WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2021

Only managed to do 2 of the planters this afternoon, but at least a start had been made..finally. The 2 white urns are filled with homemade compost and slow release fertilizer granules, ready for planting.

 

@Selleri Rock On!!

@FrancescaH I never put a pressure reducer on my system. I know just to turn the tap on a small amount. The different zone shut offs are to enable one hook up to do everything. I just turn it on, open the one zone at a time for about 2 minutes for the hanging pots, and about 5 minutes each for the rest of the gardens. If my lawn gets dry, then I have to turn on the big irrigation system that runs off of high pressure and is totally separate.

I 've finished work and have started shifting the plants between heated and unheated greenhouses. It is chilly but the sun is lovely

 

Put up 3 frames ready for the Clematis cuttings I took last week. Potted up the Penstemon cuttings too as they had rooted pretty quickly. Had to re pot 2 ferns and a Hellebore that had grown out of their pots.

Created a box planter for the last 2 of the Sweet peas and popped in a Aquilegia that had self seeded in a pot last year that flowering now.
Put up 2 hanging bags with Strawberries in the back patio.

Spent an hour picking out Mares tail that's sprouting all over the place at the moment

 

Had an early morning beach walk yesterday. Sea was very calm and almost glass like and just the gentlest of waves lapping the shore. No other humans around ( always good ) just a few oyster catchers, gulls and cormorants further out on the rocks. Had a few thoughts about Eddy , the beach is always a good place to think about things.

In the afternoon I spent time digging out more creeping buttercup from the flower bed under the cherry tree and watered a few very dry pots.

Today I was out in garden at 6.30 am to prune two Hydrangeas and then gave them a feed of liquid seaweed. Pulled out dead stalks from some Valerian. Pruned a Buddleja. It's in the front garden and has been so battered by the winds over the years that it was almost horizontal . I've been cutting it back and encouraging it with liquid seaweed for 3 years, but each year it gets smaller. I don't know how old it is. It's a shame as it has lovely purple blooms. Decided to start cutting back another tree next to the bench. It's not been touched for past 10 years and in serious need of a haircut. I got so far and then two Doves suddenly flew out. Had no idea they were in there. There were two Doves in there last year, might be same two. Decided best stop and leave tree for later on. Had coffee on bench watching birds and rats scoffing breakfast

 

I've just pricked out my meconopsis. Not the way to to do it I know but I've kept them in their cells and fed them very diluted liquid growmore to try and get a good root system before I pricked them out, roots look good and I know they don't like root disturbance so they've gone In 1 litre rose pots. I'll start hardening them off and see how we go.

 

My snowball onions are finally forming bulbs! Well, one of them is. I can just see it starting to form on the surface.

For the past few weeks I have been watering the bed consistently (soaker hose). Having read up on some tips for getting the bulbs to form, I saw watering occasionally mentioned especially for some Spanish varieties (same with the garlic, apparently). I'm confident my bed has good drainage (it's raised with decent compost and the soil below is also pretty good too) so thought I would try. I'm very happy to now see some progress.

Hoping they bulb up fully ready for me to plant some more summer crops in early June. Sadly not going to be able to plant as much lettuce as I wanted as I think it'll be too warm by then, so wondering what I could put in to fill the space that will do well in the summer heat. Unless I can find a special summer-tolerant lettuce crop? Might be fun to have multiple types.

 

Bit of grass cutting and cutting of a shrub, whose name I don't know. It's evergreen and the little birds like it, so I like it. Watered the newly filled patio container bed. Currently has a blue Centaurea and an Ivy plant in it.

Is there such a thing as a plant that is bee/ butterfly friendly, likes partial shade/ full sun, doesn't care what it grows in, will live in the container bed, doesn't need watering very often, will tolerate salt laden winds and flower from March/ April through to September/ October??

 

@luciusmaximus Buddleia and Gaura lindheimeri (now Oenothera l.) would fit the bill?

Well, after a brief foray after weeds and slugs/snails, I give up! It's the first really damp, heavy drizzly day for weeks, so time to catch up on some indoor sowing and lemon-curd making

 

Yes Budleia will grow anywhere, I've even seen one growing at the top of an old chimney.

 

Mine died here ... got what I assume was Honey Fungus and keeled over at the base! I disinfected the soil then planted a Myoporum acuminatum which is happy as a lark there.

 

Well ended up doing something completely unplanned today. I am definitely no carpenter-infact, even my use of a drill, let alone an electric jigsaw, is on par with a 5 year old at playschool. However, I used scrap wood(including a wooden shelf from inside the Anderson that I'm renovating) and had a go and making this little shelving/display stand.



I will paint it eventually, but had put it in my greenhouse so I can actually see my succulents on display. The shelf they were on were too high to actually see the plants.

 

Well done Snorky!

 

Very impressive @Snorky85 - both the display case and the collection My own woodworking skills are apparently somewhat below a five year old lol - somewhere between "that's nice... er, what is it?" and "I don't think you need stitches but you'd better use one of the big plasters".

I planted up a few trailing nepeta that arrived today - 2 in my last rail pot and one as a present for my next door neighbour - then filled in a dog-hole in the lawn and chased off a squirrel to finish up.

Hope everyone else's gardens got some rain to enjoy today as well