What did you do in your garden today?

[johnny canoe]

Today I get my greenhouse organized and the heaters turned on. This weekend I have about 4 dozen geranium plants to move into it.

 

[alp]

Today, I have been taking photos and washing pots - loads of them.

 

[JamieB]

Today I dug up more bulbs, working on raking up a pile of rock I found. Previous owners must have tried to have a rose or something, the rose bush has rocks around the base. Oddly , this area doesn’t have a lot of rock in the ground. I’m used to the ozarks, where rock out grows any crop! Only thing we know about previous owners, there used to be a guy who worked on tombstones, there’s a bunch dumped in the river, and one on the edge of my circle. The ones before my step mom didn’t know how to fix stuff- insulation put In attic, left rolled up, not laid out. It used to be a party house, my brother in law and most of his family used to party out here. It was empty at that time.

 

[Sean Regan]

Checked out one of my wisterias today, which is giving me concern. It was on the garage wall when we bought this house in 1972. Over time I trained it over the pergola I built between the garage and our koi pool.

But it eventually came to look more like the Lock Ness Monster and bits started to die off in 2016.

The problem was that the main root was rotting.

So I took some drastic action and removed all the dead wood. I had to re-make the end of the bed.

This left me with one long branch that traveled along the top of the fence between the garage and the house and half covered this pergola, meeting up in the middle with one growing up from the other end.

There were enough layered parts of this to train over the pool pergola last year.

But sadly there seems to be no life in any of it so far this year and there's rot at the base of the one main branch left. Our other four wisterias are doing well.

I'm going to have to make a decision about it if there's no growth showing in a month (I'm pretty sure it's dead, but my wife wants "to give it a chance").

I'm not that bothered, the wisteria on the back of the house can be encouraged to grow along the full length. I'd been pruning it off before.

I'll probable grow about three clematis up this garage wall instead.

Shame, but nothing lasts for ever does it?

 

[JamieB]

I raked the dead grass, leaves, etc, to give me an idea of how my idea will look. I like it. I ended up digging up a row of bulbs out back cause my husband hates mowing around them. I didn’t have enough dirt, so I did a 30 gallon tote, with about 2 inches of dirt and mulch, filled it with two layers of the bulbs, ( shorter ones sitting on taller ones between the stems) added more leaf mulch as well as I could, watered it well. I’ll have to make a mud slurry to get the dirt in where I need it.

 

[Sean Regan]

The only saving grace, was that the removal of all that wood, relieved the pressure on the armoured multi-stranned cable in the last photo, which runs under the path and the concrete slab on which the patio is built, to the switches behind the lounge curtains, that control all the lights in the garden.

 

[TomatoTango]

Gardening today began in the kitchen then out into the yard. Mint looks great and I planted about 35 strawberries. Finished the day with a double rainbow over my solar panels, total hippy Nirvana.

 

[JamieB]

I think I id’d One of my mystery bulbs. Resurrection Lilly, the version of naked lady lilly in this zone. So I need to add a lot more soil, a lot less water. And them getting mowed before leaves all died off would account for them not blooming. They are apparently notorious for not blooming every year anyway.

 

[JamieB]

Gardening today began in the kitchen then out into the yard. Mint looks great and I planted about 35 strawberries. Finished the day with a double rainbow over my solar panels, total hippy Nirvana. View attachment 33290 View attachment 33291 View attachment 33292 View attachment 33293

Mint and strawberries ! I’ll be doing mint too, might try a strawberry plant or three. I’ll have to protect it, so it’ll have to be in a container. Do they prefer acidic soil? I’ve only picked wild ones up north around pine trees, store bought don’t have plant and soil info.

 

[TomatoTango]

Strawberries are fairly acidic. Every plant I’ve encountered has been acidic except plums and aloe. I pH water almost everything at 6.8 and feed at 6.5 for cal/mag.

 

[JamieB]

Water ph here is at 7.9-8. I need to find yummies and pretties that like things on the alkaline side. Good rich soil, I’ll just have to grow the strawberries and blueberries I want in containers amended to be more acidic.

 

[JamieB]

Checked my flowers, the butterfly I found yesterday was on its back looking dead. Started moving when I picked it up. Wings are torn, a leg missing, abdomen is squished a bit, looks like a bird just missed having a pretty meal. Poor thing is just waiting to die. So I put it on my inside plants when it wouldn’t go to the flowers.

 

[JamieB]

I meant to attach pics.

 

[cas]

eventually came to look more like the Lock Ness Monster

What a good description! I can definitely see it!
How hard is it to grow wisteria? I have always loved the flowers.

 

[JamieB]

It was chilly, got a cold snap. Freezing temps at night again tonight. I stayed inside. I’m lazy today. Looked online, found some daylillies I want. That’s as close to doing anything in the garden as I got.