What are we doing in the garden 2025

I agree common sense is needed in some situation @On the Levels but even so, it's the law here so we don't touch them.

 

In the garden today, we're taking out the spent bulbs from the patio pots, and putting in the summer bedding. I'm re-ususing as much of the compost as possible, just beefing it up with slow release granules and a scoop full or two of fresh topsoil.
@fairygirl I've seen sawfly caterpillars on gooseberry and Roses so they are not new, I guess it's another mild winter down here that allowed more of these things to survive. I'm not certain but I think there are different sub species that attack different plants.

 

Finally planted my 3 remaining sunflowers; so long since I've grown them, do they need staking?
Runners and 2 courgettes planted out (2 more tomorrow) and pots earthed up in their sacks.
Hoed and conducted a losing battle with next door's sumac.
Will have to deploy the new solar pump to water the pots on the deck by the stream.
Has anyone seen my Night scented stocks?

 

Hmm I've been checking, I think it's not sawfly which attack the fruits but a small Ermine moth that make webs and feed on leaves within the wdb. Either way lots of people with Apple are affected on our Allotments this year

 

On Spring Watch they mentioned Ermine moths making huge webs where plants can be de-foliated - maybe it’s a ‘good’ year for them.

Unusually I didn’t have sawfly on my Solomon’s Seal this year (yet).

I stake my tall sunflowers @Penny_Forthem. I’ve done some shorter ones too this year.

I’ve cleared a small border of forget-me-nots and verbena seedlings (planted some elsewhere) so that can be for my Strawflowers, or maybe some sunflowers.

 

It is overcast and cooler today so I hope to do some potting on.
The resown sweetcorn are appearing, I am going to try growing some climbing French beans up the sweetcorn this year, also some climbing dwarf peas around the bottom of the runner beans. I am also going to sow some Love in the Mist around the bottoms of the sweetpeas, it might work, it might not. No sign of the resown Pink Grapefruit tomato so the batch of seed must have been duff as the replacement seed sent as a result of my complaint all germinated. Must remember to throw away duff seeds.
Isn't gardening exciting!

 

Things are feeling more normal here - it is cool and windy and the water is lapping at the highest step of the reservoir, so we can relax a little!
There is water too, though only a trickle, in the little gullies that are all over the garden to lead surplus to the ponds. The gullies are great favourites with our current family of ducks, who have been providing me with much entertainment. The mother Deirdre and the father Kevin have claimed the terrace as their own for the past few years. Deirdre is an experienced mother. She nests in the same place each year, at the end of the water reservoir, which is covered by a large Cotoneaster, a larger Chaenomeles with fearsome spikes and a tangle of honeysuckle. There's a rose in there somewhere too! Together these provide both shelter and protection for her nest.
This year she has successfully reared 12 ducklings from tiny balls of fluff to youngsters that are nearly as big as she is. No.13 was unlucky - it must have encountered a crow on its very first outing.
The other ducklings are well trained. At first Deidre kept them very close together and they did not venture far. She protected them all under her feathers at the first sign of danger. The tiny things were introduced to the big pond and learned how to swim. They explored a little further each day, learned new things to eat and new places to hide. As they got bigger they were allowed more freedom to roam, but always obeyed Mum. For the last 2 days she has had them all lined up in a row along the edge of the reservoir pool while she snuck a quick rest She allows them more independence now and they will be getting new feathers any day soon and learning to fly. I don't know how she communicates with them so well, but there must be many human parents who would envy her management technique!

 

I wasn't planning to do much in the garden today, because it's still very dry. However I was looking out of the window when making my first cup of tea, and saw a pair of ginger ears in the area just behind the little black fence:



I've had a ginger cat hanging out here far too much lately, but I also have a fox that visits, so I watched for a little while to make sure it was cat ears I was seeing, then I ran for the back door and opened it sharply, which is always enough to send the cat skittering off. I put up the black fence earlier this year, to stop cats lurking on the slope behind it and pouncing on birds that feed on the grass:


It's cheapo stuff from B&M but works very well. I also have it around my vegetable areas to discourage the foxes from digging. The birds appreciate it as an extra perching spot.

Anyway only a few minutes later I looked out again just in time to catch the same ginger cat pouncing from behind the corner of the patio. This time I threw open the window and hissed at him.


The very steep slope beyond the patio was covered in long grass and docks, giving him plenty of cover to get into position. So the job for the morning was to strim the slopes and recharge the batteries in all the cat scarers, and later I need to go down to B&M for some extra fencing. I don't want to block off the steps so I think I'll just put one fence unit aligned with the side of the patio, to stop them being able to jump out from there. It will look weird but should do the job.



I haven't attempted to strim the slopes in years, so it was the first time I'd tried it with a cordless strimmer which I normally just use for the edges of the lawns. It was very good, taking down some big tough docks and the young brambles that were emerging.

There are ladybird nymphs on absolutely everything at the moment. There were two on my watering can this morning and one on the water dish when I refilled it, and every plant seems to be hosting them. When I come in and sit down to relax, after a few minutes I feel one crawling on my neck or see one marching over my glasses, and have to take it back outside and persuade it onto a leaf. For some reason, they seem to prefer being on my skin!

 

Nothing today i went to see my friends.

 

Hope the apples are ok this year @Allotment Boy
I know sawflies are varied, and particular to certain plants, but I don't have any experience of them apart from occasionally the S's Seal one. None at this point [yet] but the plants are still in flower, and only just starting to go over now.
Not a lot done yesterday other than a bit of sorting/tidying beside the shed, planting out a couple of things, and potting on a few plants before the rain came on mid aftn. Today is wetter/windier, so it's doubtful I'll get much done outside at all. I'm currently renovating a large storage box, and putting it up on it's end, so it'll be more of small shed. I'll put shelves inside, and it'll be much more useful that way than as a box with a lid. The lid itself was damaged, so that needed removing, and the good half is now the roof, and recovered with new roofing felt.
Tomorrow looks better, so I should get that finished - fingers crossed.

 

I have been sorting out my tomato plants as they are needing more space. The 5 bush which were in the cold frame is now down to 3 - if they grow the same width as last years; then I will be adding another to the patio to join my 5 cordon. "apart from the patio doors being out-of-bounds until end of harvest! all is going well

 

I haven't grown tomatoes for years and after realising what I spend on buying them I have decided to grow some. Got 3 plants for £5 at my local mini GC. Two are trailing and one is a bush. I am expecting to keep then on the bench in the GH. I used to do the tall ones, but got fed up with arranging some scaffolding and greenhouses don't have many places to attach string from the roof. Otherwise my greenhouse is empty in the summer. Apart from cacti.

So we'll see how big they get.

 

My Tory MP is wilting! Never had a Corydalis do this before. The flowers are all droopy and if I cut the stems and pop them in a vase, they do not recover at all. As the compost is nice and moist, I can only think it is failing to suck up water for some reason. As it was £10 before P&P, I will be disappointed if a few weeks of flowers are my lot.

 

After a day in a vase, still limp and listless, both flowers and leaves.

 

Are the roots trapped in one of those little teabags @ViewAhead?