What are we doing in the garden 2024

Today a dry day after so many wet days. So we managed to cut back the small conifers on the path to the gate. Then cut back some magnolias branches that kept getting in the way when we had to move the bin. Then mowed the lawn for the first time in some months! Picked the last tomatoes from the tunnel as well as some great kale. Had a few chinese gooseberries (kiwis) with some quinces both from the garden, today as the afters. Brilliant.

 

Not today as rain stopped play. But yesterday I removed one of these...



...and replaced it with this...



I don't like Laurels, particularly the variegated ones that look like they've been splashed with paint and there are/were three of these in the garden plus another large one that is plain green. The replacement is a young Weigela 'Rubidor'.

 

Not fair! They've had an appalling year due to the cold, wet spring. Ended up sowing twice and even the second sowing wasn't brilliant. That's made everything late and now shorter, cooler days are delaying ripening and harvesting. It's also playing havoc with the entrepreneurs (owners of the big combine harvesters) and their programming as the fields are now soggy.
If it was a different crop, I'd take a chance on having a fire, but the oil content worries me

 

Not a fan of those spotted laurels either @Sheal - and there are loads of shrubs which are more attractive, as you've found!
It's a clem. I'd wanted for a long time @Obelix-Vendée, but the slugs were enjoying it as much as I was. The underside is lovely and fuzzy when the flowers are new, but it fades a bit as they mature, and becomes smoother. I'm hoping I can give it a better chance once I get a little raised bed for it in a border. I'm currently doing one for another young clem. [Aotearoa] I've grown on after buying it for hee haw as a slip in Asda earlier this year. It has unusual foliage and similar colouring to Julka.
Not much done yesterday. I had to go in and out to avoid the rain, as I was using power tools, but I got more of the aforementioned raised bed done, and I got the wood for the trim round the top and along the rest of the bed. That'll have to wait as today is to be pretty unpleasant.
I managed to remove the rest of the tomatoes and get the plants cut up for the compost bin before it got a bit too wet to be outside without waterproofs.
It'll be indoor jobs today, and my walk will probably be a bit wetter than yesterday's.

 

@On the Levels my seed arrived in 2 5g packs, so I sowed one yesterday and have kept one back to try later on. I put that one in the freezer, in case we don't get the cold spell it needs to germinate - quite likely in these parts.
My front lawn has plenty of bare brown patches so I put most of the seed on those. I noticed for the first time that some of the patches form a distinct pattern, which I will call "Postman's Footsteps".

 

Finally managed to tidy up my cold fame where two of my bush tomato plants had been growing in pots yesterday. After a quick cuppa I then decided I might as well get my succulents settled in for the winter.
I had saved a cut down pallet to put on to the concrete floor of the cold frame so my plants wouldn't get their bottoms cold. Then packed shredded news paper over the top soil and wrapped up each pot with frost fleece, leaving the top of the plants uncovered just in case we get some warmth from any sun that might appear!


I also managed to preserve the last of green tomatoes into their jars last night and now there ready after 24 hrs to be stored in a dark place! Not sure how long they will stop there as a good cook has to try the produce out, don't you think?
"As you will see in the photo the clip jar on the left has only a small amount in so that will be kept in the fridge for a few days

 

I've not done any gardening in the last few days as we've had visitors but did take them to a GC yesterday and bought a stunning large Blue Fescue, tray of tiny lilac/cream violas and two small blue conifers. I thought I'd plant the violas on top of the Iris Ret. in small terracotta pots on my kitchen windowsill to keep them away from slugs/snails.

 

Will have a stroll through a little forest near the farm shop in Cirencester tomorrow and try to find branches for the borders in the garden. If I’m lucky and get enough, I will lay them out in the afternoon.

 

Cleared weeds to plant a Spirea, one of the plants still in a pot since moving.

@Grandma Sue I smiled at the clothes pegs you have used. They are such universal items. My late father used to steal my mother's pegs for this below...



He built and sailed model yachts and the pegs were useful to hold the planking after tacking and gluing. Often he would cut the ends at a slant to fit an awkward area, then give them back when he'd finished. Mum was not amused!

I inherited her wooden pegs which I still use, they must be at least forty years old now.

 

I use my late mother's pegs too, @Sheal , some to fasten strawberry net to bamboo canes. Others get used for their intended purpose, pegging out the washing on a windy day; the springs are much stronger than those in modern wooden pegs.

 

All of my ornamental annuals are pulled but I did need to do a bit more cleanup.

My neighbours brought me this lovely plant as a thank you for sending a steady supply of baking their way.

I wonder if I can get seeds from it later.

 

I won't buy modern pegs @Liriodendron, as you say the springs are hopeless on a windy day. I think mine will see me out, I have about three dozen.

 

I don't always find the wooden pegs reliable now, but I often need to double up on pegs on windy days or I'd be chasing me smalls down the road. No one needs to see that...
They're also useful for securing bags of 'stuff' for going in the freezer, but small bulldog clips are good too.
Nothing done yesterday due to the weather. Hopefully get my raised bed finished today as it's to be more favourable - wouldn't be difficult. I have more bulbs coming soon, so I might prep the pot for those, and just generally deadhead and tidy stuff. There's stuff that can be done in the front garden, so I might do that after lunch, and that means I'll be able to see the cops arriving to take my statement, as I'm not sure exactly when that will be.