What are we doing in the garden 2024

Spent most of the day weeding; uncovered some plants I thought lost. The recent dry weather has allowed a number of perennials to get away from the slugs.
Watered the dahlias and salvia in pots at the front. Watered and fed the tomatoes and cucumbers in the greenhouse. Watered everything awaiting planting.

 

re Fuchsia gall mite, I've found that species Fuchsia are less bothered as are the triphylla types.
I've given up on the normal hybrids.
I grow F paniculata, F microphylla, F hatschbachii, F campos portoi and one other without a name. Apart from F paniculata these have lived outside for a few years.

 

Yes, apparently Ziggy died very quickly. She was a very sweet natured dog, a great big lump of "flumpy" dog, she will be sorely missed.
Her Dad has come down here to be with my son in law, his younger brother, and my daughter for the week end and coincidentally the boys Mum is coming down to visit next week so he will have some more family to comfort him.

 

I moved the buckets of kitchen waste down to the veg. patch ready to go in the runner bean pit. Did a bit more path stripping, sorted out and washed some pots to put the tomato plants for my daughter in, and made a minimal effort at clearing the veg. patch of bamboo canes etc. I cleared around the remaining artichoke plants. They have been badly affected by the wet winter and strong winds. Rotten hearts and damaged leaves, I might get one head to eat if I am lucky. What a good job I bought 2 new plants this year.
Right shoulder really painful due to an excess of cleaning the conservatory so my gardening activities are severely limited at the moment. Again. Everything has to be done slowly, carefully and in short spells. SOOOO frustrating!

 

Won't get much done today its raining on and off but yesterday I got the weeding done and mowed the lawn etc . Sort through the plant stash and thrown out dead ones and potted on some nepeta and took some cutting while I were at it . I am usually out in the evening upto 10 pm this year seem to be rife with slugs and I am getting eaten alive with midges I've never know so many.

 

What a waste of a day. I have had the sneezing/eyes streaming day. Can't go outside. Planned to do so much but not to be. Never know if it is hay fever as I get these days at odd times of the year. Hopefully tomorrow all will be OK and I can do something outside.

 

Today I cut the grass, and then turned the contents of compost bin 2 into the empty bin 3, and bin 1 into bin 2. Knackered now!

 

He often does things like that @lizzie27! It’s not unlike growing lavender with roses which also prefer different conditions .

 

My gardening today has been in Son 2's garden. I planted up his dry shade bed.
It rained, but only lightly. I took my gardening mac. I weeded and dug his bed, north facing, wall behind and a tree above, planted his plants which I had bought for his birthday last year and mulched it all with compost.

 

For my hanging baskets i always put fuchsias and trailing geraniums in, both don't mind being together.

Done nothing today, just felt like a rest.

 

I’ve also done nothing today, apart from planning what to do tomorrow when it’s supposed to be dry.

 

Finished digging over the fruit patch. With the peach tree looking dodgy, and with only twenty or so fruit on it, I think it's due to come out later in the year.

However, I did find a mini peach tree, about two inches high. Below ground was thick root about six inches long, with the peach stone still attached to the bottom. So I carefully dug it out, and have potted it up.

Maybe it'll be large enough to produce fruit in about twenty years!! If it survives!!

 

Nothing today as I need to do some work and some housework. Typically it’s a bright sunny day. I suspect the latter may as usual fall off the list.
I spent some time yesterday absent mindedly potting on some Nicotiana sylvestris. I was feeling quite pleased with myself as I’ve struggled to get Nicotiana to germinate in the past and I had potted up 20+robust seedlings. I haven’t grown them before and it’s a long, long time since I had any. It did cross mind that they looked familiar and it’s just occurred to me that they look remarkably like Evening Primrose

I’ve grown all my seeds in a mix of garden soil and homemade compost, based on the assurance that I know my weeds. Mmm maybe not, works well when I’m familiar with the seedlings maybe not for the less familiar. Or maybe it was wishful thinking, that this year I had had some success

 

Gardening can be so disappointing.
I potted on my remaining tomato plants, 10 in all, and a couple of squash. I reckon I have lost about 50% of my seedlings to slugs. I have never had such a big loss. I have ear marked the largest 4 plants for my daughter, the remainder are so small I do not think I will get much of a crop this year, if any.

 

It can! But ... there are moments of sheer, unadulterated wonder thrown in ... and that makes it worth it. Plus, there's always next yr ...