What are we doing in the garden 2024

400?! Wow!

 

You're a real glutton for punishment @shiney !
Fair play to you - it's wonderful that you devote so much time to doing your growing/selling for charity. It's people like yourself that are the real meaning of the 'great' in Great Britain.

 

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Sowed some morning glory seeds collected from our plants last year. Removed some plants from an area that will have work done later in May. Have transplanted them elsewhere but maybe they wont be happy.

 

Nothing….its rained non-stop today. Miserable

 

We've had heavy showers all day tho, funnily enough, they seem not to show on the 12 hour radar of rain passing. Anyway, sun has finally come out and the kitchen has been tidied after making this evening's pud and the dishwasher set off.

I'm off to sow grass seed and prick out Little Gem's and maybe some basil too if I have time before coming back in to start the lamb roast.

 

After a good few days of doing nothing due to a very nasty cough, I finally got something productive done in the garden and potted on the heath pearlwort plugs I bought last summer. They've outgrown their 7cm pots and I was half contemplating dividing them but decided to go for potting on instead. The plan is to get rid of the grass in the front garden, make some random shaped flagstones out of concrete and plant the heath pearlwort in the spaces.

My seedlings aren't doing too badly although I'm slightly worried about the Scabiosa Fata Morgana. They were looking as though they were struggling in their modules so I planted them in a pot and left them in the cold frame. They perked up quite a bit but a couple of them have since withered up and so far there's no sign of any true leaves. I'm half wondering whether to sow some more but I think it's getting a little late now. The nasturtiums I sowed a couple of weeks ago finally showed some shoots a few days ago and are now much further ahead than the other seeds I planted at the same time. The ipomoea seedlings I was concerned about seem to be doing OK and have true leaves on the way. The Nicotiana Bronze Queen seedlings aren't doing great and seem to be shrivelling up. Of the multitude I sowed, I only have a couple of seedlings left but this year's packet did say the germination wasn't great and extra seeds were included. May also need to try and sow more of those as well. My Buddleia Buzz Ivory isn't doing too great, I planted it last year and it was great all summer. I pruned it a few weeks ago and all was well but the leaves have started browning on the edges. I'm wondering whether it could be down to the tulips nearby taking up resources.

I'm finding it very difficult to muster any enthusiasm this year. For most of it we've had to keep an eye on our cat as he hasn't been well so gardening has taken a back seat. Since we had to let him go, I just haven't felt motivated at all.

 

I'm sorry you've been unwell @Februarysgirl and completely understand your mourning for your cat. Hugs to you. You'll get the gardening bug back when you're ready.

Your buddleia may just have been frosted and should recover. Given the wild ones grow in cracks in brick walls I don't think it's down to competition.

A long wet winter and endless rain plus the knee job have made me alate starter this year too but I'm starting to get back my mojo. This pm I finally got the grass seed sown in the veg plot paths and pricked out Greek and Thai basil plus some coriander into window boxes so I can keep an eye on them up at the house when they're ready to come out of the polytunnel.

I'd also sowed half a cell tray with little Gem lettuces and now have 23 teeny babies in a large window box plus another 24 in individual cells to grow on and another tray with 15 teeny seedlings to grow on. I've never had such success with lettuces or basils ad coriander before so some of the lettuce will be re-homed to gardening friends.

 

Exciting day in my garden, as the peas went in the ground. I surrounded them with Strulch, so hopefully at least a few will survive the snails

The windowsill babies have also graduated to their first overnight stay in the coldframe, after a week of daytime hardening off. Just my dahlias and French thyme seedlings left to do the daily in-out shuffle with, until nighttime temps increase a bit more.

 

I planted a bag of mixed Aliums into a trough last Autumn and the buds are fattening-up nicely so I transplanted them to my little corner border - the purples should look good with the dark burgundy Acer and dark Heucheras and contrast with the Geums (orange and yellow) and Erysimum ‘artist Gogh’s gold’. That’s the plan anyway.

I’ve also potted a few herbs for my patio and back porch (some bought today at a plant fair): spearmint, blackberry mint, lemon thyme, artemisia abrotanum ‘Cola plant’.

 

Finished putting the raised bed together. The last one had filled up with roots from the trees nearby and the wood rotted away after 10/15years so dug it all out, replaced the wood, put in a new liner and refilled with a mix of old/sieved soil and fresh new compost/manure /topsoil mix. Its amazing how much it takes to fill it. Popped the Strawberries in and the rest will be my salad bed.