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

redofromstart

It is much brighter and lighter at that end of the patio without the gloomy evergreen EH, and the rain meant I wasn't dive bombed by an angry robin.  There are plenty of well established shrubs around the edges of the garden and a lot of holly on the stone wall on the church side so lots of nesting places that are safer from the cats.

Manure, I did message the nice lady in the village with horses and a trailer and she said she still does deliver a trailer load to the drive, just waiting for her to confirm when would work for her.  I always feel guilty as she wont let me pay but having read what Watty paid to have her manure pile removed I can understand why she does it. 

It has finally stopped raining here but I am on the lingering remains of a migraine so I don't plan on doing anything much.  Ages ago SA recommended a book called the 'Five Minute Garden' which I found to read for free on Borrowbox via my library.  Worth a read if you can get access.  

Potatoes are chitting in an egg box on the window ledge.  I've actually got the propagator out and need to give all the bits a wipe down. I am currently resisting some double hellebores. I probably should try propagating the ones I have actually.  The singles self seed nicely but the doubles don't.  

greenbee

It's always nice when you can see the impact of the work you've done. 

I've almost finished sorting out the houseplants (just soaking the orchids as they need a drink). And have had a couple of trips to the shed/greenhouse to get some clearing up done. There are masses of bamboos that need all the old string removing from them so they can be put away properly. I've done a couple of batches and put away the ones that fit in the shed, but the tall ones have to go in the workshop. 

Propagator is in and wiped down, and the seed trays and cloches are washed and drying. I just need to keep visiting the greenhouse to get those bamboos sorted as then I'll be able to get in there to deal with the rest of it!

redofromstart

Houseplants and me just do not get on, unless they thrive on neglect.  Peace lilies yes, the one Christmas cactus that Mr Redo nursed lovingly,  and various elderly but small cactus that I tend to forget about which seems to work well for them.  They occasionally flower and surprise me.  The thing I do do, once it is warmer, is put any houseplants out on a warm but rainy day so that the inevitable dust comes off.  

I do have an amaryllis for the first time this year, a waxed bulb that finally flowered today.  It also has thrived on neglect, although I understand you can pick the wax off and get them to flower again next year. The very leggy white hyacinths did flower badly but they smell nice so I will poke them in the garden somewhere once they have finished.  The paperwhites I planted a few weeks back are about to flower too.

Planning ahead for growing stuff that I will actually use, I got some chive and some garlic chives seed to sow.  My chives randomly died after 15 years, and they are such a useful herb so I hope they take.  I've had the garlic chives in a pea shoot salad and really liked them, despite not liking garlic much.  I still have oregano and parsley surviving on the kitchen window ledge which I grew from 'free' magazine seeds last year - a first for me.  I also have two nicely growing rosemary plants that started out as cuttings from a bunch of flowers.  The supermarket pots of rosemary don't seem to transfer well to the garden, despite hardening off.  

MissRikkiC

We discovered a few very small snowdrops in our garden this weekend as well as bluebell tufts showing up everywhere! 

I’m awaiting seeds arriving this week and have recieved my order for asparagus and strawberry bare roots; I’m just awaiting a dry day/less damp day to get and sort them. 

I’ve a lot of tidying to sort now in the garden having poured my efforts into the veg patch this past month. But the GH is looking very stylish imho. Photo incoming. 

greenbee

I haven't ordered my asparagus yet as I still haven't tested the soil and prepped the beds, but really do need to get on with it. 

Lots of snowdrops coming up both where we put them in last year, and where we've cleared shrubs and they can now (hopefully) thrive. Hellebores from my mums have survived and hopefully will self-seed.

Primose plugs put in last year at the front seem to be there. Aconites are flowering, but I can't see any sign of the bluebells out there yet despite the fact they flowered last year after planting. The ones in the wood next door are starting to come up. I can't really remember what I put out there (I know lots of wildflower seeds were sown there), but hopefully some of it will appear.

I haven't actually got round to planning the veg plot or greenhouse yet, but am vaguely thinking about using one bed for cut flowers. Any suggestions as to what I should put in it?

KajiKita

@greenbee, Zinnias and cosmos did well in my cut flower bed last year 😊
I’m wondering about including some perennial options like Turkish Lillie’s and the more subtle gladioli 🤔

KK

greenbee

Cosmos does well here and goes in all the gaps (the garden was mostly cosmos and nicotiana last year!). I have lots of seeds, so they're definitely on the cards this year. I also had lots of sweetpeas on the patio - but those have to be picked wherever they go. I did wonder about dahlias in the cutting bed rather than in the borders (TBH I need to plan the borders as things are shoved in randomly as I was given them). 

redofromstart

I really want to have a cut flower bed too. I've started from the same logic as growing veg - grow what I like, but done more in reverse. I don't like bright colours (the gladioli, which is unfair because some of the white or blues are very pretty), or cut sunflowers, or carnations or gypsophilia. I'm allergic to things like snapdragons.  Suggestions from the book I read are Scabious, Cosmos, Zinnias, sweet Williams (stems are too short in my experience), love in a mist, sweet peas, dahlia, cornflowers, stocks, larkspur, anything English romantic basically. The plot itself needs to good sunlight and reasonable sheltered. Bulbs are good, eg Tulips but grow them as annuals rather than expecting them to repeat flower. I've got some freesia in for the first time this year because I love the scent even if I'm not keen on the brighter coloured ones. 

MrS had some mixed bulb packs (by colour) this morning - 30 mixed bulbs for £6/2 for 10  - but the one I looked at had white freesia, white gladioli and some other pretty white bulbs. No idea what the quality is like though. I was tempted for the white freesia as the ones I got are brights and mixed. 

KajiKita

Love in a mist is gorgeous but barely lasts a week here … 🤷‍♀️

KK

greenbee

KajiKita said:

Love in a mist is gorgeous but barely lasts a week here … 🤷‍♀️

KK

but stays forever