What are we doing in the garden 2024

Planted out runner and french bean plants to replace the first set that became mollusc fodder, planted out courgettes and squashes. Planted out some annual climbers to crawl over two tree skeletons. Planted some snowdrop bulbs I uncovered the other day.

 

Have checked out Iris Papillon and it is not what I remember. I thought it was primarily white with heavy blue veining. The ones illustrated have much more blue in the petals. Not what I was looking for.

 

Made a foray into the jungle of bracken and willow this afternoon. Found a handful of raspberries to eat with the last of the clotted cream and the blueberry bushes which have put on a lot of growth and there are a few fruit set.
It will be a massive job to clear the fruit cage area of the bracken, nettles and willow.

 

I'm not sure what I did out there yesterday. Can't have been very exciting!
I had picked up some rocks yesterday on my walk, from outside a house where they've been doing some renovation. I used them to fill in a gap along the little retaining back wall where I'd replaced a fence post. Fairly straightforward. Other than that, some juggling of pots, and a comfrey feed for some potted plants. I strained some comfrey mix into bottles too.
I managed to remember to wash my hands before bringing the white washing in too, after doing that.
Not sure about today - indoor stuff and painting this morning as it's wet, and I'll see what needs doing later on in the afternoon when it's meant to dry up.

 

It’s surprising how you can spend hours in the garden and then when OH looks at what you’ve done it seems easily summed up into a very short, not very impressive list

I spent most of yesterday improving our screening by a bench by weaving thin hazel stems through trellis. Works well but isn’t quite finished as I have run out of suitable material for now so will have to wait until our hazels provide the next crop.

We’ve relocated the bench so I also had to move some plants, which of course led to some more relocations and so on and so on….Then watering in all the movers, tidying up the aftermath etc

So OH wanders out and all he notices is that the screening isn’t finished and I’ve moved the couple of plants (7 actually) which would be squashed by the bench

 

Very little done in the last week, went down with a nasty tummy bug and still feeling somewhat wobbly. As strength allowed I've been out and cut back the geranium phaeums, done a bit of deadheading, and got the hose on the garden (back one evening, front the next) for the first time this year, with the dubious help of a grandson who got himself happily soaked! Managed to pot on some foxgloves one day, but there are a lot of honesty waiting to be done still. Hubby was very good about keeping the pots and baskets watered for me.
Oh, did manage a little trip to the local nursery to buy a couple more William Morris glazed pots for my two Rosa chinensis Angel Wings grown from seed this year and now flowering. Very proud of them!!

 

My "fruit cage" is a very Heath Robinson affair. Just wooden posts with netting draped over. I used old skirting boards to create sort of raised beds. It needs replacing as the wood has rotted. Because it is triangular in shape I have been wondering of old scaffolding poles might be a better bet, it is so wet down here.

 

As always we have a plant in the wrong place. Well it has been in the wrong place for over 20 years! Removing ivy from one wall we decided that the winter jasmine just had to be removed and replanted in a "better" place. So duly done and if it survives we gain if not then we at least tried. It was never happy where it was.

 

Over the weekend, I dug out the Eremurus robustus which we had bought in 2016. After failing to come through the snail attacks in the last 3 years, I decided to give it a new try in Autumn. I also removed the Giant Alliums next to it.
I start now planing ahead. I had created a small path in May in front of the greenhouse next to the Spirea and leading to the Deutzia. I will create another small path going through the bed and staring where the Alliums were.
The Exochorda at the entrance is losing the green in the leaves. I might have done something wrong when I added a bit Fish and Bone around it.

 

I've been feeling like your OH recently @Butterfly6 , because the jobs I've been doing in the last few weeks are ones that mean it all still looks the same - fence posts etc, and no one would know I'd done anything!
Dug out the Fatsia and Honeysuckle beside the shed yesterday, so that I can get into the side of the shed properly, which is now falling apart. H'suckle's potted, Fatsia's wrapped in plastic. Decided to renovate it rather than forking out for a new one. That side will be reasonably easy [in theory!] but the back will need done from inside. That bit's less problematic though - again, in theory.
I planted the rocket that's been in a pot, and sieved some soil, so that saves getting compost for any other potted plants. Not sure what else I'll be doing out there today, as I'll need to go and collect some wood for the shed, and more gravel to make concrete to make a bigger partition between it and the border it's beside. The main problem I have with that is that there's bees nesting under the shed, and they access it via a hole near the front corner. They were a bit peed off at me disturbing them when removing wires and battens!
If the weather's ok, I'll paint the timber though.

 

A bit of a none day.
Topped the pond up, watered the pots on the patio and in the conservatory.

 

Vacuuming the garden @shiney !! I thought me trimming an edge with scissors was bonkers!