WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2022

Thank you @Malus Aforethought yes they should.

 

Woo it's looking good.

 

Started to cut off the old flowering stems off the lavender, then hubby asked me to help him tidy up after he cut the hedge.

 

Just strimmed around the pavers and the edges of the lawns," I hate the ruddy strimmer".....
Lawns sorted now took me less time to do all of the grass top, bottom and side as it did to do those pavers and edges, I quite like wandering around with the lawnmower, I find it very therapeutic....Jobs a Goodun..

 

This morning I emptied all the plants out of the greenhouse and cold frames to enjoy a day in the sunshine......took ages!

 

Today I returned to the MS Therapy Centre just down the road from where we live. Just before the first lockdown for Covid-19 I offered my services as a volunteer gardener. Just a couple of weeks before my brother had sent me their phone number telling me they needed volunteer gardeners. I was able to go a few times & do some pruning but the first lockdown stopped me from returning.

Later when the first lockdown was lifted I was able to go back a few times. But then came the 2nd lock down & again I couldn't go. I did ring a few times to ask if they were open & if they wanted me to return but got only the answering machine. So last week I rang up again & this time got a reply & they told me they would be delighted to have me return!

So today I went back for the first time in a year! I continued where I had left off, pruning a ginormous rose that is very old & hadn't been properly pruned in a great many years. This time I found a pruning saw amongst the garden tools & set to removing lots of very thick inward growing branches. Now it has the "chalice" or bowl shape a well pruned rose should have!

When I was last there I emptied out the 3 large compost bins, mainly filled with grass cuttings & little else. They had a lot of old, very well composted material which I emptied out & put into 4 plastic rubbish bins. That was with the intention of spreading them out over the raspberry plot. I expected it would be a week or two before I'd be able to do that (I only went down 2 days a week) so I covered the bins with paving slabs to stop any rain from getting in.

Today I was finally able to do that long awaited job! But the bins had been moved & two of the four must have been 1/2 full of rainwater as when I dug down into them, to move 1/2 the compost into a wheelbarrow, I found lots of water! When the bins were removed from where I had left them the paving slabs hadn't been put back on top.

I've now spread that compost over the raspberry plot. Fortunately all the raspberry canes had been cut down & taken away & the bed cleaned of weeds & the soil nicely raked over! They should get a bumper harvest later this year!

An exhausting couple of hours work but I hope to see the fruit (ha, ha!) of my work this time!

 

Everything looks very well now. A clean up of the garden always looks so satisfying after the winter & leaves a good, satisfying feeling when it has been done!

 

I sowed some wildflower seeds, indoors, the other day and they have started to germinate.
I prepared a hanging basket for some Osteospermum I expect to arrive today or tomorrow.

 

Sowed 3 trays of Zinnias and pricked out some Dahlias. Prepared some more compost for sowing and pricking out more seeds / seedlings tomorrow.

Managed to move things around and rehome some overwintering cuttings to the big coldframe, making more much needed room in the greenhouse for me to fill.

 

What are the 3-D’d please @Malus Aforethought ? I bought a “stick-in-a-box” described as a blueberry a month ago, spent out on a bag of ericaceous compost, it’s in a pot in the cold greenhouse doing nothing?

 

Luckiky I got back home before it started snowing again which means of course, no outdoor gardening.

I've potted up some of my soil blocks. These celosia and zulu warrior seedlings in pots will be going down to the cellar and under the lights tonight as there is very little windowside room left.

 

Oh @Jocko I’ve just been chucking wildflower seeds down in our wildflower bed we are creating and hoping for the best, not knowing what would be weeds if anything came up. I didn’t realise you can sow then under cover in pots and then plant them where you want them. I’ll try that with the new wildflower seeds that arrived this week. Thank you for the tip

 

Well done, bet you'll soon fill it up again,....
I used to have two g'houses and still ran out of room, I decided 18mths ago that it was time to slow down a bit, so I gave one to my next door neighbour, I haven't slowed down and don't intend to, now I'm playing jigorey pokery in my remaining one, its all good fun and I enjoy growing things so why stop, its good for our well being isn't it Upsydaisy.......