All I had time for this morning was to move some pots of dwarf iris 'George' which are now flowering onto the windows kitchen sill so I can admire them and some pink hellebores outside the French windows, ditto.
This afternoon I was lucky enough to find two big blue glazed pots at a GC for planting my new roses, both were price reduced as apparently Moroccan blue is now out of fashion!
It has been a beautiful day so OH and I ventured out. I re-planted more freesia bulbs that had been dug up (there were thousands!) whilst weeding a very overgrown area. Just happy they are back in the soil. Sowed some aubergine seeds in GH. Cut back artemisia Powis Castle. Daily peering excitedly into various pots of spring-flowering bulbs . Did some watering, a few other bits'n'bobs then sat back with a beer whilst adding to my "to do" list.
Martina Franca, Puglia, southern Italy Love living in Italy but a Loiner at heart
Having a beer, updating your to do lists is the key to any day in the garden. Sadly I find I can spend less and less time doing the actual gardening, but have no problems drinking the beer.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
@punkdoc Do a bit of pruning ... check there's cold beer in fridge, drink one ... sow a few seeds ... check there's still cold beer in fridge, drink another ... do a bit of weeding ... send OH to shop for more beer. This gardening lark is really simple with the right "tools".
Martina Franca, Puglia, southern Italy Love living in Italy but a Loiner at heart
Stuck at home with covid so been gardening every day for a week. Makes the day go quicker!
My day consists of slow morning coming round, a bit of gardening and then two hours sleeping on the sofa having been worn out by anything from 10 minutes to an hour of light gardening. Still the leaves and dead plants are being slowly cleared. Even a few large branches, twigs and tree trunks have been brought down the hill for cutting down and later disposal. A compost bin has been filled and snow drops have been uncovered allowing for the yellowed leaves to turn green, grow strongly and sprout lovely white flowers. Looking good!
Not been out yet today. Still coming round to it. However after moving into the house 11 months ago we're finally getting a garden that looks tidy. Previous owner was a keen gardener but he passed away over a year before we moved in so we had a bit of a clear up to do. Also, without anyone to prune things we really had no choice but take some things out completely so we have a lot of gaps
Checked the max min thermometer in the greenhouse. Dumped a trug full of bramble shredding in the newish compost heap. Brought down a trugful of finished compost and chucked it round some plants. Dug up a couple of bramble roots. Filled in the hole in the lawn that the foxes keep empyting out with a piece of turf from somewhere else. We've been at this game since September. No idea what they think is buried there.
I'd made the mistake of planting a cyclamen in a large pot of a Class 2 Clematis. The cyclamen was growing rather big so I thought I'd better remove it before the clematis got going. What a job! Ended up having to untangle the clematis from its obelixx, tip the pot on it's side, drag the clematis out, massacre the cyclamen, root prune the clematis (root ball was huge), put fresh manure and JI3 in the pot, struggle to lift the clematis back in, dragged it back out as it was too high, empty some of the JI back out, lifted the clematis back in, put it back in place, watered it well in and staggered back indoors! Wish I'd never bothered - both will probably now die on me.
It was so lovely to be in the garden today. The sun was warm (ish) and it was good to get down to soil level to weed a couple of beds, whilst being serenaded by a robin. (To be fair I don't think it was me he was serenading but I'll take what I can get). Finally got the snowdrops bought a couple of weekends ago into the ground where I hope they will thrive and multiply. Some are still flowering, one has seed pods on it.
I cut back some group three clematis. Cut back some rose laterals and did a bit of cane training. I am going to sink an abutilon Nabob in the ground, after two or so years in a big pot. I have finally found the right place for it, right in the middle of the garden, to create a more secluded area at the back of the garden, to make it less overlooked. They can get to three metres, which would be wonderful.
I spent a large amount of time cursing slugs that have eaten off the tops of tete a tetes and snowdrops, hellebores, heucheras and so on and so forth. There are some lovely phlox planted in the beds but I think there is bugger all chance they will reappear.
I'm getting a big load of loose manure in a few weeks (one ton dumpy bag) so I have been rearranging compost bins so I can store some of it for the future.
Been clearing chopped tree branches then realised the "wild" area under the copper beech had those mint like plants with white flashes on the leaves and spreads by runners in a vine or ivy like way all over. Been pulling it and brambles up then removing the dead leaves that collected underneath. Result was finding a lot of snowdrops all yellowed leaves and not many flowers. Every area I've cleared of debris and unwanted plants that had out competed or covered snowdrops resulted in the snowdrops recovering and putting on a decent show.
So I'm happy with my 40 minutes work.
P S I can only do short spells of gardening due to covid. So very pleased with what I've been able to do while isolati with covid.
Posts
This afternoon I was lucky enough to find two big blue glazed pots at a GC for planting my new roses, both were price reduced as apparently Moroccan blue is now out of fashion!
Love living in Italy but a Loiner at heart
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Love living in Italy but a Loiner at heart
My day consists of slow morning coming round, a bit of gardening and then two hours sleeping on the sofa having been worn out by anything from 10 minutes to an hour of light gardening. Still the leaves and dead plants are being slowly cleared. Even a few large branches, twigs and tree trunks have been brought down the hill for cutting down and later disposal. A compost bin has been filled and snow drops have been uncovered allowing for the yellowed leaves to turn green, grow strongly and sprout lovely white flowers. Looking good!
Not been out yet today. Still coming round to it. However after moving into the house 11 months ago we're finally getting a garden that looks tidy. Previous owner was a keen gardener but he passed away over a year before we moved in so we had a bit of a clear up to do. Also, without anyone to prune things we really had no choice but take some things out completely so we have a lot of gaps
So I'm happy with my 40 minutes work.
P S I can only do short spells of gardening due to covid. So very pleased with what I've been able to do while isolati with covid.