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

redofromstart

They did ok from a 'mixed annuals' sprinkle pack, in full sun under the espalier fruit trees for a few years but fell victim to the rampaging free range hens we had at the time.  Last years attempt at sprinkling some in the borders resulted in a few straggly plants so I need to plan better where I put them I think.  

Trying to keep myself busy today but its cold to play outside.  I went to a local independent garden centre (where they grow most of their own stuff)  but mostly spent my time doing 'how much?!'  Too much to be investing without having a spot in mind, prepared and ready to plant anyway.  I did buy a nice large frost proof patterned terracotta pot as a valentines present to me, which I shall probably fill with the short lilies.  I stopped growing them some years back as we started to have some Lilly beetle problems.  I have some tree lilies to plant as well, may get those bedded in in pots in the tunnel for now rather than risking the bulbs sweating in the plastic bag till the ground is warmer. 

The village farm shop obliged with another 450l of compost for £40 ready for the raised beds. It does help having that mental 'good price' per litre because I nearly fell for 60l bags in the GC, for the same price as the 75l bags in the village.

greenbee

Had an unscheduled stop at the supermarket and picked up dahlias, freesias, and anemones in boxes. Probably not the cheapest, but if I plant them rather than ignoring them it'll have been a good idea. 

KajiKita

greenbee said:

KajiKita said:

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

KK

but stays forever

I thought that but not in my garden … 🤷‍♀️

KK

greenbee

KajiKita said:

greenbee said:

KajiKita said:

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

KK

but stays forever

I thought that but not in my garden … 🤷‍♀️

KK

Must try it here and see what happens!

greenbee

Garden tidying is progressing - not as fast as I'd like, obviously. But deliveries of fruit trees and bushes has meant that stuff has had to be cleared. So the garden waste bins are full of tree roots; the compost bin has been topped up with soil/leaves etc removed when the new fence went in and had some of the leaves we've been composting in builders' bags added (along with the stuff from the bottom of the not-very-hot-hotbin) and given a good stir; all the bits of rubble are in a pile waiting to be used as hardcore (MUST measure for the base for IBCs), and ground is being cleared for the heeled-in fruit bushes, potted fig, and last year's rhubarb to be planted. 

Two more apples, two plums, and a pear were also planted and staked yesterday.

Greenhouse needs emptying, cleaning, and then organising. Base needs making for the IBC so we can set them up. One more raised bed is ready to construct and two more are on their way - after which I'll look into ordering some more. And then I need to work out the fencing for the veg plot.

I also want to order one more flowering tree to go along the boundary with the wood, to screen the spare room window a bit. 

Pots are ready for indoor sowing, I just need to decide how many of what to sow. I have 17 little pots that fit in the heated propagator trays. Two types of aubergines, a pack of sweet peppers, and a pack of padron peppers... 

MissRikkiC

I finally planted some red onion sets today! I have been waiting so long to get them in and have somewhere for them to go! I’ve also added wood chip paths to the growing spaces today, straight down the middles which makes me feel a lot better about access. 

Having discussed our garden with the local garden centre it seems I don’t actually need any compost in addition to the manure I have so that’s likely just saved me £100. 

What a day it’s been for sunshine here. It’s brought me so much joy. 

redofromstart

Same here @MissRikkiC , the sunshine brought out the crocus around the garden which was a joy in itself.  Lots of pruning done, both green waste bins filled and as much again on the hard standing ready to go in once they are emptied.  My hands hurt.

Cherryfudge

Some great progress there folks! It's been beautiful here, too, but DH and I went down with some lurgy so we're only just getting back to normal. Meanwhile the dreaded ground elder has started to sprout! I've also had to clear up dog mess from the lawn - we don't have a dog so this is a bit of a sore point. However, on the positive side, I've cut back some of last year's bramble overgrowth and shoved it in the green bin, and our first daffodils are out! I was also puzzled when some white flower started to emerge in a pot of bulbs. Could it be a white crocus? Of course it was a snowdrop, but I'd somehow lost track of the fact I'd planted them in with crocuses and tulips. There's also a pot of tulips planted two years ago - my SiL sent me a bouquet with the bulbs attached. The first year they didn't grow very well but this year they seem to have got over the shock and have come up strongly.

redofromstart

It is clearly peak 'spend your gardening money' time:
S4ra4h r4ven has 30% off bulbs and Free P&P, and a seed 'sale', 
JP4rkers have a free PnP weekend, some cheap seeds but be warned delivery appears to be very slow indeed
Big and Quite orange DIY place had some bargain last season pots in the outdoor bit (not online)

Any others worth a look?

And if anyone spots Scabiosa atropupurea Black Cat seed in stock then please let me know.

MissRikkiC

I did it. I planted the asparagus and the strawberries which I’d ordered. It’s not very uniform as once I’d done a row of asparagus crowns I’d ran out of more to plant so then the strawberries are just haphazard in there in the remaining space (area is a triangle). 

I gave my daughter (4) a bucket of compost and sharp sand and a packet of peas to plant so off she went to do that buying me the time to create a trench then mound some soil back up before covering the roots. It was a bit faffy tbh so I hope they do alright. 

I’ve done (almost) no dig and just added manure but because it’s been so wet, there are still some clumps and it feels still a bit claggy. It’s rotted enough but I wonder if when it’s drier for longer if it will break it up a bit more; what do you people in know think?