What are we doing in the garden 2026

Just done a big prune of a 12' Pyracantha. Yes the berries can be nice but I'm struggling to remember why I planted it 25 years ago or thereabouts. Needed thick gloves to feed it into the shredder.

 

A very satisfying tidy up.

The Cosmos/ cornflower/ chamomile/ whatnot stems are gone, and any wildlife sheltering underneath is told to man up and stop watching too much eco-friendly telly programmes.

Carted out the last bag of rubbish and sub-clay I have been hiding in the bin for a year, sighed, straightened my back and saw the situation behind my Cordyline where I have been throwing the stuff. Ah well, perhaps by midsummer...

Returned from front with more gravel bags. The path eats loads of the stuff!

Swept the front as I'm a tidy person and sweep it regularly, every year.

 

My sympathies @LunarSea, your Pyracantha sounds as lethal as our soon to be gone Berberis.

I didn't do anything in the garden today as I feel fair wore out and thought I needed a rest.

 

I took a few massive ones out last summer and I've still go the scars to prove it.
Even had thorns going through my shoe soles.

Cant really understand anyone planting it to be honest.
I suspect it looks nice an 8 in pot.

 

We are slightly mad, aren't we

Last year after clearing the brambles from in- and outside the greenhouse I had to explain at work that a) I'm OK, really, I'm fine, and b) no, I don't have a kitten.

The scratches were rather spectacular

 

Pretty big, I think this year they will be huge. This is some other ones I have in containers, they are going to be whopping aswell.

 

Been tidying the greenhouse, everything is coming on strong

 

We have some pyracantha growing against a wall, we planted it there to stop anyone climbing over the wall into the back garden. This year hubby got someone to cut it because his arm wasn't up to do it because of his trapped nerve in his elbow. But we don't see any flowers or berries because of the pruning.

 

I know what you mean about Berberis @lizzie27. A few years ago I removed a Berberis julianae which had grown right up through our Hawthorn tree. It came with the house and I'd left it alone for years because in the winter it provided an impenetrable roost for all the local sparrows. I measured one of the pieces I removed and it was 18 feet long! Julianae is only supposed to grow to 10 feet so maybe this was some other exotic variety I don't know, but the thorns were 2 inches long, thick and absolutely lethal. I'm still finding them on the ground four years later.

 

Right, another lovely day in prospect. I am going to get one thing done in the garden today. I am, I tells ya! No matter my back feels like it is held in a vice. I will prevail.

So, what should be top of the list? And should I do it first thing, so I can bask in the glow of achievement all day? Or should I wait till late afternoon, cos then I will have fewer hrs till bedtime, when I can rest my back by lying on my side? And shall I use heat patches and a hot water bottle, or is frying my kidneys unwise?

Decision, decisions!

 

I mowed the back lawn yesterday and am glad to see that there are no signs of moles underneath it yet. Maybe that's because it's damp and squidgy - I don't think moles like the wet.

It shows how much rain we have had as a gentle watercourse has reappeared at the bottom of the garden. There is a culvert on the golf course that has water in it that is higher than the garden. So when that gets blocked by leaves it diverts into our garden. That hasn't happened for years. It's quite nice and we could make more of a feature of it, but it will probably dry up soon and be gone for years.

We have both Pyracantha and Berberis. The latter is evil. The three legged spikes could puncture car tyres. The Pyracantha is great in a planter against a north facing wall. I can't think of anything better for that position. It gets covered in flowers and berries.

 

I cut up and stacked a lot of branches too big for the shredder; and then moved a pile of rocks to a more convenient spot and dug up creeping buttercup.
Sowed the tomato seeds and started sowing some of the perennial and annuals that need a bit of heat.

 

I have begun Operation Groundcover Taming. Far and away not the most urgent task, but I could do it largely standing up. I really need to move a geranium, but before I can do that I need to move a campanula, and before I can do that, I need to uproot some grasses, and before I can do that ...

Etc, etc. You know how it is!

 

Note to self ...

1) Do not go bonkers on the first usable day of spring.
2) Do not get a blister in an awkward spot on your hand, thereby rendering normal things tricky for days.
3) Do not go "off list" because you notice something that needs doing, thereby starting more jobs than you can comfortably handle.



Ah, gardening! The pain, the pleasure!

 

I haven't had a blister in many years despite doing a lot of heavy work out there including raking and brick work. Again, I feel like a brute after reading your post @ViewAhead

After I've run my errands today I may slip out there and tacking some of the wiring changes I want to make to my solar power input. The gardens still have a thick layer of snow so I can't do any outdoor gardening.