popular What have you done today in the Garden?

A frustrating day, we've had rain, sunshine, more rain, sunshine, hail, sunshine, rain etc.,
So nothing can be done. I've pointing and painting to do, but the weather won't be any good for it until the earliest, Monday which should be sunny, but then more rain is forecast for the next few days.

 

Pruned 6 more roses, then it started to rain and very heavy, now it's sunny but haven't got any time now to do anything else.

 

A few signs of Spring
An azalea in the front garden. It gets very little sun but does its best. The flowers look a bit "plastic." There's two azaleas in this corner, then a line of about 30ft of pink ones to the left, that won't be out for a bit.
You can just see the mesh wire and wooden post three ft high fence I made thirty years ago which separates ours and next door's garden. I think for these small front gardens it looks better than a post and panel fence. It's hardly noticeable. I'm amazed it's lasted so long. The posts are still rock solid.





Two quinces on the side fence in the back garden.





There will be few blooms on the camellia as I prune it each year to stop it getting too big. We just like it for its leaves.





"If it had it's own way" it'd be like it was when it was one of these three in the middle of the garden in 2005.




I binned two and cut this one down to a couple of feet and planted it "where it couldn't cause too much bother."
I reduced the size of this bed to what you can see in the final photo.

These are flower buds on one of the wisterias, (leaf buds look different), as always, drastic pruning in late December or early January produces hundreds of them
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I bought these heathers on 3rd February, they were in flower then. They've got bigger and are still in flower.
The heathers and hebes are in plastic pots sitting on saucers, but I reverse these until the warm weather comes, as I don't want them sitting in water. Likewise, the pot movers have a drilled hole in the bottom. I put a dab of silicone over them in the summer, so they retain some water.




The lawn looks OK, but there's quite a bit of dead moss and it needs a good scarifying, but not until it gets a bit drier.





There's two bald patches, at the far end. I've seeded them and will give them a chance, but if they don't recover well, I'll invest in a couple of rolls of turf and patch them. "I won't mess about."

 

Your garden is looking very smart at the moment, Riley. Lots to see on this posting.

 

I certainly love the Heather DHR. It is very beautiful. And it is so wonderful to see your flowers. That must be very exciting. I am eagerly looking forward to seeing those Wisteria blooms. Still haven't seen anything as striking as those. They indeed are my favourite.

Can I ask...when you say pointing the stones...does that mean cleaning out their cracks so that they are clearly visible? Or do they have to be repositioned?

 

Today was a big day for the Artichokes. They are no longer in vernilization pergatory. Today they get to stay in the direct sun as long as they like. Snowbanks to stay below 10 C are a thing of the past. They will be outside in the sun on a good day, and on a bad day I will move them into the greenhouse. They will need to go inside a cardboard box for protection at night, or I may just pack thier green little bottoms up to the house so they can experience the morning sun. Our lows are still around -6 predicted for the next couple weeks. It is a pokey spring for sure.

 

It's the small patio and path behind the shed. I made it of crazy York stone. But the people next door who never watered their garden had a cherry tree close to the fence that grew very large and its main tap root grew under the patio looking for water and caused it to "heave."
So I dug down on our side and cut through the root and then completely relaid the patio. The tree died and they replaced it with three silver birches. It may be the rest of the root has rotted and this has disturbed the stones a bit. But if I re-point them with mortar containing plenty of plasticiser, it should "see me out."

 

I planted tomato seeds over the past few days.

Not much time in the garden otherwise, due to volunteer stuff and house stuff. The refrigerator broke down, so I shopped around and bought a new one. We've been without a fridge for a few weeks, waiting for repair guys. They said it can't be fixed. I wanted to avoid hooking up a water line but the only one that was affordable, by the manufacturer that I wanted (KitchenAid, on sale), has a water and ice dispenser. So I hooked up the water line, it works, and so far no leaks (I've had three fridge water line leaks that ruined floors and subfloors, so I'm cautious. Those were professionally installed). Also had a Dr appointment in Portland, a long drive, so there's that. The food trucks in the medical district were fantastic!

Some of the tomato varieties. Also some as gifts. Sauce tomatoes to follow.



About 2/3 of my tomato varieties now are home-saved seeds, yay! The other four also have that potential, if they are good.

 

I am jealous that you can plant your toms. I am biting my nails and fidgeting waiting for my green-light.

 

More snow 4” last night. and more to come .. Rinse and Repeat.

 

It was dry enough to spend an hour in the garden, giving the lawn, "a bit of a scarify."
My Black & Decker scarifier is forty years old and it obviously doesn't get a lot of use. But it sits in the shed for the best part of a year "doin' nuffin'" so I always give it a going over before using it each year.
The most likely thing to fail is the belt, if the mechanism jams. So I make sure all the moving parts have been oiled or greased.
I set it on the middle height and removed quite a bit of moss, then gave the lawn a good mow, that picked up more loose moss as well as grass.
I'll put it on a lower setting on Monday and give it another go as it looks as if it will be a sunny day with no rain for a change.

 

Every time I walk past the raspberries, I think, "Those need pruning, already". Today I did.

Before.


After.


Then I did the same for the the thornless blackberries.

Before.



After.


These are such rewarding plants - very delicious fruits, productive, and don't ask for much care at all. I do need to finish cleanup and mulching with decomposing leaves.

 

Those canes are looking good. Are you getting decent harvests from these bushes?

 

Used Mr Lumphammer to adjust some old hieras fencing poles...





Then bolted them on to the hoops as stabilisers...

 

You can't beat a lump hammer and a brick chisel, together you can shift anything.