What are we doing in the garden 2024

Nothing today it's been raining and the ground is still too wet to walk on.

 

Probably go out and get some parsnips to go with the pie this evening

 

Beaten indoors after a few minutes because of the wind, the rain, the cold. :(

 

Recovered now after New years so much more productive . Got the plant labels and small pots / trays for seedling washed . And I've been having a tidy up in the GH and brushed the staging down and the floor, glass will need cleaning later . Hopefully I may get some seeds sown this week . Think I'll clean the little propagator out later or tomorrow.

Nearly forgot potted up the last of the Tete la tet daffodils replacing some lilies I had in that pot which didn't preform last year , and potted up a Scillia Madeirensis. Still got some tulips to plant another job for this week.

 

Hi,

I can't even see the garden; 7:52am. GRRRRRR.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Sowed a few seeds today - 4 types of begonia - Ivy pelargoniums and some Clematis flammula . Cleaning out the little stewart propagator and got that up and running .

 

Hi,

After overnight heavy rain a dry but cold day with a rare bit of sunshine.

This morning wash & dry the car it needed it. This afternoon I thought I'd make the most of it because the weather is sure going to turn very wintry and today might be the last chance. I was cold when I went out wrapped up like an Eskimo but I've just come indoors wet with sweat.


left side of garden with weeds and grass daring to show themselves; there's shrubs and Potentilla's so I needed to work around these. Two years ago this area was full of couch grass so I rotavated and again last year rotavated twice; this shredded the couch grass so when it did regrow it was very easy to pick it out by hand.

Here's the right side of the garden having just been rotavated; the garden is steep as can be seen by the wall which is built horizontally; the steepness makes rotavating a real challenge and hard work but much quicker and easier than trying to stand upright whilst digging which I've done a lot of.


The left side after rotavating; I don't think the weeds will have appreciated it but now I can relax until next March when I rotavate once again. The restored Howard Bulldog petrol rotavator is difficult to control but it does a good job.

All in all a decent day today without high wind or rain bucketing down and something to show for it.

3:46 and already quite dark.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Clearing herbaceous stems eg diascia, crocosmia, gingers. Verbena bonariensis is putting out new side growth high up on the stems, so it will have to remain. Unfortunately also found a hole in the soil suggesting a rat has been burrowing along a wall. I'm going to have to take measures (unless next door's cat manages first - my cats don't bother!)

 

No clearing away of anything here until the forecast cold spell is over, or indeed until the end of February One of the few advantages of being on a slope is that not much is visible from the house, so no problem leaving old,tatty foliage as protection. There was much wrapping-up of tender, homeless plants on the terrace today, ready for the -3Cs/4Cs to come. Couldn't get everything in the temporary conservatory this year () so borderline stuff like Holboellia, Jasmine sambac and Daturas got shoved under the remaining roof and will have to make do with several layers of fleece. There's a pink caviar lime that I particularly dislike, with pitifully small fruits and vicious spines. He can live or die
I have proposed an extension of the conservatory frames to OH as a nice little project for next spring/summer. Ohh the enthusiasm was underwhelming

 

I've just tidied up the front border today , I keep trying to leave it for winter structure / wildlife but half of its on the deck just becoming a sloppy wet mess , left a few bits that look ok but cleared the rest and did some weeding . Shredded the bits up with the lawnmower for the heap .

 

After weeks not being able to work outside and with the sun shining I decided to to tidy up in the garden. Ten minutes later it started to cloud up and light rain followed not long after. Shrubs pruned, dead herbaceous foliage removed, slabs under the bird station scrubbed and bird bath cleaned. Driven indoors by the rain, within half an hour the sun was back. I did notice the Lupins showing some new growth a little too early, as snow is bound to catch them out as the month progresses.

 

Hmmm....I gave up years ago on all that malarkey about how lovely dead perennials look with the frost on them. Given that most of the winter, it's wet, cloudy, foggy etc, as you say, it all just looks a complete mess. If and when I get ahead of myself with the mulching, my ideal would be to clear the borders but mulch heavily for frost protection. If nothing else, it would provide hours of fun for the blackbirds!

 

The sparrows sternly advised me to fill the feeders before I was half way through my morning cuppa. I obeyed, and cleaned the pond fountain pump too- a wonderful testimonial to cheap Chinese workmanship.

The tiny solar fountain is now on it's third year, has been frozen solid over winters and yet it is merrily pffut pffut pffutting away right now, spraying away happily in the bleak January "sunshine". Not bad for a £20 device

Mr Blackbird had left me a surprise worm in the middle of the paving. Very kind of him, it's not the first time. No idea why, but he has been spotted carrying worms in his beak and leaving them close to the back doors.

Perhaps it's Blackbirdeese for "well done for leaving the piles of rotting leaves around".

 

Hi,

I've just been up the garden raking the two areas I rotavated yesterday so am now very pleased indeed by how they look.

However my bubble was burst as I came down to the patio and decided to inspect the many plug plants I've recently put into the new flower beds; I wasn't at all amused to find six of the plugs laying on top of the soil. We've had so much rain over the last few weeks all I can guess is the plugs must have floated out; the problem now was were had I initially planted them so simply put them back in at random. Perhaps I should have added an anchor to each whilst I planted them. Our Yorkshire climate is dire the year round.

Kind regards, Colin.