What are we doing in the garden 2026

Some dry periods today gave me the chance to cut down the old raspberry stems, romneya and other things that needed a bit of discipline! Large pile for composting, but I wish my shredder hadn't died, as it could do with being broken up.

 

It was a nice morning, mild with some sunshine so I spent 2 hours weeding the Donkey Paddock Fence Bed as that one is in a not so boggy place and I had previously added a lot of compost to it. I didn't finish it so I went back for another hour in the afternoon then got rained off. I have finished it though. I also cut down the 4 Group 3 clematis there along the fence and transplanted some foxgloves.

I will be planting 4 small Persica roses there when it's a bit dryer. There used to be fuchsias but it was too hot and dry for them in the summer. There had been more shade but the big lime tree was severely pruned when it touched the chimney on the roof.

 

@Busy-Lizzie, would you bother digging up a ten year old small rose (Little White Pet) and moving it only about a foot sideways? Do you think it would survive? It's in a small flower bed surrounded by walls and paving so that's the only option.

The Osmanthus bush I've got next to it is getting too close and although I could prune this, it's too big to move.

 

@lizzie27 it depends how much you love your rose! I am biased as roses are my favourite flowers. I would rather prune the osmanthus. I wouldn't want to risk killing the rose though I dug up roses to give my daughter when I moved house and they survived. They had been in pots and she planted them in the ground. I took one big pot with Pierre de Ronsard (the Eden Rose) with me and planted it in the ground. It wasn't happy and it died.

 

Thanks @Busy-Lizzie, I might try pruning the osmanthus first - it really is getting too big for its boots and I didn't get round to it last year.

This LWP rose was only planted to balance out the first on the other side of the Osmanthus. My beloved cat's ashes are beneath it (he was a small black and white cat - hence the Little White Pet choice) and I can see it from my bedroom window. It's a stronger grower than the second one.

 

We did the shopping yesterday afternoon and I have now time to take care of the VegTrug today in sunshine (if the garden would get sunshine in January).
The replacement liner had arrived this week, but it's very flimsy compare to the proper one that we got with the VegTrug 10 years ago. Ideally, I would need a stable gun to make it secure, but buying one just for that is OTT.
Then I have to put back the frame and fill the VegTrug with compost.
We bought 3 bags of compost at the farm shop in Cirencester yesterday, which I will mix today with my own compost.
Once this is done, I will have to check how I can make the cover fit for purpose. We bought a replacement 2 years ago. It's a typical example of how to save material costs, but take the same price and make it now useless.
The PE and the mesh cover are stitched together with the result that the trug no longer gets rain.
Strangely enough, they produce a mesh cover on its own for the herb trug.

 

I spent another 2 hours in the garden but got rained off again. I dug up the Eden Rose which was dying, don't know why but I brought it from my old house and it doesn't like it here. I wanted to plant Rambling Rosie in its place so I had to change the soil. I dug out a big wheelbarrow full which I could hardly push. I filled the hole with earth from the pile of grass turves that were removed when I made new beds. The bottom of it is nearly 5 years old so the soil was quite nice. I mixed in compost and planted Rosie.
Then I thought I'd plant Eyes for You at the end of the orchard fence bed which isn't in the middle boggy bit but when I dug the hole there was a few inches of water in the bottom and the soil was clay. I threw away quite a bit of clay and filled the bottom of the hole with sand and gravel which I mixed compost into. I used earth from the pile mixed with compost again and planted the rose. I hope it will be OK.

 

Tidying up the shed (it was in a very bad state) and I am hoping to move some plants later

 

Not exactly in the garden, I set my spuds to chit. I only bought them yesterday, bit early for me but if you leave it too long you don't get the best choice. I'm limiting to just three this year. First Early--Foremost, second---Charlotte late main--- Sarpo Mira.

 

I pruned my last two roses and gave the fruit trees, strawberry plants and blackberry and raspberry a feed.

 

Backfilling the gravel path skeleton with rubbish sub clay dug up from the pond site, and levelling it so that now the skeleton is about 10cm deep.

Chose the best offer from the various aggregate firms I contacted, and asked for a final quote and cheekily, if they "sell" samples of their flat rockery stones.

I'd like one or two so a sample would be quite nice

The slight hindrance of having to carry 3 tons of sub-base and gravel from front to back in buckets is somewhat mitigated by the fact that my sister and brother from Finland have arranged to visit us next summer.

I warmly welcomed them and made a mental note to buy more buckets

 

Pics pretty please?

 

The re-purposing/restoring of the VegTrug worked out all very well yesterday. I started quarter to 8 and had finished by quarter to 10. My compost is almost empty and carrying so many cat litter trays with soil and the three heavy bags from the farm shop and mixing it all in the VegTrug, my arms hurt tremendously, but I'm relieved to have done it and very pleased what it looks like.
The cover needs a deep clean, but I will do that once it's warmer and the sun comes into the garden in March.

 

Yesterday I decided to quickly move 2-3 plants. However, things didn't look how I pictured, so I had to amend the plan and make some additional changes. Today I need to make extra tweaks to go with yesterday's additional changes It's a good thing I like moving plants.

 

Nothing at the moment.