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

Cherryfudge

KajiKita said:

Well done, I was going to suggest that you chop the ground elder down to slow it down! Mulch might help where the weeds keep reappearing? With you on the watering! Very early for it and doesn’t bode well for the warmer weather ….

I did another five minutes with the shears yesterday - the mulch is a very good idea and I think I should do that to try to stem the tide where it's in a flower bed. Not so easy on the lawn: I just keep mowing! The neighbours probably think I'm incredibly picky for then being out on the same area with shears!

redofromstart

Sounds like we are all making some progress outdoors.  I am pottering in between other jobs but watering is my key task currently.

The forecast is looking good for the weekend here, although the nights are still a little chilly so not time to get carried away with planting things outside that are not hardy.  

Suggestions:

Does the lawn need to be mowed? 
Does anything need last seasons growth removing ready for this season? 
Does anything need re-potting - including houseplants?
Have you got bare root things or bulbs sprouting in their packets? Is it time to give them a good soak before you plant them?
Any sweet pea seeds that you haven't started off yet?  Still time to get these going.

any other suggestions?

redofromstart

For me:

Does the lawn need to be mowed? 
Yes, reminded DS yesterday and will chase again later. Yes I could do it, no I do not see why I should.
Does anything need last seasons growth removing ready for this season? 
Hydrangeas are done but various things in the front need tidying - verbena, etc.
Does anything need re-potting - including houseplants?
Yes probably, will check.  Need to plant out some pots of bulbs now that they have finished flowering, which includes taking some frits to plant at the burial ground now that I have checked that they are on the 'approved' list.
Have you got bare root things or bulbs sprouting in their packets? Is it time to give them a good soak before you plant them?
All the bare root stuff is in, but I need to check the bulbs.
Any sweet pea seeds that you haven't started off yet?  Still time to get these going.
Mine are in and germinating but was gifted another packet yesterday so will check the use by date and decide to plant or save for next year.

greenbee

Yes to all of them... but greenhouse irrigation system and hoses need sorting first so I can do watering properly.

Cheery_Daff

Little bit of garden time for me this weekend 😊 I have: 

* shifted some more cut grass from the field to the veg beds as mulch. There's plenty on there but the weeds are still growing through
* weeded and watered the pots round the patio, and pulled the weeds out of the gravel 😊
* gathered up the dead ferns etc from the front terraces that I cut down weeks (months??) ago - they're in 3 trugs now ready for the tip

Plenty still to do of course, but today I wanted to tidy up my little seating area by the house now it's nice enough to sit out 😊

debtfreewannabe321

I've cut my lawn this week 🙋🏼‍♀️
Most of it was moss though 😆🤔

I've also filled two new raised beds with compost mixtures and dug over one new bedding area ready for some ferns I bought. 

I've got some herbs in and potted the mint up separately (made the mistake before of planting with other bits and it spread throughout the whole garden 😆). 

I've got lots of seeds but unsure when to put in the beds, they all saw to sow straight out. I'm guessing May rather than now as we still have frost in the morning? 

We've cleared one area partially for the greenhouse and need to do more there. 

And I cleared one space at the back of the garden and cut down a vine (hopefully it will grow back) the neighbours are replacing the fence and the vine had broken through it and destroyed one half of the fence 🤔😲 so that's cut down to about a foot now. That filled one green bin entirely 😳.

Whilst designing where everything is going I'm considering the sun and where it sits in the sky during the day and have put to the top of the list three different areas to sit and soak the sun up. I always neglect this when making a garden and it's an afterthought I regret. So have done that first this time.

We have done so much digging our backs ache. So much lifting our arms and legs hurt.
We're now exhausted from all the clearing. I can't wait to get to the pottering about stage that doesn't exhaust you every time you go to do some gardening. 🌺🌼🌻🪻Time for a G&T....

greenbee

Hydrangeas pruned, compost stirred and more grass clippings added to it (must water it), courgettes sown in pots in the greenhouse, bought seedlings potted up and in greenhouse, pots moved on patio to work out where I need slabs taken out so they can be filled with gravel (it'll break up the vast expanse of grey stone and mean that watering won't result in nasty stains.

Weeding done in west-facing bed where there is too much bare ground ready to put some geraniums my mum brought over earlier. I may need to have another go at the weeding as something is busy spreading itself around, but I'm not sure what it is. I suspect it isn't anything I want to keep. 

greenbee

Just went out and did the watering.

I need to think about how to use my IBCs for watering. There are three to go behind the shed, and two downpipes - one each side.

I think I can use a standard waterbutt diverter kit from each downpipe, which means I don't have to worry about overflowing, but do need to think about where excess water will go and make sure it runs away from the shed base.

I then need to connect two IBCs together (probably from the front gutter as I think that should produce more... unless I link all three... As well as the inlet at the top, and the opening at the front (one of which has a tap for a hose, the others of which don't currently) small pipes have been added near the bottom with push-fit plumbing fittings. I either need to block these up OR use them to link the tanks and the use the main outlet for watering cans/hoses. The single could have both a hose connection and a tap for watering cans, the linked ones could both have hose connectors, but one could always be used for watering cans. So I think I know how I want it to work... I just need to source the parts and be brave (and hope we get some rain once they are set up). 

The big water butt I moved yesterday needs some water in it to check for leaks and to stop it being blown away.

The last IBC may well go on the car port - there's a massive roof, and once the hedge has grown up it would be tempting to put more on there, but for now it would be useful for watering the hedge. 

Cherryfudge

Yesterday I mowed the lawns: a very basic mow and I've raised the blades on the mower as it was so noisy, meaning the next mow will have to be sooner - and edging remains to be done. Twenty minutes weeding, of which 15 were ground elder. It comes up again within days, and the low leaves are below what the mower blades will reach. At least I've also got rid of ivy and other stuff before they get more of a hold.

I remembered the pot of bulbs I couldn't identify are Pheasant's Eye Narcissus and they are doing nicely. Late planting means I will be getting a few more daffodil flowers judging by the buds in various pots!

debtfreewannabe321

Cherryfudge we also have a load of ground elder here. For every ten I pull up twenty more seem to take their space overnight 😐😠. Also have bindweed. Both coming in from neighbour's beds. 
If only they didn't take over everything I would just give up and let them take root 😆.