What have you done today in the Garden?

Did a bit of pruning in the front garden.
The two viburnums "battle" for space with the two rhodos and several azaleas. If I left them to their own devices, they would always "win,"and grow far too tall. So they get a good pruning every year.




I also have to prune back the viburnam, rhodo and azaleas, where they grow over our curtilage wall and "try to block the pavement."
The rhodo with the small blooms is already out, the azaleas are starting to come out. The other rhodo will be later.





Our acer tree is at its best, all pink and green foliage and pale green blossom.





I painted the balustrade of this pergola.




It dried before any bits of wisteria blossom could fall on it and spoil the finish





The last of the wisterias is now in bloom. No foliage as yet, just as it should be.




This little acer has nearly filled the gaps caused by me significantly reducing its size.

The tree azaleas are nearly out.

The lawn here is recovering quite well.

 

All I've done today in the garden wasn't really IN the garden, I opened my potting shed and gathered up every dirty pot I had and washed them all.

After that I hung new matchstick blinds on my back, north-facing screen porch (and that was a pain).
They had one measured wrong, sent a 23" wide instead of the 25" wide, which I ordered but, it came from China so I'm not sending it back. It's on the end so it's ok. The hardest part was taking off all the tape they had wrapped in a spiral all the way up and down the packaging of each blind, then the wrapped the ends a hundred laps each !! I guess the Chinese have a surplus of tape they need to use up !!

 

Nothing really as we've been out for the majority of the day but did water all the plants, cuttings and seedlings in the greenhouse on returning home .

 

Mowed the pastures and lawns. Sprayed the weeds in the back garden with a new product safe for kids and pets Straightened up the waterlily pond , fed the fish in the fish pond and cleaned the bio-filter, secured the trellis for the clematis and scrubbed the concrete porch with bleach eliminating that green slime. Refilled the hummer feeders. Then took a nap…

 

Today I spent most of the day out in the kitchen garden. In a sense, I might call it potager, because it incorporates fruits, vegetables, flowers, in an enclosed space and with raised beds. I'm not certain of that term.

https://www.realsimple.com/potager-garden-11715776

I planted the rest of the tomatos in their raised beds. For fun, I stuck marigold plants among the tomato plants.



I trouble shot the drip irrigation lines, scrounged up soil staples from the shed to hold the lines in place, and got them working for the three tomato (plus lettuce, plus marigolds) beds. Then I tackled the garlic bed, which will need water until I let it dry out in June. After the garlic is harvested in July, I will plant bush beans there, and the lines will already be in place. I sat the four remaining ever bearing strawberry containers on the north end, where they wont be shaded and won't shade anything else, and hooked them into the drip lines too.



It's difficult to see here, but they are there.

I still have to figure out one more main branch line and the bed associated with that, because the lines are not dripping much or uniformly. Some work. Maybe it is pinched or has a leak. I want it to work too, plus I want to add more emitters or another line, for the planned squash crop.

I planted these seeds in pots.


I prepped the large, barrel-sized, bottomless containers for the bush-type summer squashes. The other areas are almost done, except the water lines.

Tonight my neighbor called. The ducks were in her yard. I don't know how they got out. Sneaky ducks. I blocked areas of the fence where they might have got through, and now they are in their duck house again.

 

I call your garden a potager. Mine has all the elements except the door to the yard is on the other side of the kitchen and mine isn't fenced off from the rest of the yard.

That's a lot of squash you're planting !!

 

It was a busy day today, watching football, tennis, snooker and golf on TV.
But I did spend a few minutes in the garden, checking on what needs doing tomorrow.

The repair to this little bit of trellis yesterday, didn't take long.



I'm still concerned about this acer palmatum Taylor which seems still to be "under the weather."




This second azalea I bought from B&Q a week ago seems good value for money at £10.




Wisteria can't get better than this.



Well, it can be different with a touch of a button on a camera.




Too different?



Our tallest azalea is nearly all out.



The second one is nearly out.




The first of the rhodos in this garden is out.




I need to get into these wisterias, late in the autumn. They are supposed to be a white, flanked by a blue either side. But nature being what it is, some of the blue has crept into the white and some of the white, into the blue. It's only noticeable when they are in bloom.



More azaleas coming out in the bed next to the patio,



This is my favourite. In the corner it doesn't get much sun, but it will look good when it's all out.



I spotted some black spot on this rose, that lives with other "unloved ones" on our drive. Not much, but enough to warrant another spray of Sulphur Rose. I also gave the one next to it a dose, although it had none. Still just one at the moment out of total of twenty-five, isn't bad.

 

Last night, after supper, I watered all the veg in the raised beds. This morning I watered what needed it, since it hasn't rained a drop all month !! . Whatever happened to "April Showers?"

