Trowel and Error

[absley]

Looking back at my insta I had magnolia blooms in a vase first week of Feb last year, Del. Also, I'm about to do my first rhubarb harvest and was wondering about that, which seems to have been first week of April last year.

Completely agree about this being a good year for hellebores though, mine are much taller than last year - the ones that do best seem to be shaded and in north-facing beds, Disco. And wow, what a lovely generous gift, from your neighbour, how wonderful!

I finally got going again, albeit only to keep D company as my gardening mojo is still a bit AWOL - yesterday was veg bed prep, hoeing in the green manure I planted and weeding. I'm going to do some seed planting this weekend and make final decisions about what veg to grow and where. I think I also have some flower seeds that need direct sowing, but that'll depend if the predicted 'rain all day' has a break.

Spring bulbs are looking good though, with these all coming from the garden and tulips also beginning to emerge, including the little wild ones which are so fleeting.

[Disco]

Gorgeous flowers Abs!

My tulips are all forming flower heads now but the most advanced tulip, almost ready to open, I accidentally snapped yesterday while digging.

[emma_p]

On no, Disco. Can you pop it in a bud vase?

The flowers are gorgeous Abs. I think the magnolias near me are almost over.

Do you have a lot of rhubarb?

[Disco]

This doesn’t look amazing I know, but there was nothing here until yesterday except the bearded irises to the left.

So there are three laurels with a red Robin in front. The whiteish plant goat told me to get is probably only there temporarily as I had to move it to get another laurel in in a different location.

[Disco]

On no, Disco. Can you pop it in a bud vase?

Oh maybe? I stuck it back in the earth hoping it might do something :lol: though I might retrieve it now.

[Disco]

Also it pisses me off that my neighbours who died (and were replaced by plant giving neighbours) put the fence on their side despite the iron railings being theirs. So I have to look at the iron railings not them!

[absley]

Definitely retrieve it! :lol: Those plants will be great as they get established, amd hopefully help to conceal the railings (which would really annoy me too).

Do you have a lot of rhubarb?

I do! There are c4 large clumps which I failed to split last year and really must sort. I was looking at Christine Ferber's recipes last night - she has some odd flavour combinations for rhubarb jam! Beer in one, bananas in another But, her plum amd rhubarb one which I made last summer was my fave of the year, so I will definitely try some.

Eta, Disco, could you use the railings for climbers? Sweet peas?

[Disco]

I will go and get it. :lol:

I do have a clematis at a section entwined around the railings and also honeysuckle. Sweetpeas are a good idea - I' ve never had any of those before - I'll poick some up this week.

[Mountain Goat]

They are very easy/quick to grow from seed if you felt like it, and now is about the right time. They like something long for their long roots so toilet roll inners are perfect (and then you can just plant the whole thing direct in the ground). I've not done them from seed before and they have taken off the most dramatically of everything I've planted.

How lovely of your neighbout! That bed will be really lovely very quickly and you won't see the bloody railings.

Abs, you have such a good eye, your flower arrangements are always gorgeous.

I did five hours in the garden yesterday and am genuinely aching like I did a long run today. :lol: Lots of small jobs but also the big one of lifting and dividing and then moving the plants in the external bit that the developers planted. There was a large U shape with around 20 grasses forming one side of it, and around 20 red hot pokers forming the other side. The grasses are beautiful pheasants tail grass but were absolutely wasted there, just in a massive clump and in a dip so too short to be visible; the red hot pokers are great in flower but it's a short flowering season. So I lifted all the grasses, took out the sad parts, divided them and planted them throughout the long border, closer to the front. Then I lifted about half the red hot pokers, chucked out the sad parts, and put the new plants where the grasses were, so now there is U shape of red hot pokers with room for planting other things among them that are longer lasting. It was really hard going! I am entirely covered in minor injuries, eg five paper cuts from the leaves just on one hand. I am really really happy though. To anyone else it won't look like anything much yet, but because I know the overall plan, to me it's brilliant because I can see it starting to become reality when all the other plants are woven into the structure that's finally now in place.

