What are we doing in the garden 2024

Listening to what @fairygirl said, and the heat over, I watered the area where to old foxgloves were at half past 6, watered again a few minutes later, got the fork in and X6 mixed in, watered again, breakfast for half an hour, and finally planted 9 out of my 25 grown from seeds foxgloves, watered again a bit and surrounded them with bark.
I give them 10 days and they will be eaten by slugs or if that doesn’t happen, they will die over the winter.

@Plantminded I’m also fed up with making the same error again and again: planting to tight doesn’t help at all. I started now with measuring exactly what they need and give another 6 inches to either side.

 

You have to ask yourself sometimes if it is worthwhile growing some edibles @On the Levels!
Daughter's little orchid has dropped all the flowers, but is still alive....for now....
I did quite a bit round by the shed with the storage box etc, bu not sure what I'll get done today as the weather's to be a mix of everything, so it might be a case of flitting in and out. I didn't get the grass edges cut when I did the grass t'other day, so perhaps that, and a bit of tidying out in the front too. I made some supports for the oak leaf hydrangea there becuase it flops onto the grass, and also the Sedums [hylotelephiums] along there which get very floppy too, and I end up cutting bits off them every time I cut the grass.
That can all be done even if it's raining, and the outside of the boundary hedge/fence can be hoed and brushed up too, as that's a job that needs attention regularly due to the amount of weed seedlings etc that appear. I might even get some of those little pots of lonicera put in along there to add to the hedge. They do well considering the neglect they get!

 

Peas have not been good for me this year either. I use Kelvedon Wonder- the first sowing failed completely, despite the soil seeming warm enough ,direct in the ground . I keep trying direct sow and it doesnt work for me for peas. Second sowing , in pots , had about 60% success rate but they were fine. So i planted them out and they barely reached a foot tall. The peas were good but just about enough to serve 6 people and the plants should have yielded significantly more. Normally these plants reach 3’ or so with lots of pods. I will put it down to a bad batch or a bad year.

 

No, your seed peas were fine. I cannot grow peas in the ground, mice take them. They love them! I have to sow my peas indoors, then when they have reached 2/3 leaf size, plant them out. I started some sweet peas off a couple of years ago, was impatient to get them harden off, put them outside in their pots and overnight, every single one was nipped off at soil level, the pea seed was missing and the remains of the seedling left on the surface of the soil. So frustrating! The weather this year has been diabolical for everything, earlier I sowed a few short rows of several different veg. and not a single one germinated. At the moment I have 2 green pea sized tomatoes finally set on my tomatoes. I usually have so many I have to freeze them.
Abnormal light, temperature, and rain has affected us all. Local farmers are saying it is the worse year they have known, you are not alone.

 

@Plantminded I’m also fed up with making the same error again and again: planting to tight doesn’t help at all. I started now with measuring exactly what they need and give another 6 inches to either side.

Yes, @simone_in_wiltshire, impatience, in my case, is not a virtue . The problem in my garden is that dreaded hedge at the back which blocks the sun as it moves from east to west causing most flowering plants to lean which irks me. Grasses are much easier, they do as they're told!

 

@Goldenlily26 it seems that way for most things planted direct but a lot of my seeds sowed in trays/pots failed too. Never known such a poor year everything is late so i am not surprised by your comments and agree with what you say wholeheartedly. This year slugs have discovered a liking for carrot seedlings , something they have never touched before , i have also been affected badly by allium leaf miner so several trusty traditional ‘ trouble-free’ crops have suffered. I hope for better things next year.

 

Spent the morning in the new polytunnel. The "cucumbers" that aren't and are cornichons just had to go. You can only have so many jars of pickled cornichons! Weeded around the other plants and cut back very long leaves on a volunteer tomato. Then a bit later noticed that they had been shading the aubergine plants and now all drooping. Picked a good bowl of strawberries.
We then tackled the hornbeam hedge on the south side of the tunnel. The quince has gone mad with foliage but little fruit this year. Had to cut back some of the branches as they were rubbing against the tunnel.

 

We'd planted a rosemary bush in a large planter, a few years ago, knowing we had intention to move.
Now here, we have a lovely rosemary already growing, and our one had become pot bound.
Wife had started to remove it, and given up, as it was hard work. She left me the difficult bit!!
Now done, and soil sieved to remove all growth, I now have a large quantity of low quality soil, with about 50% horticultural grit. All I need to do is recall Monty using such stuff to supplement the garden compost, for growing various plants.
Now is the time to sit and ponder in the garden, while my wife is having 800 winks after a walk and lunch.

 

One more walk about the front, make sure all limbs and sticks picked up. Then take out the ridding mower and cut the grass.

 

We're forecast rain this evening and tomorrow (which I'll believe when it happens) so I have pruned the purple leaved ornamental cherry trees in the back garden down to a more manageable height. There used to be 12 of these only a foot apart when we first moved in but we've managed to whittle these down to 3 with a larger gap in between.

 

I thought the accepted advice was to prune cherries in summer when there's less chance of rain bearing disease spores?

 

@noisette47 This is our summer and there's been hardly any rain here for at least a month - until an hour ago that is!!! Now it's pouring.
To tell the truth I'm not that bothered whether the cherry trees survive or not. If not, another pruning job can be crossed off the list.

 

This is going to be the first day here without any rain at all, since the start of August @lizzie27
I'm heading to a hill later, so nothing will get done in the garden today until I get home, and that might be some chopping of hedging to get in the bin for Friday, because tomorrow's to be lousy.

It didn't dry up until mid afternoon yesterday, so, after my walk and the various chores required, I did a few indoor [house] jobs, and then I got a some bits and pieces done in the shed and outside. Mainly a little project with a bird feeder.

 

I have not had the opportunity to check in here as much as I was expecting, after a change of job and other things.

I now realise I have forgotten how to post a question! I have a question about renovating a hydrangea macrophylla.

 

I think if you look at sections re pruning or similar @ClematisDbee , that will be suitable.
Go into Forums, at the top of the page, and you should find something