WHAT JOBS ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2018

Morning C, I see a nice looking lawn there mate

Morning Verdun, I nice day here again and yes I noticed last week the night drawing in earlier

 

Went out earlier...fresh water in both bird baths and the slabs and decking was down and being as we've had no rain since the weekend...all plants are being watered tonight

 

Nothing to interest me at the nursery.....I have better plants here still in pots

Anyway, pruned off the old flowers on hyoericum hidcote......I find if done now more flowers will develop. Dead headed several cosmos, dahlias, tithonias, pinched back new shoots on cotinus, acer flamingo and physocarpus diablo (keeps them more compact with more juvenile foliage) and flowers are about to open on leonotis leonorus on plants that survived over winter. Picked more runner beans, carrots, spring onions and lettuce

 

Wickes delivery man woke me up at 7.30 (honestly! I'm on holiday ) but in the end it was a good thing as I got so much nice stuff done. Dug a small circular gravel bed around the bird feeder and planted Sarococca and evergreen honeysuckle henryii through the membrane. It looks quite posh but I need more gravel and rocks.

Threw assorted rooted cuttings in empty areas of the big new flower bed, they might change places still but just needed to go in for now.

Had a refreshing lunch of crisps and white wine. I can still feel the vitamins and nutritiens stuck between my teeth

Potted on cacti seedlings and discovered how useful dessert forks actually are. The seedlings are tiny but needed to be spread out a bit.

Finished painting the bookcase. 4-in-1-nned front lawn as an experiment to see what happens to the ridiculous amount of thuggy weeds which have been ignoring my attempts to dig them out by hand. The dandelions are gone though, or maybe it has just been too dry for them?

Admired Dahlias which were not supposed to be very huge but look suspiciously dinner-plate like. Not complaining!

A lovely summer's day, feel totally relaxed and happy

 

The back plants have been watered waiting for full shade on the front...this weather is making me totally

 

Selleri, crisps and white wine
Very very healthy. Almost as healthy as crisps and lager ...that, lately I have over indulged in. Usually a healthy eater but .......

Very warm and pleasant today but very little blue sky

Haggled a deal for replacement tyres....."can't go any cheaper", "I dont get that and
I work here" the guy said. But I did

 

Same here Verdun with ice cream and flavoured peach water

 

In the next day or so, I will be taking cuttings of salvias and agastaches.....several varieties of each so I will be busy

Gail, ice cream? I add cornish clotted cream and bananas to it ....now, there's piggish for you

 

bananas crucifi me so I leave well alone Verdun...I used to eat loads of strawberries with fresh cream heaven ...but he gets me 4 Asda ice creams and I like them

 

Selleri ….there is such a thing as flossing and mouth wash

 

We have been blessed with the right kind of rain today (the soft, persistent warm rain which gently soaks the ground and breaks up from time to time to allow one to pop out to smell the lovely new world after the drought... beautiful... ) so anyways, indoor gardening.

Gave the kitchen air freshener (scented leaved Geranium) a good prune and doused the remaining with a greenfly killer. The flowers are a greenfly magnet and frankly, I grow it for the leaves, not the flowers. Looks much better now.

Moved the cactus seedling posh pots around to find the perfect place for them, re-potted some stragglers and generally enjoyed the last proper day of my week off. The wine glass in the picture is just for the scale.



Popped in Wilkos for decorative stones to finish off my new small gravel bed, and walked out with a humongous Euphorbia cactus I have been valiantly resisting for as long as they have had them for sale. It's the size and shape of my forearm and I know from experience I'll get in serious trouble with it.

I had one as a kid, it grew from a finger size cutting to the ceiling in just some years. It never flowered though, perhaps because I had firmly tied it to the hot water pipe to prevent it from falling over unsuspecting humans nearby. Having a 2 meter cactus falling on you is not a very nice experience.

Anyways, it looks stunning and mildly obscene

 

It never flowered knowing it had an artistic owner who would colour it anyway

 

On the "To Do" List today we have...

• Stake a sml Ailanthus altissima yes I know its invasive but its contained in a tree pot.
• Plant in a succulent (I bought for a couple of quid in the GC recently)
• Take Hydrangea cuttings and place in acid soil with Aluminium Sulphate (is there anything in colour and soil type)
• Take some more Salvia "Amistad cuttings (could do with more of these)
• Tidy Greenhouse and thin out the peppers and tomatoes
• Off to garden centre to get a coffee and some more pots for the Terracotta Gardener Project

Pics to follow