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

Cherryfudge

What a nuisance for you @debtfreewannabe321! Is it any consolation that bindweed flowers are lovely and ground elder is edible? I made ground elder pesto last year, but wasn't keen. I understand it was introduced as a source of vitamin C during a time of year when fresh vegetables are scarce.

I'm hoping to retard the growth of mine but clearly five minutes a day is just amusing it, so I will put on a jumper and attack again today. Where it's in the lawn, at least I can pretend it's not there by mowing, though systemic weedkiller comes to mind... hate using stuff like that though.

debtfreewannabe321

I don't like weed killer either as I'm actively trying to encourage the birds and wildlife in 🤔. But...it's so tempting isn't it. 
I didn't know it was edible! Hmm I may have to try it. There is so much in the garden though I don't think I'd be able to keep on top of eating it all 🤣.

Cherryfudge

There are lots of recipes online: I think it's one of those things where the young leaves have the best flavour so you could just add some to salad, but there seem to be 101 other things to do with it.

Cheery_Daff

Mowed the grass tonight for the first time this year 😊 Amazing how it makes the whole place feel calmer 😊😊😊

greenbee

Well done Cheery. I've got mowing on my endless list (I may need to get the petrol mower out, which means getting petrol for it). 

However, I did manage quite a bit of time in the garden today - I booked the afternoon of for it, but then had a visitor before lunch, then builders, then a neighbour came round after lunch. But lots of weeding has been done (mostly hypericum which is running everywhere), a mahonia I don't want that was planted right next to a dogwood has been hacked out (hope the dogwood survives, but they're easy enough to grow), bare root dahlias have been planted, as has quite a bit more white geranium (there's still lots left). The sprinkler has been run on the areas I've been planting in - not the most efficient or effective way of watering, but one that can be done while I do other stuff.

Work day tomorrow, but I'm hoping to weed another patch to shove more geranium into. 

greenbee

In the last few days I did the weeding I needed to and shoved the geranium in and kept it watered. Watered all the trees and hedging, mowed a bit, had a bit of a compost sort out, connected up two water butts and ordered some bits for them, moved three pallets and got the IBCs in position, put taps with hose connectors on two of the IBCs, and failed to work out how to get the IBC connectors I ordered to work.

Patio cleaning has commenced. Soil testing has been done. Soil is terrible. 

Still lots of building of raised beds and raspberry frames to do, along with fencing the veg plot, but I'm hopeful that the bank holiday weekend will allow me to catch up.

Cherryfudge

Loads achieved there, @greenbee! You've reminded me I need to rescue some geraniums that have overgrown their space and need to be moved it they aren't to become a shelter for ground elder.

Last week I didn't have time/energy for the garden during the week, but over the weekend I hacked back the ever-enthusiastic GE and even got a few roots out. DH sawed up the wood for the log pile (there is more but it's under the trees at the back: this was the stuff scattered over the lawn!) and yesterday cut some hefty chunks off a male fern that was just too big. The remainder is now a quarter the size it was, one old chunk has gone in the green bin and there are several younger chunks for me to attempt to clear of GE, then pot up and give away.

The male fern was so tough that the garden fork snapped in two across the metal! I have garden centre vouchers that can go towards a new one - does anyone have recommendations for really tough brands? Or what should I be looking out for? It needs to be a 'lady sized' one as I'm not tall.

While DH was doing his jobs, I did 2 x 10 minutes on the GE then cleared about a square meter of a border that was overgrown with ivy, brambles, honeysuckle and some useless thing I was sold as thornless blackberry, but which only spreads and doesn't fruit. I've pulled lengths of good blackberry out of the tree above and cut it to a reachable height so I hope we still get fruit this year. That job probably won't progress till the bins are emptied midweek. I also cut back the euonymus and honeysuckle that grow through from next door. The euonymus is variegated and pretty so I've left it looking like a hedge where it's grown through the fence and provides a patch of light. It's just less ragged than it was.

There was dead wood from the greengage tree and a red current bush that I've cleared too. The greengages are heavy with gorgeous white blossom and there are tulips, honesty, muscari and dandelions, so the back garden is lovely and colourful! Must admit the dandelions aren't intentional, just very sunny, and I did mow over the ones in the lawn. (Must stop them going to seed!)

The grass has been mown and the lawn seems very uneven, possibly because it's been dry so long?

There's still so much to do, but we're proud of being able to see progress.

Cheery_Daff

Afternoon MSE chums 😊

What do you do with excess or out of date seeds?

Er, I have 127 packets of seeds 😮😂 a real mix of herbs, veg, flowers, salad, and I'm trying to decide what to do with them.

42 are out of date (mostly just last year though so likely still viable). I stupidly missed the local seed swap event back in Feb.

Now, I could just sow ALL of them, but I feel that would lead to even more overwhelm than I already feel just sitting looking at the packets 😂 also, I have several acres of land but I suspect that wouldn't be enough for all this 😂

I'm struggling with the idea of throwing them away, even the out of date ones. I'm not offloading onto gardening friends - most of these have come from other people offloading their stash onto me 😂

I've got a few ideas (charity shop, contacting the organisers of the seed swap (which is a local community garden) etc, but what have you done with yours? 

(Edited to add - I'd like a fresh start next year, and to CHOOSE what to grow myself, rather than end up with a random assortment of things from other people, as grateful as I am to them for thinking of me!)

redofromstart

Cheery, with older flower seeds I have just mixed all the annual ones together and sprinkled on raked soil.  Any that germinate are a bonus that way.  Last time I checked through my veg seed I have to admit that I just binned any that was a few years out of date, on the basis that compost is expensive, and my time has a value.  I gave away on the local free thing anything that I don't actually like (anything yellow or salmon pink and most vegetables), and then foolishly signed up for a magazine subscription and acquired many more seeds.

Cherry, Mr Redo swore by the Roughneck spades and forks for his hard landscaping projects. I like nice wooden handled things but I don't look after them properly - leaving them out rather than lovingly oiling and putting them away for the winter - so good ones are wasted on me, but work bought me Kent & Stowe SS stuff as my leaving present. They look no better than my older stuff a year on, and I think KK found them unresponsive in terms of 'lifetime guarantee'.  I find the 'border' size easier to use for most jobs. 

Greenbee, I am exhausted just reading that again. 

Greenbee kindly poked me to stop dithering earlier so I got on and made up the last raised bed before the weather changes.  All six and built and filled, I need to add the bark for the paths and then think about a planting plan.  

After a very inspiring day on a course at some beautiful gardens I have a head full of ideas, and an urgent need for a drawn plan that takes into account all of the things I have in pots ready for planting.  

greenbee

Well done @redofromstart - don't forget the cat defences when you start planting as they'll be annoyed when you close the toilets 🤣

I've just washed the dyson that I used to do a hoover up of the drifts of dog hair (there's a nice shark upstairs which probably also needs a wash) as it was smelling musty. Not sure whether it was dog hair or me putting it away with a damp filter, but it's now washed and drying. Also washed the bucket I put used (rinsed) cat food tins into prior to sticking them in the recycling as it stank of fish.