What are we doing in the garden 2025

Some box moths are have beautiful colourings/markings, they vary quite dramatically from one to another

We have decided to remove our knot garden. The damage so far isn’t as bad as I feared (so far) but it is looking quite scrappy in parts. The box moths seem to particularly prefer one particular section, interestingly the part in most shade. I did consider just moving that section, it’s quite standalone pattern wise, but of course the moths would then simply increase their attacks on the other sections

I can quite understand, now, why some let their hedges get so bad before they admit defeat and rip them out. When it’s your own, I think there are a series of stages -

1. The damage is marginal so you tell yourself that it will soon be hidden by new growth
2. You don’t notice quickly followed by refuse to notice it getting incrementally worse until it’s impossible to ignore
3. You develop ways of moving past said box without looking at it - like the women avoiding looking in mirrors in a certain beauty product advert. Unfortunately instead of a joyful ‘ta-dah’ moment when said product has erased your wrinkles, the box moth army is still wreaking its havoc and has erased your hedge
4. You then travel through the classic gardeners trilogy of desperation “it will recover - it might recover - am hoping for a miracle”

 

The title of this thread is in the wrong tense as I never do what I intend to do when I go out; so I can only report what I did.
I get distracted by what needs doing.
So yesterday weeding, watering for starters. Then planted out Dahlia campanulata, Fuchsia paniculata and Camellia tsaii at the side of the house.

 

I mulched a border of mixed of perennials and roses yesterday in anticipation of a hot dry spell and increased watering demands. There's a rounded conifer in one of my borders which I worry about trimming for fear of ruining the shape but I managed to do it. I then cut back some hardy geraniums that were overwhelming their neighbours, lightly tidied a Camellia with some hedging shears and removed all the leaves it had dropped earlier in the year. Some of my bamboo then got a trim. I like to remove all the growth from the bottom third of the canes to reveal their colour which stands out against my black fencing. I finished off with some deadheading and watering.

 

I think I'm very like you @NigelJ !
Did practically none of the things I intended doing yesterday. It was a similar day to the previous one though, rain on and off all morning, and my lack of sleep meant I really wasn't wanting to do anything at all. I eventually went out in the afternoon and managed to relocate a flag Iris to a better spot near the other one. It had been in the pond [contained of course!] and was quite hefty, but no great problem to sort out. It went into the hole where I'd removed some I. chrysographes which were getting crowded out. I put a barrier around it on planting, so it should be fine there. The other one is a bit further along, and similarly contained.
I now have several clumps of chryso, and might offer some to my daughter's colleague that we gave some other Iris to the other day. We're getting eggs in return as she has chickens. Result! At least it should be easier for her to keep slugs off them too.

 

Too hot to do much, so watering duties only. I got the hose out of the garage for the first time in two yrs. I prefer using a watering can as I can be more accurate hitting roots not leaves, but it looks set for a couple of weeks of temps in the mid-20s with no rain in sight, so the hose is my back-up plan.

 

Agree about watering cans being better. When our water butts are empty the back-up plan is to fill the cans with the hose.

 

@ViewAhead If you can, water in the morning it gives the leaves time to dry out.

 

I always refill my butts with tap water, I only use the butts for watering pots but even at this time of the year warmer water is better, it also allows some of the chlorine to get away.

 

I have four water butts that are roughly half full. If they get empty
I refill with the hose.

 

Ideally, I would, but on hot days I have to cram everything in by 9 am (my walk, any shopping or errands, etc), so even though I'm up early, it's a squeeze to do it before the sun is on the plants. Also, watering makes my back ache fiercely, so if I do it in the evening, I have fewer hrs of extreme discomfort before I can go to bed and lie on my side.

 

If watering the garden I usually put the hose on trickle and lay it in root area, just move it around from time to time, I don't water over the leaves.

 

All right, hands up, I admit it, I'm not doing anything useful at all, but I don't care!
Everything is looking so lovely and I am enjoying the sunshine while it lasts. I think I have been more idle, yet enjoyed the summer more this year than any other and all the plants seem to feel the same and have come out en masse.
For once the roses haven't been battered to death by the rain, so the petals aren't bruised and don't fall off and the other garden plants have opened all their flowers and gloried in the sun. I am just pottering around admiring them. The grass is far too long already (not fit to call a lawn!) but it looks beautiful with many different little flowers and pretty waving grasses and I don't want to spoil things with the noise, when I can listen to the curlews calling and watch the few swallows that made it back here.
I know things will probably all finish at the same time and then it will look rather empty, but there are still some more plants in the offing so there will be other things to watch out for later. And soon I hope to see the baby ducks take flight. They have nearly all their feathers now and are practicing wing flapping, so it can't be very far off!

 

Far too hot to do anything in the garden today apart from draping an old sheet over my small leanto greenhouse and wandering up to the top of the garden to pick more strawberries for tea.

It looks like there is going to be a bumper crop of blackberries very soon as they are red already and this heat will ripen them very quickly.