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Heaven: Come into the Garden: Gardening 2022

jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
edited January 2023 in Limbo
Let us know how your garden grows! Failures as well as successes are welcome here. We will cheer each other on while we dig in the dirt and trim those deadheads!
Flowers and fruits are a balm to the soul and worth the effort!
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Comments

  • MaryLouiseMaryLouise Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Bright new shiny thread for muddy dirt-grubbers!

    A friend came around yesterday, masked and with gloves, gave me a repotted Lycaste orchid, quite rare, and I am hoping I don't kill it before the week is over. It is either Lycaste aromatica that smells of fresh cinnamon, or Lycaste skinneri alba known as White Nun and the national flower of Guatemala.

    Trying not to show my love with too much watering.
  • Just spent the morning at Waterperry Gardens burning some of my birthday garden vouchers on an obelisk to grow the sweet peas up this year - very nice until the heavens opened! I'm also almost up to speed with the winter digging - maybe an hour left to do on the allotment and then I can leave it until about April, which gives me time to build a pond at home. I hope!
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Took a squelch round the garden - the lawn is one large mossy sponge. Not a lot to do bar some pruning (absent leaves, it’s easier to see what hedges/shrubs are up to).
  • I've just finished putting details of all our flower seeds on a spreadsheet (veg seeds are Sandemaniac's to deal with). The clever thing I did this time round was to tag columns so I can filter for each month to see what needs planting. I might be able to cope with the shorter lists...

    Have just checked January - filter gives me 4 things that can be planted all year, a snapdragon, and the sweet peas. Since I know that mid Feb is better for sweet pea seedling survival, and the same is likely for snapdragons, looks like I have an easy planting schedule this month :smile:
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I have a big book of What to Plant in Scotland. And when. Quite a lot of what I put in the ground last year stayed there, because too soon, or never going to do this far north.
  • Ethne AlbaEthne Alba Shipmate
    edited January 2022
    I m still eyeing the garden but remaining indoors.

    Walking back in from the car the other day there was a Very large splash from the pond. Surely not a frog? In this weather?
  • Ethne Alba - two days ago when the weather here (SE UK) was so mild we had 2 toads and a frog sitting beside our garden pond - tonight we are expecting a hard frost so I hope they've retreated to the shelter of the Toad Abode!
  • Oh, fuck off rain, and let me finish the bloody digging! You can come back when the pond needs filling!
  • Seems we must get rid of our bird feeder in the garden. It is attracting rats. Ugg. We never had that problem in the country but it appears there are city rats. Sad as Mr. Image is now homebound and his joy is looking out the window at the birds. I will try a hummingbird feeder to replace it.
  • HelixHelix Shipmate
    My sympathies on the bird feeder @Graven Image. My mother had the same problem and she held out a long time with the bird feeder and enduring the rats before she had to give it up - the discovery of rat poo behind the bed I think tipped the balance. I know she really misses them (the birds, not the rats) and I hope the hummingbird feeder brings a lot of joy.

    I just have a small balcony and have planted a few bulbs!
  • We had double trouble with feeders. At the front, bloody parrots would arrive before dawn to feed, and the neighbours complained about the incessant noise. At the back, we were swamped by pigeons, and the jackdaws, which we loved, were driven off. Result, no feeders, and no birds to watch. Damn those parrots, (parakeets really).
  • For the last 15 years, I have been living on the top of a mountain where we often had frost. I always cut my roses back in January. Now I am living at the bottom of the mountain where frost is rare and the roses are still blooming. When do those who live in a milder climate trim their rose bushes?
  • The very question I have no answer to!

  • I inherited a rose garden (!) when my parents died and we moved into their house. I do what my dad did, and haven't killed anything yet. At the end of November I cut the very tallest bushes back a bit so that they are not too vulnerable in strong winds, and tie the ramblers/climbers in for the same reason. Then in March or April when the new shoots start to grow I prune the bushes more thoroughly and take out any weak and spindly bits. I'm in the SE of England where the climate is drier and milder than average (if you ignore the occasional 'Beast from the East' snow storm!!).
  • My wife ventured briefly into our soggy garden today to do some weeding. She is now browsing through a plant and bilb catalogue, deciding what to order.
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    edited January 2022
    I have a bird feeder solution. I’ve put it in a very, very thorny rambling rose. The birds are fine and feed from it happily. The squirrels try quite often, but always give up and just eat the dropped seeds off the ground.

    :mrgreen:
    For the last 15 years, I have been living on the top of a mountain where we often had frost. I always cut my roses back in January. Now I am living at the bottom of the mountain where frost is rare and the roses are still blooming. When do those who live in a milder climate trim their rose bushes?

