What are we doing in the garden 2025

Nothing today i went to see my friends and it's been raining all day.

 

I managed to get a little done, despite the cold.

This morning I filled the bird feeders (with lots of “thank you!” chirps) and did a poop scoop for the first time in ages. This afternoon I removed some sphagnum moss from the dwarf dianthus and the creeping thyme. I tried to weed the angle bed, but the cold got the better of me. When you only realise you’ve been caught on the rose stems when you see the blood, because your fingers are too numb to feel the thorns, it’s time to stop!

Now inside, wrapped up warm, with a shot of rum and an oat cookie, whilst it gently snows outside.

 

Yesterday, the hardest job: compost bin was emptied, and ready compost from the lower layers went into the greenhouse.
Greenhouse beds received some bonemeal dug in, then trichoderma added.
Today I sowed phacelia. For some reason I failed in the autumn, not a single seed sprouted.

 

@cactus_girl I sympathise with your predicament. I share your husbands view on slimy critters in the car but can i make some suggestions which may help
1 have you got access to one of those huge gravel bags - approx 1 ton size - from the likes of Wickes? I use a couple of these if i have anything to take in the car to the tip.
2 i also put heavy duty plastic in the car which sits under the gravel bag
3 i always load the bag into the car immediately before leaving for the tip

Its a bit of a fath but it keeps the car clean and i havent had a mishap yet and i use this for garden stuff and other mucky stuff that goes to the tip

 

Most of us love to see wildlife in the garden and i am delighted that i didnt cut back my drift of rudbeckias at the end of last season with their dead seedhead topped stalks that have been stood proud all winter. I had thought to cut down to the ground next week when some long awaited mild weather at long last seems to be on the cards , but i have seen a charm of goldfinches in recent days busily chomping steadily through those seed heads. So that job is deferred for the time being.

 

Yes, I've had bullfinches on the verbena bonariensis seeds. I've just been out cutting down a lot of the old perennial growth, but left a few things that still had good seeds on them.

 

Managed to get out there, tidied the pencil Cyprus trees, sniped off a lot of cones that were pulling branches down and spoiling the shape, tied a few branches in too. The hardest bit was getting the ladder in close enough even with a tripod ladder and adjustable legs. The trees are in beds either side of steps down from the patio. The patio is nearly 1m above the rest of the garden.
Typically after enduring cold winds all the while ax soon ss I came in for a late lunch the sun popped out.

 

Hard watering..

 

Can you let it melt into your water barrels?

 

That is on the deck floor and just under 3 feet high and the rain barrels are emptied and upside down so they don't have water in them to freeze and crack them. Our highs this week will be -10c to 20c.

 

It was dry all day today so I managed to half-fill the green bin for collection tomorrow. I cut back a lot of the dead growth from the perennials - nice to see the new leaves coming through on the heleniums and asters. I removed the dead stems of the Ammi Majus and did some weeding - docks, creeping buttercup and wood avens. I left the dandelions for some good early nectar. This gave me a decent space to plant my new ribes shrub - it will form part of an informal hedge on the side boundary.

Then I cut back a load of ivy and chopped up some of the branches that had been stacked for later disposal. Finally I planted out yesterday's B&Q purchases - two lychnis and a foxglove. I've already got some foxgloves but I haven't had as many seedlings come up as I'd like. I planted the lychnis in a bed that already has salvias.

 

Yesterday I planted a hellobore and shaped (slightly) a couple of shrubs.

Today I picked up some some leaves from the ground, that were off my roses that I pruned a few weeks ago, as they can carry blackspot spores.

Then I removed some ground cover sedum "Dragon's Blood". This is actually the second time I have tried to kill it. The first time I tried to do it in a lazy way. I simply covered it with bark chippings and walked on them so that the layer was quite firm, thinking the lack of light would do it. Not only did it not die, it thrived - it soon started peeking through the bark, stronger than ever. I understand that it's probably because the bark was breaking down and giving it nutrition, but I thought it was funny, as if it was doing it deliberately to spite me. "Oh, is that what we are doing now? You think you can just get rid of us like that? I don't think so, a-hole..."

 

Fixed the raised bed, dug a trench to nestle it in flush with the patio, plopped it in and broke it again. Ah well, it'll be just fine this summer.

Filled the said wonky raised bed with a portion of the excavated soil I need to hide somewhere, played with the neighbour's kid who was making secret knocks on her window (I'm apparently quite good at miming a coffin ready for a dead body, or at least she screamed ), realised that 30 minutes of digging into damp clay soil is about enough for me and then dug some more.

Used the 4- litre Kilner biscuit jar to create a fashionable terrarium garden. I'm not into fashionable things, but as I got the jar from my friend and sensibly decided against having 4 litres of biscuits in the house, and Morrison's happened to force mini houseplants "any two for £2" on me, I had to.

Discovered that I hadn't after all bought any sweet pepper seeds so panic- bought some online.



Cleaned the floors, again.

 

I've decided it's probably best not to compost them. Problem is, if I put them in general waste I'll worry about gulls, corvids, rats etc. eating them at the landfill site. Doh!

 

According to Google @LunarSea, the birds will be OK, but not the rats! I wouldn’t worry .