WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2022

Well that's a good job well done!

 

I spend the better part of an hour, or perhaps more, on the balcony this morning. First of all I mended the strings I was forced to cut back yesterday. These strings go from the balcony railing up to the balcony ceiling. Well, almost. In fact I have a wire they tie onto as the railings jut out another 6 inches from the balconies above us. I have put up 3 pieces of wood that hold up the wire. That way I can have my climbing plants, especially 'Morning Glory' climb up vertical strings instead of slanting strings.

I had to cut a number of them yesterday to get the Fuchsias off the railing during the downpour which lasted half the day. As neither the 'Morning Glory' or 'Nasturtium' seeds germinated I was left with just bare strings this year. When the Geraniums started looking all the "worse for wear" I swapped some out for Fuchsias. Some of the branches of the Fuchsias were rather long & would have probably broken in the wind (we get some strong winds down our street) so I wrapped the strings around the longest branches to stop them from getting broken & to show off better the flowers. With the heavy rain soaking me it was a very difficult task to unwrap the branches & move the plants further into the balcony where they wouldn't continue to get soaked. So I cut the strings! Today I repaired them.

I moved the Fuchsias I'd taken off the balcony railings into the kitchen where they will stay until May next year.

I then moved the 6 hanging baskets from the edge of the balcony ceiling back to the back of the balcony. I've been doing this for some years now. They each have a variegated Geranium in the centre of the baskets. These plants have survived 2 winters each in the baskets with no more care than letting them get VERY dry! In May of this year I took them all out of their baskets, changed the compost in the baskets & replanted them in the same baskets. They have flowered VERY WELL again this year & in fact are still flowering now. They all got soaked yesterday from the downpour as I had forgotten all about them when I moved all the rest of the plants further in out of the pouring rain! They will not get any more water now till next May!

I finished by putting the aluminium flowerpot rings back on the railings & putting the Geraniums back in them as well as a couple of pots of Pansies. Next week, if I can get some more Pansies this weekend, I will put pots of Pansies on the railing in place of the Geraniums.

 

Nothing today, it's been raining all day.

 

Went to see my friend Marion and planted some plants and daffodil bulbs for her.

 

Not been outside onto the balcony today!

 

Nothing outside because of the rain but I potted up some fuchsia cuttings that's been in water.

 

Pulling up the deceased.

 

I've been measuring the size of the stands I'll be putting in my new greenhouse after the windows arrive, and trying to work out how I shall place them.
Nothing done in the actual 'garden' itself.

 

Pulling up a lot of grass that creeps into the border where the rhubarb is and cutting back some brambles as much as i could low down at the roots.

 

Dug up some more Pelargoniums and Fuchsias, trimmed, divided and potted up for the Winter.

Planted out a couple more Hellibores and Heucheras..

Hubs has fitted the final bit ( the front closures) of insulation in the greenhouse.

 

Nearly finished building the staging in the greenhouse, managed to overfill it with some of my tenders which have been out since March. Just the cannas, dahlias, cycads and a host of other stuff to drag in now. By now, I mean before Christmas

 

With the weather improved today I've spent a couple of hours raking leaves.