What are we doing in the garden 2025

A lot is going to depend on the actual bulbs. With tulips you're better off buying fresh bulbs as most of them won't perform nearly as well a second time. I stored a lot of my tulip bulbs from last year and replanted in the autumn, and just had a few tiny unimpressive flowers whereas my fresh tulip bulbs were all brilliant.

Daffs should be good so long as the foliage is left in place to feed them after they've finished flowering; might be worth giving them some extra feed as well. A few of my older daffs came up blind this year and I suspect I didn't do this properly. The ones that I just forgot about and left in a trough were fine, even after being dug up by the foxes and having to be replanted.

Some bulbs such as alliums are so tiny that you should be able to plant them easily without disturbing anything. However it's hard to know after the perennials have died back just how much space you have. I'm always surprised by how far everything has spread at this time of year!

I have left old pots of alliums and muscari all over the place and they have kept on flowering.

 

I gave a winter flowering clematis a short back and sides so I can put in more supports to stop the obelisk from being blown over, again.
I also made a start on the curtain of brambles coming over from the field next door to expose my peaonies which are in bud, first time of flowering, very exciting. Also topped up the pond. I saw one fish, no idea if there are any more in there. The Water Forget Me Not is looking lovely, a haze of blue. The miniature lilac is coming into full bloom, delicate scent.

I am feeling very sad as it looks as if I am going to lose my Varanja quince tree. I planted it about 15 years ago, it was slow to get going then began having flowers and a very few fruit. The last 5 years it has struggled during the summer, shedding its leaves early and no fruit. I kept it going by leaving the hose running near its base but this year the new leaves have barely opened before beginning to go brown due to lack of water and not a single flower. I know my soil is shallow and poor, clay pit waste, I have tried growing daffodils, hardy cyclamen, primroses, anemones etc. underneath it but they only last a couple of years. It is about 18ft tall, supposed to be on dwarfing stock, I have lightly pruned annually to keep the head low and restrict size but I think the roots have reached the compacted shale and are unable to penetrate it. It is already looking sick.
Such a shame, I hate admitting defeat but I think I have to this time. I do not enjoy watching my plants struggle. Hoi Hum!

 

I’m going to retire a jasmine today. It has struggled in a pot and is leggy. I have a lovely small-flowered rambling rose to replace (one of several from cuttings) and it does well in a large pot so should be ok. I’ll prune down the jasmine and plant in the ground (somewhere??) to see if it has a second life.

 

I potted on a couple of Toms and sown a few French & Runner Beans.

 

I potted on all my courgettes - 11 out of 12 seeds planted germinated and most now have their first true leaves.

Mowed the back lawn, and then sorted through my seeds and put together a mixture of flowers and herbs to scatter in a part of the garden I cleared yesterday. I will do that this afternoon.

I received some bare roots in the post yesterday - Aruncus Sparkles, Astilbe Dark Side of the Moon, Sedum Lajos and Sedum Orange Xenox - bought in Farmer Gracy's sale on a Free Shipping weekend. The Aruncus and Astilbe are now soaking and will be planted this afternoon. I've also got some Cobea seedlings to plant out, they are putting out long tendrils ready to climb up something.

 

It's freezing here so I'm not doing a lot! (West Yorkshire)
I've brought my washing in and they are now in the dryer.
Keep checking out the temp in cold frame incase I have to bring my tomatoes in before this evening. At the moments its reading 16.3C and looking at how dark the sky is I may be out soon to round them all up. (LOL - I only have ten)

 

The three varieties of tulips that I planted in a narrow bed on the bank in my lower garden flowered at different times this year but shed their petals together, perfectly synchronised, which was not the intention . Not impressed, I’ve cut them down to ground level this afternoon and am going to dig them up tomorrow and replace them with Nepetas for the bees and summer colour. I moved a potted Acer into a better location and watered some recently planted perennials, ferns, a Honeysuckle and a climbing Hydrangea which have all responded well to the recent heat.

 

I have finally finished the relocation of the Raspberry cage on the Allotments.

I had to do a repair to the bottom rail of the "door " and got the roof netting on. As I commented to a passing plot holder, I might be able to do some gardening now.

 

In theory no gardening today but we had our first outdoor garden visit in our village. Lovely to meet up and see what another gardener is doing and then you feel...how do they manage that when we cant. But a good morning.

 

2 planters for the new herb garden arrived today, so I have planned what to put where.
Lettuce potted on, gazanias planted in their big pots together for a splash of colour, petunias pricked out.
Happy.

 

Fixed wires to the fence to host the about 10 climbers I have hoarded from Morrisons (£2 each ) this spring.

The wire stuff kit from Amazon exceeded all expectations, very sturdy, well made and lots of extra bits. I wonder why many reviewers complain that instructions were not good. It wasn't that challenging to figure out I think- or perhaps I got it all wrong and will wake up to a disaster zone tomorrow

There was leftover length so The Child heroically drilled holes to the extension brick wall for the evergreen Clematis Wisley Cream, Iceberg rose and Tomatoes to climb. The Clematis and the rose are sharing a large container, I'm very aware that sooner or later things will need to change but both are easy to propagate from cuttings. If I get some greenness this summer and winter, I'm happy.

The Child is very good at drilling and does things like brick wall balancing on a step ladder without a blink. She however has a very strange habit, once the drill and associated tools are no longer needed, she packs everything neatly away and returns them to their place! Goodness knows where she got that from, not from me I'm sure!

Started the Big Potting On mission. Seed grown Festuca Glauca were so pot bound their roots looked like felted cubes. I apologised and told them they are humble grasses and will recover just fine.

A lot more potting on is planned for tomorrow and Monday. There has been so much going on that growth has crept in and everything is screaming for a bigger pot.

I wonder who thought 15 Chilli plants was a good idea in a small garden, in particular if we don't really eat that much of it? The three Artichokes will surely fit in somewhere, and 10 cucumber plants will be a doddle in the small greenhouse.

 

I was out until late afternoon but I decided to do a few bits before the sun went down.

I planted a hylotelephium (sedum) in the ground. This had grown on its own from a leaf from one of my other ones originally, and I had been growing it in a pot.

I also tried to rescue a rough looking carex by moving it to a pot, in a more shaded spot. It had been in the ground and was getting more sun that I originally thought.

I then divided an astilbe using my trowel and did a terrible job at it (one of the "halves" is much much smaller than the other). Looking at information online, apparently early Spring (or Autumn) would have been the time to do it, rather than May.. Let's see how it goes.

Finally, I divided a euphorbia. For that one, I used a saw. Much better results.

Tomorrow I need to do some weeding and mulching.. Which won't be anywhere near as fun And plenty of watering.

 

I have mowed the front grass, did a bit of weeding out there and gave the hypericum a light trim. Last year the hypericum sent out shoots 2 or 3 feet long with flower buds on the end, seemingly overnight (though I probably just wasn't paying attention). It was swamping all the nearby plants so I had to cut it and sacrifice the flowers for the year. So I am watching it like a hawk this year.

I've done no mow May in the past but decided not to this year. I've got plenty of wild spots in the garden, and the lawns will grow plenty of daisies, dandelions and self heal if I mow them.

 

Good job, you don’t have another spare five hours to come and do my patio? See you have been buying! Hope the four leggeds have been trained not to dig in your garden.