WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2021

Nothing today it's cold and it's a Sunday so don't do much at all.

 

I had planned to paint a growhouse frame with Green Hammerite, but the wind was so strong I would have probably ended up with a Green Face.
Ok before someone says it, better than having a Red Face

 

This morning I did my cart-horse impression - taking 3 compost sacks full of the shredded conifer down to the compost bays, ready for layering in, and bringing 3 sacks of finished homemade compost up to the veg beds, the final top-up before sowing.
This afternoon I’ve sown 3 rows of mixed salad leaves - made up of old lettuce, cut-and-come-again, beetroot, coriander and spring spinach seeds. (Guess who sorted through her seed box this lunchtime?!!). If I get anything, it will be a bonus!
There was another mix of summer hardy annuals, scattered around, and some forget me not seeds that were given with my MiL’s ashes. We’ve sown those at her favourite spot in the garden .
I’ve also sown basil, hollyhocks, astilbe and Malva (all old seed). Each pot labelled with germination estimates. If nothing comes, then they get thrown out!

 

Very nippy out there and things were rattling around the greenhouse in the strong winds.
But I was snuggly inside it.
Sowed
Aster Blue Ribbon
Lavatera Twin Hot Pink
" Silver Cup
Saved seeds from a white Scabacious
Zinna Orange King
Calendula Lemon Cream

That's it now apart from continuation of salad crops.

I think!!

 

I've done diddly squat today , the wind been howling away and it been lashing it down .

I got quite a lot done yesterday in the garden . I dug up a couple of echinops rito and replaced them with Echinops taplow blue , Rito wasn't quite tall enough. Planted out a couple of astrantia superstar - salvia serande and the corydalis porcelain blue , moved and divide a few plants in the process to accommodate them .

I've been trying to clear the pots from around the garden , they is far to many of them and they are looking messy , the pot pile just seem to grow. I moved an Aconitum royal flush which just wanted to be divided practically crumbling in my hands, iddin't divide it until I noticed I left two piece behind which I had no option but to pot up, the pot pile grows again .

Also went roudn to my mums and planted out the echinops I dug up earlier and moved some plants around, also took the rose desdemona round and planted that out .

Back home and just before tea I took some Petunia red velour cutting, while I was in the GH I could here a noise but couldn't make out what it was, looked down at the floor and robbin was there trying to get back out through the door , while I was opening the door the cheeky sod flew between my legs to the other side of the GH, had to wait outside for it to leave . I planted out my spuds after tea I ma growing Charlotte this year.

 

Yesterday trip to the garden centre and bought myself two hydrangeas which are now in the greenhouse. One of my favourite plants. I've got one coming up fresh but very small, so nice to have two lovely big plants to put out in a few weeks. One blue and one white.

Also bought 150l of compost with the intention of filling up my wooden planter to put the blackcurrant I bought last year in. It's been in a pot this whole time, I feel a bit bad, but it is coming back with new green on the old wood!

Also bought a "chocolate mint" which seemed fun. Will be the topper for my mint planter (old strawberry planter) this year with my standard mint in the smaller holes.

Sowed extra lettuce and spinach indoors. Lettuce in the warm light cabinet and spinach on the windowsill. I seem to not be getting much germination, last week's lot hasn't come up yet but the previous week's is coming along OK. I'm guessing it's just quite slow to germinate?

Think I'm done sowing cabbages now. Got about 20 and will keep 8 the rest for sale. All outside still.

Drank a bottle of wine yesterday (not all to myself!) which meant putting the next bottle in my strawberry bed as my watering device. Just need one more to complete the set!

 

I haven't done much for the last few days as I took home a new rescue dog earlier in the week. She's very cute and loves cuddles, ham sanwiches... and digging

I salvaged and replanted all my shady plants behind the trellis where they will hopefully be safe from busy paws and disposed of what was left of the planter they used to be in. This was probably all for the best as there's more room in that corner for the apple tree to grow into now, but I'm still mourning my planter lol.

After that I mixed up some compost with gravel and replanted my rail pots and a couple of planters on the balcony with what is now (fingers crossed) well draining soil. Just waiting for a hardy fuchsia to arrive to pop in the last space and they can go back up on the rails

 

Last year I cut all the sleepers to size for raised beds, but didn't get to finish it. So that's my mission this year.

I finished the joints on one raised bed last week, and drilled the wood for bolt holes. (Actually bolting it down will happen after I've planed the sides and treated the wood.) Today I got out the sleepers for the second one, and found one had warped unusably over winter. Luckily I got 2 spare sleepers when I bought them last year and only needed one, so I just need to redo all the joints on the spare.

I didn't have the heart to dig into that today, so I tidied up instead. Bark chips are down under the willow hut, and left-over bits of sleeper (and parts for the remaining raised beds) are restacked neatly there too. I've now got a clear run for grass seed on what was the weedy area. And a trip to the tip booked to get rid of random junk that's accumulated over the last year.

 

Very windy here today with lots of rain on and off so haven't done much.
Yesterday I put up 2 wire mesh trellis on either side of the shed door. (South facing) hoping to put in some sweet peas to climb up. They are growing nicely in the greenhouse. Also took around 5 good cuttings from a penstemon firebird.

 

Top of todays garden jobs is to move a clump of Catannache Caerulea before it erupts into growth again. Once it gets going it does so with great speed!!. There are a few other bits that may require a bit of a house move too....it will be a day of a bit of reorganisation I think.

But first .. bed stripping and laundry...always something to spoil the day.

 

Make the most of the milder weather for the next day or so, get overwintered tender plants out of the greenhouse; some will have to go back in Easter weekend evenings. Prepare seed beds for vegetable crops and sow, tie in raspberries, fertiliser and mulch fruit bushes and trees. Continue to check overwintered plants, repot or discard as required.

 

I has started its yearly dusting, the wind make it difficult to see at the moment if it gives me a chance I’ll take a pic

 

Put my tomatoes outside in the greenhouse, get a bit of real sun! Still checking the weather report but will have to bring them in for probably a month yet :( Though it's 24c in my tunnel greenhouse right now!

 

All seedlings are enjoying a trip out today, either in the greenhouse or in a bright sheltered area out of the sunshine.....I can hear them all squealing with delight!!!

 

Planted my Phlomis italica after removing a Salvia 'Nachtvlinder' from the same spot and temporarily potting it up. Lots of butterflies about, saw Brimstones, Small Tortoiseshells, Peacocks and the first bee-fly of the year, which was heroically trying to drink from my Aubrieta 'Blue Cascade' on a VERY WINDY patio! Managed it from a couple of flowers, too! The phlomis is small but covered in buds and I can't wait to see it flower! The rest of the day that I had available for gardening was simply spent listing plants which need moving/adding to my new border this week...

Aster 'Monch'
Eryngium 'Blaukappe'
Liatris spicata 'Kobold'
Salvia 'African Sky'
Salvia 'Amethyst Lips'
Salvia 'Icing Sugar'
Salvia 'Nachtvlinder'

Nick