What jobs are we doing in the Garden today 2015

Fed and top dressed a few more containers. Just the blueberry to do but ran out of ericaceous compost so that will have to wait till the weekend. Potted up some calla lilies. Sat in the sun and tried to do some serious planting planning, but couldn't really concentrate enough

 

Spent most of the afternoon in the garden today. So relaxed afterwards! Bits of chopping back, moving plants around. Sowed seeds for Briza media and black poppies across the Middle of my border to create a bit of a funky mini meadow. Planted out another tripod of my over wintered sweet peas.

Basically putting everything in position to the plan I've been drawing out for months. Incredibly satisfying


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Just set fire to a load of bindweed roots

 

So satisfying hearing them frizzle! Here it's brambles, and if you let them dry a little they go up with a great big whoosh

 

Burnt them too

 

I can't say I take any delight from seeing a plant die. I realise as gardeners many plants are seen as unwelcome/weeds. I am a naturalistic gardener so am more tolerant and accepting, favouring a more natural look. I understand that bindweed grows prolifically, i.e. where it is not wanted but I find it to have such elegant flowers.

I will admit to a low tolerance of some plants though, e.g. dandelions (the seedball of which I try to 'catch' before it fully forms from the flower). They can take over if not managed. Dandelion leaves are excellent additions to salads, especially in spring (when they are young). Bitter herbs (like dandelions) are good for the liver.

In my 20s, I was into foraging bigtime - for culinary, medicinal and cosmetic uses. I made elderflower champagne (in the traditional method), nettle hair rinses, dandelion roasted root coffee (don't bother!), discovered how tasty chickweed is in salads (and high in nutrients) and still make elderberry cordial/rob (the recipe for which I have given in the GC Buttery section).

 

Thank you Woo. I'll move them to spare bedroom windowsill and turn radiator in there off.

 

I'm not sure Sheal,I've grown them the last two years but haven't bothered this year.They are a dainty little plant ,the only draw back with them being small is the slugs eat them in double quick time

If my Bindweed would flower I'd leave it too

 

Right!
A hug from my hubby and a good night's sleep has shaken the Black dog off my shoulders.
Bleedin' obvious what I need to do in the compost area. Cut one of the pallets by its middle bracing, so that it is not too wide - I can then use the "end bit" to slightly widen the side wall. Fixing two problems in just one go!
I will be out there with my saw as soon as I've walked my fluffy grey beasts!

 

Love Dandelion Coffee

 

If I didn't take out the brambles my garden would become a three metre high bramble patch that I couldn't use at all. This is what the plot next door had become in just four years of neglect. It took a bulldozer a whole day to clear it to ground level a few weeks ago, but of course the roots are still there. They are much more vigorous and invasive here than in the uk, and they are difficult enough there.
I garden by permaculture and no dig methods, so yes, I am very 'tolerant' and prefer weed cover to bare earth, but as shiney says, sometimes you have to discriminate or you end up with no garden.

Btw sorry to hear about the plight of aquilegias @shiney, I didn't know they were so threatened

 

Yes I was very disappointed when this occurred, i.e. didn't even get a chance to see the flowers fully bloomed. However, I am hoping that the dwarf lupins being in a hanging basket will rectify this. Never heard of slugs doing the high jump yet...