WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2021

Sounds like a plan Vicky, would there be any seating on the kitchen patio?

 

No I don't use one, they just sit on the slabs on the patio around the side by the conservatory.

 

Here it is @Upsydaisy

 

We have the new bench there. It is full on South facing and is hot as hell so it is really only used for laundry drying. The upper area to the right is where the table is. The open door is the detached outdoor living room which was formerly the chicken run.

 

I'm experimenting with planting hardy annuals now - to get a decent sized plant for early Spring.

I was a bit sceptical - but just look at these Marigold Orange Boy - I reckon they will have enough time to put on a decent bit of growth before they pause for the Winter. I'm so pleased :

 

I have those peat pots. How many seeds to you put in each? Do you keep them constantly damp although they look quite dry?

 

The marigold seeds are quite small - so with my sausage fingers I find it difficult to plant only a single seed - I reckon there are around 3 seeds in each pot. I'm not going to thin them out - and with a bit of luck at least one of the three seeds will grow.

I am careful not to over water as I have found that a grey/green mould grows on the outside of the pots if they are damp. I don't know if this mould damages the plants - but it looks awful. For a couple of year now, for all my seedlings, I use a mister to dampen the top of the soil and to avoid flooding them out. This approach seems to work quite well.

These will be going straight into the ground - pot and all - come next Spring. I'll post up some pic's in my gallery so that everyone can see how the experiment worked out. But so far it's looking hopeful.

 

@clanless Thank you. have some free African Marigold, Tagetes erecta, "Crackerjack mx" seeds so thought I might try. I have kept the pots wet in the past and have not had a lot of success.

 

French Marigold / African marigold are Half hardy they snuff it when the frost gets them ( Orange boy French marigold ). You want the English marigolds Calendula for sowing now which are classed as Hardy annuals .

 

Yesterday planted out the rest of the wallflowers and planted all my tulips.

 

Tidying up after the wind and rain, remove finished and broken growths, weed, dead head. Relatively mild again next week so will get more late flowers on tithonia etc.

 

Cut the Myrtus 'Tarentina' back and the Iochroma back to two meters ...

 

Having problems posting so double posted!

 

Did a lot of weeding, catching up on it because the ground was too hard in the summer.