What Jobs Are We Doing In The Garden Today 2019

Had a busy couples of days up in Lincoln at mums. Sorting out the grass. Did another weed and feed scattering as still loads of weeds growing. Cut back the gigantic rosemary and tidies up the rest of the herbs. Untangled a new white passionflower from the everlasting sweet peas. Loads of dead heading. And then splitting the heucheras-must have split into at least 20 new plants.

Will go back in a couple of weeks and tackle the insane kniphofia. Do they do well if divded?

 

Yep Snorky.....keep divisions nice n big, trim any damaged roots, trim over long roots, cut foliage back, pot on or plant out, water well. Hey presto!

 

Thanks @Verdun , when you say cut the foliage do you mean just remove all the dead greenery or actually trim down the height of all the greenery?

 

I like to cut it all back hard. If done now or ASAP, there is time for new growth to show in a few weeks

 

Thanks-i’ll try get up next week and do it.

 

When I first moved here (about 15 years ago) there was a kniphofia just like that. I didn't know what to do with it. It died. I had a huge job to get rid of it. I had to cut it into big pieces. If I'd have had the knowledge then that I do now, I could have saved it.

I now have a new kniphofia in the front which is doing exceptionally well. One of my neighbours recently told me that the plant was originally a piece from one of his. He was quite chuffed that it was doing so well. I thought it was better not to disappoint him.

G.

 

Gave the baths a watering yesterday. Didn't know there was a large Bee in the Marjoram. Poor bean I absolutely soaked him. He crawled out looking very soggy and bedraggled . I offered him a finger ( which he accepted ) and transported him to a Geranium in the sun to dry off.

I cleaned two of the water butt lids. They were really disgusting and smelly. Chopped back part of the Hawthorn to be able to gain access to the area in front of the caravan.

Nothing done today. Lots of running around and working on the commissions.

 

Wonderful creatures, the large bees. In the GH I usually allow the odd big spider to set up home in a corner. Free insect control. At times a large bee will get tangled in the web, the spider seems to ignore them. Boy those webs are strong. Carefully using plastic tweezers I gently untange my little friend. It seems the bee is aware of my help, no fuss. Then job done, a friendly buzz and up, up and away. Makes me feel good, knowing I have given something back to nature, for a change.

 

Sorted out the Bellis yesterday most are ready to go out later this month but a few will need a bit longer, have about a 100 to plant up. Wallflowers are looking good too .

 

No gardening yesterday. Busy in morning and storm forecast for later on. Went for a walk to Cemlyn ( local bird and sealife reserve ). Sunny but strong winds. Stood on the cliff with the wind battering me and watching the storm approaching. Just made it back to the car as the first few drops of rain hit.

Might have time later today for some garden time, not sure yet. Been thinking about the garden a lot, making plans, etc. I'm hoping that I will have some time during the autumn/winter months to get stuff done. There is a lot to catch up with. I need to get some arty stuff sorted for xmas and I may or may not do a xmas exhibition. The art makes me some money - although not a lot - and the garden is purely for pleasure. I've realised that I need to find a balance between the two, so that's going to mean making changes to the garden to make it less high maintenance. One of the main issues is the amount of planters that need watering.

I'm also thinking about replacing some of my plants for those which don't need much care or watering. Lavender obviously. Has anyone got any suggestions for wildlife friendly plants which don't need watering or much care, please? I've got a few Penstemons already.

Would Lavender be happy in a Belfast sink? I'm going to put some in one of my baths but thinking a sink might look nice with a smaller variety of Lavender.

 

Yes Lucius, lavendar would be fine in a Belfast sink.....at least for 3,4 or so years.

It’s the soil and the aspect then remaining.......I would use John innes number 2 and mix in say a third of grit as well as having a base of grit.
Then in the sunniest spot possible

Funny, describing on how best to plant lavendar is odd for me because the soil here is ideal for them ....warm and well drained....so planting lavendar is simply a straightforward matter of, well, planting.

In a container some watering may be necessary at times but lavendar is never watered here, or fed

Wildlife friendly plants? There is currently a thread about this Lucius

 

When I used to get fairly fresh horse manure from the local stables (I can’t get any at the moment, as our gate is still broken, and the road is currently being dug up as well) I used to do thick layers alternating between the horse manure and garden compost. Although it looks ok after 3 months, I found it needed to be left for about 4-5 months, or you would have oats and wheat germinating...!