WHAT JOBS ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2019

@WeeTam Exciting stuff

 

I see you had help with all that sowing . She looks exhausted .

 

Yesterday was all day, so lunch at South Stacks . Today has been nice, mostly sunshine all day. So in between making 6 more coasters, spray painting the radiator 3 times in Smint and Aubrey's room, cleaning the house and painting a sunset I managed to get 2 hours in the garden . I swept part of the pathway, checked the houses and made a start on extending the flower bed around the cherry tree in the side garden. I won't be able to keep the original shape due to the septic tank and access to the shed, caravan and one of the bun runs so the cherry tree will be off centre but I should have room for a few of the plants currently in pots. Felt really good to be outside. The birds were flitting about and chattering amongst themselves in the hedges whilst keeping an eye on me

@Snorky85 the juvenile Gull is still here. I'm amazed as I thought he/she would have huge infection from a break like that. I do see one legged birds quite a lot but they don't seem to be able to survive very long . I've put extra food out but not seen it eating anything.

 

Spent an enjoyable 3 hours gardening at my Dad's today. Did some cutting back of various plants and shrubs. Also weeded and tidied up his rockery .
Only issue is that he has 3 clematis plants and he can't remember what they are called! I don't grow then and know absolutely nothing about them but to me they look like a tangled mess of dried dead looking twigs about 6ft tall!!! After doing some research I have learnt that depending on what sort you have there are several different pruning methods, I am thinking of just cutting them back quite short and see how they respond as I don't know which one is applicable to his plants.

A case of trial and error I think

 

Upsy, does your dad know when they flower? He may remember they flower in summer in which case they are usually pruned in Feb/March

 

I think it might be best to leave the Clematis @Upsydaisy and wait and see when they flower, pruning them back hard now you will lose flowers on Group 1 clematis and possibly lose most of the flowers on group2 , Group3 clematis are fine to cut back hard

 

Know how you feel @WeeTam got a 7ft x 6ft one with two 4ft aluminium double staging from gumtree last May.

 

Hi @verdum, no sadly he cant remember. He's become quite muddled and forgetful now. I have read that some shouldn't really be pruned much at all, some can be done now and some should be lightly trimmed after flowering.....so I am totally baffled.
I am going back over on Friday so if i take a couple of pics could you kindly tell me what you would do if you were in my shoes please?

Thanks

 

Evening @Perki , he said that he can't remember even seeing them flower....but to be honest that's not to say they haven't

Yes that's what I was reading about all the different groups, very confused!

As I said to Verdun in my previous post I will take some pics...and if you could offer any more advice after actually seeing the state they are in then that would be great too ( unless that's how they are supposed to look )

Thanks

 

Have you yourself any recollection of when they might have flowered Upsy?
You wont do any real damage by pruning incidentally......you may lose current season's flowers if you guess wrongly
Clematis are difficult to ID just on wood without flowers so I agree with Perki......see for yourself when they flower, then take photos, and ID will be a lot easier. Thereafter pruning method will be known.

 

Hmmm I have a vague idea that they have flowered in mid to late spring....but could be wrong!!

They do look very messy though, is that normal? They just look very dead to me but I will take a closer look on Friday to see if there are any visible signs of life.

But yes very wise advice , best to leave well alone and see.
I will still try and post a pic on Friday and see if any new advice can be given from actually seeing them.
Thanks again @Verdun

 

Upsy, if any flower this spring you will know these can be pruned just after flowering

 

Thanks @shiney .
Think that's what I'll do @Verdun I always find cutting back a tad scary, never quite sure if I'm doing it right. Hubs just goes for it and cuts things right back...regardless of what they are, time of year or my protests and I hate admit it everything has always grown back very well. But as this isn't our garden and most of the plantings were done by my Mum it just makes me doubly wary.

 

Relax Upsy......pruning is nothing to be scared about!
Those clematis will be just fine...you'll see