WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2021

@CanadianLori yes sometimes the revamping has to be done, but it's fun doing it in the winter months.

 

Down in the new bit at the bottom of the garden I've been deadheading the dahlias and cosmos on a daily basis but it's been worth it for the great show they've put on this year and continue to do so.
The sunflowers are gigantic against the new fence and a real talking point for passers by. Each of my family members have one and they have been in a race to see whose is the tallest and whose flowered first (not the same). Still lots to come.
The rest of the garden continues to go it's own way with little intervention apart from enjoying the show as each plant has its time in the spotlight. The weeding has been minimal due to the lushness and height of the planting and the lack of bare earth. When the plants die down it will be a different story
The myrtle is looking good and has lots of lovely flowers. I was concerned earlier in the year that it has been too frost bitten to recover. I read that myrtle berries are edible so I will try them later in the year. Maybe I'll have a go at making myrtle gin because the taste of the berries is similar to juniper berries.

 

Herb revamp! I have a large perennial herb container that is now due some serious rejuvenating. This year the Marjoram and Thyme gave a very brief harvesting season and focused on flowering, which is nice as the flowers are pretty and attract a lot of bees. However, I'd like to have some for cooking too please.

Those ones will be renewed completely, I'll start again from seeds next spring. As a precaution, I dug out a handful of Thyme, cut it down and planted in a pot. It's a good, hardy variety so hopefully will rejuvenate itself. Chives will need splitting and quite possibly I'll try something new if there is space next spring. Sage perhaps, that's rather nice with pork.

The very old, leggy Lavender will have to go in the spring, I have made a start by cutting some branches off, saving the flowers for drying vase and chucking the fresh bits in pots to root. My approach is "quantity over quality", some of the cuttings will be at the right state of ripeness and some will not- I'll see in the spring what has taken. I don't really need replacements as there is enough Lavender already but it's impossible to bin anything that begs to be propagated

Ditto Rosemary, took some absolutely unnecessary cuttings to grow as houseplant. We are not exactly short of the stuff, but it's a good plant. Picture from last summer



A seriously overdue round of grass cutting and deadheading, plus snipping off black spotted leaves from the roses. It's a bit late in the year for spraying so hopefully it'll be ok just to remove the spotty leaves. There's plenty of healthy growth going on so I'm not worried.

Unfortunately my neighbours' Verbena is not that spectacular this year so I have a gap over the fence. I wonder if I should creep out and lug some fertiliser over the fence tonight? I have never succeeded with Verbena so am grateful for my neighbours' efforts. They get Climbing Iceberg in exchange.

 

Not had a good morning, walked down to the compost heap and on the way noticed a fresh hole next to a raised bed, then realised it was full of angry wasps. A local badger had decided to have wasp larvae for breakfast. Result very painful sting on the inside of the wrist. I'll give it a week of so and then fill the hole in.

 

I normally live and let live with wasps; only seem to have problems when badgers open them up.
I'm hoping the badger comes back tonight and finishes the job off; as I got another couple of stings, this afternoon although well away from the nest, the worst was the one in the armpit.
Did get the compost heap turned over and damped down though.

 

I've just come in from tackling a few paper-wasp nests. Anything metallic left lying around, like JCBs and spare cars () are a magnet for them, as are tiled rooves, hedges, hollow satellite dishes, agaves...the list is endless. I've learnt to leave some strategic ones near aphid-prone plants, but the rest have to go. Luckily, French wasps don't seem inclined to use holes in the ground!

 

Right off to the greenhouse with a mug of tea, got some cuttings to take and seed to sow.
Once the neighbours show signs of life get the shredder out.

 

Pinched out the tops of the wallflowers, cleared the pots that the chillies were in and put the compost in bags to use for the polyanthus when they come in October. going to enrich the soil before i plant them.

 

Change of plan, not in the mood for shredding so back to weeding and deadheading.

 

Nothing done today but I probably will prune the wisteria a job I keep saying that needs doing but never gets done.

Yesterday I were making plant supports I got Twelve 6m lengths of 6mm steel rod / bar , I needed mainly large supports so I got 13 large supports - 12 medium - 6 small with a cost of £78 my mum were after some so just over half are mine .

They are not as perfectly bent as some already made I've bought in the past but the idea is not to see them so I am not fussed .


6 metre lengths were much bigger than I thought they were 20ft lengths after measuring them , it were a job just moving them around.