What are we doing in the garden 2025

I had intended planting bulbs this pm but spent so long trying to get thru to the bank that there wasn't time so contented myself with a brief potter in the polytunnel checking on my babies and the recently re-potted citrus that we moved in there on Sunday. OH and I can still manage them between us @Allotment Boy as I put them in plastic pots and let them get a bit dry before we lift them. One of these years they're going to need to be protected in situ tho.

Checked my sowings of broad beans and peas and I have no beans and one teeny pea shoot in the ground but almost a full showing of the peas I sowed in a wide, shallow pot for their shoots. By then I realised just how cold and penetrating the wind is today so, after scrubbing 5 hen nesting boxes clean and getting my trousers wet I have retreated indoors to get warm and dry.

Will have to do bulbs tomorrow as I have booked OH to scrub out the hen shed on Friday ready for new tenants arriving on Saturday. He's golfing tomorrow.

I love all that anthracite and black paint on your fences @Plantminded and @fairygirl but have no fences to paint here. However, I am planning a new seating area behind the house and was looking for antracite metal screens for privacy from passing walkers. Found one I like - 2m x 1m reduced from 125€ to 92€ a panel on one site, 235€ on an eco and bio site and then finally the manufacturers selling them at 89€. Mad.

 

Thank you @Obelix-Vendée, fences are a necessary evil here. After trying several colours I’ve found that black works best as it recedes and makes all the greens look greener. A good colour for your metal screening too, good luck with it .

 

We are out in the country @Plantminded and have stock fence mesh on 3 sides with trees and shrubs making a hedge along 2 sided of that. The fence along the lane is a finer mesh and has an assortment of shrubs along the back bit and a hedge of ash, hawthorn, ivy and bramble along the front half. We're not overlooked bur can be visible to walkers which increase in numbers from the Easter hols to Halloween which is when we'll be wanting to sit out there.

 

Hi,

I thought a guitar had been delivered at dinnertime today.


It was my new fork bought through eBay brand new at only £11.99 delivered very quickly indeed by Evri. All I need now are dry warmer days then I can test drive it.

Kind regards, Col.

 

@Retired I have a stainless steel "ladies" fork with a wooden handle that I bought in 1989. It's still going strong because I clean it after every use - and have finally trained OH to do it - and I clean and oil the handle once or twice a year, especially before the winter rest.

The stanless steel spade didn't last as long. It had a resin handle which OH managed to snap when he came across the base of a wall, buried in our Belgian garden in the mid 90s. We're on the 3rd replacement now but have also bought a root slayer and its trowel sidekick. They are brilliant for digging out thick weeds, heavy soil and even stones. Might help with your couch grass problem - https://www.rootslayer.uk/product-page/rootslayer

 

No signs of the broad beans germinating in pots in the tunnels so have brought the pots into the garden room which maybe a bit warmer...or not.

 

Personally I've never really liked stainless steel garden tools and much prefer a good ash or hickory handle, this time of year these handles feel less cold to me.
I use old Bulldog tools, a couple of spades and a fork that are 40 years old and an older border fork, rake, hoe and cultivator. These have pried, chopped and levered all sorts of materials over the years with little damage.
The only tools I've managed to destroy were trowels and then I got one with a forged one piece blade and handle fixing, handle is bright red and I've still lost it several times so I have a very similar spare.

 

In the greenhouse yesterday checked over the species dahlias that are still growing, removed more soil from around some of the hybrid dahlias which are all finished.
Checked the broad beans and I currently have 10 growing, may need to get some more seed and get these started Jan/Feb time when I start the sweet peas off.
The Lilium henryii seed is starting to germinate. Then watered as required.
The Dahlia imperialis, D excelsa and D campanulata are still green and healthy as are the Impatiens tinctora, Ricinus communis and the rampant nasturtiums.

