What are we doing in the garden 2025

@Robert Bowen, OH now thinks it might well be a badger as it's quite a deep hole and when we looked again, we found a smallish yellowish lump that looked a bit like a honeycomb so we are thinking a badger might be digging out a bee or wasp nest perhaps. I've not noticed any insects in that area though.

Do hope it's not a badger as they can be quite destructive. We've never seen them here but were told by our neighbours some years ago that they were around. We do live in a badger area.

 

@lizzie27 You could well be right but i hope not , first impression was badger but it might still be a different creature. I shall keep fingers crossed for you and that the excavations cease. If you can rig up a garden cam it might be worthwhile , if it is a badger they are very active around dusk if you are able to watch that spot.

 

Got up to 25 degrees yesterday and we’re due the same today and over the weekend. The gusty winds we’re having almost daily are spoiling it. A tall thistle and marigold got blown right over yesterday. Our parasol and retractable sun canopy on the wall are like games of yo-yo every day at the moment. In, out, in, out

 

Already 22C here and breezy. I'm off out to carry on planting up my new bed and some unadopted spare curcubits. Rain is expected but not much so shouldn't stop play.

We haven'tyet put up our parasol @Songbird. It's a large 4 x 3 cantilever jobbie on a very heavy base but we always attach the upright to the bars on the downstairs loo window, even when it's down.

 

My ex's back garden is used by the local foxes as a playground. They "borrow" things found in other gardens, bring them onto his lawn to play with and leave them there when bored with them. He has a pile of toys, gloves etc. but they prefer something new most days.

 

Today I’ve been doing a little late Chelsea chop on my sedum spectabile, having watched a 2-week old gardeners world last night. I was chuckling as I watched Monty put the cuttings on his compost pile. Is there anyone else who took their prunings and put them in pots of garden compost, in the hope of some new plants?!!

 

Depends on the plant @Sian in Belgium

 

It’s sedum spectabile, or ice plant. Pretty tough, but I don’t like lifting and dividing clumps too much on our sandy soil, as they need to get their roots down deep. If I get a few extra plants, great. Otherwise all I’ve lost is 20 mins of my time….

 

Re Clematis HF Young, it's the only one I've ever found to be really successful. I grew it in a large container against a north wall but with sun coming in from east and west. It was smothered in flowers every spring and never a moment's problem. No other Clematis has ever performed that well for me. Maybe I just got lucky and the one I picked was super-charged and raring to go.

 

Mowed the paths in the orchard. Again amazing how quickly the grass grows out there.
Picked a huge bowl of blackcurrants. Hadn't realised there were so many so soon (well for us it is soon). A small handful of loganberries.

 

@ViewAhead , oh maybe I’ll put the potted up HF Young clematis against a north facing fence now. Worth a try, thanks!

 

More weeding, planted another Impatiens, a Watsonii, a couple of lilies, a shrubby summer flowering Lonicera and an Amicia zygomeris.
Watered plants in greenhouse.

 

Planting up a border with potted gladioli, corn chamomile and Snapdragons, haven't finished yet maybe on Sunday.

 

Picked over a kilo of raspberries yesterday in the pouring rain. Now they're in the freezer ready to make jam. Today started fine, so I was able to repot some calanthe orchids. Then it started raining again.

 

Dot on 4pm I slammed my work laptop shut and rushed out to work on hiding the edge of the pond liner.

It was very hot and sunny, but I managed the edge all right, and then dug a trench outside to hide the spare length.

Then it was a matter of sort of levelling out the outsides to accommodate some bagged compost to plant the outside plants, and putting stones and old small bricks on the pond top shelf.

I have done about 12 rounds around the pond in stages to manage the edge. Surely there is a simple, logical way to do this in one go- if so, please do not tell me now.

Things are now more or less ready for tomorrow's downpour, then it's just the fun bits of planting and harvesting the nearby field for more rocks.

Oh, and I invested in further pond plants after splurging online on my favourites last week, two trays of watercress from Morrisons, 40p each. I was sure their security will jump on me when I used the self checkout for such and extravagant purchase but they were all right.

Can't take any photos of my progress right now as my hands are soaked in handcream.