What are we doing in the garden 2025

Yesterday finally planted out snapdragons, Ipomoea ect plus some more perennials that were now large enough. Found some Paeonia lutea seedlings potted up two and left one in the ground. Watered everything well.
Found that Dahlia excelsa was sprouting from where it was planted in the ground some three months after the greenhouse one put in an appearance, D imperialis is reaching for the sky.

 

I am feeling hugely guilty. Clematis Cassandra currently in full-on mode, taking up a vast amount of space with its lax branching spilling out of the boundaries of its raised bed by nearly a metre, causing things in the ground alongside to really struggle and stopping me getting to the outside tap to fill my watering can. So, I have cut back 5 stems. It seems horribly ungrateful when it manages, without any help from watering etc, to produce scented flowers for months on end which attract many, many bees. I have put the cut stems in a vase, but even so, it has a right to feel highly miffed. I will move the plants struggling beneath its canopy later in yr, so hopefully next summer I don't need to be so unkind to it.

 

Today I'm going to cut back all my Nepetas as their flowers are nearly finished. Another flush will follow. A case of the Hampton Hack, which sounds like a very unpleasant cough . There's enough other flowers to keep the bees and butterflies happy. I'm going to reduce the number of canes on another clump of bamboo before it gets out of control and I've got another late flowering Allium to plant in my sunny border. The lawn needs cutting but I fed it last week so I'll just cut the edges to smarten it up.

 

@Robert Bowen , I know... I'll pickle the Piccolo di Parigi ones (I'll try my Granddad's famous recipe which is partly secret so has an element of surprise ) and eat as many Divas and Restinas fresh as I can- cucumber is my favourite fruit especially with Dill.

Sadly, I totally forgot to sow Dill this year.

The rest will be force fed to friends and colleagues, and one of my friends volunteers with local food charity so I'll ask him too in case I get overwhelmed.

Just don't venture in my territory, @NigelJ , North from Durham is mine

 

Out of interest, how many cucs does one plant produce? (I have never grown a vegetable of any description. )

 

I did some of the shelving in my cupboard yesterday, which was a bit of a faff, but the good breeze was helpful. After my walk, I got some plants in, and pretty much finished the gate - just a little 'top' to put on it, but I had to go out by the time I'd got it painted, so I'll do that today. Last night's rain will have watered everything in, and the rain later today will do the same for the other things I'll plant today. I might do my comfrey feed - as it's well 'fermented' now!

 

Not much just picked gooseberries and did some watering.

 

@fairygirl You had rain and more to come ! I feel many of us would be prepared to do a rain dance now and the heat is so oppressive - 28C overnight in our bedroom. Gardening has been a watching brief these past few days but tomorrow is set to be low 20’s so maybe some action then ! I am amazed there are no thunderstorms

 

Only 27.9 in my bedroom at 5 am, @Robert Bowen. That 0.1 lower is the benefit of being near(ish) to the coast. Going to be even hotter today, so just watering on the agenda.

 

Only 27.9C !! I am jealous . Stay cool @ViewAhead and everyone else for that matter.

 

What I don't understand about coastal living is that, in winter, our predicted temps are a couple of degrees higher than a town but in summer it's a couple of degrees cooler. Surely the sea breeze is there all year round so why the difference. As you can tell I'm not a scientific person...

 

The breeze temp is affected by the water temp, I believe. In winter, the water is warmer than the land but in summer cooler. So, in winter the breeze raises the temp but in summer lowers it, with the effect diminishing as you move further inland from the coast.

At least I think that is how it works ... though my Geog A level days are a long time ago now. Summer of 76 to be precise ... and unfortunately I was not living near the coast during a sweltering June exam season. No sea breezes on the London/Surrey border.

 

Thank you @ViewAhead , that makes perfect sense - even to me! I did geography to O-level way back in '72 but failed it

 

That's why I like to walk by the sea, cooler in summer but not so sure about winter with those winds off the Irish Sea . (I didn't do Geography, Biology instead!)

 

I did Biology too @Plantminded and passed that one. Just couldn't "take" to Geog at all. Maybe that's why I've never wanted to travel!