David and I always take a week off for our birthday week, and we went on a wee trip to Webbs to stock up on peat free compost, pop into Hobbycraft and also the outdoors shop. I may or may not have also bought more bulbs, a tray of black viola, and some herb plants while we were there…
And as if by magic, a giant amaryllis bulb called Flamingo also fell into the shopping trolley!
So I had a day sorting out the garden! The rain held off – in fact it started raining just as I finished sweeping the slabs – but I got LOADS done. Absolutely loads. I am well pleased with myself!
First I swept up the leaves from the driveway and put them into bags to cart them through the house and into the back garden. I emptied the bags into the borders to act as leaf mulch. This will fertilise the garden as the leaves rot, protect the bulbs from frost, and give the birds somewhere to play.
I then shifted one of the planters out the back to give it a big ol’ overhaul, similar to the first one I did in September. I emptied out the old compost, salvaged any plants and bulbs, and then put in fresh peat free compost, some AquaGel beads (they swell up and retain water), and then a load of bulbs including daffs, crocus, allium, hyacinth, snowdrop, iris, anemone corms, and chionodoxa. I put more compost in to cover the bulbs, more AquaGel stuff, and then planted the new herbs, so I have two thymes and two rosemary in the corners, a pot of mint in the middle, and then I planted the other stuff back in, so it also has red dead nettle, lobelia, anemone, and black viola. I backfilled with compost and then topped it off with grit. It looks well good! A lot tidier now.
I also decided to plant some bulbs around the base of the rose bushes (they were already here when we moved in). I used my shiny new dibber that David got me for my birthday and put in a mix of bulbs, backfilled the holes, then put down a double layer of brown parcel paper before covering it with more grit. The paper acts as a temporary biodegradable weed suppressant and should stop the grass etc growing, but it will rot away and the bulbs will grow up as normal. The two gladioli were in the planter so I hope they will be happier in the ground by the rose.
With my second tray full of toilet roll inner tubes, I wetted some compost (to make slop) and then filled the toilet roll tubes. Doing it this way means I don’t have to water the tubes so they won’t go soggy. It was very messy though! I have sown two more lots of sweet pea – one blue and one a Help For Heroes theme mix (red, white & blue). I also sowed a winter edible pea variety called Meteor that we use at work. All the pots with lollipop sticks are sweet peas.
I decided a while ago to redo the hanging baskets as they look very sad and haven’t been very successful this year (mainly because I forgot/am too lazy to water them every day). I again cleared out the old compost and replaced it with fresh stuff, put in some AquaGel, and then arranged the bulbs. I topped off with more compost and grit but next year I will clear the grit off and sow seeds (such as tagetes, lobelia, calendula, cornflower etc). For now though they look nice and tidy. The second basket had the thyme planted back in it after a trim to encourage new growth, and the last two violas. Now I need to sort out the other three baskets! I have been eyeing up some hanging basket brackets that fit to the concrete posts used to hold up the fence panels so I might get some and I can have hanging baskets all down the left hand side of the garden.
I have also chopped down most of the sunflowers. We only have one green waste collection left of the year and I was trying to keep the sunflower heads for the birds, but the squirrel has been coming into the garden and eating them instead, so now the flowerheads go straight in the green bin. Some got chucked into the woodland over the back, but I have had LOTS. The stems of the sunflowers were chopped up into pieces and I have piled them at the back of a border to be used as a habitat pile by critterbugs.
The small bulb basket that I planted up for a work step-by-step a few weeks ago already is showing signs of life!
So a good day was had, and David was out all day so was out of my way. I swept the slabs off too, so the garden is looking quite tidy – until the wind blows and all the keys fall off the ash tree.
