What have you done today in the Garden?

It’s raining, therefore I am doing nothing.

 

I have done gardening in a shower of rain many times and as long as you keep dry then for me it is good... when you have things that need attended to, gotta do it, cant be in doors thinking about it...in the UK can remember our immediate previous neighbours peering over the hedges as it was really tipping it down... saying is that you Dianne...yes sure is..you ok then..yes fine thanks...must think I am mad...well, no am just over keen sometimes. Today was happy with my Lettuce's, Strawberries and Potatoes growing really well. some of my seeds just are not doing much..blame the weather that is decidedly odd..it is May nor February....seed sowing time I thought..well some seeds are good ..cosmos lobelia and some others just waiting to see if they do survive....some of the more specialised tomatoes have failed some looking a maybe....disappointed with some but realise the elements have been unusually cold and wet...Weeds refuse to talk about them..well almost.....oxalis I think is the real pain at the moment.overall the garden is full of colour..just want I wanted this year...

 

It's raining but i don't really need to do anything in the garden for a while so sowing the wallflower seeds, done 510 and that's all that I'm doing this year. They're germinating very well because it's not too hot for them.

 

Hi Loggie,
You are germinating bags of flowering plants. Are you going to plant them all in one bed or in several beds over your gardens and plots?

 

Hi Sjoerd in the front garden there's the path that goes all around the garden, I plant a lot in line with the path and it takes a lot. All the flowers that i grow go in the front and it's big because we're on the corner.

 

Started off attacking the weeds...
they have taken over our grass...again this year...worse than ever before..So I now
have to rake them with this three pronged attachment by Wolf....very good quality tools
that I have had since moving here 6 + years ago.
https://wolfgarten-tools.co.uk/

after raking backwards and forwards, Husband comes along with either a hoover mower or a wireless strimmer and as long as the weeds are not left too long the grass it still there...This has happened with a week although we noticed it well over a month ago, at first it looks similar to clover leaves, but how can you pick out hundreds and hundreds of leaves so small the size of a small finger nail....just have to wait for it to grow and grow it did...
....

 

This is a Fushia and the plant starts over a metre below so the flowers wanted light,
so had to travel all though the Honeysuckle and the roses , up and up until it broke through.
I did know the type at one time but not anymore...100% it is a Fushia...Maybe somebody
out there will know....yes it does look like a trumpet plant... ...nope

 

Pond today.....Lonesome is liking the fact of the Lilly Pads growing again and comes
up to the surface a lot more now as he is less shy it seems....The pond plants are
looking very healthy at the moment and now the Yellow Iris's are blooming it sets a
nice backdrop..the Rhododendron has lost a lot of it's leaves but it is flowering all the
same. There was another one the other side of the Pond, that I lost last year...I think
I did not take enough care with the planting..looking back I did not add any good
compost or good soil to it....also it has weed suppressant under it, maybe a tad
growth restricted as well...

 

Oldest Rose we have and the best one in the garden at the moment....

Husband noticed how one side was hanging down, mainly with all the gusty winds we have had of late..orders... hold this and he cut off a hugh branch covered in mainly buds but some full out roses as well...Was the correct decision...eat my words though, I trimmed them an now have a lovely bunch in a jar... as have no flower vases any more.....

 

At the garden, we planted-up the greenhouse. Only a coupla more peppers to go in when they are large enough.

We began with getting those toms in the ground, but first I had to clip off most of their leaves, making their stems naked. Here you can see the pile of leaves and some of the sticks that we used to keep them upright. I also had to hand-pick the weeds off the especially mixed soil. The sticks are Thalictrum stems and Buddleja twigs that we had used to mulch the beds over the winter.


Then a shot through the door. That is our mint in the back. Mint for the tea.


We don’t have quite enough beans, due to the destructive nature of the weather. Here we have the Bride at work with her turbo-dibber. She would dib the hole and drop the bean in from a great height:


It was time to open the pea cage to let them grow upwards. We will stick a number of twigs in there for them to climb further up on. This type does not grow very tall, but taller than they are now.


The broadie’s growth is retarded, but have none-the-less produced a bevvy of blooms. Pity the pollinators are not flying due to this cold weather.


Madam Duif rested with us all day today. She would eat and sleep and eat some more. I am afraid that her days are numbered. She is feeble and far too tame for her own good.


Finally, a section of the flower garden just looked so lovely, sadly the fone camera does not do it justice.


Towards the end of the day, it was again time to look into the bees, and I knew that I had a couple of things to do this time.

On the large colony, I needed to give them an extra honey super, as they are producing honey like mad. I do not see them flying all that much with this weather, but they are flying...and bringing back pollen and nectar, obviously.

The small hive needed a second brood box added because the present one that they came through the winter in, was almost bursting at the seems with hive inhabitants. I had given them a honey super so that they would think that they had more room. You see, if bees get so much as a hint that there will not be enough for the queen to lay eggs and then to house the resultant brood those bees will begin to discreetly make plans to leave. It is a serious complication that would end in a large portion of the colony swarming away. Can’t have that, mates.

 

Sjoerd, almost felt I was there with you both..relaxing here after a rather tough working day, just was very interesting to read all the ins and outs without a mention of a weed.....my life's work with the 'w' word goes on....and on and on...

 

@DianneWoollie and the weeding will go on and on.

 

This morning did a bit of weeding and planted 8 verbena bonerenses in the front garden.

 

Thank you DW, it is particularly difficult to keep up with those dratted weeds at this time of year. They are reasonably under control in the veggie plots, but in the flower garden, it is a different story, for as long as the forget-me-not’s are blooming, I shall not wade in with my instruments of removal. I am itching to get at them, but my love of the little blue darlings is stronger than my need for law and order in the flower parcels.

 

At the moment the rain is stopping me from doing anything in the garden, so the weeds take over and when i can it will be time for putting the bedding plants out, so the weeds stay unless they're in the way.
Forgot me nots are lovely but they can spread from those tiny seeds, got some here.