Gardening

It's so mild here, yesterday afternoon I mowed the small lawn behind the house! The rest of the lawns were too wet for the mower, but I started the strimmer and used that to knock down some of the other lawns where it was getting too long. I was so delighted with myself, being able to do that, in January! Going to start tackling some of the totally overgrown flowerbeds now, as long as the weather holds.
 
My nan used cleavers as an astringent and for skin inflammation. She also brewed it up as a tea for urinary problems as it is a natural diuretic.
The hens love it as well, and it's free and grows abundantly in our garden
Incidentally nan called it "Robin run in the grass", guess it has lots of names depending on where you live in the Uk
 
Belated Happy New Year everyone! Back at work last week and fallen foul to a cough, stomach pains and to top it all, today I've developed a full blown cold. Not had one for 15years or more.
Anyway, that aside I shall be asking you green fingered peeps much advice, as I don't appear to have much knowledge about gardening. Im good at killing tomato plants...
Also ,I planted some wallflowers I purchased from a garden centre last summer and although they grew, they did not flower.
My garden is boring, tidy and lacks imagination, just as it was when I moved here 4 years ago. I've only added 5 fruit trees, flowers and a lot of evergreen shrubs for a sloping border, which was bereft of anything. Oh and I dug up 2 grasses from the forest where I walk and they are thriving in the gravel at the back of the conservatory. Would love a pond, but hate those obviously new looking creations with ugly plastic looking features. Then it would be a case of where to put it....
 
Wallflowers are biennial, Tweetipie, ie, they grow in their first year and flower the next year. If you bought them in 2018, and they had germinated in that year, they should be due to flower this Spring. So if they're not obviously dead, don't give upon on them.They can look tatty until they take off but are very resilient usually. If they are actually dead, maybe they got too dry last summer in the drought, like many plants. Newly-planted bare root things need more water if their roots are to establish well. Lovely colour and scent, in with spring bulbs.
 
Oh wow Marigold I has no idea they were biannual. I looked at them today and they are beautifully green and full of leaves. That's cheered me up, thank you.?

Another cheery thing is that today I saw a red admiral butterfly on my laurel bush. How odd.
 

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I planted some wallflower plants in late Sept/early Oct. They started flowering within a couple of weeks and are still flowering! They'll probably have keeled over by the time they are supposed to flower!
 
I’ve just finished a bit of guerrila gardening - clearing a messy strip along the back of our garden, in the council-owned, neglected field which is being held for building one day when things get desperate enough. 16 little seedling trees, native flowering and fruiting types, Rowan, Cherry plum, Wild Pear, Oak, and Native Juniper, added to the Ash, Birch, Bird Cherry and Crab Apple already planted as seedlings from our garden. Planting tiny trees at my age is an act of faith in these troubled times. I can only hope that, if the Council notices, they don’t object and pull them all out.
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Also I’ve dug out the old raspberries, cleared as much bindweed as possible, and planted new ones, then added soaker hose for next year’s drought. To be topped up with shreddings when there’s a fine day and I’ve done enough pruning to make a good mulch for them.

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BTW, here’s a close-up of the dry hedge we were talking about, with the woven front holding garden waste behind.

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Nice lot of dry, safe spaces along the base for wildlife to shelter and hibernate
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and a concealed hedgehog breeding box underneath at both ends.
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LadyA, ( and Valerie, and anyone else who has difficulty posting pics-) all these pics were posted using the Tapatalk app, which just dips into your camera roll, you select a pic, and it asks you whether you want large medium or small pics. Even I can do it!




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I like the idea of the dry hedge, we have a lot of prunings in Portugal which I can't burn till the winter. I hate looking at the large piles all through the summer, but I think I might construct a small hedgelet to provide shade for the wildlife and something nicer for my eye to look at. In fact, I have just run away with the idea. If I could make it into a round shape I might be able to infill with cut grass and small stuff, top with some soil, and grow melons!
 
Fantastic Marigold, it looks wonderful. Dry hedging is very satisfying to do isn't it and the local wildlife will thank you. I hope the council doesn't object, although each dept will probably think another dept has authorised it
 
I love that you've planted those fruit trees. I've often thought about planting a couple in the forest where I walk, so that in the future, animals or people can help themselves. Would be a bit tricky carrying a spade and bare root trees into the forest though. ? Your dry hedges look great and better than paying £££ for dried broom at the garden centres. Can't believe how much you've done today.
 
Love it!









Google Tulip is only available on April 1, 2019. Look for it on your Google Home device, simply by saying, “Hey Google, talk to my tulip.”
 
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