How does your garden grow?

[Sits]

Wind?

[slackster]

A much needed dry week has seen me catch up on some autumn tasks.

Cleared the flower beds of dead stuff and the worst of the weeds, lifted the likes of dahlia tubers, and finally got the Spring bulbs in today.

Cleared the paths of leaves and moved them to the compost area (or spread them over beds).

With the lawns drying out a bit and not being spongey wet, I got the mower over the straggly looking grass and shredded up the fallen leaves there as well without leaving tyre tracks and ruts.

Cleared the veg beds (apart from some beetroots and leeks that can stay in the ground until we want to use them).

Got loads of winter tree pruning and other tasks to occupy me the next 3 months, and on wet days can have a look for new seeds etc, but I feel like I’ve caught up after a very soggy couple of months.

[slackster]

I was bought a (unasked for) random selection of allium and tulip bulbs by a sister-in-law for Xmas. Hmmm. I’ve got to go plant them right now before it gets dark if I want a Spring showing. At least it’s not raining (much) today.

I did a terrible job of storing my lifted dahlia tubers: at least half of them - more than a dozen - have rotted off and need binning. Should have dried them out better and then stuck them in some sand, rather than fling them on the potting bench.

[slackster]

Well, I got all 120 bulbs in - planted in groups of 5 - only needing my head torch for the last 20 or so. The border beds were soggy after all the interminable rain we’ve been having, so I put some grit in each hole I dug too.

Noticed a couple of snowdrops already up and flowering (we’ve got hundreds scattered around)- that’s early.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Yes, our snowdrops are starting to show too, though I haven't noticed any flowering as yet.

[Sits]

Meanwhile it's summer here and we've finally got lupins to "take" after many failed attempts.

[Sits]

While tomatoes are having a good year so far.

[Sits]

And if we can keep assorted critters off a little longer it seems we will get a decent yield of aubergines. Coffee grounds and peppermint spray being applied regularly.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Not my garden, sadly, but there are some wonderful images here. The winner is quite astonishing: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-68127991

[hobbes]

One of our dog roses is STILL flowering and has been since late November.
And the flower in one of the pots are still going. They have been since May.

[S. aureus]

Not my garden, sadly, but there are some wonderful images here. The winner is quite astonishing: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-68127991

Thanks for sharing that.

[slackster]

I’ve spent the morning hacking back bastard bamboo that we inherited here. My hand’s aching now from repetitive secateurs work. It’s a right pain digging out the roots/killing it, so I’ve come to terms with a program of keeping it under control rather than invasive 6m high stands dotted around the garden. Maybe I should get a pet panda…

[Sits]

I’ve spent the morning hacking back bastard bamboo that we inherited here. My hand’s aching now from repetitive secateurs work. It’s a right pain digging out the roots/killing it, so I’ve come to terms with a program of keeping it under control rather than invasive 6m high stands dotted around the garden. Maybe I should get a pet panda…

That sounds like the time I had to dig out a big pampas grass (remember them?) from our first garden. It was over thirty years ago but I can still remember the aches, and what was left looked like a bomb crater.

[slackster]

Got a few patches of these little lovelies on border edges and growing through the grass nearby. Not certain, but think it’s Scilla Forbesii.

[slackster]

Sun’s out for 3rd day in a row, and it’s nice and mild. Haven’t been able to say that for months!

The Spring flowers have taken a bit of a battering from the relentlessly wet, windy weather. I reckon 75% of daffodils have come up blind (no flowers) this year, but maybe they are just sulking and will flower late.

I was given some dwarf tulip bulbs as a Xmas present, and only bunged them in early Jan. They have flowered already - not a colour I’d usually choose myself they make a nice contrast with some blue hyacinths.

[slackster]

In more irritating garden news, I got the recently serviced sit-on mower out yesterday afternoon to give the less soggy grass nearer the house a tidy-up trim. Within 10 seconds of engaging the cutting blades there was a puff of white smoke and a burning smell. Reckon the just-replaced belt drive for the blades is knackered, so I’m guessing the service guy must have fitted it incorrectly. They better fix it pdq for free…

In better news, the hellebores and magnolia are looking lovely. Most of the former clumps we have are pinkish, but I really like this white one.

[slackster]

The magnolia.

[slackster]

A few garden plants have been sulking about the soggy ground all winter, but one that’s definitely enjoyed it is the gunnera, of which we have a few scattered clumps.