What are we doing in the garden 2025

A long day at the Allotments yesterday, so taking it easy today. I've finally got the main structure and side netting up on the fruit cage. I need to get the beds done and get the plants in soon. I put extra brackets on to reinforce the structure, not difficult but fiddly.

That's what took all the time.

 

I’ve put the poly greenhouse up today, after some mending.

I’m hoping my seedlings (indoors) will come on this week (warm and sunny) so when they are potted-on they will go in the greenhouse.
I’ve just weeded and dug 2 patches at the side of a border ready to receive sunflowers and cosmos when they are ready.

 

Had a pack of six penstemons arrive today, plus, the village garden, craft and food fair today - which meant that OH came home with more plants (Nemesia Lady Lucy) - and seeds (Hollyhocks).

So I've been preparing soil - adding compost and grit to areas of the garden that really appear to have been neglected for years. Probably because the previous owner couldn't get to them.
I'm going to use that three large sacks of compost in no time!!

 

I moved two ferns and a Heuchera from a container into a shady border which I have recently made larger and deeper to accommodate a honeysuckle which is starting to make progress. I used the container to plant a new small Acer Sango Kaku. I had one before in a border but it didn’t fare well, probably because of the sandy soil. The red bark becomes more intense in winter so it will make a nice feature.

 

More weeding. Then I dug up a beautiful white double flowered hellebore which had to be moved, split it into two but now can't find enough space/shade in the garden to plant it elsewhere. Don't really want any more potted hellebores.
I also bagged up dozens of native primroses and have put these at the end of drive so people can help themselves - I've got more than enough in this garden.
I dug up an unwanted Red Hot Poker so must decide what to do with this. I really tried to like it but not keen at all. Don't like the way the flowers die off.
Sat in the Hanging Chair with a cuppa and just chilled out listening to all the birdsong.

 

Watered half the planet. We haven't had any rain all April and are expecting 20c next week so everything got a very good soak, and after half an hour, another good soak.

Peat free compost is tricky to water, and as most of my plants are still in containers, watering is a form of art.

Potted Daff Minnows got fertiliser in hope of egging them on to next year when they get into the ground somewhere... here and there... , indoors cacti got a round of seaweed booster and the raised bed got watered through the fleece in hope not to dislodge the germinating seeds.

A peek under the fleece suggests that we may need to find more uses for radishes in the coming weeks. A hint of lettuce and a wink of carrot-ish germination is visible too.

The Child deadheaded the weeds. The clay soil is so hard that we could rent the garden out for HGV parking space, any digging is out of the question which is a bit of a shame as I want to get the pond excavations going.

Whitewashed the new 25cm terracotta pots (2 for £4 at Morrisons ) and some other ones, making an incredible mess with the painty water and sponge.

At least the whitewash and paint on my hands balances out the currently permanently black rims under my nails. In the office my colleagues are already quite used to the state of my hands and just ask how my Tomatoes are doing.

 

Pulled up the last of the kohl rabi. Found some seedlings so replanted them but don't hold up much hope. Weeded in the tunnel and cut back the bolting salad leaves so that we still have some leaves while the young seedlings are settling in. Repotted 2 orchids that are miserable. Hardly any roots. Not sure what has happened as they were doing really well. Noticed the sawflies are out and already deleafing the gooseberries again. The apple blossom on the trees in the orchard is absolutely gorgeous and thankfully there are many pollinators around.

 

Emptied out two large planters of their contents - Swiss chard in one (now finished, having eaten from it since planting last summer), and bulbs in the other (transferred from one of the beds, but proving mainly flowerless, so now thrown out).

Started to cut back the winter jasmine, as it's blocking access to one of the windows we are having replaced.

Lots of watering.

 

I have cut back enough bulb foliage to plant and copiously water sweet peas. They gave a gasp of delight.
Potted on my one scotch bonnet from own seed.
The basket of fire are slow.
Looked at the list I made; still mostly a 'to do'. If I can get 2 done per day, I can relax next weekend.

 

Having spread 150L of bagged compost over the flower beds, it's clear there's not enough if I've got any hope of suppressing weeds and saving plants from drying out too much. So another 100L bag has been opened. This 100L is applied a bit differently.

Several trays of hardened annual and perennial seedlings have been planted (common evening primrose, primulas, Cosmos). Seedlings were planted trying to not to disturb the ground too much, afterwhich I've added a good thickness of compost as mulch. I reckon doing it this way a thick layer of compost is placed where it's needed the most. Also planted marigold plants around the carrot bed, pleased to say there a good carrot germination this year.

As I went round the beds planting, I tidied the edge of the lawn/flowerbed. I'll go round and tidy the whole edging once I've got the plants in.

Dug out a small 10 inch trench of gravel between the patio and the lawn, removing the gravel and the thistles and couch grass, washed the gravel, and placed it back.

Noticed the sunflowers have had their leaves stripped again. This has happened every year! The culprit is my dog! Thank goodness they're not toxic. Sunflowers and grass are the only plants he likes, I guess I should be pleased.

The lupins were infested with goodness knows what, the bugs are like huge greenfly. They had the hosepipe turned on them which thankfully washed the bugs away. You'd think that as the lupins are right under the bird feeders, the birds would oblige and eat the bugs. Come on you ladybirds!

 

Greenhouse potting up stuff and watering, refilled runner bean trench and then weeding.

 

I had several bags of different types of compost all less than a third full, so today I raked aside the bark on the shady border where I grow ferns and emptied all the bags on it as an extra mulch and then raked the bark back over it. The compost should help to retain more moisture. I then removed the three trunks of an ancient Berberis darwinii which had become lacking in vigour and infected with a fungus, using a combination of a pruning saw and a bow saw. It was in an awkward place in a narrow border between the steps and fence so it took a bit of effort. I then mowed the lawn, trimmed the edges and watered most of the perennials and shrubs that have either been moved or added this year, plus all my containers.

 

Birds don't go for the lupin aphids @Jenny_Aster some of mine died because of them, strange that they were alright for a few years. Watered the tubs with the spring bulbs in.

 

Mowed the lawns, edged them and swept up.

Repotted the pelargoniums that I have kept from last year. My multi-purpose compost is full of mushrooms and they keep coming up in the pots.

Washed the squirrel baffle as the parakeets poop all over it.

Had a chat with my neighbour - he is so generous - he brought me some marzipan chocs from the Netherlands just because I had put his dustbin away. Very nice chap.

I have left about half the contents of the GH out on the patio tonight. This includes all the runner beans, which are in peat pots and are about 9in tall. I think it will be warm enough and there don't seem to be many slugs around.

Tomorrow I need to wash the windows as they are covered in dust.

 

I'm not sure where it came from or how old it is. I don't recall seeing it when I viewed the house. I think the problem is it's got too big for the size of the planter. I don't have any ground space to plant it into and couldn't get it out of the planter anyway without cutting it right back, so have done that. It was a battle to remove it ! I've got some new plants to put into the planter.