2022 - What I did today

It rained on and off all day, so I couldn't get anything done outside.
So I got a tin of primer and painted four sections of picket fence destined to divide our front garden from next door's. It's a fiddly job so I've been putting it off, but I need to get the fence up before spring so I can plant roses next to it.

Finally finished cutting down all the herbaceous plants and did a bit of pruning. Just got to get rid of all the cuttings now!!!

Lovely sunny morning - could feel the warmth in the sun - so I "inspected" the garden.
The elephant garlic and perennial leeks are shooting - and baby leaves on the rhubarb. Daff leaves appearing everywhere, flowers on a prostrate rosemary.
Watered the GHs and left the doors open for a while.
Took 3 rooted cuttings off an orchid. Need to find the best way to pot them up now.
Cooled off in the afternoon so I went out and picked up a freebie tub of wild bird seed then into Morries for a yellow sticker hunt. Shelves looking bare - no sugar, only one packet of my favourite cheap coffee on the shelf - plenty of Easter Eggs though !!
There were about a dozen Gardening books on the charity book stand and, amazingly, I didn't buy any. Being strong.

As the weather was sunny, I decided it was a good day to plant out my Christmas present, 4 each of hornbeam, downy birch and beech. Added in 5 oak grown from acorns. I was helped, with the first one by my grandson but he went off then to do cookery with his granny, ginger biscuits. The place I planted them already had several self seeded oaks, damson and hawthorn. The instructions said to keep them weeded for the first few years but they will have to fend for themselves. I may water them if we get a prolonged dry spell this year.

Potted some new bulbs into 4 pots.

Relooked for the capillary matting I couldn't find the other day. Found it where I'd already looked! Cut a portion and now on the windowsill propagator housing my perennial kale cuttings.

Not much as I had to do a few errands - including going to the vets with the dogs. The old one has a bad leg - X-rays needed. Not what I wanted at this time of year.


Anyway - the only garden thing I did was set several mouse traps - I'm really getting hammered with them. I left some bulbs high up on a shelf in my outside toilet - yes, we still have one of those - anyway, I went to pot those up and they've eaten nearly 30

There's lots of mice around here too, or at least lots of dead ones that the cats are bringing back. Good kittys

Today I sowed some more lettuce - the last lot got hit by frost - and potted up a Dahlia tuber in the hope of getting some cuttings off it.

Nothing gardening today, I'm off on an outing of retail therapy with my pal, we should have been three but our third has had covid in the family so we're giving her a wide berth. Not likely to buy anything but we enjoy window shopping and people watching.

Nothing gardening today, I'm off on an outing of retail therapy with my pal, we should have been three but our third has had covid in the family so we're giving her a wide berth. Not likely to buy anything but we enjoy window shopping and people watching.

You need to be careful while you are out, your memory seems to be a bit short today. You just:

Sowed each variety in 3" pots ready for growlights when they pop. I'm vaguely hoping they won't all germinate

4 x veranda red
1 x vilma (all I had left)
4 x tumbling Tom red
4 x tumbling junior that's supposed to be yellow, but I seem to remember last year came out red
9 x red robin
And some of SC's strawberry seeds which came out of stratification