WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2023

I had 2 glass panes removed in my 3x4 greenhouse earlier. Today I removed 2 more on the other side as it's still getting too hot there. This job always stresses me out because of panels made of glass.

 

Continued planting annuals, removed Iris foetidissima clump from around a self seeded cordyline.

 

Another day when all I've done is to water the pots & hanging baskets! Oh I did train a couple of Morning Glory seedling up the chicken wire on the balcony. In a few days most, if not all, the seedlings will be scrambling up the balcony railings searching for the quickest way of getting up to the strings I fortunately have put up in time.

I also went over to the church gardens again where I spent 45 mins between watering & removing the dry, dead Daffodil leaves. That border looks better for it! All the Calendulas I put in a few weeks back are flowering very well but the plants are not becoming very bushy as I would have liked. Although I'm watering every couple of days every day I go to water again the soil looks like its grey sand!

When I planted the bulbs & then the Calendulas I added old compost from the balcony to the soil & mixed it up well. The compost I'd hoped would hold on to the moisture more but really doesn't seem to be helping much during this heatwave we are having at present. It just makes it more inviting as a WC for the local moggies!
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Diva cucumber. First crop of cucumbers, ever.

 

Picked some broad beans.
The excitement is..........what I need is a sombrero, a donkey and a bottle of tequila and a shady place to sit.
The exciting broad beans in technicolor.

 

I have been doing what any sensible gardener does on a warm Midsummer day. Nothing. Just relaxing and enjoying life

I nearly cut the grass this morning now that we have had some heavy showers and there is some sign of life. Then I stopped to observe the bee army foraging the aforementioned life, and then The Child said that it is wonderful to have such a wild garden right here in the city.

So, a wildlife lawn it is (at least until next week)



The rose is spectacular and deadheading it is pure joy. Iceberg is not highly scented so the best scent comes when you dig in deep to reach the highest spent flowers.



Oh, an important task last night- The Child collected nine different flowers to put under her pillow for Midsummer night magic. Apparently the face of her true love will appear in the mirror in the morning. After some consideration The Child decided she prefers to have the pollen and the little critters a bit further away from her pillow. I hope Ms Toaster found her True Love this morning



Happy Midsummer all!

 

Picked some gooseberries, raspberries and peas.

 

I watered my Runner Beans with the hose tonight, can't be using a can, too hot.

 

I'm done with seedlings. Finally. Asters grown from seed finally planted out.

 

Trimmed one of the hedges, checked the garlic which still needs another week or two for the softnecks and maybe a month for the hardnecks that I have left. Trained some unruly winter squash. Bit of watering. Deciding what to sow next, probably some Florence fennel and Kohl rabi

 

Like the last few days I've done no more than watering & deadheading on the balcony.

But earlier this afternoon I put some clothes outside on a dryer but when I went to bring them in at 8pm this is what I found on the balcony floor:
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Some piece of clothing had obviously got caught up on the branch & with the wind this afternoon broke it off!
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Pottered around today it were hot until it started raining around 4 ish . Dug up a couple of salvia verticillata which I knew I shouldn't be moving but I can't help myself . Planted out some Morina and a few other plants . Also removed all the tulips from the veg bed didn't realise they were so many in there half a bucket full of still rather large tulip bulbs which should be ok for next year. I sowed some seeds in the veg just calendula / poppy / cornflowers and a few others, just to get rid of the seeds really not something I usually grow but hope they germinate and put on a show in late summer