What have you done today in the Garden?

Nice-looking Wisteria, Riley. The worse mine looks, the more I appreciate yours.

Mel, you've been a busy bee haven’t you. The outside raised bed is shaping up and the things that you have going on in your massive greenhouse are encouraging to see. They’re going to be alright, aren’t they.

 

@Droopy you can have my noisy obnoxious neighbors and their ten children. Shipping and handling might be a challenge however.

 

@Melody Mc. you did a great job on those pots. I know your pain when it comes to effects of bad potting soil. I'll never by Miracle Gro potting soil again although I might use their fertilizer at times.

Today Installed the main lines for drip irrigation for the three original raised beds and for the new larger planter box. All beds are about 4 x 8 feet.

Last year, which was a drought year, the drip irrigation system saved me endless work for the raised beds and the in-ground tomatoes, but I still carried many buckets of water for the squashes and hauled hoses for the sweet corn. Plus, not watering the potatoes doubtless reduced the crop. There were also some leanings - my iron-heavy well water clogged the soaker hoses, so I wound up using a safety pin to punch tiny holes and convert them to minisprinklers, which actually worked. The 1 gal per hour emitters did work nicely. Plus, I didn't install valves for each raised bed, so sometimes a bed was watered unnecessarily in order to water the other ones in use. Also last year, I didn't extend the system far enough and would up hand watering the sauce tomatoes too.

Starting now, I hope I can get all of the system installed before it becomes too hot to work outside. As of today, the original three raised beds have their drip irrigation main lines re-installed and each has a valve.

The spaghetti of the soakers hoses is messy but they get in the way of hoeing and aren't needed yet in rainy season. Soon.



I'm sure if I will re-use the needle punched soaker lines. Depends on how they look when I turn it on. For the bed with chilis, each plant will have an individual drip emitter. So I will remove the soaker hoses for that one.

I just installed the main line for the big planter. Each bag will get a customized emitter for whatever I grow in that bag.



The tomatoes will be in the newest big raised beds. I started running a supply line to those, but wore out LOL. Anyway, that bed currently has lettuce and radishes.



Espalier apple trees are blooming. The espalier shape is starting to show. If there is good growth this year (aided by irrigation systems) then they should finish growing the bottom two tiers and make good growth on the top two.

Zestar espalier. Also blooming in the corner is a columnar Golden Treat, developed by Jaruslav Tupy in Czech Republic. These are the first blooms for the Zestar. I ate Golden Treat last year, really tasty apples.



Redlove Odysso, a red flesh variety from Lubera in Switzerland. This espalier needs a while to fill in all of the tiers.



Not as tidy as @Sjoerd 's garden but I'm working on it

 

It is just a pleasure to see your work and results. I like seeing the way you do things. I am never too old to learn something new, or appreciate techniques that I do not employ myself.
Thanks for your compliment, mate. I showed the Bride and she glowed with pride. She and I work together in the garden that’s why I knew she would like that. Thanks for her too then.

 

Gosh, how much time do you have? I will do a brief summary: all Trilliium, Anemone nemorosa, Erythronium, Cypripedium we could find, and various other bulbs we were uncertain of. A few small perennial gems. Most of the Paeoni. Most of the Helleborus. A few small Rhododendron. One big Erica alpina that had to be dug out by machine and moved by a lorry with a hoist ( if you understand what I mean - wish I could draw on the screen).

Sounds just about the right size for a little Acer. Our neighbourhood cats would love that canopy.

I think I'll decline. I have nowhere to put them atm unless you'll take my neighbour. She doesn't speak English so she'd probably scream at you in Norwegian all day. Your garden is so nice! We were talking about trellised apple trees as a garden divider, but we have so many plans I don't know when we'll get to apples.

 

Still dry but a bit overcast and colder.

Went to the garden centre for another Apta pot.

Decided to get the largest size, (£50) which was fortunate as the plastic pots would not fit in the ones that the roses are in.

This is an azalea I bought last year, but really didn't have a place for it other than on the steps outside the French windows.
I put a block of wood in the bottom and the pot sits on a saucer on that. It only just goes in.

Thirty-five years ago I built this six inch high plinth outside the front door, of bricks, concrete, bits of crazy York stone and capped with some paving stones.
This was to make it easier for my wife to get in and out the front door using her crutches. It would be a far too great a "step up" without the plinth.




There will be an opportunity to swop the azalea with any of the four roses in the green plastic pots along here.

>
Sorted out the euonymus.

Bit of a pain as it was hard to move it back without losing a lot of the foliage, but it does give the rockery a bit more "air."

So a bit of pruning and more dragging back towards the fence with wires.

My work was watched closely by "Rocky" our Robin.




Gave this acer palmatum a bit of a haircut. Pruned off "sticky up" branches that would never turn down. some branches are still sticking out. If I removed them there'd be a "hole." Over the next few weeks they'll turn down with their own weight.





This one just needed "its hem shortening" with shears. It'll give the grass under it a bit more light. The seed I put down has taken well, a month ago it was almost bare, still a way to go yet in its recovery.

 

Did a lot more weeding and finished off the bed that i started on instead of the corner but will have to do it soon.

 

Wow, that was alot, Droopy. That is really nice. I think about her sometimes.

 

I got my yard mowed today.

Ok got my tree ready to be planted for tomorrow too. I got spray paint, and ready to DIG!

 

I cultivated and weeded the garlic today, then laid down brown butcher paper mulch. Then I laid the soaker hoses on top of the paper, where I won't trip over them.



When the weather heats up, I'll make sure the soakers work, then tuck them under the paper mulch.

I finished the main irrigation lines for the tomato beds. Next - squash garden and fruit trees.

Then I strained my back LOL so I stopped.

Camassias just started blooming. The move didn't seem to hurt them.



I gave some big bunches of dandelions to the birds.

 

Everyone's gardens are so beautiful and inspiring! We're getting an intense rain for the first time in months over here so I hope my plants enjoy and don't drown too much! Today I'm caring for my indoor seedlings and I've just purchased some yellow sticky traps to hopefully control the spider mite, mosquito, and aphid problem in my area... wish me luck!

 

Good luck @traditionalmillenial! What seedlings will you grow?

 

@Doghouse Riley , I hope you get time to just sit and enjoy your beautiful garden. Although maybe you are like me, and the puttering meditation is the point, more than the result. Still, it's really beautiful.

Today my back remains tender although better than yesterday. Plus it's drizzling. I puttered with seedlings.

Most are on the seedling commuting rack. They travel outside during the day, but shelter in case of hail and back inside at night. Mostly tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, basil.



I think these can stay outside full-time now, and should be planted soon. Statice, the remaining carnations, four o'clocks, Chinese cabbage, kale, celery (six packs). Also the geraniums, which have been outside for a couple of weeks.



I've started removing the growth tips from chilis and eggplants, to encourage bushiness.

Before (Banana pepper plant)



After.



The peppers are the most susceptible to aphids, gnats, and whiteflies. I've started spraying with a soap spray. The plants don't seem to like that, but are doing more or less OK.

 

Did a lot of weeding, got a lot of those cleavers out and got a lot of wild garlic growing which will have to go.

@Daniel W I hope that your back gets better soon.

 

I got two trees planted today! I've never done it before so I'm super proud of myself