What Jobs Are We Doing In The Garden Today 2019

Planted out winter brassicas, watered veg plot and sown seed of Fennel, Kale, and Cauliflower.

 

Planted out my Dad's strawberry planter, potted out some of his tubs, dead headed his roses and began battle with another Ground Elder congested border.

 

Had to get out early because it's going to be a scorcher. Moved pots of cordyline and a topiary conifer into spaces in the border to add a bit of height where it looked a bit flat. Roses looking gorgeous and the smell is delightful.
Bees buzzing all over the nepeta and the birds singing their hearts out - bliss

 

I've had skip on the drive for past 3 weeks, so finished chucking stuff in yesterday morning before it was collected. Apart from the garden waste/rubbish I've skipped about half of everything I owned. Had enough of the way I've been living with so much clutter and mess. Still got lots of stuff to dispose of that I couldn't skip, such as paint, old canvases, car oil, etc, so a couple of trips to the recycling centre are needed.

Went for a walk on the beach. Very short walk as packed ( at least 2 dozen people ),barking dogs and then a pack of screaming brats very quickly decided me that I should leave.. I should have gone to one of the other beaches but tide was out and they are mostly just sand/mud flats at low tide. Not so pretty, but usually very quiet!!

Checked the Poppy fortifications when I got back. Tied up the Knapweed that had been blown sideways. Put buns out in the runs and did a bit of weeding of the gravelled area of the patio. Someone gave me a blackcurrant plant a few weeks ago. I don't have anywhere to plant in into the soil so I put it into an old recycling box. Not sure how it will fare but better than just letting it die. Whilst I was doing this I noticed that my pot of parsley had green leaves sprouting in the compost. Thought it was weeds until a closer inspection revealed them to be potatoes. Tiny thumbnail sized potatoes. The compost was a new bag and I didn't see them when I opened the bag. How did they get into the compost??

 

Whenever I hear or read about a skip, I'm always reminded if this.

 

Planted out a group of agastache Summer Sky (cuttings from last year) and lawns will be mown later. Not quite as sunny as promised yet but very warm
Grabbed a cuppa and took to the bench in a sitting area to contemplate where to plant some dahlias .....they are all filling 10 litre pots but, silly billy me, forgot to label a couple of them. One is a yellow, one purple and one is an nice orange but all in bud so should be able to work them out
(Prob have too many dahlias now so the local hospice will receive some)

 

Just mowed the lawns and took a few pictures around the garden. Its cloudy and raining on and off . Think I should go out and do something but not sure what I got the spring pots to empty but I don't doing that today.

 

Not much on today. There's tennis to watch on TV.

Painted the "brown bits" on the pagoda, I'll do the "red bits" tomorrow...Clean my golf clubs.... ...golf shoes.....golf trolley..... the car.. have a general tidy up.

"So much to do,..so little time."

 

Same here DHR.....I have to save my energy for the rugby county championship Tomorrow; besides I have a fight to watch in the early hours, AJ and Ruiz :rasp:

 

Strange day today...

Up early, as hubby doing a weekend software implementation. Sent him off to work, then headed out to try to catch some of my baby goldfish, as have found a home for them. They were NOT playing ball. I guess there have been numerous heron visits recently!

So, headed off on a 30 min drive to deliver the three fish I caught last night, rather than the 10 I was hoping to deliver. They were happily received!

Back home to peg out washing (technically comes under the “jobs in the garden” category), and a spot of lunch.

A friend had given me some random seeds she’s bought from Wish website. She was not expecting them to be delivered unlabelled!! So a selection of random seeds sown in bags of compost - easiest way to manage mass germination at this time of year. I also divided a nice compact sword fern houseplant, by cutting the root mass in half with a sharp knife. Seriously hoping the two sections will forgive me, and grow away.

Then time to juggle hydrangeas. No, honestly! Last week we planted a deep red hydrangea in a shady place. During the week I bought a white hydrangea, so it was time to put the white one in the shade, and the red one in a sunnier situation.

Now doing another “job” in the garden - quality control taste-test of a rosé box wine, ie glass of wine to sip next to the pond. When this “task” is complete, it will be bringing in the washing, closing up the garage, making a pizza, and then at dusk heading out around the local footpaths, listening out for midwife toads. Need to go easy on that wine, me-thinks!

 

Some more hard labour today. I had to trim the inside of the hedge in order to reach some nasty weeds underneath. The bloodfish&bone combined with wet and mild spring has driven the hedge completely bonkers, it needs a serious trim from all sides. The b&f&b- box should honestly carry a warning that it may cause plants to grow vigorously- who would have thought of that!

Hopped into Morrisons to buy the missing summer bedding plants. Morrisons is great, 12 plants for £3 and they don't do just "mixed" but also separate colours. Most bedding plants and all perennials are named and they have some seriously good selection of climbers and Fuchsias for less than £2 each.

Did some adventurous de-brambling in the wild corner to get the mature Ivy- Bramble ratio to my liking. Some idiot dug a pond in the middle so I had to put a plank over it and balance in an adventurous yoga position to get to the massive bramble stems. Finished, cleared the stems and wiped off the blood, remembered the thorn proof gloves I had bought and buried in the garage, drank some wine.

It's the second summer in this house and I think things must be going a bit right-ish. The gardens look quite ok, are full of bees and birds and everything is growing well. I must find the cable for the camera or master the Teenager's Ipad to get some before and after photos.

 

Can’t have people drinking alone - hic!

I’m a great believer in before/after photos. It’s so easy to forget how much progress you’ve made...