Saw out the last light of 2022 by digging out & spreading old home-made compost (probably 2 years old) onto my Helianthus and Bamboo beds. I then set up one of my new Blackwall daleks in the old compost bay and filled it with last year's early home-made compost so it's ready for use. I got the daleks cheap through our council recycling initiative. They seem to be a great way to store home-made compost so that the older stuff is at the bottom and easy to dig out through the hatch. Can't believe how warm it was out there!
Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
An unexpectedly nice day today so I spent it clearing leaves from my beds. I know it's not strictly necessary, but I like to see what's going on down there. Lots of spring bulbs poking through
I did a bit of weeding (hairy bittercress seems to cope with whatever Winter weather is thrown at it), the local robin seemed very interested in my work. Nice to get some fresh air.
What an absolutely glorious day. No rain, blue sky, and sunshine. Warm. I felt very guilty at not being out in the garden, I took the dog for a lovely beach walk where the world and his dog were enjoying the break. There must have been a couple of hundred dogs plus their owners stretching their legs. I have never seen it so busy. When I came home I had some lunch and went to sleep. End of.
Currently raining ☔️ Did a bit of tidying up in greenhouse , got rid of some plants that didn’t recover from the minus 10 , while we where away at the being of December
I didn't garden per se, but I did take a stroll through the beds to see how this recent bizarre warm spell has affected my plants. I was beyond thrilled to see my hellebore had three buds! My lemon balm is putting forth new leaves, and the ditch lilies (Hemerocallis fulva) are starting to poke through the ground. It looks as though we're headed into a more seasonable temperature pattern in the next few weeks (teens F at night and 30sF during the day) so I hope it doesn't damage anything. We really need a good layer of snow over the gardens right now.
Near the house, my mother's daffodils are poking through the ground, but there's no sign of the tulips or hyacinth in my little bed. The horseradish plant I inherited from my grandfather is poking through the mulch, and that made me very happy. I've taken a piece of that plant to each of the four homes I've owned over the last 30 years, and I thought I'd lost it this summer.
New England, USA
Metacomet soil with hints of Woodbridge and Pillsbury
Yesterday I pruned two more roses, one very thorny one and one on top of an arch, which necessitated a small stepladder, always a bit dodgy on a sloping path and wobbly arch!
Today I bought a new pruning saw, they don't seem to last very long before they get blunt.
The weather held out again today (kind of) so I managed to get some gardening done. I cut back all my Japanese anemones and mulched them with leaf mould. I also bought and planted some (hopefully) drought-tolerant plants: 3 Euphorbia amygdaloides 'rubra' which I've planted in a shady spot in place of some blechnium ferns that succumbed to the drought. And 3 Kniphofia 'bees yellow' which I've planted in a sunny spot that I can't get to in the growing season without trampling stuff. And I planted a dormant hibiscus which I received a few days ago on mail order.
I also planted out a load of birdsfoot trefoil that I've been growing in pots all year, into the edge of my meadow area. I was amazed how big a root system they have for such small plants.
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I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
Nice to get some fresh air.
I felt very guilty at not being out in the garden, I took the dog for a lovely beach walk where the world and his dog were enjoying the break. There must have been a couple of hundred dogs plus their owners stretching their legs. I have never seen it so busy.
When I came home I had some lunch and went to sleep. End of.
Did a bit of tidying up in greenhouse , got rid of some plants that didn’t recover from the minus 10 , while we where away at the being of December
Today I bought a new pruning saw, they don't seem to last very long before they get blunt.
I also planted out a load of birdsfoot trefoil that I've been growing in pots all year, into the edge of my meadow area. I was amazed how big a root system they have for such small plants.