What have you done today in the Garden?

I pulled some weeds to feed my chickens. They love the purple dead nettle, henbit and chickweeds. I was busy indoors today.

 

Today I grafted different apple varieties onto two of the Redlove apple espaliers. The trees have good, established root system and trunks but the Redlove apples are inedible. When (if) the grafts take, I'll train them to espalier shape, remove to old Redlove, and bingo! An Akane and a Jonagold.



The circles are the new grafts. I did one more last year. The top tier is "Blue Pearmain" so I am leaving it there.

This time, I used a different graft, called a cleft graft. It is fewer steps and not as challenging to cut. The other type, which I like more, is stronger while healing and leaves no exposed surfaces. The cleft graft moves more easily until it heals, then it is permanent. It does leave some exposed surfaces. I wrap it all tightly. Apple grafts easily so I imagine it will be OK.

The scion is cut with a narrow wedge.



The stock (lower part of tree) is cut with pruners, then split.



Then the split is pried apart and the scion wedge inserted.



I wrap tightly with strips cut from a plastic bag. It should start growing in a month.

I pruned about 3/4 of the top growth from the branches and spurs. There will be less competition for nutrients flowing from the roots.

I also cut the lower leaves from the Chusan Palms.



Pruned half of the row of fig trees behind the house. I take off anything dead, and prune back about half of the branches to five of six feet. Those make fall figs. I leave the others to make summer figs.



I repotted on of the yellow miniature roses. This one will stay in this container. Also, now the wind wont blow it over.



I looked up the list of patents on the sticker for this rose, then traced to a name. It looks like this one is Sunmaid Kordana. That's much easier than KORpot055.

Made a batch of bone meal in stone mortar.

 

Emptying out the walled cold frame..so far taken all the Geraniums outs and some of the Fuchsia. Trimmed back and watered, now they are out basking in the warm sunshine.

 

Did some bibb & buttercrunch lettuce seeds this morning before work

 

My main job today was cleaning my golf clubs, electric trolley, shoes and over trousers, ready for Monday, the bottom of the legs of the trousers get so muddy I have to wash them in a bucket in the garage, although I am "allowed" to put them in the washing machine on the rinse and spin programme.

Anyway, whilst I had the water heater on in the garage, I gave the wooden troughs a wash down, at the same time checking for rot.
They were all good.










I also cleaned out the fountain and checked the pump and its filter. The water in it was very red. Maybe Sahara dust?
I gave the surfaces a scrub with a kitchen pad. It's easy to clean as there's a removable bung in the bottom of the bowl to let you drain out the water.
Now as good as new.




The little bung you can see in the base of the fountain allows me to put a "dip stick" into the old koi pool pump sump on which the fountain sits, to check for water.

I drilled through the bottom drain with which the sump connects with my 1" masonry drill and the same in several places in the bottom of the pool before it was filled in. The stick always comes out dry, so I'm confident the fine hardcore under the paving isn't retaining any water.

Our white hydrangea survived the winter and is growing well. I read on the internet they like coffee grouts, so I'm saving them from our morning cappuccinos and will sprinkle them around it after a few days of saving them.

I tried a bit of wet n' forget the other day on the bit of moss which was resisting iron sulphate.




All the wisterias are showing a larger than usual number of blossom buds. They do this every few years.




These are the clematis that I removed from the bed alongside the garage and replaced with those I ordered from Taylors/Sarah Raven, which with the potting compost, cost me a hundred quid.
I'm giving them a chance, the shed retains the heat for quite some time after sunset, although I'm not hopeful. If any survive, I can find a space for them... somewhere.






Tomorrow, I may get into this myleen clematis over the front door.





I like it to trail a bit. So it'll need some sorting out, as it does each year.

 

That's a lot like my overwintered geraniums. Those older plants have a nice look. I don't have fuchsias any more.

Hope they are tasty! Plus you reminded me to do the same.

 

During the winter i buy potted chives to use for the salads, after I've cut them I keep them outside, now I've just planted them in 2 containers on the patio.

 

Today it was a rainy day; however, I had leek plantlets. Real gardeners are not going to be stopped by a little drizzle, right.

We rolled back the dead plant mulch layer, aerated the soil, ploughed two furrows, made holes in the bottom of those ditches and dropped the leek plants in…one at the time. These are the Summer leeks. Gad, they are so whispery. They look so tiny and vulnerable down at the bottom of those trenches on a grey and rainy day.

 

Those will give you lots of flavor, Logan!

I think that way too, Sjoerd. My leeks still need planting, and some of the onions, too.

Today I...

