What have you done today in the Garden?

Planted these.



They were on sale last week at the hardware store, half price. I wasn't going to buy any, but my cheap side prevailed.

They are sold with a block of compressed "cour peat". I don't know if that is coir, processed to be like peat, or a mixture of coir plus peat, or peat plus coir.

Also, I wonder if it's worthwhile planting them in the garden after blooming, to dig up and rebloom next year. It might be interesting to try.

 

Worst time of the year for me.
First job today....well, this afternoon.... was stripping the dead foliage from this wisteria and tackling the bed full of leaves.



I also gave it a bit of a prune, removing some long thin branches, as with the other wisterias, it'll get its main prune between Christmas and New Year.



I stripped these two acer palmatums, of most of the dead leaves, but there's more to come off. But I do it by hand to avoid damage. I'll then be able to prune off the dead branches. The big one is likely to need some branches wired to fill in any gaps. I'll then put a net over it and peg it down, to get it back to the dome shape I like. If I don't, it spreads too wide and dominates the garden too much.



I'll remove the net once the new leaf buds start to show, by which time it should have "set."
The smaller one just needs the dead wood removing, as they both do every year.



Mowed a lot of leaves off the lawn and blew a lot more to the back of the border.
I'll get behind the azaleas and rhodos next week to gather them up.



By this time it had started raining, there's a lot of leaves on the two patios to clear, but I'm not doing that in the rain.

 

Mostly continued weeding and garden rehab. Repotted a couple of orchids. Now TTTM TSTM (too tired to move and too sore to move) LOL

 

Nothing today it's raining

 

Daniel, those are lovely Amaryllis bulbs. Do you hold them over each year?

chuckle— Those syndromes are well known.

 

I did nothing, either.
It would have been a golf day, but my car was scheduled for a service, including new front brake pads, and an MOT. They come and take it away each year and return it when everything's done.
No change out of £300, but worth it for the convenience.

 

@Daniel W - The seeds were "Zebrune Shallots." The sets I bought last year were a general French shallot. I don't know the variety. I'll most likely opt for the Zebrune because now I have a variety name and I know and trust the supplier. We'll see how both varieties grow and taste.
I still have half the bed to plant come March with 4 more sets and more Zebrune seeds. I get to see which timing works best!

@Sjoerd - Thank you.
I timed it just right with those warm temperatures. I got the tail end of them. The next day it turned cold and windy. We got some snow Friday night and I woke up to 18 degrees Fahrenheit this morning... Well, it was nice while it lasted.

 

Not doing much in the garden at the moment, apart from it raining. I've got somethings scheduled for the beginning of next year, but hubby doesn't know about it yet.

 

I have in the past. Maybe I will again this year.

 

More garden rehab. Today I completed the fruit tree border on the Western fence. That also involved digging out a narrow and weedy demilitarized zone between my garden fence and the fence a neighbor built when they claimed their easement to build a road. It'll never be easy to tend, and the grasses (especially the hated Johnson Grass) grow there and spread into my fruit trees. I don't want to use herbicide. I dug it all out, laid plastic barrier, and covered with tree chips. So there!

On the garden side, I pulled a few more weeds.



That's the fifth pile like that! How embarrassing I let it reach that state!

I've used leaf mulch to kill grasses, but I wanted to be more careful. Those areas are now covered with thick layers of tree leaves.

That barrel - looking thing is made from repurposed cement tree edgings. Three make a circle. Stacked three high, they are about the size of a half wine barrel. This will be the Chinese Chive barrel, after filling with amended (with compost) soil.

Once again, TTTM and TSTM ( too tired to move and too sore to move) LOL. But I do feel really good about the garden's progress!

I also tied down most of the Espalier top tiers. I'm not sure about their pruning. I might wait until flower buds develop, so I can see where they form. Some might bear on tips instead of spurs.

 

@Beeker, those are beautiful shallots!
Next question will you grow them from seeds, or re-plant this year's shallots for next year?

My grocery store shallot actually multiplies pretty well that way. Unknown variety. One shallot makes about six for next year.

 

The only thing I have been doing in the last few months is harvesting and transplanting. Harvesting means produce and seeds.

 

@Daniel W you are doing well.
Not doing much at the moment, just deadheaded the roses.

 

@Daniel W - I'm not sure yet. This past season was the first time I grew shallots. I actually planted them in March of this year. This autumn is the first time I planted shallot seeds and also the first time I am overwintering them. I planted half the bed with some shallots from this year's harvest I set aside to plant and also some seeds. I am saving the other half of the bed for planting the rest of the shallots I saved to plant and some more seeds in March again just in case they don't overwinter well in my region. I don't know what to expect so I'm playing it safe.

 

This is one of our wisterias, It is in the narrow bed next to the kitchen window.




I've trained it to grow over the fence and along the side of the house, over the last few years.





I stopped it at the corner of the house, I could have trained it round the front, but we've this mayleen clematis in a big tub, that grows over the front door.




I've given it a prune and collected all the dead foliage. Hard to see when it's dormant.
It took an age as there's all the thin leaf spines to collect as well as wet leaves today.



I'm hoping for a lot blooms on it this year, It'll get a closer prune between Christmas and New Year.






I've taken the six hebes out of the troughs and put them on the little patio behind the shed. I'll re-pot them and tidy them up ready for next year. (here in July)





The troughs are now in the shed. It gets quite warm in there, which will help them dry out. When dry I'll give them a coat of Dulux Woodsheen, but I won't put them out again until the spring.