What have you done today in the Garden?

I fed the birds and began working on cutting back growth on the pergola that we sit under in front of our garden house.
I kept getting rained on, so as darkness was not too far off, I threw in the towel.

 

It'll be quite a while before I can start major gardening, but there is still winter pruning ahead, more cleanup, and winter improvement of the gardening area.

I did add coffee grounds and eggshells to the last raised bed, to supplement soil life and add calcium. I use dried eggshells, about a pound for the 32 square foot bed, and work it in long before it's planted. I grind the eggshells in the food processor to rough pieces, not a fine powder.



They'll get raked in when weather permits. Then it will be ready to plant with late winter / early spring greens and radishes.

 

We did nothing in the garden today but we did carry out a public service. It was our own initiative, so nothing special.

Do you remember the thread about the work the municipality and our water board ere carrying out? I showed a piccy of the aftermath of all the werk left huge areas of bare mud. Very unsightly. We organised some gratis daff bulbs. The Bride and I went out and planted some groups of five alongside both sides of the pathway going into the park. We began at the bridge. We got about half way. Tomorrow we will continue. Until we run out of the bulbs.
Fingers crossed that they come up with all this rain. It is woefully late to plant them, but we e going to give it a go anyway.

 

@Sjoerd, that sounds wonderful. Daffodils are the most cheerful flower. That sounds like what they call here "guerrilla gardening" - planting things for food, wildlife, or people in neglected public spaces.

Today was day#2 for installing pathways in the vegetable garden, between raised beds. I weighted down black plastic sheets, which should prevent moles from doing as much damage, then laid down a layer of chopped up arborist chips. It looks much nicer, isn't muddy, and is soft to walk on. That should also keep weeds to a minimum in the paths. That project will need a week or two.

The delivery truck brought seed starting medium. I washed out plastic flowerpots with hot water and detergent, and cleaned off the seed starting rack. I sorted through seeds, will plant onion seeds and rudbeckias first, maybe some echinaceas. Maybe some miniature tomatoes. I don't know if they can grow and bear indoors under lights.

 

Nothing today it's been raining, but next week should be better.

 

Yep, the rain has been persistent all day today, so we cleared off to the garden centre and bought a few seeds (onions and lettuce) and a good stiff yard broom - so I could fly home on it to get the lunch ready on time..... well, there may have been a traffic jam

 

@Tetters, do you have favorite varieties of onions and lettuce?

We remain in isolation, probably all of January. I won't feel ready until at least the ICUs have openings in case I get into bad trouble. It's OK being in isolation but I have to keep busy.

I put down weed barrier and covered it with wood chips, to make clean paths between the raised beds. That job is 75% completed for the raised beds. Then cones the miniature orchard.

I pruned two apple trees in the main orchard. Many more to follow.

Then planted the first indoor seeds. Some were left overs from last year, or saved seeds. Some were new -



I wore out, so a few remain to plant. They are on a seed warming mat in the sunroom.

 

Nothing today I had to wash my hair and it's too cold out.

 

@Daniel W I prefer the cos lettuce Romaine and Little Gem/Sweet Gem rather than those pretty ones that go floppy as soon as they're cut. As for onions, we (Zigs department really) are growing Stuttgarter which is bolt resistant and good for long storage - I even learned in the past couple of lockdown years how to string them up for storage ! We also have Red Baron. We have grown some Kelsae onions too, his and hers - to see who could grow the biggest one ......ME We like Sturon onions too - they usually produce lots and are also quite bolt resistant.

As for lockdown... I think we might have seen the last of it. We've had three jabs (my last one nearly finished me off) and this Omicron variant is much milder anyway, and is seeing the other variants off - hopefully it will be the end of this horrible pandemic.
One thing is for sure, it has been looking after the land and our plants that has kept us fairly sane in the last two years.
You sure do keep busy, you don't have time for any dull moments - bet you sleep well

 

You'll have to start some indoor gardening Logan, I have. My indoor plants are hanging on for their little lives, and I haven't killed many yet they are all supposed to be idiot proof, but we'll see

 

Today I added height to two of the espalier supports, so they can grow a third or fourth tier. Mostly I puttered.

I have a 15 year old geranium / pelargonium that gets all kinds of abuse and somehow comes out of it and grows. This fall I just dug it up and left it in a bucket in the garage. Yesterday I took some cuttings from the almost-dead looking plant. The variety is "Mrs. Pollack" which I read originated in the 1850s. The one website I looked at offered them for $7. Holy moly! So I got out the original plant, shook off the dirt and dead leaves, pruned it back and repotted it. I have 7 cuttings, so if they grow I'll be rich! Well OK not rich, but it's fun to start plants. I hope they grow. I just stick them into a jar of water and wait for roots.

As it looked in the garage.



After cleaning it up.



After potting.

 

Tetters, I have some rooted cuttings of fuchsias and geraniums on the kitchen window ledge that are doing well. I've rooted some fleebane that I put in the hanging baskets with the fuchsias and geraniums. Next month going to start some seeds, chillies and Snapdragons in the conservatory, haven't got room for a greenhouse.

 

Looking good Daniel.
We have never done this at this time of season, but I am thinking that they will make it just fine. Your specimens look good, all cleaned-up.
Well bone.

 

Temp is 9c and dry so I emptied one of the compost bins, got 3 altogether.

 

It was time to finish the daff planting along the path entering the park here. I hope that it won’t look too amateurish. Oh well, it will be colourful if they do not rot in their holes.


This is the path. We planted them in groups of five on either side of the path, from the bridge to just before the intersection. I saved fifteen bulbs to plant here and there in the lottie. Fingers crossed.