When I was pulling out shrubs last weekend a neighbour I've not met before (I knew her dog by name though :lol: ) stopped me to say how nice it was and to have a chat, and then after that I was sitting in the front room and an elderly couple who didn't see me in there stopped and she was pointing out various different flowers to him.

My hellebores have done well too (it's their first year with me though), in north facing and shady bed (the daffodils in the same bed are JUST starting to open, the first one opened on Friday, as an indication of degree of shady).

[absley]

That's an impressive amount of work Goat, I hope you're not too achey today. And how nice to have the neighbourly interaction as well - I love looking at the plants other people have and often want to knock on their doors when something looks particularly beautiful, just to say how appreciated it is.

[Mountain Goat]

I am still really achey! J ran a half marathon yesterday and yet somehow it's still me doing more of the moaning about my legs. :)) I started to shovel some loam (rotted down from last year's removed turf) into the new raised bed yesterday after it stopped raining and let's just say I didn't finish the job.

Yes me too! I saw the most glorious climber, a sort of marigold-esque flower (but not) the other day and I can't stop thinking about it. I hope I see someone in that front garden soon. In this development too, because we were all gifted the same boring shrubbery by the developers, we all get excited to see someone ripping it out. :))

I had been waiting and waiting for Aldi to release their mini greenhouse this year and I have decided they're not going to (they've released a different one that's the wrong size for my spot) so have totally logically bought an expensive mini greenhouse instead of the very very cheap one I had budgeted for. It won't arrive for a couple of weeks and then I have to find time to put it together so it won't be operational for a while but I will be excited to have a more stable home for my seedlings which are untidily crammed everywhere there's sun.

[Mountain Goat]

Any Easter gardening plans? I am doing a big project,taking up turf and laying gravel in the area around the seating/barbecue, and also building a big planter for the middle of it (from a flat pack thing). I also have my mini greenhouse to build, but lets see how far I get with the first project first. I've dug out the border of the area ready and my new turf tool makes the job relatively simple so fingers crossed, as I'll be doing it solo while J goes to the beer festival where his parents live.

[baargain]

I need to sow so much :lol: and also need to re edge all the beds, so that will be fun. I'm taking part in the village open gardens in June, so it all needs to looks good.

I just worked out how much money I would have spent on my fruit/veg harvest. I was going to use Tesco prices, but The Bf said I am more Waitrose quality :)) I went for mid range, so not basic and not Duchy.

£1166 from April 1st 2023 to today

I'll add whatever else I harvest up til 31st March. Tomatoes, asparagus, potatoes, summer squash, and various beans really bumped my money up.

I've guessed that I spend approx £75 on seeds/sets etc each year, £60 on compost, and £25 on rent. Let's ignore my labour costs, and write them off as replacement for a gym membership.

[Mountain Goat]

Ooh, open gardens sounds fantastic, you need to show us when it's all in full flow. Is your garden all flowers/shrubs or do you have veg there too?

And I am :zirk: that you have actually saved money by growing your own, I swear I have spent more on raised beds/tools/net cage/mini greenhouse etc etc than I would have spent on the veg over the next few years. :lol: Eventually it might pay off? I am all about the seeds this year at least, last year I wasn't set up for seeds in time so mostly used baby plants which wasn't cheap. But bloody hell, over 1k! :bel:

I've edged my beds but as I have more beds to dig that's not saying much in terms of progress. :))

I have just pricked out some of my tomatoes, I stopped because I ran out of cells to put the ones I pricked out into, I am going to be giving these to anyone who is brave enough to come anywhere near my house. I have been foisting jade plant cuttings on everyone already.

[baargain]

Tbf, who knows if I have actually paid off my fancy greenhouse yet :lol: I have just checked my emails, and I think all the kit I bought would probably be a year and a half/two years of veg at this output, that's not so bad. Once I did the initial set up, then it settled down after that. The allotment is pretty low cost by way of materials, as I have no bed edging.

I have big perennial beds, a pond, a big greenhouse, a brassica cage over a big veg bed, and another bed of beans and whatever else I wang in there. So it's a good mix.

[absley]

Amazing achievement on the fruit & veg front, Baa. Great you can quantify it. Have you done open gardens before?

