What Jobs Are We Doing In The Garden Today 2019

Planted out lots of plants and tidied the borders. Everything is looking green and lush at the moment and after the rain it's easy to get to grips with the weeds.

I risked putting out a few half hardy plants but then I heard that it had snowed in France yesterday and people were being treated for hypothermia. My garden is sheltered and I leave the dahlias in the ground from year to year and they survive so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the new introductions to the garden.

I'm off to the Malvern Spring Show on Thursday to see what's new.

 

Had a weekend of planning to get as much out of the tunnel as we could. Potted up a lot of tubs, ready to go outside in the next week or so.

Cleared lots of bulbs out of what will soon be the arid bed, planted sedums, semps, agaves and other stuff in the bed.

Finished off with a bit of weeding and tidying around the base of the fruit trees.

 

Well, pretty much all I did today was a poop-scoop, followed by cutting the grass. Still, it was 2 hours worth of grass-cutting, and about 8 grass-boxes, so it definitely needed doing!

Sort of garden related, I also spent 30 mins answering a reply to my email to the Belgian Institute for Nature and Wood Protection, re excavation work to install a connection to mains sewage. As I suspected, for the midwife toads, we need to wait until October-November, whilst for the various dragonflies, we could start a little earlier, in September. At least I now have something in writing to show the inspectors, when they come to see if we’re linked into the system!

 

Had a clear out of the bluebells from under the azaleas and rhodos, in the back bed and the one between the tea-house and the rabbit shed, now they are past their best. They inhibit the growth of the lily of the valley and cyclamen under the azaleas and rhodos and the dahlias in the other side bed. That and some weeding means that our green bin is threequarters full and it was only emptied yesterday.





Finished painting the little table. It's ideal for the patio, big enough for two people. It won't get blown over by the wind like those round plastic ones.
But it will only come out of "the room," when required.



Gave the lawn a bit of general fertilizer. Given that I'd been kneeling all round the perimeter weeding the beds and dragging out bluebell foliage, it's not looking too bad.



Making this breach in the border at the front of the former koi pool a couple of weeks back when we had it filled in and paved, gave me some more big rocks.



So today, I added them to the back of the former waterfall to extend the rockery.

I've yet to take a bolster chisel to split the three rocks cemented together that formed a platform at the head of the waterfall. The redundant supply pipe is cemented in under them. But it isn't an urgent job. They did provide a firm footing when getting onto the rockery, but that is no longer necessary as I can get to it from the new paving.




Weeded the rest of the rockery. It's easier to do now there's no chance of falling into four and a half feet depth of water.

 

Planted a lupin got 3 more to do but have to wait for the wallflowers to finish. Did some weeding and tidied up the edge of the lawn under 2 lavender bushes.

 

Have come up to Lincoln to do some work for mum whilst she is on holiday. Mr snorky is in charge of plants at home and has been moving pots inside tonight due to frost risk. Hopefully he doesn't miss any!

It's forecast heavy rain for the next two days up here, but I managed to get a load of work done outside. I brought my scarifier up and did the front garden. Got about 6 wheelbarrow loads of moss out and that was just from a light scarify. I then trimmed the holly bush and the big hedge. Then just before the rain starts I managed to sow a load of grass seed. Hopefully the rain due will help

Now I'm shattered, but had an enjoyable day.

 

Looking forward to seeing the witch hazel @shiney . Will be a lovely reminder of Armandii. I have quite a few plants in my garden that have their own connections with either people or different times in my life. I've got a special rose cutting growing...it is a piece of my great grandads rose. My grandma has it in her garden and had struggled getting it to grow (it's now at least 35 years old) but she managed to grow me a cutting. It is so very precious.

 

I too decided that I'd let mother nature provide free water for new grass seeding. Picked up lots of soil and sread it where needed then mixed in seed. All whilst it was raining. I was out in the rain for a couple of hours and was impressed that none of my body melted. Then I used my broom to banish stray dirt from the driveway. Hope it's fit to ride later ...

 

Ha ha, I had to put my rain coat on to stop me melting too @CanadianLori

 

I think it looks lovely-so unusual. Might have to get myself one this year I think. I’ve said that the last couple of years but this time I will

 

Too wet to do any gardening, apart from checking on the roses in their pots to see if there's any live greenfly left after I sprayed them yesterday. We've ten roses on the new paving over the former koi pool, seven on the main patio, five along the drive and two in different beds, all with buds, but none out yet! The first will be one on the new paving which is making an effort. The quantity is down to visiting garden centres over the years and just buying one "now and then."
When I think about it, the ceramic pots they occupy, cost more than any rose.
Then when you add the cost of a pot mover....

Yesterday I managed to spray the big acer in the front garden, which always gets greenfly. Fortunately, I have a 5ltr pump sprayer, which if I pump it long enough so it makes the safety valve open a bit, I can generate enough pressure to be able to reach the top leaves. It's like an open umbrella, the foliage is all on the outside. The greenfly always settle on the underside of the leaves, so it's not a difficult task. Hopefully, it will have had enough time to absorb the spray, before the rain today.

 

'Unfleeced' everything this morning and I'll shortly be fleecing it again...Rain has stopped play today.