WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2023

Other than a little watering & deadheading I haven't done anything else on the balcony today.

But I did spend an hour & a half in the church gardens this morning. I dug out a trench to put the spent Daffodils from the balcony in. I broke up a little the subsoil & mixed in a little compost from the pots that the Daffs were in. Then I planted the Daffs & filled in with a little more compost & the compost left over I mixed with the soil I'd taken out of the trench. It's clay soil so a little compost will help to lighten it a bit & provide a little water retention for the African Marigolds I shall plant on top of them on Monday.

 

Picked more salads, we are entering peak lettuce season. Picked the first kohl rabi which I had as Cole slaw. Did a bit of weeding and finished the strimming with my new ryobi strimmer

 

Weeding including removing a tall purple Allium (Mars) a "gift" from sister in law. Threw it out after the first season and it still pops up, in different places, some 15 years later. Curiously I don't mind A christophii doing the same thing.
Also planting out some bulbs I've had in pots over the winter a couple of Ipheions and Muscari. Planting out couple of geraniums grown from seed this spring. Also try and find and assemble the polygonatums in pots into one place and think about planting these.

 

Top end looking down.


Bottom end looking up.



I finally finished cutting back and tidying up the entire length of the 'clay border', it runs down the entire length of one side of our garden. Our area was once part of a clay quarry so the whole garden is clay based .Over the 40+ years we've been here most of the soil has been greatly improved on and is now very workable but this particular border does not seem keen on being upgraded at all and no matter what we do it remains a s** to work on, especially in full sunshine.

I have also begun adding some bedding plants to it too, but have stopped now as its too hot to carry on in that area now...strictly a morning task area.

I am now doing similar to the smaller borders on the east patio.

 

It looks a nice area Upsy ... bigger than all my garden put together.

 

I sowed a few French Beans & planted 2 x Toms in their final plot in the Blowaway.

 

A hanging basket on The Jungle Room broke loose so I had to reassemble the whole thing. I wildly sowed some past sow-by-date Geraniums and sowed some Cornflower Sweet Sultan, Sweet William auricula eyed. Passiflora mollissima and Thunbergia alata sunrise mix.

 

Pulled out loads of comfrey and cow parsley. Bees were happy but it’s time to remove before it all sets seed. Watched bees on poached egg plants and then planted out another 26 of the dahlias. 40 or 50 still to plant out.

 

Thank you Vicky.

Oh that's a shame about your basket.....is it possible to take some cuttings?

 

Hi guys,

Just found you all so am just diving in. Today I’ve exhausted myself - both gardens needed to be mowed, edged, weeded, I mulched the roses and planted Rosa Zephirine Drouhin (a lovely thornless climber) next to the picnic table.

 

Planted out most the Geraniums/ Pelargoniums, nearly all the Cosmos. Still planting out my surprised success plants of the year.. thanks to @CarolineL.... Cleome ,still have a 100 or so to go!!

Planted out a couple of Fuchsias in pots and placed them in position...still have many more of them too.

Holding off with the Marigolds as my sister's all got demolished over one night.....but think I will have to chance it over this weekend

Still have Zinnias and miniature Snap Dragons and a couple of miniature Lupins and have a few Dahlias still to find a gap for.

I'm off out to the garden again in about half an hour as it slightly shaded now so will hopefully get a couple more hours out there this evening.

 

Luckily it was one rootball of the Lipstick Vine so I trimmed and tidied and re-lined the basket with a black garbage sack then the coir that birds had destroyed a couple of weeks ago..

 

Nowt. A beautifully sunny and warm day, destined for lazing and snoozing!

 

This morning I emptied out out the big strawberry planter I have had on the balcony for more than 20 years. It just gets in the way & I was forever banging my shins on it. There were 3 Dahlias in it for about 3 years but this year they didn't survive the winter so I decided to take out the Grape Hyacinths that have been in the top of it for a couple of years. Some of these I relocated to a square tub that has the Chinese rose growing in it. A few weeks ago I also relocated some Crocuses there as well.

There were lots of Grape Hyacinths in a cerise pot that are were looking decidedly under the weather so I took those out as well & plan on putting them in the church gardens tomorrow. These were overplanted with 100s of Tradescantia fluminensis seedlings! I like this plant for it beautiful bright shiny green leaves with a purple backing. It also has 100s of little white flowers that look so good on the balcony. But - it self-seeds everywhere! I've kept some & put them in the 2 square tubs beside the balcony door & I've potted up some others & put them in the kitchen. The ones in the flat will not flower, which is a shame.

The compost from these pots I've taken to the church gardens to mix in with the soil there. I have no further use for it & it's 4 or 5 years old anyway.

I've got rid of the strawberry planter.