What are we doing in the garden 2024

I don’t know which is more impressive @shiney - the age of your lemon verbena and myrtle, or the early morning effort to move them! Do you protect the Myrtle over Winter? My main one is in a pot and under the eaves.

Yew hedge trimming today. The tidy up took as long as the cutting. It’s a large hedge and becoming hard work to do the top.

 

The drying off process has started with a few of the non hardy pots.
Got rid of the tomatoes today to free up some space to get a few pots out of the recent deluge and start to dry out before cutting back and storing in the garage overwinter.

Lots more to come in yet, but I find drying stuff off in late October early November to be a very slow process due to the high humidity and low temperatures.

 

If the bin was empty before you started @ViewAhead then I’d say you’ve done a good day’s work .

 

It was! But it's more bulk than density in there, so I guess I shouldn't rest on my laurels.

Sympathies re the back, @shiney. I am currently lying on a hot water bottle and my exertions have been very minor in comparison to yours.

 

I did some bulb planting today. I'm lucky that my garden is well drained, so the soil was damp enough to let me pull up a nice, solid plug with the bulb planter, but not sodden. I planted nectaroscordums, drumstick alliums and a white iris. I also planted out a Philadelphus that I grew from a cutting last year, and put a half-price Daphne I got from B&Q last week into a bigger pot. Then a bit of weeding to take advantage of the soft ground - it's Green Bin day on Monday and the weather forecast is bad for tomorrow.

 

We've been in our mini woodland, clearing the ground in preparation to plant some Bluebells and Snowdrops. We had to rake out about three inches deep of slates, that had been buried over the years.



The slate/soil mix was sieved and the slates bagged for re-use at the front edge of the woodland. All the soil was then tipped back onto the clear area, ready for planting. There's several more areas that need clearing.



I unearthed a large flat stone, that had been partially buried under the tree and placed that in the centre of the area, so I had a stepping stone to stand on during planting and for future maintenance. I'm planning on the Bluebells and snow drops being on either side of the path through the woodland, with perhaps a few other plants mixed in, such as wild daffodils.



While busy working, Lynne found a new mug tree after our afternoon coffee!

 

Checked out greenhouse and watered as necessary, then picked last cucumber of the year.
Pulled up phacelia and buck wheat, transferred remains to compost heap and then dug that patch over as that's where the garlic and broad beans will go later this autumn. Forked over another strip of the veg bed and sowed winter tares and grazing rye as an overwintering green manure. Hoed around the brassicas and took weeds to compost heap.

 

And the walls came tumbling down!

Or, rather, down and up again after the fence- fence was cleared so that the mid- fence could lean against it, for now.

Singing "Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jeri-i-cho-o-o" I sawed through the very sturdy posts, upset a colony of ants and then used plain brutal force to kick the thing down. Most satisfying!

Obviously, when singing old negrospirituals alone I must do all the harmonies one after another. I was just in the middle of the wonderful bass turn of "and the walls came tumbling DOOOWN" when The Child took pity of the neighbours and came to help.

We cleared the area near the fence-fence, digging up plenty of old bricks (hello, raised bed! ), more of the concrete edging bits (edging for my gravel path- how perfect!) and loads of rubble that will come very handy as the base layer of the aforementioned gravel path after sieving.

I'm not entirely sure what to do with the dozens of paving slabs that pop up everywhere. The previous owner must have had a paving slab business, there are enough to pave the garden three times over. Freecycle it is, after we have used what we need.

Before


and after



The space is starting to take shape (empty rectangle) and I'm spending hours just staring and arranging the pond and the path and the planting this and that way in my mind.

As a bonus, if I ever want a perfectly level bowling green lawn, all I have to do is to scatter some grass seed over the downstairs floor. The amount of mud we drag in is unspeakable.

 

I did quite a bit yesterday, but mainly lots of small jobs, so it doesn't really look like anythings's changed! Potting on, painting pots, bulb planting, deadheading etc. I prepped the bit of timber for along the bottom of the shed [where I've done a concrete edge ] which will just be decorative, and lifted the other plants from the front corner, so I might get that filled up and those plants put back, then add the timber edge. Fed the dahlias and sweet peas, and cut out some of the branches on a Hebe to keep it a bit smaller, as it's encroaching on the peony behind it. Cut the grass, but didn't do the edges, so I'll do that today.
Had a look at the storage box round at the shed, and I may start the recovering of the lid. It' sone of those jobs that looks simple/quick, but I know it won't be...

 

I was out till late in the afternoon yesterday and I wasn't going to do anything but I changed my mind with less than an hour of light left so I had to be quick - it was like a scene from the Benny Hill Show! (You know, when they did the fast motion sequence and played that funny music ). I did deadheading, treated some plants for fungal diseases and watered the recently overseeded lawn (mostly clover seeds).

Today I don't have a lot of time either but I do want to do some belated weeding. Between mid August and mid September I always get badly bitten and have to limit weeding. I don't even know what it is that bites me as I have never seen them, but I suspect chiggers or some type of mite. Pretty nasty.

 

Today I have planted up my newly cleared bed in the front garden. 3 Hebes (different varieties), 4 Heucheras (ditto), 1 Hydrangea and 1 Choisya. It is now the H bed . Still want to put some bulbs in. Also moved a Ceanothus to where it might get a bit more sun.
Still want to move Rose Nozomi into the front garden and carry on dismantling veg and bedding pots, but for the moment I'm back inside getting warm and dry.
I'm never sure whether plant names should have capital letters or not.

 

Today, I'm mainly digging up World War 2 air raid shelter for replanting at the council tip!

 

Nozomi is moved, bulbs planted and courgette pots emptied - I now want to go back to bed.
It's cold out there today.