What Jobs Are We Doing in the Garden Today... MK3.. 2013

I started by sorting out my plant nursery of bulbs, cuttings, sown plants, etc, as it was getting untidy and I needed to clean up the area. That produced Echinacea, Shasta Daisies and Rudbeckia that needed to be planted and that led to me pulling out finished "Forget-Me-Nots [shaking the seed heads over the borders] and what seemed acres of Red Campion that was also starting to form seed heads.
I also had to bin a very large clay pot that was very old, cracked and split with a miniature Rose that had kicked the bucket and that gave me some more valuable space for planting. The Compost Heap is getting bigger all the time!!! I also started to move some of the large Canna and Banana pots into the borders as I normally do at this time of year which ain't easy with the borders being as full as they are. Then it was a check on the Toms in the Green House and after that I grabbed a small trowel and fork and went hunting some Creeping Buttercup that I'd spotted earlier at the bottom of the Walk Around Border. Then a mug of tea and surveyed the garden from the Arbour.

 

Yesterday, I planted out the two foxgloves that T&M sent as a freebie a couple of weeks ago - they don't seem to have put on much meat in the pots they were in, although they do look healthier than when they arrived. Then I planted out the hydrangea and the delphinium that I got last week from Sainsburys, then turned my attention to the wee border that is contained within the wall between the lawn and the patio.......

I ripped out all sorts from there, some weeds, some plants that I just didn't want in there - better still, I thinned out the cordylines by simply hauling out some of each group by the root; not only did it feel good (as I don't like the blighters), but it now looks a whole lot better. I then replanted the lot with fuchsias and malva zebrina, and a couple of other plants that I know are perennials that I have been overwintering, but I have no earthly idea what they are

I'll try and get photos later.

It was off to work for a late shift after that, and it was dark when I got home which made life interesting for watering everything!

Going to try and do a bit today, but got to go shopping and Mrs C has an opticians appointment so that will cost me a few hours.

 

Tied in the 'outdoor team' of toms to larger canes, and removed yet more robbers (where do they come from??

Then, I put two of my semi-baskets up on the fence above my main border, then shopping interrupted play for a bit.

After coming back, I built my stand of blocks behind the front wall to sit a 4ft trough planter on (lavatera novella rose, dahlias, petunias), and moved my hanging basket tree from the back to its rightful place in the front, put my big mixed pot by the door, and then decided to put up the third semi-basket on the wall just to the right of the front door (pics for the front stuff will follow tomorrow).

Then it was onto watering everything - had to do it a bit earlier than I would have liked as a few things (tomatoes especially) were at the point of keeling over they were so thirsty.

Anyways, a few photos:





The border that got 'the treatment' yesterday - those cordylines look far better now they have been butchered thinned out





The semi-baskets on the fence above the big border





The 'indoor team' of tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes and peppers

 

Its certainly rampaging away, thats for sure. I am a wee bit disappointed that I underestimated the size of the African Marigolds - they are overpowering the petunias and the nicotiana in that big border - still, you live and learn.