WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2022

Pulled up a lot of ivy and cut back a blackcurrant bush that had been forgotten about, put a lot of used compost around a rhododendron.

 

Boring Bits Day! Cut the grass (not much of a chore this year with no-mow-May followed by record draught and then heavy rains for a month...), tidied things up and swept around. Cleaned the pondlet pump and harvested out some early fallen leaves.

The tomato plants will stay for one more week but then it's time to get them out and arrange the overwinterers onto the raised bed. It's a sheltered spot next to the wall so most things are quite ok there on top of the soil, with a potential to cover them if things get rough. We are still getting a large handful of tiny cherry and plum toms every day

 

Removed a buddleja that was too big for the space and moved two other shrubs to a fresh spot.

 

Watered the blueberries in pots and the hanging baskets.

 

I just watered the hanging baskets on the balcony today. I also watered the plants in the 2 bedroom windows as well as those on the 3m/10ft long windowsill in the kitchen. I also removed spent flowers & dead/dying leaves.

 

Lots I want to do but this week is proving busy with other things. When I get back this afternoon I hope to continue bulb planting...old and new are waiting to go in.

 

I am off work this week so I am hoping to get a few jobs done in the garden. One of my priorities was to mark my 2 cats graves properly.



Both sites have fundamental flaws but they will look tidier until I can build something more permanent.

I have also cut back my lavender hedge.
I installed the low wooden fence in the spring to keep the path free but then did nothing with it. I think it looks a lot better now it's been trimmed. Next year I will have to keep on top of it.

That is where I'm up to. Hopefully the weather stays fine so that I can carry on. I have boot full of plants that will need dealing with sooner rather than later.

G.

 

Nothing today it's raining.

 

Heading down to our second home in New Bern, NC with some plants on Thursday. Will harvest some hardy geraniums as neighbors want some there. Around this house, just putting stuff away, covering things etc. Spending few hours ripping up some plants I don't want any more. Lit my huge wood/twig pile, burning it down. Moving cars around, next car up for some TLC is the 1975 Nova race car. Sasha is put to bed for now. Packing for the trip. Suppose to have some rain there, hope the seafood festival is not canceled. Taking some books.

 

I spent about 30 mins on the balcony this morning "harvesting" the last of my sorry collection of toms! I picked off the last green tomatoes & then proceeded to pull off all the sideshoots I'd let grow after the main growing points died off due to "wilt". At that point I wasn't intending to pull them up but once I'd removed the side growths & a few yellowing leaves seeing the sad looking collection of plants & with the weather having turned so cold this week I opted for removing them all.

There was no point in keeping them any longer & I can use the space to move some of the flower pots from the front that are up against the balcony railings into the back of the balcony where they will be better protected - from the inclement weather & the pigeons' droppings!
.

 

Now what do I do with the growbags??? The compost is probably contaminated with spores from whatever "wilt" caused my plants to perform so badly this year? I never use growbags another season for tomatoes - no matter how well they performed the previous year. But I have used them in other pots & the big troughs on the balcony floor with good results. In fact one year I used them a 2nd time to grow Amaryllis seedlings in & they flowered the following year with lots & lots of flowers - one or two even had 3 stems!

 

Yesterday i cleared a border of cosmos and Snapdragons, was going to finish it today but it's been raining.

 

I did a little cleaning on the balcony this morning. I swept up the compost from the balcony floor that had gotten behind some of the pots I had been moving around. I also took a few cuttings & threw some plants away.

 

I'm itching to tidy up our borders a bit but everything is still blooming so well. The Cosmos, Antirrhiums, Zinnias took on new lease of life in mid August after the heatwave disappeared.

I also need to find permanent homes for about 7 Dahlias too. Most new ones got planted out properly into the borders and did very well during the heatwave with just a weekly soaking but the potted ones suffered, they needed to sink their roots and tubers much deeper and despite very careful watering their leaves suffered too as it's best to avoid them getting too wet...a few still look very worse for wear! Lesson learnt!