Tied up the climbing roses flanking the vegetable garden entrance.

Added two vertical extenders, bamboo, to one of the Espalier apple trellises. It still needs the horizontal bar. Meanwhile, I tied three vertical branches at that level so they wont lose lose their flexibility before I add the new top bar.

Prune the remaining espalier apple trees. I have two that I'm not re-grafting. One is a Zestar plus Rubinette. The other is Honeycrisp plus Gala.



I also grafted more favorite apple varieties to the remaining Redlove Espalier. If they grow, I'll have more that I like. I had bought into the nurseryman's hype about the red flesh apples. Yes, they are interesting, but for me, not worth growing anymore.

Pruned two of the pear trees and one "free range" apple tree in the side yard (Akane, a red Japanese variety).

Flowers in the vegetable garden. Feels like Spring





Also planted some lettuce seeds.

 

Thank you Daniel, your all so busier than me, but the weather has been terrible here, so waterlogged.

 

Yes so are we down south too @Logan .
We still have one little stream running down our lane which has been there for the last 2 months now, created from run off water draining from the open countryside slopes that run along both sides. Opposite us use to be clay quarries over a 100 years ago.....and boy do we know it!! We could start our own pottery buisness!!
We just can't win...either really soggy and awful in winter or cracked and baked to a hard crust in summer.

Now that the lawns have been cut I put boards down to walk on so that I can walk to the borders to enable me to carry on preparing them ...I find it's the only way.

I was so pleased to be able the move things around out in the greenhouse yesterday , all my ( so far) seedlings are out there now so I don't have to cart them out first thing in the morning.....now have loads of space to sow more seeds.

Today I want to check out all my insitu Dahlias....always a very nervous time to see it they 've made it through winter..normally fearful due to cold and frost but this year it's the soggy ground that is the worry. The few I have stored in the greenhouse are all sprouting nicely but it's too early for the ones left in the ground just yet.

 

Got into our small front garden today.
Removed all the weeds I could find in the lawn, (a hands and knees job). Then mowed it. The area immediately under the azaleas takes a long time to produce any grass growth. The only way to resolve it is to severely prune back the azaleas, I do trim a few inches off them each year, but I won't do more than that.





As usual, despite a trim of six inches to a foot each year all the way round, the big acer has produced its usual number of new buds.



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I got the ladders out and sorted out this clematis. Removing dead wood and tying up new branches in an attempt to get it to cascade.





The "unloved" roses in the "alley of shame" (our drive), are all doing well despite the little sun they receive.




I'm pleased with this lilac.





It's put on considerable growth in a week.




Tied up a few clematis, then got the strimmer out and edged the right-hand side of the lawn.





That's me completely up to date. I can now watch the football.

 

@Oreti i hope that your dahlias will be ok in the ground. Yes some of the paths still get run off from the woods area after a bit of rain. At the back of some houses there's a spring that starts to run off for the last few weeks.

 

As the hedgehog hadn't visited our garden for three days, I took the feeders away on Friday.
We had a visit on Friday night!





But it didn't stay long as there was no food.
So last night I put the food out again.

But no visit!

I don't think it's the same hedgehog that visited last year, as it seems bigger. This one may visit several gardens, they can walk several miles during a night.

 

Sjoerd Great arching deco technique with the pvc pipes. I have done something similar for vines it works well. The soil looks perfect for new seedlings. Soon your plot will be covered in all kinds of goodies. And many Lovely flowers, soon it will be time for more plantings to harden off for your lovely garden plot.

Daniel the graft looks good, grafts can be tricky but you seem to have an exceptional skill and green thumb.
Yikes , your poor thumb back to normal ? I hope it’s healed ok, a nerve injury is serious. The dangers of gardening can sneak up on us. I had a thorn stuck in a finger joint and couldn’t get it out. I thought it would work its way out if I left it alone. It seemed every attempt to remove , it became deeper. I guess the tip never came out and was diagnosed with thorn arthritis , I never knew there was such a thing! Beware of thorns…
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/plant-thorn-arthritis

Riley impressive garden you have designed . So much interest with the diversity of plants trees shrubs perennials.
There is no time for you to rest on your laurels. Soon your garden will be full of azalea, wisterias dripping along the arches, rhody’s, all of many different colors with your home surrounded in blooms as if you lived in a parade of seasonal bloom's.
Your garden zone is very similar to mine . We seem to have a lot of the same plants. You have done a professional design with an amazing outcome, proving how plants can be worth there weight in gold. No shortage of plants in your garden thru out every season. You seem to have the maintenance down to an art form.