What are we doing in the garden 2025

More weeding in the sunshine, trim edges of some of the beds. Maybe thin the Phyllostachys nigra still going strong a good 3 years after I was told they were all flowering and dying throughout the UK.

 

Good idea @fairygirl, the more plants the better. Thank you. I do like the little festuca glaucas myself.

Regarding the "Kojo No Mai" flowering cherry, I have 2 of them - the one in the photo is the oldest one and I would be feeling bad if I was to get rid of it completely, I was just going to move it to a less prominent spot. But for now that's not happening.

I will however be moving the other Kojo No Mai shortly to a different spot for now, and possibly gifting it altogether later on. I don't really care for it.

After that's done, I will also move a couple of lithodoras, possibly a hart's fern and then plant 2 Calamagrostis Karl Foerster.

I have already done some stretches to prepare my back for the work & I am about to start. I am excited.

EDIT: I have just tried to move the younger flowering cherry and it ended up being a murder - i had to snap a lot of the roots so I will just dispose of it. I think moving the mature one would not have worked.

 

The problem with chemical weedkillers is there knock-on effect on wildlife @Retired, not to mention humans, both directly and as they leach into the watertable and streams and rivers. Glyphosate and stumpkillers are banned here for private use. We have to hoe.

I doubt you've seen the last of that wisterai @Friendly. They seem to have a strong will to live.

@fairygirl looks as tho Dragon's Heart also requires a moist soil. I've found it and Ann F listed by online nurseries but not available till spring so I have time to do some more research.

 

Hi,

I fully agree with you @Obelix-Vendée I dislike using chemicals but using the hoe on couch grass would never eradicate it; the garden is too big to simply hoe but I've gone over a number of times with the petrol rotavator to break up the couch grass then it pulls out much easier by hand bringing the shortened ryzones with it; I've cleared one area doing this but it still takes a few years. I want rid of the couch grass rather than constantly fighting it; it spreads so rapidly.

There's no way I can hoe grass when it's like this; I'm resorting to reaching under with a gloved hand and trying to pull the grass out; it works but takes a lot of time. It would take a much stronger person than me to hoe grass; if I dig the grass out as sods then I lose valuable topsoil and I think our local tip doesn't allow soil. I'm doing the best I can.

Here's the area now cleared of couch grass and planted up but the grass at bottom left has been sprayed with weedkiller it being part of a pathway. My former neighbour a few years ago paid over £900 to have her gardens weeded and within a few weeks the weeds were there again. With my wonderful wife Bron passing away in March I'm now totally on my own coping with everything so decided to speed up getting rid of the couch grass; if I tried to get rid of it manually then by the time I got to the far end it would be growing again behind me. The stump is the remains of an 80' tall conifer I took down; I've removed over 30 very tall trees; it's hard work on the steep slope.

The very top right of the garden had creeping buttercups; it was covered and they were spreading incredibly fast; I spent ages on my knees using a trowel removing them individually; more have already started to grow but I can now get on top of them.

Our local council sprays the roadside and the lane at the top of the garden with weedkiller.

Kind regards, Col.

 

I put some stump killer on it so fingers crossed.

 

I've just done the same @Friendly, so my fingers are crossed too!

This morning I scraped up as much as I could of the builder's fallen mortar at the base of the rebuilt terrace wall. Will that be enough does anybody know or do I need to dig deeper and dispose of more soil? We're alkaline clay here but I do want to replace the wisteria with two new roses and will dig in a bag of manure before planting.

 

Today I planted out my two new shrubs - Coprosma and Eleagnus. I had to do a good bit of weeding to make space for the Coprosma. The creeping buttercup has gone mad in the last few weeks, and there's also lots of dock and small teasel. Having done that, I dug up a self-seeded Pheasant Berry and moved it to a more suitable location where I hope it will provide some much needed screening, and also planted out a Pennisetum that's been on my patio for months, and turned out to have roots coming out of the bottom of the pot. Finally a very pretty Holly Fern and a small Vinca were found homes - also with much weeding involved. I was very muddy by the time I finished.

 

Well none of that happened, planted some more chitted broad beans in the greenhouse, watered a few things. Then planted a Mahonia I've been trying to find a home for a couple of weeks. Then weeding, but the sun had ducked behind some clouds by that point. Removed a couple of things that had finished flowering.
Also noticed that a number of dahlias are going to open flowers in the next couple of weeks barring frosts of course.

 

@NigelJ our nigra has been in situ for over 15 years and hasn't flowered and still going strong. However our aurea did flower some years ago and died. A great pity as the stems are magnificent.

 

@On the Levels My Phyllostachys nigra must be a similar age to yours.

 

I've never chitted broad bean seeds @NigelJ. Do you just soak them or nick them?

Planning to sow some direct on Tuesday so am curious to know if they'll do better if prepped.

 

@Obelix-Vendée I soak them, then plant them up in the greenhouse until they are a reasonable size then into the garden and hopefully tough enough to survive slugs and pigeons.

 

Promised before and after pics...

The roof was leaking so a temporary hat.




With the smaller shed gone, I now have to redevelop the area.

 

Thanks @NigelJ. We have 9mm of rain forecast for Wednesday pm and another 30mm for the next week so they should be fine but I might soak them overnight on Monday, just in case they change their minds.