Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Farway

Turned very cool & dull today, my plan was clear up the daff foliage and generally tidy up the pots at the front, but not today with my cold old bones

Better news, I think my sorry Shirley toms are perking up now, with potting on & warmer weather certainly looking a lot healthier than they were, I do think there's something dd about the compost I bought this year though, maybe lack of balanced nutrients? That's the trouble with the stuff they use these days never sure if a hint of residual weedkiller in there

My one pound offer seeds from D T Brown arrived yesterday, everything I ordered plus packet of free parsnip seeds which are of no use to me but hey ho

I took the opportunity & sowed the Helenium into modules, a tad late but with a fair breeze should be large enough to go out & overwinter, if not they can stay in the conservatory until Spring

I've moved the coleus outside ready for planting out, they are looking good and have romped away since potting on

With the sun comes more blossom, blackberry this times, this one is Merton Thornless, I have it trained like an arch

CatieE

So many beautiful photo's posted lately and all the plants are looking healthy!  I wish ours were as good   Does anyone know how to cope with 'mare's tail' - it is everywhere - despite all my efforts

Davesnave

CatieE said:

So many beautiful photo's posted lately and all the plants are looking healthy!  I wish ours were as good   Does anyone know how to cope with 'mare's tail' - it is everywhere - despite all my efforts

Your best bet is probably to use a product called xxxxxxxx which is

specially designed for mares tail.

(Details removed.)

CatieE

Thank you Dave

twopenny

Well what a day. I took some big terracotta pots round to the charity stall and of course, you have to look at all the plants. My eye taken by what is labeled clematis Montana but with a purple leaf. Very pretty. But I do have a lot of spring stuff.

This afternoon dug over the new veg bed, relaid some paving slabs so I could get round it, planted the Purple Sprouting and 2 wigwams of Runners. Not quite enough room but figured I could move a couple of the PSp in place of the beans in autumn as they won't have grown much. An experiment.

Had 2 raspberries off my Autumn Bliss second year canes and half a strawberry, the birds got the other half so some netting to be done. The Alpine Strawberries are late and not perky. As they've been moved twice in 2yrs hardly surprising.

Dug out a spot in the lawn for the Box Balls that weren't thriving in pots. Weeded, staked, killed bugs (my Apple now had aphids so that's nearly a full set of fruit trees), put in Pinks (£1.30 from Morrisons. Bargain as £5 at the garden centre.), dug another bed and put in Tomatoes.

Cleared out the Kales, trimmed the box and watered everything front and back.

Now creamcrackered and hardly able to move as it was 35C in the back garden. Relaised I hadn't planted the special Grannys Bonnet but frankly, can't move. Tomorrow?

It should get easier from here on as although I need to widen beds and dig a pond, put up posts/trellis for shade most can wait and next year it should be just planting and weeding.

Starting from scratch is a lot harder than you think but it feels like home now with a proper garden around.

Farway

Misty and cool this morning, with a promise of sun once it burns the murk away, hope so I really do need to clear the daff leaves out the front & plant up the cosmos

If it doesn't happen I'll get round to potting up the rooted in water fig cuttings, with camera clicking away.

twopenny said:

put in Pinks (£1.30 from Morrisons. Bargain as £5 at the garden centre.)

Oooh, they are good! I bought one a few years back from the same SM, mine is in a pot on the front steps where it bake all summer, deliberately poor soil with good drainage and yet again loads of buds this year waiting to pop. Photo op coming up soon

Davesnave

The visiting hordes have departed, so we're basking in normality and much-needed housework today. DB is cracking on with her herb garden, but I'm reserving photos of that until it's more complete. We managed to find paving slabs for it at a clearance price, so it's turning out quite budget-friendly.

Meanwhile, here is a less often-seen plant that seeds around here. I think it's a Celandine poppy Stylophorum diphyllum. Apparently it's happy in shade, so I ought to get some down by the stream.  This one is in full sun now the oak tree's gone.

More info here from over the pond....https://awaytogarden.com/a-plant-id-order-stylophorum-diphyllum/

MovingForwards

My garden is now beginning to look more like an industrial veg farm.
OH created a brassica cage from my old plastic greenhouse frame, netting has been secured with bulldog clips.
I've put up netting to put some shade on my toms.
I previously painstakingly created webbing for my pea plants, only today discovered they can get tendrils to wrap round canes!

In the loaner garden the spuds are starting to sprout, as are some other things in the builders sacks. The salad and herbs are popping up in the rows. Planted another builders sack of spuds. Anyone want to do spud diving when the time comes?!

No2's garden the sweet peas are settling in and more flower seedlings are sprouting; I may have to take the packets down and cross reference plants to what's growing, to make sure I only remove the weeds. Not sure if I said, I picked up some alpines to create a rockery garden.

I think I've mastered the art of watering everything, with a watering can 🙈

Yesterday I popped to the allotments I'm on the waiting list for. The half plots are about the size of my garden, full plot about double the size. I think with careful planning I could manage a full plot when I get to the top of the list, but will have questions for the ideas I'm brewing.

twopenny

Moving, didn't you say you worked full time? How the heck are you coping with 2 gardens + allotment! You must be so fit!

Today was supposed to be a day off. Then I thought I'd mow the grass front and back - that led to just filling pots and planting the salad - which just led to putting some more potted plants in the ground where they're safer and a bit of watering.

Even with a hose pipe yesterday and some rain overnight the soil is still dry and rock hard.

I've been looking back at what the garden was like when I moved in and now. Amazing what you can do in 2 yrs. Now I really must stop buying plants!

Dave that's a beautiful plant and would look amazing by a stream. But aren't the seed heads wrong for poppy?

goldfinches

2p - Hasn't california poppy (eschscholzia) got seed pods very like that?