What are we doing in the garden 2025

In spite of the drizzly damp yesterday, we did some more tidying up yesterday morning to make sure the green bin was as full as possible. (First collection of the year this morning. ) Typically when we stopped for a late lunch the dun came out, by the time we had finished, it was cloudy again.

 

Today I finally managed to plant two bareroot roses that I received on Wednesday. (I had to wait because of issues with my back). It doesn't sound like much of a wait but for me it is

 

Cut back my Clematis viticellas to two strong buds. After the mulching, this is usually the start to my gardening year.

 

I must be careful not to overdo things as well. I think we're all prone to leaping out in the first sunny days after a long cold and wet winter and then suffering. Commiserations to all.
Having said that, I've just done a couple of hours weeding, kneeling on top of a very damp bank/wall so slid off at one point. Dug up lots of rosettes of an unknown creeping weed which looks much like a buttercup but isn't. Thought it was geum urbanum but not sure.

 

Cut back my Calamagrostis grasses and (reluctantly) removed the remaining flower spikes from the Stipa gigantea. I'll leave the Miscanthuses a bit longer. Removed the old flower stems from the Heleniums and Salvias.

 

Pruned a climbing rose and several other small shrubs. Cut down old perennials and cleared the leaves off to expose lots of small bulbs coming through under the witch hazel.
After lunch I hauled a garden cart full of clay lumps up the garden path to the very top of the garden and dumped it on the spare ground under the hedge. Will leave this to settle for a few days then will cover it over with shredded wood from the apple trees. To my deep joy found three clumps of last year's tulips growing through the grass in our 'orchard'. Fingers crossed they flower!

 

Survived a potentially life threatening situation.

Whilst digging out the future gravel path I came across something that looked an awful lot like a DIY electric cabling in the soil.

Today I took the plunge and very, very carefully dug over and around the cable, hoping that it will not go all the way to the shed which has a rather ominous looking wall socket fitted.

Thankfully, the cable ended after only a couple of meters so I gently gently lifted it and coiled it into the path grounding, to be covered with rubble and gravel.

If it does serve a purpose I'm too ignorant to understand (earthing?), it's still there. If it leaks leccy, it will perhaps keep the planned step frost free



Started to saw through the ex- kennel wooden side panel to make a raised bed. Sawing is rather hard work, so I enlisted The Child for the task. We are nearly there, just one end bit missing and then I can fit the bits together with angle fixing brackets and line it with plastic (the fun parts) and ask The Child to shovel some of the excavated soil in (the tedious part but she is very talented at digging and shovelling)

Deadheaded the spent forced indoors Daffs and Hyacinths, watered with added seaweed liquid, took them to my sunny bedroom windowsill and swore I will not forget them there.

They will very likely skip next year's flowering in the garden as forcing doesn't do much good to the bulbs, but in the long run they will hopefully recover. If I remember to keep them alive now.

Pricked out Pennisetum Rubrum seedlings. They look great, and the Festuca Glauca stuff looks healthy too, perhaps next week I'll pot them on in clumps from their plastic fruit tray communal seeding area. I have never grown ornamental grasses so it's a bit of a trial- and-improvising.

Can't wait to discover what my body feels like tomorrow morning, a 4 hours walk on Saturday and all day digging and sawing today will probably remind me I'm not (physically) 25 any more.

But the weather has been lovely and spring is definitely lurking around the corner.

 

Started off Chilli, Aquilegia, Katsura seed, put sweet pea seeds to soak.

 

@Selleri it's worth buying a live circuit detector. It's not expensive, and it tells you clearly when something is live. Very useful round the house and for things such as extension leads which sometimes develop a break.

 

I would definitely check out these wires to see if they are live.

 

Laid all but one of the stone flags in the back garden now just needs pointing which I am not sure when that will be looking at the weather. The last piece of stone has a land drain next to it which turned into a bit of a disaster , it were fully clogged up ended up just ripping it out think I will lay a whole new length of perforated pipe / french drain down the back of the house, Garden a bit of a tip at the moment .

Pleasantly warm in the GH today shame I didn't get round to enjoying it . Some seed arrived yesterday as well from mole seeds mainly petunia and some rudbeckia indian summer I am fond of they seem to of vanished from everywhere else.

 

It's the best time of year for sorting the infrastructure, though, isn't it, Perki? Weather permitting 100% recommend land drains, just think about where and how they end, as wherever it is, that'll become boggy in it's turn.

 

Collected another bag of my never-ending supply of oak leaves. Stood in the middle looking round thinking “What a mess!” and mentally adding multiple items to my to-do list. Came inside to warm up and scrolled through plant porn whilst consuming a cup of coffee and my daily chocolate ration.

That’s my idea of a full day’s gardening in Feb!

 

I overdid it yesterday of course and tweaked my lower back so have had to be very cautious about moving/bending etc. Only activity I managed - when the sun same out - was to walk round the back garden to see what had emerged since yesterday! More tulip shoots which I hastily cloched against squirrel attack and crocus, ditto. Did do a tiny bit of weeding from waist level stood in front of the sleeper bed that was renovated back in the winter. Very useful at that height.

 

I finished tidying my front garden today by removing a Salvia which was getting too big for its location and I never really liked it! I then trimmed a Pittosporum Golf Ball back into a round shape and removed some of last year’s flowered stems from a Euphorbia. Moving into the back garden I cut back all my remaining perennials and deciduous grasses as it’s bin day tomorrow. I finished by removing the remnants of my neighbour’s recent cutting of his laurel hedge from the bank in the corner of my lower garden which I don’t like doing as it’s slippery. All neat and tidy now until next year, with no casualties .