WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2022

Today I took advantage of the warm day to hand weed my shade garden. I then carried on and weeded my entire piece of garden.
After lunch, I nipped out the tips of my Dahlias and while I was down that bit of the garden I decided to weed there as well. I think I spent too long in the sun today without a hat.

 

Verticutting and Scarifying are different things but similar , scarifying at this time of year is a no no . Verticutting is to cut out horizonal growing grass like annual meadow ( POA ) and it help discourage it , also help the grass to grow upright and grass species I want like fescues / bents . It doesn't penetrate the soil like a scarifyier and isn't so aggressive finer blades which are wafer thin and lots of them, any sign of verticutting is gone within a week.

 

Sadly nothing, feeling unwell, Covid Test, negative.

 

Mainly sitting on the bench soaking up the feeble rays of warmth from the hazyish yellowish thingy occasionally visiting these parts of the island. Also started a book that feels quite interesting.

Admitted that someone clearly has bought and planted some Irises, there are about 20 coming up here and there. Not me, and there is still a strong suspicion that J Parkers mislabelled something much more to my taste when they informed me of the 70% sale last November causing me to overindulge.



Seeds collected by my dear niece in Mallorca, complimented by some papaya ones seem to have germinated, which is a bit alarming as my niece is drawn into things looking vaguely sinister. Ah well, what could possibly go wrong

 

I've been pottering about in the garden , lots of watering in the GH . Emptied 5 pots so far of spring bulbs . I've planted one of the pots up with black and white sweet peas its been a few years since I've grown sweet peas .

 

Spent yesterday trying to regain control of some borders from overgrown Heucheras and Hellibores . Had to dig out the Heucheras and do some serious dividing and now have a bucket load of rooted offshoots....to ditch or plant ?


Before


After


Just this lot to tame today



And undoubtedly more buckets will be filled!!

 

Upsy!

 

Had to be done Vicky. The Hellibores are always given a good tidy up,their leaves smother all the other plants. The Heucheras had done their usual 'heave' and needed stabilising/ replanting/ splitting and the Poppies are past their best and had got very straggly and needed constant deadheading otherwise they will be everywhere next year. The Snakeshead Frittilia had finished and I did actually shake their seedheads over the border. My Fuchsias and Pelargoniums wouldn't have survived in that jungle of an environment that's for sure. I am using the border for my tiny Fuchsia cuttings this year, I don't expect much of a show but wanted them to get a taste of the big outdoors.

 

This is the reason why I like evergreen Perennials, though I admit I am fortunate I can keep some Annuals as Perennials also retaining their leaves An example, my Salvia farinacea is a Perennial but dies back and resurfaces ... here it stays green and blooming all year except when I cut it back to freshen it.

I did do some Pelargonium trimming/deadheading yesterday. I also potted the Clivia I received from Philip in Ireland and potted on a Pentas and a Brugmansia/Datura, I don't know which it is as I did it from seed and it is small, very small.

 

You're fortunate to have the weather that keeps certain plants in growing mode. We have a lot of evergreen shrubs and of course Hellibores and Heucheras are evergreen too, they just seem too grow too quickly..so need a bit of culling!! My Pelargoniums keep blooming all through the winter but only because I dig them up and provide them with a warmer environment.

 

I got the hose out and gave everything a good soaking using Miracle-Gro. It is not as expensive as I thought. I can thoroughly water and feed the entire garden for about £2.50.
This evening I will spray my roses with fungicide.

 

I've been out in the garden since 9:45 this morning and only came in because it started to rain at 5pm.
Cleared out another overgrown border and two of the three little raised beds on the kitchen patio. Some of the Heucheras were beyond saving, planted up 6 cuttings ( could've done 50 ,if not more). Dug up my lovely big Wallflower ,about 4 years old, it was very woody and misshapen, took a lot of cuttings from it. Potted up a few Hellebore seedlings that I found, have yet to decide where to put them.

 

Before


After



Before


After...still have the last section to do.

Cuttings.

 

Cucumbers, melons and dahlias planted up into final pots. Other pot grown plants had compost refreshed and slow release fertiliser added followed by watering.