What Jobs Are We Doing In The Garden Today 2019

I recall seeing one of the first episodes of the new Poldark and he was scything a field with his top off. Maybe you could watch that for some tips @luciusmaximus

 

scythe vs strimmer - Bing video

 

Thanks for the link .

 

Moved my "Charlie Brown"style rosemary plants down to the indoor set up and made sure they had good capillary acceess to water. And that is all I did.

Winter is such a sad time for garedeners over here... but the days are getting longer

 

Yesterday was wonderful!
There were the three of us cutting the longest hedge (hubby, me, and a close friend who is chosen family). One cutting, one raking, and one shredding with lawnmower....

 

Lovely clear sunny start to 2020 so pulled weeds out of one of the baths, pulled more weeds out of another plus dug out most of the Achillea growing there and a couple of other plants. My plan is to replace with Lavender but need to add better drainage first. Cut spent seed pods from aother Toadflax growing in a sink and weeded at same time. Pulled weeds out of Rose pot, cut back Rose and added some mulch (I posted about Rose in Roses but no reply and couldn't wait, have to do things when I have time even if it's not necessarily the right time).

This afternoon I made a start on the area surrounding the pond. Weeding, pulling out remains of last year's Poppies and adding some mulch. I need to cut the grass but at moment I don't have anything to cut it with. Tried hand held clippers, which were useless, tried shears, which are blunt and , of course, no sharpening stone. Netted pond again. Clouded over now and turned quite grey and cold. Currently sat on sofa in conservatory with coffee and sugar free digestives - definitely an acquired taste.

 

Yesterday we used our new petrol powered jet washer (3000 psi - it is a beast). Cleaned all round the side of the house but got really cold feet so will continue another day. Today I raked up loads of leaves from the shady border- was nice to get outside. Not too cold and no wind, very grey though. Also did the bird feeders again.

 

Happy New 2020!
Doing nothing in the garden. Just quick walkaround - crocuses, scillas and snowdrops are poking up.
Flowering:

 

Did a bit more tidying up this afternoon - raking a few more leaves and cutting back the leaves of the hellebores so the buds are showing. Also trimmed some of the brown flowers from my ice plants - didn't know whether to trim them all back yet as the new sprouts are exposed.

 

Ordered 2 packets of calendula seeds called daisy may, it grows to 8inches and bushy.

 

Sunny although chilly enough to need two fleeces yesterday. I've bought a new grass trimmer and decided to test it out on one of the bun runs. However, grass was so wet I didn't get much of a decent cut. I think I'm going to have to wait a few more weeks before any further grass cutting. Spentbtwo hoursdown by the pond weeding and cutting back grass by hand. I found two Toadflax that had self seeded into pots so I've removed them with a good ball of compost around their roots and planted by the pond. Hopefully they won't realize they've moved . Lots of Daffodil shoots beginning to appear by the pond and in my pots, spring is coming . I was going to add gravel to one of the baths I'm changing over to a dry bath but decided I was tired from weeding so sat on the bench and watched the sun setting instead.

Has anyone noticed odd flowering happening in their garden? Apart from my Patio Rose I've found a Lavender and a blue Centaura both with flowers on in January

 

You had a busy day @luciusmaximus ! I noticed a bright pink achillea flowering yesterday-madness! And a couple of my roses are still going. The armeria are flowering too but not sure whether that is normal or not?!

Just spent a good hour and a half in the greenhouse (still in my dressing gown lol) with the heater going in there-very cozy. I’ve potted on 12 geranium cuttings and another 6 scented geranium cuttings (shineyland origin) that have all rooted well.

lots of my cuttings have taken so has been nice potting them on. The salvias have done really well-I’ve been nipping them out so they get bushy and it is working.

Got lots of bulbs still to plant-did a few yesterday but the ground is sooo wet with heavy clay-was hard work digging out the clay and putting back in a nice mix of gritty compost. I think the rest of the bulbs i’ll put into pots first and then bury in the ground-then I can remove them later in the year after flowering.

got to get dressed now and will head out to purchase lots of bird seed as have run out again-good old wilkos!

 

Roses pruned, started on pruning some other shrubs and weeding.

 

Started pruning the hedge at the top of the border. The first bit is a really thorny rose which hooked into everything - including me.

Now about 1/3 down the hedge. Back to it before the light fades

 

Hubby volunteered to help in the garden today, so we emptied one compost bay onto the veg beds (two of the three beds now up to the top of their boards now). That’s a lot of work, emptying a 2 cubic metre bay into wheelbarrows, and moving it from the lowest point of the garden to nearly the highest. The beds are now levelled off, the strawberry plants lifted and replanted (or they would have been buried under 10” of compost!).

Then, after a quick “hello!” to our neighbours’ baby daughter, it was back down to the compost bays. The middle bay turned into the final bay, with layers of the “fresh” bay lasagne-ed in, and the rest of the fresh bay turned into the middle bay. A few wonky uprights were straightened, and malleted into their correct orientation, then it was time to up tools and head indoors for a late, but well-deserved lunch!