This morning I found some more pots to wash, cleaned those and sharpened all my tools, including my Jackson "kicking shovel" which I totally abuse and has some deep knicks in the blade from my cutting roots with it. Hey, two or three plunges into a good sized root and this shovel goes through !! I'm not going to baby it !!

 

Moved most of the Hostas out into their summer places on the front little patio.

Deadheaded all of the Hellebores in the borders there as they self seed everywhere if I'm not quick off the mark. We have more than enough now ,plus a few that have sprouted between the pavers.

Emptied out all 3 cold frames and cut back the Geraniums ,sadly removing all their lovely blooms. I want them to bulk up and build strength.

My lovely neighbours had snuck through the gap in our adjoining boundary hedge by our greenhouse and left me 7 Sweetpea plants out on my potting up bench, knowing that this year I haven't been able to sow many seeds....so very kind of them.

 

Amazing display @Doghouse Riley! It's like a botanical park.

 

We use squash all winter long, and eat a lot of summer squash in the summer.

Some of those are test varieties. I've tried various varieties that can't handle the local cool summer nights. Except now it's hotter.

Galeux has always been a real star for me. I forgot to save seeds last year but have some older ones. I wasn't confident they would grow.

This will be my first year growing some smaller types on trellises to save space.

Today I finished setting up these two "containers", open bottomed, for bush squash. They will have tomato cages to keep them from flopping and already have working drip lines.



The one nearest the camera has a cracked side. I don't feel like repairing it.

I finished building the first squash trellis, except I ran out of string for tendrils to climb.



This iris has been hanging out in the kitchen garden waiting for me to give it some attention. I THOUGHT it was the variety "Immortality" but it's not, not even close. It's the centuries old variety, Iris germanica Florentina, used for orris root. By far the earliest bearded iris blooming here now, and sweetly scented.



Today I planted few more marigolds among the tomatoes. I chose the reddest flowered ones I could find. I will add marigold flowers to the chicken feed to see if the yolks will be deeper orange.



(Those are actually between rows of Chinese chives).

I thought there were no honeybees among the apple flowers. There are a few (and a few other bees and wasps).



No one near here owns beehives any more. Maybe they are feral.

I thought those Galeux squash seeds might not grow, so I wrapped some in wet paper towels, inside a plastic bag, placed on warming mat. More than half sent out roots over night. So I planted them in potting soil today.

 

I'm pretty much on top of everything for the moment.

I got into this Mayleen clematis over the front door, as I do at this time every year.
It's supposed to "cascade" but as a plant it has a mind of its own. It's behaving on each side, but not in the middle at the moment, it needed a considerable amount of tying down to encourage it to grow down instead of up.





I got into the rockery, a "hands and knees job," getting the grass out without the phlox.





Then I weeded the whole of the side border. Again a hands and knees job. At least I can get at it from both the lawn and from behind all the azaleas and rhodos.

The lawn near the border is slowly recovering.







If I let these quinces do their own thing, they would grow very tall and block out a lot of light.





So I prune them down to the level of the fence and stop them growing out too close to the rhodos. I'll probably have to do it again twice, later in the year.





I re-thought the situation with the hedgehogs.
When they came out of hibernation, (wherever that was, they eat everything in both feeders every night, as doubtless they were hungry. Now they must be finding some live food. I guess they decided the amount of food provide at the bottom of the garden was enough and there was no need to go down to the one on the patio, as it hasn't been eaten for two days.

So I've taken the feeder at the bottom of the garden away.

I've also re-located the house which was near the tea-house, to half-way down the border under an azalea. They might start using it if it's there.








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It might seem mean, but the whole point of providing possible homes and food is a bit of a trade off, for us to see their activities on camera.
I'll put plenty of food in the feeder on the patio.


The roses on this patio have never looked so good with lots of buds on them.
I gave them a "seaweed" spray this morning.







Then all the pots got a good watering. I'll water the lawn later this evening.


Of course, this is the "lull before the storm." In a week or so there will fallen wisteria blossom everywhere.

 

That's good news then and your welcome

 

This morning I pricked out the baby zinnia plants that I had sown in a tray, about 18 or so. Four were really small and weak so they are in the compost. I pruned a couple of my straggly looking azalea plants, removed the crossing branches from my Mayhaw tree which has ONE fruit on it !!
. I could make a microscopic batch of jelly outta that, I tell ya !!

 

Nothing yesterday or today because I'm recovering from River tripping me over and grazing my right knee and everything aches at the moment, he saw a fox and i didn't, it was still dark in the early morning. He chased the fox and i had to get up quickly to get him back, the fox went into a neighbour's back garden and i managed to get hold of the lead.

The last week i planted out the tomatoes and covered them with fleece, they were getting too leggy in the conservatory.