What have you done today in the Garden?

Today I separated strawberry plants, in the first of four planters. They each contained 5 or 6 plants. I think three per planter would be better.





They were pretty productive last year, their first year. But I think they were too crowded.

This will be a lot of strawberry planters. I'll figure something out.

 

Hubby's been digging up some hardy geraniums, they self seed all over, i had to wash my hair.

 

Looking clean and healthy. I agree about too many plants in the window-box.
It is still way too cold here to clean the plants like that…but it’s warming up a bit now.
it is so good to see those.

Loggie— good luck with your geraniums.

 

I gave all the roses another spray of Sulphur Rose. I'll do this every two to three weeks from now, to hopefully reduce any chance of black spot infestation.
I'm ever the optimist!

I checked the clematis.

The bad news, is that it looks like five haven't survived the winter.

The good news, is that thirteen have!

Checked on the progress of the creeping phlox plug plants on the shed window sill.
They are doing very well. I have to remember to water them every other day as it gets quite hot in there.






No hedgehog activity, as of yet.

I'll have to spend some time in next door's garden tomorrow getting more of the branches of trees we've cut down into green bins.

 

Old guy planting red flowered dogwood tree (me).



I think that planting a flowering tree, that "could" survive for generations, is an almost radical expression of hope, and a loving gift for future strangers. And of course, I hope to experience some of its joy for a few years.

I like to remove the burlap and wash off the roots, before planting. I plant in the native soil without amendments (OK I added a little organic granular vegetable fertilizer). Doggie stands guard, apprehensive about potential water splashes(none happened).



I don't try to remove 100% of the clay from the roots, but most of it. No girdling roots, and I could find the root flare, which was too low. Some roots were a little gnarly, but I don't think those will be a problem.



Thank goodness, I had someone to protect me from squirrels and kitty-cats while distracted by tree-planting.

 

Great job Daniel. I know Rufus did a good job protecting you. Red flowered dogwood , interesting will have to look that one up. I have white , yellow and pinks . Your garden will certainly be a treasure for future generations.

 

Today I also planted a row of shallots. I did what I used to do, bought small shallots at the grocery store and planted those. In the past, planting one small one yielded a half dozen or so larger ones by late summer. I don't know if modern ones will do that. They are usually seed-grown now (I think).

I divided the second container of strawberries, to give them twice the soil volume and space. Wow, they had big, dense masses of roots. We'll see if I killed them, vs. gave them a better life. Maybe that which does kill them makes them stronger? Does that work for plants?

 

Nothing today. But I do hope to get back at that ditch digging tomorrow weather permitting. It is supposed to be sunny and warm for a few days. I will wear some sturdier shoes while digging, and use that pry bar (DS calls it a rock bar) more and the shovel not so much. My foot has had a whole week of lazy... ( I just did light duty stuff instead) That pry bar/rock bar says it weighs 12 lbs. That thing is very heavy whatever it weighs. I think I will dig up close to those tree and shrub roots, and then work on the other side and get as far as I can that way. Then I will return to them later. That spot has a lot of roots, plus day lilies and daffodils. I would like to rescue the day lilies and daffodils--I can share them with friends.

And that spot by the driveway where I have been trying to burn the honeysuckle vines and seeds, also has a lot of daffodils. A few years ago I had dug out several (I don't remember how many) wheel barrow loads of daffodils from that area. Obviously, I missed some and they made babies...

I guess I will have to drag the hose to those areas and just let them flood good so I can remove the daffodils and lilies easier.

I also want to start planting my veggie garden this week. Maybe I can work on digging some, and then planting some and not overwork my foot?

Silly me, I bought another package of bunching onions when I already have a giant package of bunching onions... And I still have leek seeds... Yummy.

 

I did a few things.

This rose was given to me to revive. I don't know if that's possible. It had sentimental value to its owner, a big ruffled peachy pink climber. It was dying.

I soaked it in water and washed away the sod and hard clay. This is what remained.



It was planted with the bud union about 6 inches deep, in a clay soil, and not watered in dry summer. The one cane that remains does appear to be above the bud union, so that's good. I cut off the dead trunk at the bottom, and the dead twigs at the top.



The top twigs have viable-looking buds, that seem to be awakening. I think the sole cane is several years old, so the bark looks dry and spotted, but is green near the bottom. I have a lot of doubt that this rose can be salvaged, but I will try. My container roses have a huge, heavy mass of roots. This barely has any roots.

Here it is planted in a container. I also gave it a small palm-full of organic vegetable fertilizer, and watered it.



Stems don't photograph well on an I-phone. There are a couple of viable-looking buds low on the stem. If they take off and grow, I can cut off the current leaning main stem, which is leaning because the original bush was planted at a 45 degree angle. I also planted it up higher than it was before.

I pruned this much healthier "Tropical Lightening" rose last week. The buds are growing quickly.



I set out this pack of carnation seedlings. It's time they adapt to outdoors.



This was the only pack of lavender seedlings that survived my absent-minded leaving them out in a big freeze. These barely made it, but are growing again.



The French old rose cutting survived the winter and the buds are swelling. I removed the top of the soil, mixed with some granular organic fertilizer, and returned the soil to the pot. Sorry the image is blurry.



This is a red miniature rose that I bought at the grocery store last year. It grew too big for indoors, so I left it outdoors over winter. It's starting to grow nicely now too.



The Chinese chives have awakened and starting to grow now too.



I cut bamboo poles for the squash trellis. Some are dry-cured and some green. It doesn't matter.

 

Your roses look pretty good @Daniel W. I think that first rose might surprise you. It cannot hurt to try anyway.

Some of my roses are beginning to put out some buds and signs of spring.

Maybe some of you have seen Ben on GroVeg on you tube. He has an amazing rose bush covered in white roses. He says it is "Rosa filipes Kiftsgate". I looked it up, and it grows about 20x50 feet at least. I have it on my wish list. It is also a rambling rose. I am not sure where I will put it if I get one.

It was a lovely sunny day here. I did work awhile on that ditchwork, and got over 2ft added to the length. And I planted my potatoes, the horseradish, and the rhubarb crowns. My 2 new hens came this evening.

 

Nightbowl, do you prefer adult hens over baby chicks or pullets?

I thought about it but have only started with babies.

 

I did some shopping in Asda today and on the way out, I noticed these and took them back in to pay for them.







"Three for a fiver, can't be bad."

I took them to the customer service desk, where an assistant was trying to stick some labels she'd printed off, on something a customer had returned. She could only use one hand, as in the other she had a number of inflated balloons. She said a customer had just paid for them, but had "wandered off." I offered to hold them for her, but she said she could manage. "Mind you," she said, "I've already lost one!"

I looked up and there it was stuck to the ceiling about thirty feet above our heads!

Who'd want to work in a shop?

I think I'll put them on the garage window sill for a couple of weeks before deciding to use them for some of those which have not made an appearance this year.

As it's sunny and quite warm, I might do a bit of weeding this afternoon.

 

Tidied and cut back some more Hydrangeas this morning..

 

It was nice enough, that I finished the weed fabric around my raised beds. I also trimmed my grape vines. Last year we had our first grapes. Hopefully they'll do well again this year. I am going to order the compost/filler dirt from the same place I got the gardens. The dirt does really well and they only charge $50 for (I think) 2 cu yards. That fills a 4x8 bed, but since I just need to top them off it should be enough for both of them.

 

Nothing in the garden, per se. I cleared the deck and back patio, anticipating their demolition soon. After it's all done and the new patio is there, it will hold container plants again. So I guess that was sort of maybe kind of work in garden.