GreenFly - A 'flylady style' gardening thread with weekly tasks to tame your garden

maddiemay

@Cherryfudge I am not too knowledgeable about Camellias except that they need masses of water late Summer and Autumn to prevent flower buds falling, so if in a container would need more attention than in a border. They grow really well here, but a variegated one has never had a single flower in 12/13 years, it's plain next door neighbour planted same time flowers it's head off!

greenbee

I've deadheaded today (cosmos are still going strong and there were bees all over them). I was going to clear the greenhouse but it was hot and sunny in there so I thought I'd give the tomatoes a bit longer. I'll probably pick them tomorrow. 

I did pick beans, so need to dry the borlottis and inspect the rest and work out how to use them. And at some point have a really good clearing session down there. There is so much to do, and not enough time and energy to get it all done at the moment. 

Cherryfudge

Thanks @maddiemay, you have answered another question for me there: I thought it might have been too wet as the compost seems very claggy, but perhaps that's why it's happier than it used to be.

There is a beautiful big camellia two doors down that was planted about thirty years ago and is splendid in the springtime and laden with flowers - and that's a plain one too.

KajiKita

@Cherryfudge, I wonder if the camellia without much root growth, had a pet vine weevil keeping it company earlier in the year …? 🤷‍♀️

Still working through my borders and the veggie beds here. Found some pretty cyclamen coum (yes, coum! autocorrect, not ‘coin’ …. Sigh …) under lots of leaves, so cleared those. 😊

Started clearing down the cut flower border and removing the dying, yellowy leaves from the primroses / primulas that are restarting themselves 😊
My rosemary has been propped up and underneath it, was lots of fresh chives growth 😊
Harvested one small courgette, which brings my total this year to two! 😂
Compost heaps are bulging! At some point these all need moving from one t’other and I must make a start on riddling a goodly amount to spread on the veggie beds. 

Mr KK asked what I wanted for Christmas this year and I suggested that a stock of the gardening gloves I use (I get through c. 6 Paris a year) would be really helpful. He’s up for that so I shall send him the link 😊

Wandered about late on and found various flowers including this one 😊



KK

redofromstart

My camellias all are on the NW of the house, roots in shade and away from any heat till mid afternoon. I've got a gifted one to plant and I'm thinking huge tub and ericaceous compost. 

Early for the Viburnum KK, mine is an inherited 14 foot monster next to the camellia but I don't think it's flowering yet. 

Cheery_Daff

Your new garden is coming on beautifully, dfw321 😊

It's been a long and busy week here but I've finally been outside pottering today. I've had a rest from veg growing this year but plan to get back to it next year, so at the minute I'm mostly mulching veg beds with cut (soggy) hay from the field, and today I've collected 4 bin bags of leaves for leaf mould.

We've still got roses flowering too



I've got a couple of things in pots that need to go out - not really got a suitable place for them at the minute though 🤔 so they might just go in bigger tubs by the house for the winter.

I think I'm going to create a flower/herb bed down the outside of the veg patch, so I'll throw a load of mulch in that space too over the winter. Some of these plants can then be moved into there, and it'll hopefully stop the endless grass growing through the veg plot fence (it'll be easier to keep the edge of a border a bit clearer than a wire fence 😂)

Cherryfudge

@KajiKita, you could will be right about the wine weevil, I've seen a few around.

Well done on the courgette! You doubled your crop in October.  

I love Viburnum: I planted one by the gate so we get the scent in the depths of winter. It's the end of a hedge so it's at the right height to catch a whiff as we pass. I've tried to strike cuttings but it won't.

KajiKita

redofromstart said:

Early for the Viburnum KK, mine is an inherited 14 foot monster next to the camellia but I don't think it's flowering yet. 

This one barely stops flowering all year round, apart from a couple of months in high summer! It was saved when we put the drive in which meant taking down a wall next to it - I got home one evening in the midst of the ‘works’ and Mr KK asked me if I’d like to keep it and should he make a bed around it. Yes please! says I, so he cut a chunk out of the concrete apron in front of the garage next to it and made a wooden border for the new drive to lap up to on the other side. I’ve added snow drops, small white Japanese anemones and heucheras to that bed since, so it gives me something all year 😊

KK

debtfreewannabe321

Before and after! I finally finished it. It will probably be the last bed I transform this year and I will carry on with the clean up mission in the garden till next year.i also got the strawberries transferred into big pots. I have lots of babies which I'm going to try and grow indoors as they're on runners right now so i am going to attempt to get roots on them ready to pot up. This bed was back breaking and I'm glad it's done!

Cherryfudge

You've made a  massive difference there @debtfreewannabe321, those aching muscles were worth it!

All I've done is pruned a lavender which was a cutting from a neighbour many years ago. The stem is very gnarled and I never know if it'll make it through another winter, but the top pokes nicely over the fence and it's that bit that I cut back in the hope of more young growth next year. I saved a handful of the cut bits for a vase on the windowsill.