WHAT JOBS ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2017

Beautiful day on Anglesey, so took breakfast to the beach. After scoffing said breakfast I was quietly sat on a rock listening to the sea and the birds and letting my thoughts drift ..... when all of a sudden there was a scrabble of paws and a large, wet nose got pushed ( rather rudely I thought ) into the side of my face. Large, black and very happy Labrador, bit damp around the edges from swimming. I have no idea why but I seem to be a dog magnet. Strange dogs just have to come and see me, often ignoring the owners attempts to call them back.

This afternoon I planted more bulbs, both in the ground and into a pot and my large butler sink. Started making a raised bed - not sure if that's the correct term for it as it's going to be more of a bank than a bed I think. I used pieces of turf removed from bulb planting, old compost, some gravel for drainage and will finish it by building it up with some soil/compost mix. No idea what I'm going to plant in it yet . I also dug up a mound of earth/weeds as I wanted to level it. I added some sand and gravel to the new bed in back garden. I'm starting to get some serious biceps from all this digging and shovelling . Spent around 4 hours in garden today and then sat on patio listening to the Sparrows

 

@luciusmaximus

Sounds like you had a very pleasant productive day

 

@BeeHappy the gardening was productive buy I'm not sure I would describe it as pleasant . Certainly tired me out. Currently lying horizontally in bed . I hope the Bees and other wildlife appreciate my efforts.

 

@luciusmaximus your a now and they'll say
in the Spring don't you worry

 

Hoping to get home from work early today and at least cut the front yard.
think I have a home for some of my hardy geraniums I need to thin.

 

Thank you. It was definitely erring on the woody side Good tip about cuttings on 2nd year too. If these take I plan to plant them in the small front garden, so I'll put a timed reminder on my mobile phone for two years time and then I can have them there permanently.

 

I saw Aster blue and Aster pink today for half price. I didn't get them as I'm not sure where I would put them. They looked nice plants though. I also saw Achillea terracotta for half price. I would like an achillea but not that one. Cyclamen are now on sale which is very annoying.

G.

 

Busy day ....helping out with Mind; I teach a little horticulture to some with learning difficulties. lovely mostly! Have volunteered with Samaritans, CAB, Victim Support and local food bank but am finding working with Mind very humbling

......but now lawns to cut.....or swim??
So chose a swim ...water was pretty warm and with the sun glinting on it looked soooo inviting. Wall to wall sunshine today and yesterday and it felt like August.

However, no delivery of plants yet
Still time I guess

Got lawns cut too.......:rasp:

 

Shovelled half of a 1 tonne bag of soil to make my ' bank '. Popped into hardware store for sharp sand and stood looking at ceramic pots for ages - decided not to buy, but did buy 2 white asters. The purple and blue Asters are doing well and liked by the Bees, so thought the white would make nice addition. I don't have enough white flowers.

Received phone call from vets to say cat ready for collection, so had to abandon garden to go and collect him. He had 2 teeth removed, which required a GA. On journey home he poo'd in my car ( or more accurately in the travel box ). Might have been reaction to the GA or the cheap food he ate at vets or both. My car reeks, my house reeks .

@Verdun I received a full refund for my failed Scabious plugs. I had actually complained earlier but just had the refund email today.

 

Lucius.....you must have the muscles of Atlas to make that bank
Well done getting your refund......its been a week of sorting stuff for me too.
Not sure cats and dogs cope too well with dentistry.....my lab was sick too, his jaw was sore and he was a little drugged.

 

Soil is lighter to lift than the gravel, so less tiring. I hope to have it completed tomorrow and then let it settle for awhile before planting.

I suppose I should count my blessings that there wasn't vomit as well with the cat .

 

Today, i ave been mostly raking leaves...

 

I've not been able to do as much gardening as I would have liked recently. I bought a few alpines today on a 3 for £10 deal. I'm keen to get those in the ground as soon as possible.

On the plus side, some of my seeds are doing well.



Unfortunately I have no idea what's what as you can clearly see that my wife, bless her, has tidied up the packets. I'm guessing it's time I started a bit of thinning out. That tray on the left is looking rather congested.

My new greenhouse arrived and is currently still in its box waiting for me to to put it together. That's another job I'm keen to get on with. When that's up and running I can move my seed trays out of the kitchen. I can also put my fledgling tree into the new pot I bought and put it all away for safe keeping. I will take photos once everything is in place.

Less gardening time often means more thinking time. My recent thoughts have been about this area here:



My apologise for using an old and out of date photo. I really must try and get an up to date one. I have a tree that will hopefully go in the space at the back once it's strong enough to plant. I was thinking of something like Achillea summer wine to add a bit of height and colour behind the water feature. Ideally I would like to have brought the water feature out to the middle but as it's hard wired in, that's not an option. At the moment I am having trouble with the water feature tripping the power supply. It was working fine before so I am hoping it's something simple like a clogged filter.

I was thinking of the plants I already had stowed away. I have a poker which might sit somewhere just in front of where the lizard is in the photo. I have 2 conveniently split totally tangerines. I thought I could put them separated in front of the water feature. A sort of 10 o'clock 2 o'clock sort of design.

I was wondering whether something like sedum acre would work as a filler between and around these plants. It would be evergreen for winter interest and the yellow flowers would be bright and contrast nicely. Would this idea work or would that be too congested?

G.