What have you done today in the Garden?

AAnightowl .. you had a buzy day… I had a lot of things needed done .playing catch up while waiting for the weather to warm up.
Like cleaning up green gook slime off the outside of areas on the house. I use Kaboom bathroom foam scrubbing bubbles. But I still have to scrub with a broom. But it sits in place as the foam cuts the fungus. Works great on sides of the house eliminating the green slime.
Tackling the solid green driveway which was covered in Doug fir needle's. Blew them toward the pastures. Then mowed the pastures 65 degrees today. Tomorrow 75. The moss growth in the lawns also treated ugh.
Loaded up the truck with all the stuff headed to the recycle store.
Cleaned out the stalls in the barn and set it up to recycle in the garden once it’s cured covered with a tarp.
Took a birthday cake I made last nite to our neighbor and gifted him some of my lily bulbs seperated from last season.

 

@Pacnorwest you work hard! Reading that wore me out!

 

Those are favorites of mine.

Like Pac, you work hard! That exhausted me!

 

Daniel OMG.. it’s not any more than all you do. I think most of us are doers and just get it done. Especially the gardening because we all know garden prep yields so many gifts to look foreword to in June , July thru sept.

 

Nothing outside it's raining again so I'm pricking out the pot marigolds and maybe cosmos, if I've got time today.

 

The hedgehog must have gone back to bed as it's still too cold to be out. No food has been eaten the last two nights.

 

Correction!

She did come in for half a quarter of an hour but didn't go down to the feeder.

 

I checked the expected last frost date - early May. Temp for at least the next week is in the 70 F range.

I planted seeds dwarf dahlias, in seed starter containers. The plan is mostly grow in deck containers. I also overwintered the minidwarf dahlia tubers that I grew on the deck last year. I have not looked to see if there are actual tubers in those containers.



Maybe the Portulaca tomorrow. I was reading that container roses might benefit from a ground over annual. They stay pretty small, so maybe?

Pruned the red raspberries. Removed all canes that bore last year, and cut new canes back to three or four feet. They were taller than I can reach the top, maybe ten feet. I thinned them a bit.

Yay, hedgehog!

I might leave the mini roses out tonight. Temp might drop into 39 F range but I think the deck is a little warmer. They are outside in the sun all day now.

It's dry so I watered the container David Austin roses.

Before it started heating up, my tomato start date was April 1 or as late as April 15. Not sure what to do this year.

Moved the "Daffmobile" to the front deck.



Applied slug bait to bulb containers. They need it.

 

Overcast now and rain coming. Got a job done I didn't know needed doing. I noticed this "Amber" clematis on the fence outside the kitchen window, was growing like mad. So I did a bit of training and tying up.



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It's quite attractive, when in bloom. It has bell shaped pale lemon flowers.

 

Over 2 days pricked out 90 pot marigolds into toilet roll tubes filled with compost.
108 cosmos

 

Those cardboard tubes look nice. I should start saving them again. I do reuse the starter pots many times, some might be fifteen years old.

I did some repotting.

First, one of the rescue miniature roses. This was a mauve color, then put out new deep red buds, The flowers burned slightly in the sun but are still dark red. It dries out way too fast, so I repotted in a better soil I like for long term use.

Really not too rootbound. It's just that soil that dries out so fast.



I think the white roots must be new. I tried to be gentle. This is three plants. I pulled them apart, shook off the soil, then swirled in a bucket of water to wash off the old medium.



Then I replanted, quickly, in the new soil and a slightly larger pot. And watered in, of course.



I know it seems drastic to bare-root a blooming plant and repot. I will pamper it for a week. A number of years ago, I planted a dwarf apple tree that was fully leafed out. I washed off all of the soil, pruned girdling or bad roots, planted it, watered in. It didn't drop any leaves, and took off growing immediately.

Then I repotted a Poinsettia. Same issue, the peat / perlite soil dries out so fast, difficult to keep the plant going. Also, they get quite top heavy and fall, over so easily, so I found a heavy pot.

Amazing how little root mass it had. I wonder if that's just how it is, or a sign of a root problem?



Repotted in good potting soil. "Christmas in March" LOL.



Then I repotted a Sclumbergera. Similar issues, tends to fall over to easily when they become top heavy. They don't need as much soil. It went into a just slightly larger porcelain pot.



The Alstroemeria seedlings, Lemon eucalyptus, and Rudbeckia are having a field day out in the warmth, their first day outside.



Also the pepper plants.



And those Sclumbergera seedlings. Not too much sun for any of these, it's their first day outside. It's interesting they have little branches coming off the sides of some of the pads.

 

Wow a lot of beautiful starts and some super green thumbs. Looks like your all off to a great season.

 

Looks good Daniel, i always keep my pots and cell trays, some of the cell trays split so i just put another one inside. When i buy the polyanthus they come in cell trays and i keep them, even though they can be recycled these days. Thank you Pacnorwest.

 

Just had a look round.
Checked the hedgehog feeder. It's eaten the peanuts, must prefer them to "proper" hedgehog food.

Decided to buy some clematis as a few didn't survive the winter.

Went on-line, tried Taylors.
Found that this has been taken over by Sarah Raven.

"She's" been sending me e-mails every week for ages. I've not looked at any, as I thought it would be a scam as I didn't recognise the name. I'd "blocked sender" after the first one, so they all went to spam.

Anyway, I've baled out of them sending me more. I bought three, they can go along the little bed beside the garage under the wisteria, they'll get plenty of sun there.
Nothing's cheap these days, is it?

No change out of fifty quid, plus postage.

Caerulea Luxurians




Emelia Plater




Broughton Star

 

Hedgehogs will eat peanuts but they shouldn't have them, they're bad for them.