Under Cover Seeds

The propagator may have died, but I still have PLAN B!

Today I planted seeds of anything that can be sown outdoors in March.  Noe they're in this little green house they'll come on a bit earlier. I can either use them to fill in any gaps I get in my outdoor plantings, or I can sell them if they're surplus.

Apart from the ones I keep for myself, the SWEET PEAS are going to be gifts for friends.

: )

Clean Up

In no time at all this area will be completely overgrown, unless I clear it up

NOW.

It's pretty bad as it is. 

Now all the weeds are gone as have any pots that had dead plants in.

All that's left are good plants in their pots.

When it comes to this summer, all I can say to the weeds is,

BRING IT ON!

Timely Chores - Saturday 3.3.12

On such a lovely day like today, there was only one thing for it 

WORK IN OUR OWN GARDEN

: )

Right now is a good time to prune BUDDLEIA.

As it'll grow about 3 times it's cut height, you can afford to cut hard back.

Here's what was taken off!

We also pruned the HYDRANGEA and cut down the CLEMATIS plants, which had begun to sprout all the way up their woody, skinny stems. Don't worry about that. Some Clematis don't need/like to be cut back, so check your variety before getting stuck in!

MeWally moved the nest boxes that weren't used last year, after he had cleaned and repaired them. I added sides to our wood store.

Us and the birds will be snug as bugs.

Scrubber - Monday 20.2.12

It's time to get to grips with seeds and planting, so if you haven't done it already get all your grubby old plant labels together and

GET SCRUBBING!

It's cheaper than buying a load of new labels and reminded me of all the lovely things I tried, not always successfully, to grow last year.

Wet Day??

Pop into any WYEVALE garden centre and buy up their seeds for 50p a pack. 

ALL THEIR VEG/FLOWER SEEDS ARE ON OFFER!

Arrange them by their planting months and stuff into labelled envelopes.

Put the envelopes into a box, along with labels and marker pen.

There, now we're all ready for next year. Now get on and order your onions and garlic - QUICKLY - before the best stuff has gone.

This Weeks Tasks

This might not look too bad, but after only 2 weeks, it's horrendous!

The customer has used some spent compost as a soil conditioner, which is a great idea. Trouble is it had a lot of weed seed in it. When getting pots and tubs ready for summer bedding, it can be wise to put the old potting compost onto the compost pile, rather than straight onto the beds. It didn't take too long to hoe off and then rake away.

This customer also has some lovely flowers, so, as ever enjoy firstly, this PEONY,

and this tub of LILLIES. They look great from a distance,

but go on, get your face in there

and take a proper look.

Then DEAD HEAD plants .

This Weeks Garden Tasks

It goes without saying, so I'll say it, KEEP WEEDING!

And, why not trim some of your shrubs. This Laurel had finished flowering and had gone on to shoot like crazy. A rough cut followed by a hand finish is a good idea. Working in this way means that the big glossy leaves are kept whole and not cut to pieces, which will give a long lasting result that you wont tire of looking at. And YES I did finish the job 

: )

Lonicera can be chopped with impunity, though not too closely as the bare wood can take an age to regrow leaves.

If you have GRASS PATHS, don't be like me. Cut them regularly. 

This is the PLOT and as I use these right angled, long handled shears, I don't cut any more than every couple of months. Perhaps I should make it more often, as delay allows Buttercups and Grasses to begin to grow into the vegetable beds, which makes more work.

Meanwhile back at the HOMESTEAD, my STRAWBERRIES are doing really well. They're tucked up in these baskets as an anti slug defence, which seems to work well. I suspect the lack of slugs is down to the very dry conditions. A few days of rain will see an explosion in their annoying activity. By then we'll have eaten all the strawberries and be mourning the loss of our RUNNER BEANS to the slimy beasties.

This Weeks Garden Tasks

       

The RUNNER BEANS and FRENCH BEANS need their supports put in about now. OK, I know some people put hem in at the end of winter, often before they've sown their seeds!

Push in a stick per bean, slope them as you push them in.

Lay a stick along the point where your 'vertical' stick cross over to form a channel.

Cut a length of string for each pair of crossed sticks.

Follow these steps for the simplest and fastest knotting system.

Finish with a bow - seem sissy? Well it wont when the frost is nipping your fingers and you want to undo the knots and get back indoors!

Where only 2 sticks cross, use this simple cross over knot.

BROAD BEANS are just about ready for a first picking - one more week,

The LEEKS are lost amongst the weeds.

Clear all the weeds away to give the tiny seedling a fighting chance. This customer always rushes out and throws down lashings of slug pellets - it drives me crazy.

Lovely ROSE - stop and enjoy.

I have 2 FRONT DOOR PLANTS that keep blowing over - it's the high winds we're having at the moment.

So, having potted the plants into larger pots, I poured gravel on and around each plant.

Once the original pot had been covered up, I was happy. Last night, with high winds and heavy rain (AT LAST) the pots stayed upright.

Give it a go if you have the same problem.

This Weeks Garden Tasks

I must say, that apart from giving serious consideration to having another go at growing PARSNIPS - it's never too late - life in the garden continues apace!

This old shed was re-roofed by another trades person and I got the re-painting it gig.

And the fence painting gig too; all 38 6ft X 6ft panels. 2 working days later,

and with unwholesome blotches in strange places

and a big pile of empty cans, I finally stopped and collected my payment. KNACKERED. It's not the best time for this work as the plants are a bit big. Better done in April or September when things are less rampant, and the weather's OK. But if you've time over half term .... and perhaps a couple of overly energetic children IN NEED OF A MEANINGFUL DAY, you too could have smart fences.

  

 After all that effort, I did more digging up the plot - getting out yet more BLACKBERRY ROOT - watered my seedlings, and admired our little garden.

CUTE LITTLE GARDEN.

This Weeks Garden Tasks

A lot of this week has seen me sowing yet more seeds (LOL), followed by weeding, lots and lots of weeding.

Now to GROUND ELDER - that's it in the shot above ......

and here it is en-mass. Luckily this isn't my house!

I'm not digging it out here, simply ripping it up. Strimming's OK, but by the time the cord's snapped a dozen times and the mess it leaves behind had been raked up, no time would have been saved - IMO. After this bit, I did the other half acre; knackering. At least I caught it before it went to seed.

During last week I had to cut a lawn in a PRIZE WINNING GARDEN. His FOXGLOVES are in BLOOM!!!!!! (Normally July).

In the same fab garden, CANNA LILLY in BLOOM.

Meanwhile, back in our garden. DEAD HEADING is the order of the day.

Everything is SO EARLY.

Everything is zinging with colour,

EVERYTHING!

This Weeks Garden Tasks - Friday 6.5.11

Keep Sewing seeds and watering, watering, watering .. unless you've had rain.

Deadhead any plants that have finished flowering.

All the energy can then be put into the plants preparation to 'hibernate' for the summer months.

This is a good time to check your fences, gates sheds and pergolas;

do repairs, and

treat any new wood first so that it can have several coats, giving it a chance to blend in with the original timber.

Final result will be worth the effort. It wont have to take long. This gate took an hour to repair and paint.