The courgettes are planted out! Finished weeding the one border and mulched it. Main event today was passing on some veg plants to sister and larking about with little niece - did her a nature treasure hunt thing. That’s what the garden is all about - showing what’s growing, sharing plants, making memories.
@yarrow2 how unlucky and what a horrible clear-up operation that must have been.
I skipped out, impatient to make the most of the dry weather and put my seedlings out in the borders. They've all put on some amazing growth in the past few days and are outgrowing their cells / paper cups / tiny pots and I refuse to pot them on again! I managed an hour and a half and then just got too hot and had to come in and shower. I'm not sure what's happening with my body thermostat at the moment...
Prepped 5 big pots for the summer bedding and then realised that I hadn't really decided on combinations, so will have a think about it tonight. I had been adopting a wait and see approach on the basis that I was likely to lose at least some of my seedlings earlier this year, but they have pretty much all pulled through, bar one or two... which I wasn't really prepared for...and now I have so many.
I've pruned the shrubby salvias at last. Most of them anyway - there are a few left but they're surrounded by forget-me-nots at the moment so I'll do them when I do the big hoiking-out session).
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
I finished edging/weeding the flower beds in the front garden, then planted out some of the Erigeron garden ready plants I received yesterday and some scabious Butterfly Blue I had lifted and divided last month. Went to a friends' Plant Sale in aid of Prostrate Cancer charity, took with me a box of plants to help out if needed (which it wasn't) but only bought a fern - which was quite restrained of me, gave them a reasonable donation anyway. OH put the bean sticks up.
So I've been up early last few days planting out aquilegias, Mexican daisy's, and a rather mixed bag of perennial plants. Have continued to weed and hoe the beds, I didn't mulch the beds this spring as all the compost went in the new greenhouse and veg beds and it's really made a difference to weed numbers.
Yesterday I planted more aquilegias and salvias. Set too in the afternoon heat and planted all the tomatoes in the greenhouse, half gardeners delight and half marmade. Also planted the 3 grafted aubergine plants.
Up early today and added the 2 wheelie bins of grass (left last night by neighbours) to the compost. Currently have 2 bins which are cooking really hot up in the 80°c range
Plenty to do today but just spent 15 minutes wandering around the garden with a cup of coffee and was amazed at how things have sprung to life in the last 24 hours, even things I thought were dead after the months of temps around minus 20.Two days ago it was 11 degrees and rainy, Yesterday it was almost 28 degrees. We have had around 100 plants in our cellar all winter and they are very happy that they are out in the sunny weather!
What a difference a few days of higher temperatures can make. Everything has decided to grow, including the cosmos that have been sitting in the greenhouse sulking for weeks. I think even the smallest ones can start to be hardened off now. Potted on pelargoniums and dahlias. OH cut the back lawn, the birds are singing and the solar fountain is going like the clappers
We began by repotting the patio wisteria, the old pot had split in two. Then lots more tidying sorting and moving things around. Put a lot of the bulb pots down behind the greenhouse to finish dying back. I agree a bit of warm and everything changes- great day.
I cut off an out-of-control, 2' long leaf from my Sanseveria plant, cut into 6 pieces and poked into a pot of soil. Need to replace the 6 I lost down at our cabin rural property that died off in the Texas freeze in February. Those that died took 12 weeks to root/shoot out, so it will be awhile on these. Probably won't take them to the cabin until next spring.
I HAD carried all potted plants inside the cabin for winter, where I thought them safe from Jack Frost's effects. But obviously that was not sufficient, as my 12" young snake plants all died. The cabin interior may have gotten as cold as 0ºC or lower. WE prepped the water pipes, but didn't think to leave the window heat/AC unit (purchased just last fall) as it just doesn't ever get that cold in Texas in winter. Henceforth, when we winterize the cabin, we WILL be setting the thermostat to invoke heater when the cabin drops to 10º.
Posts
I skipped out, impatient to make the most of the dry weather and put my seedlings out in the borders. They've all put on some amazing growth in the past few days and are outgrowing their cells / paper cups / tiny pots and I refuse to pot them on again! I managed an hour and a half and then just got too hot and had to come in and shower. I'm not sure what's happening with my body thermostat at the moment...
Prepped 5 big pots for the summer bedding and then realised that I hadn't really decided on combinations, so will have a think about it tonight. I had been adopting a wait and see approach on the basis that I was likely to lose at least some of my seedlings earlier this year, but they have pretty much all pulled through, bar one or two... which I wasn't really prepared for...and now I have so many.
Went to a friends' Plant Sale in aid of Prostrate Cancer charity, took with me a box of plants to help out if needed (which it wasn't) but only bought a fern - which was quite restrained of me, gave them a reasonable donation anyway. OH put the bean sticks up.
Yesterday I planted more aquilegias and salvias. Set too in the afternoon heat and planted all the tomatoes in the greenhouse, half gardeners delight and half marmade. Also planted the 3 grafted aubergine plants.
Up early today and added the 2 wheelie bins of grass (left last night by neighbours) to the compost. Currently have 2 bins which are cooking really hot up in the 80°c range
Afternoon at allotment weeding parsnips buy hand , then hoeing & watering
Potted on pelargoniums and dahlias. OH cut the back lawn, the birds are singing and the solar fountain is going like the clappers
I HAD carried all potted plants inside the cabin for winter, where I thought them safe from Jack Frost's effects. But obviously that was not sufficient, as my 12" young snake plants all died. The cabin interior may have gotten as cold as 0ºC or lower. WE prepped the water pipes, but didn't think to leave the window heat/AC unit (purchased just last fall) as it just doesn't ever get that cold in Texas in winter. Henceforth, when we winterize the cabin, we WILL be setting the thermostat to invoke heater when the cabin drops to 10º.