Trowel and Error

[Mountain Goat]

Oh my god Baa. That is a surplus I would love to have.

That sounds like a satisfying day Demelza, other than the wall news. I've planted a load of stuff out over the past few days (I have a production line going of seed trays to individual pots to hardening off to PLANT, with the latter stage critical in freeing up pots to pot the seedlings on. I refuse to buy yet more pots as the amount I have seems insane for 9 months of the year, so I am chivvying plants on to get them out into the garden.)

My front/side garden is starting to come together a bit - not to the untrained eye, but to me, who stares at the minute detail and can see plants that initially struggled out there with the wind and hail starting to get themselves together, and some buds emerging. It's going to look scrappy for a few weeks yet but I think by the end of May it will be taking shape.

[Bat Macdui]

I have a lone, straggling bluebell, that's testament to similar random bulb planting, Demelza. And also testament to squirrels liking bulbs, I think. I put several in the land I uncovered last year, but before I'd worked it well and added mulch, so I think they didn't like being in the compacted clay stuffs. The lupins and foxgloves that went in since are doing oaky, though there's some leaf discolouration on the foxgloves which I think might just be down to excessive wet.

Yesterday we dug another bed out from rubble and planted the tomatoes in the growhouse and the courgette in the raised bed. I've got some borage and marigold seeds out in the same bit, for bees and slugs respectively. I also potted out a shrubby cherry tomato, and now I've got proper Garden Imposter syndrome of 'I have NO IDEA what I am doing.'

Today is looking through an assortment of things given to me by my Mum's lovely friend, including a white hosta, an anemone and some canterbury bells. I think I need to move the bird feeder, so the fat woodpigeonchickens don't squash everything by foraging about underneath it. And I want to move 5 trugs of clay/rubble out of sight and get some chive seeds in. Which is why I am here, posting, as I am tired and that sounds like work.

Given all of the above, I have no idea what taking shape even looks like, so you're ahead of me there, Goat. I think I'm going to draw a plan and then at least I know what I have done where.

[Mountain Goat]

All my snowdrops came up blind. Who knows if they'll do something next year.

That's a lot of work! Also I wonder if anyone ever gets past Garden Imposter. My impression is that all that happens is that you get more accepting about things going wrong rather than berating yourself.

Did you get those things done or did you go and have a sit down? Moving earth and rubble is my single biggest gripe, it's heavy, it's hard to get rid of, and there's precious little satisfaction in it. However! I have successfully used most of my Pyramid of Turf and the brown bin now lives where it was. None of it went to the tip so I feel smug about that.

I don't know what taking shape will look like really either except things might start to bloom. Honestly god only knows how it will all look, almost every plant is an experiment, I'm just jamming things in at this point and then I can look at it, squint, and think about how to make it look less weird next year??

I am controversially planting my massive courgette at the weekend even though it's too early because it's so big it's taking up too much greenhouse space and I've had enough. The greenhouse jenga has peaked. Oh and two of my dahlias I left in the ground are FINALLY showing signs of regrowth, as are some of the salvias (but looking a bit pallid so we'll see).

[absley]

How wonderful to have all that asparagus, Baa!

My seedings are all finally sprouting and I've planted out my peas, sweet peas to follow this week. It finally feels like things are getting going.

[Mountain Goat]

It does, doesn't it? It's all been so slow with the dull mild weather, but the past week or two things have actually started to happen. I was away at the weekend and everything had changed when I got back only about 30 hours later (and not all in a good way)

I'm giving up on my dwarf beans germinating I think and probably will sow direct and make use of the pots/space in the greenhouse. I poked around one of the pots and found nothing happening. One of my cucumbers has been looking a bit sorry for itself but I potted it on and it looks like it might recover, it has new growth coming through now. Also potted up some of my least favourite tomato plants - they are a bit cramped and not under glass as those spaces are reserved for my favourites, but it was that or chuck them so I thought I'd give them a crack at it.

[absley]

I had given up on my borlotti but a few have sprouted so, like you I think I'll end up with a mix of direct sown and not. I added a few direct peas to the bed when I planted out which is just as well as several of the small plants have been munched.

Sweet peas Q - mine (in their loo roll.pots) seem to have stopped growing at c7cm. Any ideas? They've just got to the point where I could pinch out the top so I've done that, but am unsure if I just need to get them into the ground so they have more space. I'm wary though as we have so many snails and slugs atm.

[Mountain Goat]

That's slug and snail heaven. A benefit of a new build/new garden is limited slug/snail action, though that's just going to ramp up over the years. I had to relocate five this morning (mainly from the borlottis which they are keen on, but only plant, which is fine by me, just eat that one and leave the others be ) but that's the most I've seen at once. And most of them were tiny, smaller than my little fingernail. Give it a year or two...

I added some direct peas and broad beans too, and some sweet peas - I am probably sending them out at their peril but I have so many seeds and not endless use by dates so may as well give it a go.

I would also be wary of planting them out small if you have a lot of slugs and snails. They are very nutrient hungry though so if they've been in the loo rolls for a while might have sucked all the life out of their original compost and need a seaweed feed? Or compost top up if there's any room for that. They like a lot of water too. Mine had roots coming right out the ends of the loo rolls before it was mild enough to plant them out and appear to be fine.

[absley]

Lucky you, Goat! It's a minefield everytime I head out if it's damp.

