WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2021

Some dead heading, sweeping of patio and purchasing of two Asters today. Still very busy with resin, so larger jobs in the garden will have to wait. Also, my time has been taken up with ..........

12 week old Elijah ( was 8 weeks when these pics were taken ). I shall introduce him properly in the pet section.

 

Have just been potting up plants most of this week, had to take a knautia out of a pot and replace it with an Eryngium yuccifolium, knautias never seem to do well in pots, I think they need room to spread. I'm starting to become obsessed with eryngiums and think I may end up growing all evergreen species. Great for bees and not bad for butterflies, plus nice to have some exotic-looking leaves to compensate for their typically brief flowering period.

Nick

 

Elijah is gorgeous.

 

While it was overcast this morning I potted on a Garlic Chive plant, a Crassula tetragona and a Kalanchoe tomentosa all of which were in plastic pots (cringe) and put them in terracotta pots I bought yesterday, Also potted up three Pelagonium zonales in one square (plastic ) pot.

 

I spent the afternoon in the greenhouse potting up a recent delivery of bulbs and repotting some Allium and Gladioli bulbs.

 

I think Knautia's like to spread themselves out @Nikolaos. This one below started life in a pot, the following year I planted it out.

 

Habemus Papam! Or, rather, we have A Hedgehog

Off topic, when we lived in Italy it was a very emotional time when the old, much loved Polish Pope passed away. I remember vividly the moment the new Pope was elected, I was supporting The Teenager's bike on her trials on learning how to ride a bike at a ripe age of 4.

Then suddenly all church bells started tolling, cars stopped and started hooting, people rushed on the balconies. Habemus Papam!

Anyways, Mr or Mrs Hedgehog waddled on our pavement, stopped for some admiration, and then busily retreated towards the Rosemary. We are very urban so the only hedgehogs we see are flattened roadkills. We threw out some Degu nuggets and scraps of Emmenthal even though hedgehogs are carnivores and probably will not appreciate the offerings. We do hope that the hedgehog likes our garden and will stay.

On the gardening side, it has been an edgy day. The thatchy bits of the lawns growing over the paving got cut out with the kitchen scissors (the ones that come in a set, apparently meant for spatchcocking chicken) (what's wrong with a good knife if you need to do unspeakable things with dead chicken? ) and wanting parts inside of edging got re- shaped, filled with compost and grass seed.

It's amazing to see how a small tidy up makes the garden to look tidied up Sharp edges do set off the shambles behind nicely.

 

Thoroughly agree with you @Sheal, they're definitely not pot plants! Hehe, that looks like the one I actually tried in a pot first, Knautia macedonica, you're certainly doing something right with that one, an impressive, floriferous specimen! How old is yours? Mine is in its second year after being purchased last Spring as a 9cm pot plant and doesn't even have 2/3rds of the flowers on yours! I also have a nice cultivar of the species which is the one I replaced with an eryngium, 'Melton Pastels'. I'm a big fan of knautia/scabiosa/succisa, they are lovely plants and excellent for pollinators!

Nick

 

I'll not be doing much today if anything at all , I may go out when it stops lashing it down for once and pick the Kniphofia I can see on the floor and various other plants that have succumb to the relentless heavy rain. That's all I've seem to be doing in the past couple of weeks going round staking plants etc.

I've never really took to scabious even though the flowers are interesting , my mum grow a nice one called ace of spades. Someone stole it from her front garden crazy what some people will do.

 

Elijah looks very chilled, I shall look out for more photos in the pet section. I still miss having a cat to supervise my gardening efforts.

 

This afternoon's plan is to feed the toms and courgettes and deadhead the galliardias which are looking particularly bedraggled after recent heavy showers. But everytime I get to the point of going outside the rain seems to start again...not complaining though because the garden really needs a good soaking.

 

I haven't done anything for a few days because of the recent rainy weather, and before that it was too hot, but today I cut a nice bunch of Sweet Peas

 

Not a lot today just watering the hanging baskets, maybe tomorrow.

 

Yes, it is 'Macedonica' @Nikolaos, I grew it from seed. The plant was in my previous garden on sandy soil and a coastal position....perhaps that suited it. It was two years old and if it still exists will be eight years old now.

I like the Knautia's too for their open, sprawling habit. I found dead heading kept them flowering.