What are we doing in the garden 2025

It's too cold to do much but i did plant out 10 pots of crocus, hubby did a bit of clearing in the back but he found it too cold.

 

The list of jobs is mounting/up but it’s too ‘horrible to actually be motivated to do them!

Quick question- I sowed Foxglove seeds last Summer and they’ve made lots of little plants. Will they flower this year or do they need one full summer as a big plant first? I know they are biennial but just not sure re the timings?? I’m pretty sure when I’ve sown Autumn ones, they took a full two years??

 

It's been a long, wet, soggy winter here so no gardening for ages as we can't walk on beds or grass without sinking. I have resisted sowing seeds yet as it was pretty much the smae last winter and spring was slow so I ran out of room for all my seedlings despite filling the polytunnel and annex.

It is dry today and warm-ish so I toddled outside with my new scale plan for a herb and seating area behind the house, only to find the inspection thingy for the septic tank and purification system is in the way so back indoors to re-think and re-draw.
.
Why do OH's get wilfully grumpy and obstructive when he's the one who asked for it? I shall be keeping a careful eye to make sure he remembers what his shiny extra long spirit level is for

 

Sowed my chillies today. They're now standing on the hood of my fish tank which is a nice constantly warm place.

Outside I tidied up an old Potentilla that had been invaded by long grass and ivy. Can't possibly get all of the latter out but the shrub has just started sprouting and now looks a lot tidier. It's one of the plants that was there when we moved in 25+ years ago but earns its keep every year with a lovely show of yellow flowers.

 

@AuntyRach when I sowed foxgloves in a border in my garden in France there were little plants by autumn so I transplanted some to spread them out a bit and they all flowered the following year. But summers are hotter and longer in France.

I'm still in OH's cottage in Norfolk, going back to France early March so trying to get the garden done here before I leave.
It's been so cold.

At last it was warm enough to do some gardening today, 7°C but not as sunny as the forecast said it would be.

I pruned Penelope, which I've trained to be a climber, and I've tidied up Ghislaine de Féligonde, a repeat flowering rambler. Then I cleared up the next bit of the long border and mulched it. Nearly finished the weeding and mulching. 2 climbing roses left to prune, violas to plant.

The daffodils are in bud, the snowdrops are in flower and the tulips are poking their noses up.

 

Not me, but got a tree surgeon round to trim the dead and some of the living fronds off my tallest Trachy.
Look a lot tidier now, but I was mostly concerned about wind resistance.
Before and after.

 

@pete we had our tracy many decades ago as our "christmas" tree. It was very small and we hung so many delicate gold decorations on the "spines". Our sons didn't like the idea but when it was completed they were sold as we were.
Reason for this is that we planted trachy out into our garden. It is an amazing specimen... but have never seen one so good.
However we have never removed the dead fronds and just allowed it to do what it what's to do and it does. It is a fabulous plant.
The birds love it and nest inside.

 

I get doves nesting in them but the magpies usually put a stop to that.
I find that sparrows like to sit in the fibres on those cold days when the sun is shining.

 

Trimmed the old heads off the hydrangeas, which is a job I love doing because (a) zero bending is involved and (b) it means spring is nearly here.

 

Looking at your location, I think it could be a bit of both. The larger ones will flower this year, the others will give bigger spikes the following year. The good news about this is that if you want them to establish long term, you will get flowers each year. When I first grew them, they self-seeded, but it took a few years to have balanced flowering. Once the flowers have finished at the top of each spike, I cut the spike down to the base crown. This can often trigger side spikes that give colour in early autumn. You still get thousands of seeds from each spike!! Don’t give up on the rosette - I find they often have a third or even fourth year of productive flowering!

 

I got out in the garden for the first time yesterday.

I dug over the compost heap and gently raked over half of the lawn after removing 10 piles of fox poo. I noticed a lot of moss in the lawn and it is covered in ribs due to mole tunnels everywhere. The mole will have a shock when the cylinder mower flattens them all, when it has its first mow.

I also removed 3 moles hills, which were on the edge of the lawn and I squirted some malt vinegar into them.

Then I potted up my large begonia corms in large trays and have left them in the GH as I have no room in the house.

So I had a thorough workout, but the weather could have been better.

 

@cactus_girl Moles are stubborn pests , i had them 2 houses ago and the back lawn had more tunnels than an ants nest. Recent legislation has banned a number of options i tried putting pellets down which apparently taint their food supply with the taste of castor oil. It made no difference , i think it was probably an acquired taste , and i gave up and just removed the molehills and used the fine soil elsewhere in the garden. I have heard suggestions of flooding their runs when the weather freezes but i believe their network of chambers is too canny for that to be effective. The electronic devices worked for a while but i think the moles treated them as Radio 2 eventually and considered it to be background noise. The only real point is that they dont like vibration so if you move about a lot in the areas they are active it may help but with the cocktail of weather we have had over recent months we are inclined to keep off the garden . Maybe the only solution is to get the pest controllers in , or maybe a dog that likes ferreting about. My neighbour had a few mole hills develope when we first moved in and he ggot a Staffordshire bull terrier not long after. The mole problem disappeared quite quickly but if you like wildlife in the garden that is not a satisfactory solution

 

Or … leave them be. Sparing a little space for wildlife is no real hardship. Embrace the “lived in” look.

 

There are more moles in my flower borders than in the lawn, especially in my French garden which has clay soil. The moles prefer the composty soil of the borders, but it is a nuisance as they burrow under plants, which then die.

 

Talking of wildlife we have just been enjoying watching the goldfinches tucking into the rudbeckias again , 14 of them today , ever watchful , several minutes of hearty feeding and then they were gone . I could never tire of watching