GARDENING CHORES AND CATCHING UP - SPRING 2016

I know, I'm way behind in the jobs that need to be doing in the garden.  Don't blame me, blame the weather.  I'm a fair-weather gardener and so it shall always be, as it always was.  Today the sun is shining, white clouds are drifting across the sky, there is just a hint of a breeze, the temperature is comfortably mild.  Perfect for slaving away in the garden.  Except for all the hard work waiting to be done in the garden, spring is my favourite time of year; all those mild months to come, fresh shoots, green leaves.  Lovely.  I needed a few days like this in April but, alas, the weather was rubbish.  Have you noticed though, in gardening as in many things, that one job creates another?  It's a killer.  Because of my balance problem I have to stop every ten minutes or so for the world to stop spinning.  I planted the Syringa vulgaris 'Mme Lemoine' that I bought a short while ago (I'll post more about that later) but to do that I had to access the chosen location in the corner of the garden facing southward, and to do that I had to empty one minigreenhouse of its contents and then move it out of the way.  It's light when empty, thankfully.  While emptying the minigreenhouse, I noticed that a couple of shrubs that had overwintered there needed some attention.  I repotted and trimmed back the lemon thyme, the creeping lemon thyme, and the lemon verbena.  The parsley (as expected because it's a biennial) has given up the ghost this year; it had served me well.   

Lemon thyme (thymus citriodorus prostate)





Lemon verbena (Aloysia citrodora)

I've also hung up the four hanging baskets full of Swingtime and Southgate trailing fuchsias against my house wall where they were last year.  I'm keeping a close watch on the weather for drastic drops in temperature.  Any sign of frost and the baskets will have to come down and be protected.   These fuchsias overwintered in the minigreenhouses  while still in their hanging baskets but the growth has become weak with the warm protection of the covers and lack of sunshine.  The plants need to be toughened up (hardened off) outside; greenflies just love sappy growth.  I must keep a watch out for the little suckers.  I've trimmed back the sappy growths to leaf joints and they will thus soon get bushier and produce more shoots and more flowers.




I thought I would have to take the fuchsias out of the hanging baskets and replant in completely fresh compost.  I expected a tight mesh of roots dying of thirst, but no, they were fine.  What I did was I removed the entire contents of each hanging basket in one lump and replaced the 'lumps' back in their baskets with some fresh compost added at the base and the top.   Lazy, I know, but they should be okay as they'll get regular watering and liquid feeding.



Swingtime trailing fuchsias

Southgate trailing fuchsia 2015

While I remembered, I also treated my beloved Acer palmatum dissectum 'Ornatum' for vine weevils with Bayers Provado 500.  Vine weevil larvae killed Acer palmatum 'Orange Dream'.  I could have cried and took pleasure in killing the larvae.  Sorry, but I did.  I watered the container grown acer and the four hanging baskets with it.  The larvae of Vine weevils just love fuchsias.  I have not, however, noticed any problems on the heucheras which are planted in the garden border and which I understand can also be troubled by vine weevil.  For now I'll just keep a close eye on them. 





I don't know if I'll be sorry, but I've put the young runner beans, which I started off inside my home, into one of the minigreenhouses now that there is room.  The weather forecast is good for the next few days and  I'm sick of having a house full of seedlings - I've enough with the pelargoniums and the three tomato plants, as well as the houseplants.  Runner beans sprout quickly and grow rapidly.  If I don't get them into the light they get too leggy.  Same applies to the sweet peas, Midnight Blue and Cupid Pink, which have also gone into the minigreenhouses.  Runner beans and sweet peas are both hardy, so with the greenhouse protection at night they should be fine for now. 








So, it's been an exhausting day, and still all the plants that I have bought for my borders are waiting to be planted.  Groan.