I've fed the sweet peas, so they have a spurt; thank you. I've also been brave and pruned my spring flowering clematis which is entangled with a summer flowerer. I need to do another bigger one too but am a bit worried in case there are birds nesting, which I saw someone refer to online but I'm not sure how much of a thing it is. This one is entangled with a californian lilac, which is just about still blooming so I've got time to do some reading.

Exciting though, my peony blooms are out, including the massive one which I love so much. Plus the irises which I dug up and divided etc last year, phew!

It's all feeling a bit much atm, so I'm trying to look at stuff selectively whenever I walk around noticing what needs doing.

[Mountain Goat]

My old garden was like that, even with all the frogs around. I just don't have many places for them to hide yet which also limits all the good insect activity. Though my favourite blackbird, Hernan Cortes (blackbird and conquistador!) is finding an awful lot of worms which makes me happy.

I hope that helps the sweet peas! Pruning entangled clematis sounds like quite hard/stressful work. That's got to be a big clematis to potentially have birds nesting in it!

Do you know the name of the peony you love? Mine is not in bud but I only planted it a month or two ago, I don't think it will do anything this year, or at least not anything much. It's had some good leaf growth so I think it's happy enough but flowers this year are probably too much to ask.

Ha, I feel the same about my red hot pokers which I lifted and divided earlier this year; they are going great guns now (after looking very tired around the leaves after I moved them) so I am relieved I didn't murder them. Tonnes of flowers, I just hope they don't do all their work now and disappear by the time the dark purples I put in to contrast with them come into flower. I'm sure they were later last year.

I think that's the best way to do it, just 15 minutes here and there and just do one task on one plant. You have a LOT of plants and so much that's established. And this is the busiest time of year by far, I have a relaxed work week at the mo but it doesn't feel like it because half my day is already gone by the time I've done all the garden stuff. There are new weeds every time I look, I swear. And I don't want to tread on the beds when it's wet and also where the dahlias are starting to come back in case I tread on a new one. So that area is annoying me.

[absley]

I didn't know frogs eat such things - I was telling D we need time share access to a local duck.

I don't know the name of any of my peonies but this is it, flowers are c15 across. I'd love to divide and have more plants but don't want to miss out on flowers while they reestablish. I hope yours does well. And that the weeds calm down - I wish that for all of us.

[emma_p]

Are those colour changing ponies, abs?

Our peonies are so good right now! We have some coral and some pale pink. I want to cut them but S is adamant they last longer outside. Luckily they’re now £5 a bunch in M&S - they were £10 for 5 last week.

[Disco]

Ooh I saw peonies like yours recently Absley!

A bunch (6) of my favourite pale pinks ones were £20 in my M&S the other week!

I have a deep pink peony plant which has many tightly furled balls at the moment.

My tulips are all but gone except for the green ones. Alliums are coming out including the garlic cloves I planted out at random at some point. I've been enjoying cutting the scapes and using those. My rainbow chard I sowed last year is so, so plentiful and going crazy.

I potted on all my seedlings the other boiling hot day and have managed to kill all bar a few tomato seedling there were savoys and broccolis. Now floppy wilted yellow dead things. I think two courgettes are going to come out of ICU though.

[emma_p]

It's the pale pink ones that are £5 today!

[Disco]

Thank you. I might pop in tomorrow.

[absley]

Not colour changing, emma - I didn't know there were red ones that do that? I had some glorious coral ones from Sainsbury's, that turned yellow the other week, so pretty!

Oh Disco, do you have seed to begin again? They should germinate really quickly now it's warm.

[Derek Nimmo]

My pink peonies have looked like they're on the verge of flowering for weeks now, the massive teases. At least my (mi's)adventures in washing up liquid last year haven't bothered them though.

My most exciting garden news is that one single solitary echium (out of a whole packet of seeds, and umpteen seedlings only 6 of which managed to make it to planting out) is alive and flowering in a hidden back corner behind the office! I expect it to see random ones popping up all over the garden in years to come if it self-seeds as it should

[Mountain Goat]

I had to google echium and oooh. That will be storming.

Something popped up on my instagram feed the other day about a woman starting a peony farm. If you've got excess land and another actual income coming in that's more stable, you could make a fortune for about one month a year. When she's pointing at how many plants she has and how much she can get for one stem....She did sell them as plants too so perhaps not quite as madly seasonal.

Oh Disco! Some of my broccoli got a bit cross about the heat last weekend but I think it's going to be ok. I've got so much ready to plant out this weekend, including the dahlias which take up so much greenhouse room I will be relieved to get them in the ground.

Round the front my alliums are finally out and the catnip is flowering along with the red hot pokers which are extreme this year. The alliums are lovely but less impactful across the whole space than I hoped, I'll plant more this autumn. Lots of other things starting to bud. I'm excited/nervous about how it's all going to look, it feels like painting blind. I keep staring out the windows at it from different angles like a mad curtain twitcher.

That peony is beautiful abs.

[Cerise]

Arsehole snails have had a field day in my little greenhouse thing.

[Hazey_Jane]

Can anyone help me identify this houseplant please? It was a prize in a pub quiz and came without any identifying label

[Epponnee Rae]

I think it might be a Dieffenbachia seguine, Hazey. Initially I thought it might be a Chinese evergreen if they come in a white variety (I had a pink variegated one)