant "upcycled" raised bed (OK, it has provided us with Toms and Padron peppers and carrots and whatnots (including one Cucamelon) for five years so all is forgiven )



Here they are, Climbing Iceberg rose, several Hydrangeas (I'm quite fond of the Lacecaps) in their 5cm glory (it might take some time for them to get showy but at least they have rooted well), Artichoke, Rosemary, Thyme, variegated Vinca Minor, stolen Vinca Major and Weigela, Viburnum, Campanula, pretty weeds, and seed grown musk strawberries.

A new garden in a bag

The Lavenders will go to a friend of The Child, I dislike Lavender but as it is so easy to propagate I can't help taking cuttings

Swept around, a sporting task in blustery wind.

Cleared the pond, practised my Japanese with No-mo-no-mo-mei and cut the grass (minus Bluebell debris) and put Pidgeoned pegs in sun to sterilize. That's another story perhaps better suited to Off Topic forum

Once indoors, the rain started. Perfect

 

Was anybody else a bit taken aback whilst watching Monty Don last night? He did a section on planting up his four big statement pots into which he put masses of sweetpeas and then added some trailing pelargoniums around the sides so they wouldn't get soaked when he watered the sweetpeas! Two totally different plants with very different needs I thought and he looked like he knew he shouldn't be doing it.

 

It's an absolute PITA of a problem. I find the only way to keep on top of it is to inspect plants every couple of days from April to Oct, removing any leaves showing damage. I wash my hands before moving to the next plant, so as not to accidentally give any a free ride to pastures new. If it really takes hold, cutting all the growth back to a couple of inches above ground and waiting for the plant to have another try the next yr can be successful.

@Selleri, you made me laugh with your bluebell leaf battles! I try to nab mine before they go slimy on the gravel as otherwise I have to individually pick all the stones that get stuck on them off before they can go in the recycling bin.

 

My thoughts too @lizzie27 re the s. peas and pelargoniums. Watering in the middle is all very well, but the latter will still get a fair amount of extra moisture, even if they are round the edge, and it's a terracotta pot. S. peas in pots can get very dried out if they're in sun, once the foliage is really full, and that will also spread over the pelargoniums. Not something I'd ever do.
The s. pea foliage can get really manky as time goes on, but I use other planting/pots in front of it to hide that, whenever possible.
I've been doing something vaguely similar, as I'm planting up an old safe that had been in this house, and I'm using some seed sown marigolds and a couple of seed sown dahlias. I've got a physical barrier across the middle though, as that will mean the marigolds can have sharper drainage, and the dahlias can have more moisture and food. I doit with raised beds so that I can have plants which maybe like sun, but some need sharper drainage and generally drier conditions, and some need consistent moisture.
I'll be hacking back the Eleagnus today, as I didn't get to it yesterday, and doing some chopping of hedging I took out. Maybe planting those little dahlias into the safe, and the grass needs cutting. Hopefully it'll stay dry today, and it won't be too wet for that, which always helps.

 

Summerhouse finally dismantled, now on wood chopping duty with the possibility of a bonfire this evening.