WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2023

Today's effort - laying 6 slabs on the gravel steps leading through the archway. You may recognise the gates from a previous post of mine. The slabs are the same as the rest of the patio - they just need to get a little weathered. I think I've over done it today - will probably pay the price tomorrow.

Postcrete in between the slabs tomorrow and then shuffle the gravel around them to make it look neat.

 

Weeded around some more of the polyanthus and found a lot of verbena bonerences seedlings there, so i dug some up and put in a large pot. I'll separate them sometime, don't really need to because there's a lot more in the borders.

 

Continued with tidying up the borders and doing the final ( hopefully ) leaf collection.

Re - staked a couple of large Wallflower plants that are a couple of years old as we prepare for more strong winds tonight.

Trimmed and cutback a few perennials, I always plan to leave them in place to look pretty when frosted in Winter.....but to me they just look untidy..I really do try to ignore them but I just have to give in and give them the chop.

Before and after pic of one little border.



After pics only of one of the kitchen patio borders.

 

Spent 4 hours in the front garden today. Lost my keys and waited for the wife to get back
Erm, that's not true, it just popped into my head and sounded funny!
No, seriously, took the Christmas display down.
4 days to put them up
4 hours to take them down
4 weeks until they're dry enough to be put away

 

Today I repotted a couple of Clivias that had been blown off the balcony table. As they had lost some compost & any way it was old stuff, I removed every last bit of compost I could from the rootballs & then replanted them in bigger pots with new compost. There was no way I could get the rootballs & fresh compost into the old pots! While I was removing the old compost I came across an offshoot that thought it was on its way to Australia! Instead of growing upwards towards the light it was growing downwards! Anyway I tried to put it upright before putting the rootball in the new pot but it broke! It has a couple of long roots so I put it in a pot by itself & now we will wait & see if it grows or rots!

 

Not a lot as wet and windy.

 

Nothing today it's raining and the ground is very wet.

 

If... and it looks to be a big if...the rain eases up enough or better still ceases then I will continue the border tidy up. I will do the lower patio ones so won't be threading over any soft, waterlogged areas.

 

Nothing outside because it's raining again. I potted on 5 fuchsia cuttings that I'm growing as standards and 10 trailing geraniums, you can see one of each, two geraniums in each pot, a pink and red. they're on the kitchen window ledge.

 

As everyone knows, there is zero gardening going on outside here until maybe mid April so I do what I can inside to get a jump on the season.

Was checking my geranium cuttings that I had potted up an discovered one of the lights is malfunctioning. It is an LED strip in place of a fluorescent tube but it will be a bit of a puzzler as the ballast's wiring seems to be single wires unlike the LED strips I have which are two wires. I guess once I get it apart, I'll find out. Or curl my hair, or both...

 

Ooh, hope you feel better

 

Dashed out inbetween the downpours to cut back and stake some very battered older Wallflowers. Nothing else as the wind is so strong and the rain has started up again .

 

Pottered around the GH today its a bit wet to be in the garden but I did get 25 crocus planted and pulled to weeds while I was there . More shredding of old perennials for the heap which took a lot longer with it being soaked through . Potted up some Lobelia Hadspen purple ( Highly recommended ) I dug up the other day and some Lysimachia nummluria for summer baskets . Kind of tidied the GH / made room and put some pots back outside . I am way behind on certain things like cleaning seed pots and other things , the mild Autumn has thrown me way off my usual timing, seed sowing is just round the corner

 

Sowed some lupin and eurigeron seeds both collected from plants last autumn, both in the heated propagator.
Ordered 9 lily bulbs and 30 snowdrops in the green.