WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2023

Amongst moving plants around and some watering in the greenhouse, this afternoon I dug this root out of a frost damaged Aloe striatula, it had been growing there for about 15 years and didn't really want to go, but it did in the end.

 

This afternoon brush off the flat roof and then greenhouse sorting and tidying.

 

Mossy Sax.

 

Even though I've bought a few packets of seeds and have a few from last year and older, I have decided not to sow any this year. It's a bit late now, and also my garden is in a mess after I had a new patio and extention built last year, and I'm trying to get it in order again. Seed sowing would only add to the work and I don't know where I'd plant things anyway.
I've bought a few bedding plants for tubs etc, so I'll just use those for this year.

 

I have done virtually nothing in the garden so far this year. Last year I was well on by this time but last year May was 21C here. This year we are lucky if it reaches 10C.

 

I spent a half hour or so on the balcony this afternoon watering the pots of Pelargoniums that have been in the mini-greenhouse for a couple of weeks acclimatizing. They had got quite dry being as they were on the top shelf & I couldn't reach them.

I also had a look at a few of the Geranium & Pelargonium cutting that have been in the mini-greenhouse (MG) for weeks now. This is the 3rd time I've checked them & there seems to be 1 or 2 Geraniums that have rooted but none of the Pelargoniums I checked show signs of having rooted yet!

The Pelargonium cuttings all came from the plants I removed from the MG today. These plants have responded well to be cut back & are showing lots of new growth!
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I took a few plants into the GH this evening and pricked some seedling out . Also planted out a white astrantia ( snow star ) I found in the plant stash , they were also another astrantia which I am not sure on variety think Roma but it looked prime candidate for dividing, so I've topped up my plant stash again which I am really trying to reduce with more plants I don't need , I do give a lot of plants away though . Nicked a piece of Hosta off mum she had in a big tub and divided that into five pieces and planted in the bog garden

 

Just moving plants around and into the small greenhouse, watering things.

 

today I took the mattress bag off the min-greenhouse on the balcony. It's served me very well as this winter I didn't loose more than a trayful of Pelargonium cuttings. All the rest of the plants Geraniums, Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, etc. survived!

When it first occurred to me to use the mattress bag as a second cover I cut a "door" in it so I could reach the door of the internal cover to open & close it for watering or airing. But now it was a nuisance & we don't expect frosts any more so I took it off & put it away till I need to get it out in the autumn again.

At the end of May I will dismantle the MG & the big round table it sits on until the end of October when I shall have to assemble them again! If it weren't for the MG & the mattress bag I wouldn't be able be able to keep half as many plants over the winter as I do.
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Potted on Cosmos, for the second time. Usually they only need one potting on and then go into their final planting place, but this silly, cold spring has kept the top growth so feeble that they needed a boost as they were totally pot bound.

I can't see them going into the borders in the way they are now. Temperatures are still just above 10C and the most optimistic forecast tells me that we might hit 15C for the next two weeks.

Anyways, while potting them on in the garage I was struggling to find just the right size and shape of pots amongst the wobbly pot towers here and there.



A memory from childhood and student years- a makeshift shelving with pieces of string and a plank!

You know the thing, carefully knotted and adjusted to be level, adorned with family china and then stepping back to watch the precious china slowly gliding down towards the lower end.

As the contents this time are just cheapy old plastic pots, the shelf obviously slotted in perfectly in one go with a slope of pure zero degrees

Feast your eyes on the elegance, I'll call the editor of "Country Living" first thing in the morning to arrange for a photo shoot.




In other news, (see, I'm already settling into the life in the public eye ) a round of Fairy washing up liquid baths were administered to the chillies on windowsills and any plants around them.

Hungarian Black is in full flower and Jalapenos, Basket of Fire and Padron peppers have plenty of buds. If the spring continues like this, I'll be doing the Tinkerbell round with a small brush hand pollinating them all summer.

Tomorrow the Toms will start their daily walkies into the blowaway greenhouse.

Forever the optimist

 

Took half the seedlings out from the greenhouse for a day of fresh air, the rest will get their turn tomorrow.

The same with the Geraniums too, Fuchsias turn tomorrow.



Lillies shooting up fast now and too tall to be closed in, so plenty of fresh air, sun and dare I say it..rain for them now.

 

Put the snapdragons outside in a sheltered spot to stay outside, pinched them out again.

 

I haven't done anything on the balcony other than guiding my son to where I wanted him to put the two bags of compost he brought round for me this afternoon.

I didn't realise when I saw them in Wilcos on Friday that they were now peat free! I have bought a lot of compost this year there but until now they were 40% peat - reduced peat but not peat free. Now I will be able to see if there are any particular differences in the composts!
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Other than telling my son where to put the bags of compost I'd asked him to get me I haven't done anything more. Well I did take a number of photos especially of the "Chinese rose" that is now opening its flowers. Shame they only last a couple of weeks but the individual flowers open & last a couple of days but there are always more afterwards. The flowers are a delightful buttery yellow.
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