How're you getting on, with your project, Goat? I love that you're getting more of the new structure for your garden in place. I need to do more structural stuff this year and it's definitely a bit intimidating.

Having said that, today I cut back a choisya that was a 6ft ball of chaos and swamping one of my trees/ beds. Let's see if it survives with its much reduced size! I've also removed a few shrubs that were crammed in/ not looking healthy. It was good to do something - we've been away and it's just forecast to rain endlessly so I needed a blitz session. I also finally planted out something (??) I admired in my neighbours garden and was given a clump of in Nov. Its been sitting in a black bin bag in the greenhouse since then and was happily sprouting away despite the lack of light Hopefully it'll grow and I'll remember what it is. :lol:

I've still not sown any seeds. Or cleaned the greenhouse. Hopeful soon for both of those.

[baargain]

I did the last two open gardens in the village, the first was only a year or two since we'd moved here, so it can't be as frantic as that :lol:

I planted out peas and broad beans at the allotment yesterday, in the drizzle. I'm hoping for a better crop this year as they were feeble last year. I blame the pigeons. I have giant mange tout on the go at home too. I am working my way through the rest of the seeds, but I think I need to resow the peppers as they've just not done anything.

[Demelza]

That's an amazing amount of veg, Baa! Hope everyone managed to get out in their gardens this weekend. It rained heavily here so I didn't get as much done as I hoped – just a lot of cutting back. I need to buy some more trellis and posts to tame the climbing roses and the honeysuckle – I also need to get some builder quotes as the boundary wall needs repointing/repairing (hopefully not rebuilding) and I don't want to do too much in that bed if it's going to be trampled.

My other plans are going to have to be scaled back this year unfortunately – I know where I want to put the raised beds but I haven't had the time to do them (Mr D not being able to see properly has had much more of an impact that expected). I do have some cuttings and seeds on the go, so this year I'll concentrate on the main flower beds and get some sort of control over them!

[Mountain Goat]

My weekend did not go well. :lol: I am nearly dead from exertion (a wheelbarrow would have helped), I dug out all the turf, roughly levelled it and took out the worst of the stones (for crocks in the bottom of pots) which took me two days. I now have a Great Pyramid Of Turf, and was also able to level the paths around my raised beds with the earth that came out from levelling the other area. Put down edging to contain the gravel, membrane (in mad winds), and built the planter. Now realise that I have gone down too far (it couldn't really be helped as the turf was well rooted) and back filling that with gravel will make it like walking on a beach (and very expensive). :cry: So weed membrane is coming back up, and some of the Great Pyramid is going back in and being stomped on to compact, then the weed membrane back, THEN the gravel. I hope this plan works, I've been going round in circles trying to figure out how to fix it.

I started building the greenhouse on Sunday and OHMYGOD. It's a thick booklet, and not because it's in a hundred languages, it's 16 pages of dense and specific instruction. I got to stage 6 (of 16) after six hours. This was partly due to bloody exhaustion and peak hormones (brain fog, clumsy, anxious) and not entirely about it being difficult but it is definitely not simple. You also kind of need two people just to hold things at the right angle while you tighten the bolts so I was having to be a contortionist. Anyway I got to the part where you need to put the glass in temporarily to square and check fit and I was dropping things all over (including losing the correct Allen key and having to make do with one that just about worked) so I've left it until I am more normal and can trust myself. The frame is built.

I did more cheerful light gardening on Monday to calm myself down, planted a rose, some flowers (hydrangea, heleniums, sedum) out the front that I've been bringing on indoors, peas, carrots, radishes, beetroot, and outdoor lettuce, rocket and spring onion (I have some indoor ones already). A first sowing at least, let's see how they fare.

So now I am exhausted, sore, unrested, and my garden looks like shit. :lol:

This is pre-membrane:

IMG_20240330_180802.jpg

And this is the Great Pyramid of Turf

IMG_20240330_144101.jpg

[baargain]

Oh I love the pyramid! I think your plan will work. I filled in a hole next to some steps with a load of spare turf. I just wanged it in upside down to kill it off for sure. I did the same with a giant strip of accidental lawn at the allotment, but I didn't even bury it, just turned it upside down and left it like that.