WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2022

Watering the plants in the cold frames. then I made up a Planting Pouch I am trying, Filled it with Osteospermum. I have to leave it flat for a couple of weeks before I can hang it up.
My wife and I went round the garden trying to identify plants we put in last autumn and can no longer remember what's what. We should have made a map!

 

It has been Days of Miracle and Wonder

I potted on everything and by a true miracle, everything still fitted in their locations in living room and kitchen. How 36 pots of Cosmos squeeze into a small shelving by the back door is a testament to my weak sense of spatial awareness.

Took the plunge (nearly literally) and scooped out a bucketful of gunk from the pond, then remembered that I have some Frogbits in there that hibernate as small nodules in the aforementioned gunk. Rest in peace Frogbits. Anyways, cleaned the cheapy Chinese solar pump I forgot in for the winter and... woosh- it works!


Birds, bees and hoverflies are very pleased with the spray.

Spent a lovely afternoon with The Teenager, pulling out leggy Erigerons and then sat side by side on the sunny front step, trimming the tops and potting some, pushing some back in where they are expected to keep on enjoying the overflow of the kitchen drain. Nothing like soap water to guarantee a marvellous display!

Re-potted the Climbing Iceberg rose that turned out to be a non- climbing one. Some Oxalis had appeared underneath so I potted some up for a houseplant. Yes I know it's a weed, but a very pretty, dark purple one.

The final miracle is Opuntia Santa Rita that after about 3 months, has germinated. Now, I'm not the most patient person to start with, but 3 months is way beyond my expectations. The trick is to leave the germination pot on bedroom windowsill, half draw the curtains and forget all about it until it's time to clean the window. Very pleased.

Today it'll be first BBQ to celebrate Easter and summer.

 

With the nice weather hopefully you can visit her more often, or vice versa.

Whatever Ben uses the weeds seem to disappear in days!

I will answer the beam saga in one go here. The roof is being replaced over The Outdoor Living Room (we call The Baffa, an African term) which is detached from the house.. It is the old chicken run and covered it is 215 sq ft internally and 320 sq ft on top which was a deck. It was too hot up there so we only had solar panels. The roof leaks (well, it pours in) so we are having that replaced. The beams hold the current roof up.

I will be having Ben the Gardener over to cut it back to roof level. I will also lose a lot of Honeysuckle and variegated Pandorea which climbs across the lower end from the arch to the orchard. An very old photo before things grew up ...

View from deck (that's our shed roof) ...

Me too, they look nekkid now.

 

Perhaps your warmer drier weather helps your weeds frazzled and disintegrate quicker maybe Vicky.

 

I go and visit every 2 weeks now and it's better for me on a Saturday, got more time in the afternoon because I don't cook on Saturdays. It's better if I go there and I used to do that when i used to see Keith on Saturdays.

 

Potted on some more cosmos, done 42 so far, they seem to be recovering from the aphids.

 

Hand weeding the shrubbery. Found plants I had lost. The benefit of hand weeding against using the hoe is you are down there with the plants and find that what you thought was a weed is actually something you planted.

 

Pruned some unruly shrubs, weeded the raided bed, sowed various basils indoors.

 

After nearly 3yrs away from gardening due to illness, I'm now feeling well enough to give some toms a try this year, GC bought ones to make it less time consuming.

Today I cleaned out the greenhouse in preparation as it's not been touched since 2019.

Really looking forward to getting back into growing again.

 

That's great to hear @Sheps just take it easy getting back into it.

 

back Sheps.

Hope you are feeling better and good luck with your tomatoes. Greenhouse looks ready to go.

 

Thanks Logan and Victoria, it's good to be back.

 

Over the week end I've been sowing lots of seeds, some in a raised bed (vegetables) some in a polytunnel (Sweet Peas and other hardy annuals) and some in propagators (ones that need a higher temperature to germinate)
I put my larger cacti outside because I'm trying to empty the conservatory, it's being demolished in a few weeks (I hope !)

 

I've been in the garden more a less all day the sun did eventually turn up, it were out Saturday afternoon and today but that's it for the past week . I went to one of my favourite nurseries yesterday and got myself 3 echinacea and 2 agastache kolibri, had a pit stop at another GC I regularly go to on the way home hoping the cyclamen coum were still there in the sale section , nope gone should of got them before while I were staring them out 2 week ago thinking about it.

Today I done my annual moving plants here there and everywhere I moved that many its to many to write down , its like a dug up half the plants and replanted them I am terrible for moving plant and changing my mind and taking them back out , some veronica scherrenisg what every they are called have come back into the garden from a 2 year exile. I've managed to make room for some new plants next to the helenium but I not really sure what I got some monarda scorpion dug up today which I am considering but I do like new plants I've not grown before .

After the task of moving plants and watch the FA cup I set into the lawn , I throw weeds other bits on the lawn while I am working in the borders so mowed the lawn. I've forked it and top dressed and over seeded it also. Popped round to my mums after that pruned some roses dug one up which had succumb to wind rock and replanted and feed the roses while I were at it. I over seeded her lawn as well but it had gone dark by then

 

I have movement on my Peony! Upon receiving what looked like a dead stick last year, I was somewhat dubious as to whether I should plant it or throw it for the dogs. I decided to give it a go, but after watching three videos on how to plant them I still had no idea which way up to plant the thing so I compromised and buried it sideways. Amazingly it appears to have survived my ineptitude and has now sprouted - I hope it continues to show such strength of character

After that excitement, I did some weeding, evicted a couple of slugs and watered anything that didn't run away fast enough.

Hope everyone and their gardens are having a fantastic long weekend