What are we doing in the garden 2025

@daisym - sometimes it's the dirt that's holding things together, and when you clean it, the bits don't work the way they should! I'm joking, but at the same time, it does happen with various things, so perhaps it'll be better having been left for a day - ie drying out. Hope you get it sorted anyway.
Maybe I'm missing something @Selleri - but I don't understand your label thing.

Yesterday I managed to get the little wooden container/box made for the front border [under the window] but it needs a little trim round the top so I'll get that done today, and maybe some stuff put in it. It was an ideal job for in beside the shed where it was cooler/shadier. Far too hot for me elsewhere in the back garden to do much once the sun came round. Bit of deadheading and I lifted the sedums [hylotelephiums] from the front, and one bit will go in that box, with some spring bulbs. Painted the newly sorted toadstool/mushroom, and the new box, and then got the grass cut later on after a break from the sun.
Today is cloudy just now, so I'll get a walk soon and then do the edging on the box, hopefully while it's still cool, and probably not much more as younger daughter is coming over around midday.

 

I'm slowly sorting out the old tulip bulbs that i dug up this year and re use the big ones and the next size down.

 

Started the day stripping gloss paint that was peeling from the front of the shed. I had to give up on that as it needs a heat gun to remove the rest. Who in their right mind uses gloss paint on a shed?

Stripped one large and one small spotted Laurel of their branches ready for digging out. I've never liked them, they look as if they've been spattered with paint. Then moved on to tackle a widely spread dead Hebe. The branches are so intertwined it's been a slow process so will carry on tomorrow.

 

Baby ones don't look too bad. I've learned over the yrs almost any plant can seem appealing when it is 6" tall.

 

I quite like the spotted laurels as long as they're in a distant corner of the garden. Can really brighten up a dark spot.

 

With you on the spotted laurels @Sheal , but I don't like spotted foliage on anything. Always looks sickly to me. I got rid of Pulmonaria in one garden [that I'd bought not inherited!] because of that. Yuck.
I didn't do much yesterday due to daughter arriving earlier, but it got too hot anyway, so I wouldn't have done much more. Finished my little 'box' for the front border. It'll sit on the roof of the hedgehog house- which never gets used, but it wouldn't stop them using it anyway. I got a piece of Sedum/Hylo'ium planted in it, and one pot of crocus that I had. I'll find some more bulbs to put in it too. Fed the toms, which are still very slow to ripen. I think they stalled a bit due to it being too hot more than anything, which is unusual here, but that's how it is. I'll use them for sauce when they eventually decide to play ball and I have too many!
Today is thankfully cooler and cloudier until later, and breezy, so I'll get my walk and then get on with a few things. I have a sibirica Iris I could plant, and a couple of other bits and pieces that need homes. Might try and tackle the shrub under the front window again, as it'll be good for any grafting out there.

 

My attitude is if you want to grow variegated plants you grow them in your own garden, preferably out of sight.

 

I like variegated plants @NigelJ , but the spotted ones are a bridge too far for me

I also draw a line at those multi coloured variegated Kilmarnock willows - Flamingo.

 

I agree! Stripes down leaves, fine. Hostas with patterns in different shades, lovely. Spots, ghastly. I have enough powdery mildew without plants pretending to suffer with it.

My garden could win awards right now.

Garden that has had the least attention for multiple consecutive weeks.
Garden with the greatest number of Carex grasses swamping everything.
Garden with the most tree roots spouting suckers through the grass.

I could fill a cabinet with trophies.

 

I have been disappointed with Dahlias this year, they've either been chomped by something or just look as if they are harbouring a grudge . I removed the two in a small raised bed at the bottom of my bank yesterday and replaced them with two Molinias which I haven't grown before. They are M. caerulea 'Heidebraut', a medium sized upright grass which looks good in flower and should provide interest over winter. I also added a bright red Salvia, S. gregii 'Radio Red' which certainly transmits its colour a distance! It may need some protection over winter so I'll keep an eye on it. I then deadheaded the Heleniums again and gave any thirsty looking plants a watering. Today is overcast and cool so I'm hoping this will allow the borders to perk up and keep going for a bit longer.

I grew that spotted Pulmonaria once @fairygirl and had to promote it to the garden waste bin . I do like variegated foliage though, especially Phormiums and Hostas.

 

Tackled the eco polytunnel. Too hot for many of the plants even though we have watered. So now cleaned out much. Harvested the last of the "spring" onions and once cleaned and salted have now put them in apple cider vinegar with a small courgette.
Did also harvest some rocket that is still doing well.
When it starts to get cooler we will sow some more salad leaves, pak choi and kohl rabi.
Learnt a lesson not to plant tomato plants near the chinese yams. They just didn't grow.

 

I continued with moving plants from my no longer sunny area to other parts of the garden to get the light they need. Some plants, well, it was the wrong time to move them but at this point I don't care. I just wanted to get a clearer idea of how much space I'll need to figure out how many shade lovers I should source.

The guessers say it will stop raining in about three hours. There is not yet one drop here so I have already missed out on the first 1/2 hour predicted..

Free water would definitely be a bonus for my newly transplanted friends.

If it does start raining, I can spend the time indoors trying to figure out what shade plants to buy. I really don't want a zone of "hosta heaven"...

 

I will accept gentle variegation, different shades of green or as in Arum italicum or similar, but too many stick out like a sore thumb.