It's been very mild again this week, a bit grey and murky...and windy. I didn't manage much time out in the garden at the beginning of the week but had a good day on Thursday. I dug in the remaining green manure that's shot up over the past week, planted the rest of the lily of the valley in the shade garden and, whilst I was planting them, I noticed this (no idea what it is) has come into flower:
The sweat peas have gone crazy and were spreading over the other pots so I pinched out the tops and put in some stick supports:
I then cut back the large dahlia in the cottage garden as buds were forming but rotting before they could bloom. I've left it in the ground and mulched to protect the tuber. I trimmed back the begonias, mulched them and put the pots in the greenhouse. And, finally, I've moved most of the ground cover plugs from their packaging in to pots and troughs for the winter; I will plant them in position in the Spring. I have labelled the ten varieties plus written the names and positions on a diagram in case the weather fades the labels...good thinking eh! I still have the giant alliums to plant somewhere...I need a bigger garden! The mixed alliums in the cottage garden have started to grow, some of them are about 6-8 inches high now.
As the weather has not been that great this week I decided to lavish tlc on some of the indoor plants. The winter jasmine was trimmed right back as, although it has new growth, most of the existing growth was brown and died away. I also trimmed the chrysanthemum and put in a support. A couple of stems broke off so I've potted them up and hopefully they will give me some new plants. The old leaves on the kalanchoe had white dusty patches on the them so I've cut them all off and trimmed back the new growth. Both orchid plants are thriving although not in flower.
Sunday - today started with a spectacular sunrise, an abundance of pink everywhere; it made the garden look surreal. It has been incredibly windy this weekend although it started to calm down a little by this afternoon...Storm Desmond, apparently. Him indoors took the timer off the pond pump - we'll just turn it on and off manually throughout the winter. He also raised the pump slightly so it's not pumping out the warmer water at the bottom of the pond. I finally finished potting up the rest of the ground cover plugs for over wintering. I checked the others I had planted on Thursday and either a bird or a squirrel had uprooted a couple so I've re-planted them and moved the troughs nearer the greenhouse where hopefully they will be safe. And, at last, I put the giant allium bulbs in a trough so all done now. I dug up the remaining leeks, laid them on the veg bed and covered them with soil. Apparently, this is done because it's difficult to dig them up when the frosts come. Frost? What's that? It's been 12 degrees today! But it was a job for December, so I did it. I also dug up the rest of the fennel which is now stored in the fridge, and dead-headed the violas. Him indoors took all the composting material out to the big bin at the back of the garden and put some compost-maker pellets in to help it on it's way. He also put a bird bath in the cottage garden (family heirloom) which looks great:
the delphinium black knight is in bud,
next door's rambling rose has rambled over into our garden and is in flower,
and so has their passion flower, bearing fruit:
Towards the middle of the afternoon a fine mist appeared and by the end of the afternoon it was raining...again. And it doesn't look like there's much improvement next week for Dorset - mild, windy and rain although Wednesday and Friday look like they could be dry and, dare I say it, sunny!
Whatever the weather where you are, have a good week and catch up next Sunday.
Regards,
DD
