What have you done today in the Garden?

Cleared the cosmos and snapdragons, then did some weeding, cut off some more of the grass edge to make the border wider, put a lot of old compost on it. Planted the wallflowers and polyanthus, the tulips and Hyacinths are already in from last year.
Still waiting for some tulip bulbs to arrive, they're late this year.

 

I'm behind in some photos and sharing, so I'm going to back up a wee bit.

Two days ago I inspected the memory garden, and found some severe vole damage. Two of my sedums were cut off just below the ground where the vole feasted on the roots. One of my pasque flowers was damaged, two peonies, and one northern hydrangea. I set some traps and caught the chubby little ghoul. I'll leave the traps for another couple of days or until it snows. Hopefully all of the roots are not destroyed. Spring will tell.

I planted my miniature rose from Valentines in the pot on the deck. They are in their second spectacular blooming. I cut a bouquet for my neighbour friend who can no longer garden, and brought some inside just before the freeze, as well as some asparagus ferns. The last little bowl of Red Robin Cherry tomatoes came inside, as well as a wee flower that I found on my place setting with a lovely note two days ago.



My Christmas Cactus is in full bloom. And I was pretty excited to have the first little starts I've ever done bloom as well.





I'm having some setting issues that I'm trying to figure out, so please forgive the bit of a blur I have going on in the photos.

 

It was dry today, so I left it until 4.00pm before going into the garden mowed both lawns and collected a lot of leaves, particularly those that have fallen from the big acer in the front garden. I've half filled the green bin with those, but The tree doesn't look as if it's lost any. It all took two hours.

 

Loggie—Oh, that’s good work there.

Hiya Mel, good to see you back.
Congrats on those Christmas cactus plants.
Those roses are spectacular. Well done you.

Congrats on your expertise with the voles.

 

Thank you Melody. Also those Christmas Cactus and roses look Amazing! My favorites! I have a lot of favorites LOL).

I need to bring some plants inside, but have to avoid lifting for a couple of days. Will see if my helper can help.

I ordered some historic bulb varieties from " Old House Gardens". Lots of nostalgic types there. They'll mostly be in containers.

I sent in the seed order to Baker Creek, about seven items.

There is still an unfilled order to Johnnys Seeds. That's next. Mostly hybrid chilis and some more flowers.

Next up is finishing that raised bed, just the liner then filling it. Not nearly as involved as what was already done, and no hurry, In fact, it will be useful for trench composting since the "trench" is already dug.

 

Those will be a welcome sight in Spring, Logan.

Are snapdragons perennial there? I have had some come up for a few years, then they give up.

 

Two hours well spent!

 

I'll say! It's been raining for most of the day. I won't be playing golf tomorrow as four holes are closed it's so wet.

 

Thanks Daniel, yes they can be a perennial but can get rust with some varieties. I pull them up because i need to put the wallflowers in, which can be perennial too but sometimes die off.

 

I planted four more rows of garlic. It's later than my usual garlic planting, but I doubt there will be a problem.



My grandfather, who was a grandchild of German immigrants, always had garlic in his yard. I wonder if this will be similar. The German name for garlic is "Knoblauch" and a garlic clove is "Knoblauchzehe" so I was planting "Knoblauchzehen."

Last summer's supply is already low, so I thought this would be a good use of garden space.

It was a quick turnaround for that garden bed. I just cleaned out the last of the tomato plants before raking and planting the garlic.

Meanwhile, I raked leaves and mulched the first garlic bed.



It's all ready for winter now. The freshly planted rows will have to wait for more leaves to fall.

The mustard groundcover crop, for next year's tomatoes, looks pretty good now.



Squashes never got the TLC they needed, so it was a small crop of small squashes this year.



The bearded irises seem happy, so far, in their containers. These are the ones I rescued from the decommissioned iris bed.



These are the new ones that I bought last month vis mail order.



Having them in high locations makes it very easy to pick out tiny weeds before they grow big.

 

Those beds look really good, Daniel. The rescued irises look happy, don’t they.
The small squash harvest still look tasty to me. Were these all that you got?
That leaf-mulched bed looks very cosy.

 

Daniel everything is looking good for the winter.

 

Dug up all of the grass that got into this border. There's some currant bushes and in front are rhubarb plants that are going into dormancy for the winter and some hellebores.

Sometime I'll put some spent compost around the rhubarb.

 

Looking clean. What is going on with that poor little plant to the right of the robust one? Your Helleborus plants certainly do look healthy and happy.
You are such a thoughtful and good gardener.

 

I can almost taste the rhubarb pie for next year!