    In the spring, before the new shoots really get going. 🙂

  • Although we really not “ milder” we do have one rose that only stops flowering in Feb / March. So thank you @Boogie , it seems that I m doing something right!
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    My birthday present to myself arrived today: a solar-powered water feature. There being very little sol currently, it's staying in its box for the moment.
  • My skip has arrived, and I have ceremonially thrown concrete into it! Now I just need to fill it without shagging my back any further...

    I need to get a solar pond pump myself - though if I want frogs to breed, I'll have to keep it off in the spring as they prefer their water still.
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    Firenze wrote: »
    My birthday present to myself arrived today: a solar-powered water feature. There being very little sol currently, it's staying in its box for the moment.

    You’ll be surprised. My outdoor solar lights (movement activated) work even on murky midwinter days. 🙂
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    This is a fountain, so there seems little point in setting it up while there's a chance of water freezing, and I'm not sitting outside listening to its melodious drips.
  • We took the plunge and dug up our strawberry bed, which is old, the next crop will be potatoes. Strawberries always end up looking untidy.
  • Thanks for answering the rose question, spring it is.
  • I’m wondering if indoor plants count as gardening (for the purposes of this thread) or whether it has to be the outdoors.

    My outdoor garden is a bit of a disaster mainly due to all the rain turning the lawn into a jungle. I’ve managed to keep appearances up in the front yard so I don’t feel judged by the neighbours but the back yard is sadly neglected. My embarrassing reason for lawn neglect is that my mower lives in the shed and the shed is dark and scary and I have to psych myself up to go in and get the mower out.

    The hedge is in relatively good condition but I am new to hedge care so have no idea if I’m doing the right thing (erm just trimming it when it seems to be the wrong shape)

    The two frangipani trees are blooming, which is lovely. They were one of the things that lead me to buy this house.

    Meanwhile I still haven’t planted the Panama passionfruit vine or the maroon daisies which I bought in December but I have managed to keep them both alive. I learned that Panama passionfruit are…I’ve forgotten the term… you only need one plant to get fruit… whereas with the other type of passionfruit you need multiple plants.

    But there has been a miracle with the potted gardenia. I thought it had died and was about to pull it out of the pot and chuck it when I noticed tiny green buds on the branches. So I repotted it in fresh soil, fertilised it and watered it diligently for a while and behold it has sprung back to life!
  • Awesome.

    We too have frangipani (plumeria?) but they live in giant pots and get trundled in every winter. They are roughly nine feet tall already.

    The gardenia is indeed a miracle--lovely.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Sheds can get away from you very easily. There's a temptation to just push things in hastily and close the door - before the Things that live in there come and get you.

    Some sunny day you need to nerve yourself to drag everything out on to the lawn, brush down the ceiling/walls/floor. Install shelving if not present. Chuck all the corroded and/or unlabelled cans and bottles. Ditto the surplus flower pots. Arrange so that all content is accessible. (I am giving this advice sternly to myself).

    My shed has no windows, but it does have the electric light. Possibly a torch kept in or en route?
  • More embarrassingly my shed does have an electric light and is nearly empty. It’s the possibility of various Australian reptiles taking up residence there that scares me!
  • My shed contains two petrol-engined mowers and a hay mower.

    I have a lawn the size of a postage stamp, and no hay meadow. It is quite tidy at the moment, though.
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    @Lots of Yay IMHO, indoor plants count as gardening, since in many cases, it takes a lot of work to keep them happy and healthy. And alive!
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    My shed contains two petrol-engined mowers and a hay mower.

    That's not a shed, it's a garage!

    Brief prowl round the garden after dumping world's most disappointing indoor narcissi in the compost. I think I see the first shoots of the winter aconite, but no discernible signs of the snowdrops.
  • Definitely a shed - a garage has a wider door! Especially as I have to take the blade off the hay mower to get it in, and put down the ramp to get it up the step.
  • Oh maybe my shed is actually a garage? It would fit a car in but has no road access. I could park a fleet of lawn mowers in there!
  • More embarrassingly my shed does have an electric light and is nearly empty. It’s the possibility of various Australian reptiles taking up residence there that scares me!

    That would scare me too. You sound like a sensible person.
  • More embarrassingly my shed does have an electric light and is nearly empty. It’s the possibility of various Australian reptiles taking up residence there that scares me!

    That would scare me too. You sound like a sensible person.

