What have you done today in the Garden?

Hey Daniel— Sorry to hear you have aso’s as neighbours. That is irritating.

Those hold-over Dalia tubers look very good.
That fig-pruning-twig-story illustrates what a talented gardener you truly are. I mean…you’re so good that you are successful even when you are not trying.

 

Night Owl, I haven't grown yarrow from seeds. Most perennials that need stratification do well with around four weeks.

When in doubt, I have stratified half and planted half directly. I was surprised that some of my echinacea germinated fine without stratifying. If I recall correctly, so did some rudbeckia. My peruvian lily seeds (alstroemeria) were said to require 2 weeks warm, then 4 weeks cold, then warm again. Instead, they germinated with the two weeks warm. Very mysterious!

 

My lawn tiner arrived and I tried it out.









It took a bit of effort to go in as the soil is quite wet and compacted under the grass. What I'm going to do is sharpen the ends of the tines to make it easier for them to go in. I won't be doing any tining for a bit. But I'm pleased that it will work.

 

All y’gotta do now, is connect the dots, mate.

 

Haha good one Sjoerd…
Riley where did all the plugs go?

 

If the soil's dry, as it should be when you use it, they should come out of the top of the tines. But today as it was wet they were staying in the tines. You get a tool to poke them out.
When I get round to doing the whole lawn, the plugs will end up on the lawn. I can then run my Flymo mower over them and it will chop them up and spread them and act as a fertiliser. Well.. That's the theory.

 

Riley OK great clean up technique. I do something similar with fall leaves and clippings from shrubs / debris. I run my rider mulcher-mower over everything which mulches debris into tiny pieces fertilizing the areas. As I have aged along with my mature garden I find ways to make chores less strenuous on these mature joints.

Your lawn is beautiful just as your mature garden has performed with professional design qualities and super clean, bright flowers with a layered interior, shade and all the perfected management techniques for garden management.
Your garden ranks right up there with the best . Anxiously awaiting for the full blooming tour !

 

Thanks for that.

I usually do a video tour each year, but was unable to upload anything to YouTube for over a year. So there wasn't one last year. I think it was because I use an adblocker. I wasn't prepared to take it off.
But for the last few months I've been able to upload videos again, so I'll do another garden tour, when it's at its best.

 

Looking foreword to your garden tour videos.

 

@Doghouse Riley your wisterias, roses, and acers will be incredible!

Thanks @Sjourd for the compliment. This website sure has some great gardeners, doesn't it

Me too Pac. My big issue is stamina. Garden-wise, I still bite off more than I can chew. Plus, I like to propagate plants but that adds to the efforts later .

I didn't do a huge amount today. I got out the hedge trimmer and cut off all remaining blackberries by the fig grove. The grass is growing very fast and thick there. It's on a slope where I cant safely use riding mower, so I will get out the string trimmer. What I really need is for Rufus to bring his friend over from our morning dog walk.



I was cleaning out last year's containers and found these overwintered Mirabilis (4:00's) roots. I forgot I grew those there last year. I wonder if they will grow. I'll try.



I pruned the grapes. No particular style. We don't eat that many. They make delicious jelly.



I was reading up agriculture bulletins about fertilizing fig trees. The info I liked the most was based on growth- if they grew more than six inches last year, fertilizing isn't needed and might cause excessive green growth at the expense of fig production, and that is less winter hardy. So no fertilizer for them. That areas also serves as a "rest stop" for Rufus. The lush green grass there indicates the same thing.

 

Oh don’t remind me I need to prune the grapevines yet. Adore Rufus’ new play pal. That tiny horse could eliminate the grass between the figs in no time. Hehe.. mini horses are adorable but don’t underestimate them they are all horse think they are a big Clydesdale.

So many ways to keep garden chores at bay is do what your doing now. Trim early before it grows into a huge job. And slowly divy out daily chores and remember not over do. And a big help for me is a protein drink helps with endurance.

And judging by the looks of those tubers you found, they will grow into super plants and flowers .

Looks like you did a whole bunch to me today.

I just cleaned up a few small areas of garden debris and tree limbs thruout the pastures/driveway from the wind storm last nite.
It wanted to rain off and on all day . I managed to fence off sections of the pasture from the horses for safety and get the area ready to spot spray weeds later. It seems a lot of tansey has popped up usually carried in the wind currents filled with weed seeds during winters. Poisonous to livestock. And checked some of the soaker hoses all still ok in one garden area. Another acre to go.

 

I did plant my newest blueberry bush today. It is called "blueray"...

Other than doggy clean up, that is all I did outside today. I did housework, and some paperwork, and went to church this evening. And I baked a batch of homemade oatmeal bread also. It turned out perfect.

I will plant that pink yarrow at the same time as the milkweed seeds. Thanks @Daniel W . I have not grown any tame yarrow either. But the wild stuff shows up wherever over the summer, so it should do well. I am going to put them in my main herb bed. So far, I have garden sage, heal-all (prunella vulgaris, a wild mint with medicinal qualities and gorgeous blue flowers), echinacea, and some Egyptian walking onions in it. I had parsley there last year, but it must have been two years old because it is not back. I have more parsley seed to plant there. I want to plant some thyme and rosemary there and probably some others I can't remember at the moment. I will put some of the milkweed in a front flower bed too where I dug out the paper white narcissus a few days ago. There are a few canna lilies in that bed too.

I found a stray marigold seed on my table today, so I popped into one of those starter pots in my front room. No need to waste good seeds.

 

Only did a bit today as it looks like rain. Pruned off more of next door's trees, with my Fiskars UPX 86. telescopic pruner I bought last last year. These are now ridiculously expensive, but "needs must."
Ties up more of the Amber clematis on the fence by the kitchen window, this is growing really fast and needs tying up every few days.


Conversely, the five I dug up from the narrow bed next to the garage and put in pots on the garage window sill, are a different story two are doing nothing, three are showing some signs of life, but at the rate they are growing, it'll be Christmas before they are ready for potting out.

The lilac on the patio is going from strength to strength. I might move it to the centre bed, where we have the sambucas at the moment, for a change in view from the French windows.
The "azalea forest" in the side bed behind it, is showing a lot of new growth and flower buds.


Decided to sharpen the tines on my new tiner.
A file made no impression on it.
So I dug out my forty year-old Black & Decker belt sander. That worked a treat, all done in minutes.
That was enough for the day, came in to watch City playing Palace on the TV.

 

Riley. Sometimes spendy tools can make quick work of some difficult garden trimming. I have light weight battery op telescope chain saw and clippers they really help manage joint issues and worth the extra cost. Winter snow and ice storms can cause a lot of damage especially those heavy wind storms.

Everything in your garden looks like they all are ready to give us a show as scheduled by Mother Nature.

 

Yes, when I had my Pathfinder and also with my Bronco ll it seemed (to me) to be a little taller afterwards. I didn't really feel a difference, with this car. Probably the truck type tires vs car tires.