 

Hi,

Thank you so much for your interesting and useful information @Obelix-Vendée and for the link I've just browsed. Quite a while ago I gave a full sized stainless fork away because I seldom used it; ideally I'd have liked to buy a ladies gardening fork but they seen to come as a kit with other tools so I've bought this cheap full sized fork to try; this fork is carbon steel with resin shaft and it's heavy so I wonder what it will be like loaded with soil. I have a well worn ladies digging spade which was left here 38 years ago and has done considerable work; it's razor sharp with use. I also have a full size stainless digging spade I never use. If the resin shaft breaks I'll replace it with a traditional wooden shaft and handle. I too take great care with all my tools and machinery; the oil can gets used but for things like wooden handles I apply linseed oil taking care to dispose of linseed coated rag otherwise it's a huge fire risk combusting on its own if left bundled. I clean all my tools immediately after use and I also keep them sharp and fully lubricate; well done you for doing the same and for mentioning it.



I was having lots of problems creating the memorial garden until I bought one of the above and it completely transformed the job; it was a great deal easier breaking the compacted hard dry soil with lots of stones; it was money well spent.

The RootSlayer looks a very useful bit of kit; I've often seen these for sale secondhand whilst visiting Rufforth Auto Jumble. Because of the number of times I've rotavated the meadows the ground is now pretty soft having had all the large stones and many tree roots removed; it's this dire weather that's causing problems; it's rained so much and with some snow yesterday soaking the soil also it's now too bitterly cold to be kneeling on the exposed steep garden; next Tuesday though is forecast better regarding weather so fingers crossed I can once again resume couch grass hostilities. It's kind of you to think about me @Obelix-Vendée I'm still on track though to clear the middle meadow of couch grass before Christmas; I'm about half way and with a few weeks left to do the rest.

Clearing this couch grass is an unpleasant job; whilst the rare sun is on me it's quite therapeutic kneeling with the hand trowel but mostly it's a real pain; I want to get it out this year then next springtime I can remove any showing its head very easily before planting. If I wait until next springtime to remove it then immediately plant I'll be asking for problems this is why I'm so keen to crack on.

Last night I started to read the book I bought recommended by @Logan which is pointing me in the right direction as to which shrubs to buy and which to avoid; thank's again @Logan.

No gardening today; it's bitterly cold so the heating's on in the studio; I'm about to go in there and shut the world out.

Kind regards, Col.

 

Frost didn't seem too bad last night. A little on roof tiles, but none on the ground, so my fleece + clothes peg arrangements may have been enough. Even the unprotected annual Impatiens are only slightly wilted looking.

That said, if I am going to lose plants, I would rather it happened in Nov than next April. Less faff all round.

 

A tiny amount of snow this morning! Based on the difficulty of scraping the car windscreen, it fell, then melted a bit, then refroze. Surprisingly only the very top leaves of impatiens balsamae seems to have suffered, the low growing impatiens omiana look fine as do the hedychium. I need to check that the heater did its work in the greenhouse. I tried using a "new" heater in there a couple of days ago, and it blew the RCD! So I've reverted to a trusty one. I have a properly rated one for there, but it only seems to have 1 element working. I guess I could replace the faulty one, but it's a faff.

 

In the greenhouse today I noticed that while most of the still growing dahlias looked alright the potted D imperialis looked the worst for wear however it was closest to the glass, the other plants are about 2 ft or more away from the glass. In fact it looked worse than the big one in the ground.

 

I finished my fence painting this afternoon. It was cold and windy but dry and sunny so it could have been worse . I decided to leave the area behind the hedge because it’s narrow and awkward, a lazy option, like painting around furniture . I’ll do it in spring. I also did some leaf clearing and weeded part of the border below the fence. I put some fleece in the crown of the tree fern as the temperature’s going to get near zero overnight. I also removed the hose from the outside tap and put a padded sleeve on the tap.

 

I did exactly the same thing yesterday. So glad I remembered as we got down to -4°C last night.