    I (sorry @Lots of Yay ) felt a little patronising until I read your second post :smile: Though, we have an occasional rat. But he's not going to get me like an Australian nasty might!
  • I say, gimme the tornadoes of the Midwest. Don't send me to Australia! :lol:
  • Good news! My lovely neighbour did all my edges while I was at work yesterday. And I am now less scared of medium-sized lizards.
  • MaryLouiseMaryLouise Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Kind neighbours are always welcome, @Lots of Yay! Lizards that make a sudden dash out from under a bush or hedge are the worst. We have a small Cape mongoose in the heat-blasted garden (hopefully) eating up scorpions. I do my gardening before 6am when it is still cool and have cut back the summer's basil bushes to make salsa verde and pesto, watered all the larger pots and am ignoring everything else until it gets cooler or rains.
  • Went into the garden to fill up the bird feeders and check on the wormery. I wandered up to the end of the garden to look at the much neglected veg patch and found one of my kalelette plants brimming with little mini cabbages all up the stalk (like brussels grow). We’ll have some later. And in one of the beds near the house, one of my hellebores that has never produced flowers before has a lone red flower.
    Unfortunately, I then checked the tiny bed on the front drive and can’t find any sign of my previously flowering hellebores there. I suspect the exposed aspect and a dominant low growing buddleia has done it for them.
  • My lovely neighbour’s lovely daughter rang my doorbell yesterday and asked if I’d like her to mow my lawn. Why yes! I’d love that! Then I had to battle to be allowed to pay her.

    The green waste bin was filled with just the front lawn but she promises me she’ll come back to do the back lawn once the bin is emptied.

    I’m a bit worried that I’ve killed the native daisy that my mother gave me a few months ago. If it perks up post watering I’ll give it a bigger pot with some of those water holding crystals in the soil.
  • If it's native I'd expect it would come back from the roots. Your chances sound good.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Spent an hour or so tidying up leaves, trimming back ivy, sawing branch out of the pyracantha (arm scratches to prove it) grubbing up Bloody Cranesbill (well named). Sunny but cold.
  • I have shifted the concrete! I HAVE SHIFTED THE CONCRETE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Sorry, did I get a little excitable there? It's all in the skip, and the gravel bed underneath is nicely compacted and will be ideal for building on. To my amusement, underneath were three paving slabs, all oriented the same way, in a row - looks as though they were part of the previous garden plan, and just concreted over! I'll use them in my foundations - they're a bit broken up by the kango now.

    Currently sitting with me poor 'ole back on a heatpad pondering how the flip I'm going to design the pond... and the froggies will start shagging in a few weeks!
  • Going to use a shaped liner or a sheet? Or (I had one of these for a while put aside for the purpose, but didn't get around to it before the wife got really p*ssed off) an old bath? :smile:

    I wanted to do this with it. Well, in the end I did it with an old sink, which was a compromise. It looks funnier with a bigger pump / more flow, than this video. One day I'd like to be more eco and set up an old high-level toilet cistern off the downspout, and 'pull the chain' to actuate the fountain!
  • SandemaniacSandemaniac Shipmate
    edited January 2022
    It'll be a sheet - handily our local pond place has placards with the formule for working out how much you need.

    The tap looks fun - and the cistern idea even better!
  • Mass pruning at the moment, everything must go! Roses, raspberries, blackberry, vines. The exception is thornless blackberry, which rumour has it not to. We have a huge eucalyptus, so tree surgeons will be on their way. How many hundreds of £ will that be?
  • We had a glorious working bee in the backyard last weekend. My brother took to the jungle lawn with the hedge trimmer and got it to a mowable height then decided to cut down a weed which had turned into a rather large tree where there should be no tree. My neighbour brought his mulcher over and reduced the tree to smithereens. Then he decided to do some edging work as well. I now have about six weeks worth of green waste to dispose of. But the backyard looks so much better. I’d just let it get away from me.
  • Not hard to do when you’re working all the hours God sends
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Assembled the water feature yesterday. The pump comes with a bewildering collection of bits and pieces in plastic bags. Worked out that it is primarily designed to work as a fountain - hence all the various tubes, heads, LED lights etc. Whereas I just need it to sit in the base of the feature (which is in the similitude of a leafy plant) and push water up the central stem - which then trickles down from leaf to leaf.

    Still too early to take it outside though.
  • NenyaNenya All Saints Host, Ecclesiantics & MW Host
    I said on last year's thread that I'd been given a box of mixed bulbs as a thank you present and had planted them in an area in our front garden for a pretty show.

    A friend cheerfully informed me that as I'd planted them in very wet soil, just before some very wet weather, the bulbs would all rot. I said they had two chances, I wasn't going to dig them up again, but I fear she may have been right as there's no sign of them.

    I also have a Christmas Rose (helleborus albus) which was absolutely glorious this time two years ago but has done very little since and has managed two very scraggly-looking flowers this year. I'm wondering if our very heavy clay soil is to blame and whether it would do better in a tub?
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    I have a hellebore in a big tub and it’s glorious again this year.

    I’d like some more as they are so cheerful on a dull January day.
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