One of my presents this year was some new secateurs from my son. I haven't tried them out yet, but I'll be having a go licking a few things into shape come February.
My new garden office is being fitted mid-January. Once Mr Heavenly has re-laid the path beside it and put up some decking at the entrance, I will need to consider what planters I want outside and/or the possibility of a small flower bed.
We will also need to revamp the large bed down the other side of the path as we have done a lot of clearing to allow light around the area and it will be the view from my side window (the main patio doors open to the lawn and look down the garden). We have never had much success with this area, partly due to the poor light caused by next door’s plum tree and overgrown and neglected bushes our side. But we have now cleared the area so we shall see. If no flowers grow I will put a bench there.
Knees have been dirtied here for the first time in 2025. And yes, it's back to the nature strip weeding! I managed to get through 2 podcasts this morning whilst working away and added some extra weeds just in time for the bin men to come and take it all away.
That leaves us with a lovely empty bin for Cheery husband to cut back a shrub that has grown madly without us noticing and is now about a metre wide. He has cut back a test patch yesterday and hopefully more next weekend.
He's also started working out the layout of a new small bed and a slope leading up to an area he's earmarked for a garden shed. Some experiments this morning and chats about how to modify those to make it a better use of the space. I had to come inside and have tea and cake after all that!
My Japanese pruning saw and hori hori knife are on the hall table, poised for action. Which is unlikely to be for a while yet. If anyone has suggestions for perennial/ground cover that is shade tolerant, I'd be glad to know.
I already have Lamium (Yellow Archangel), geranium, monbretia (too much in fact), chameleon plant and hellebore, but I'd like something with a bit of height.
Periwinkle (vinca minor) works, but isn't very tall. It is hard to get rid of if you decide you don't like it (you have to yank by hand, and it irritates the skin if you do). If you want about 10 to 12 inches tall, try Solomon's Seal (false or true). I'm not sure which one we have, but it does very well in medium shade for us, with basically no care at all. It is invading the lawn, slowly but surely! I think we could easily stop it, but we don't want to. If you want something 3 to 5 feet tall, try tiger lilies. Ours are in light to medium shade. Daylilies will also survive and spread, though the deeper the shade, the less chance of them flowering. But then, you may not care.
I rely on a dozen or so different varieties of fern - mostly 'evergreen' although they come in shades of red/purple as well as shades of green. I cut a few back each autumn so that I can enjoy watching the little fiddle-heads unfurling. No flowers though if that's a deal-breaker.
Thank you for the suggestions. I have a couple of ferns, one of which seems to be proliferating, the other struggling. Grasses similarly, which ought to cope - one that does, one that doesn't.
Tiger lilies are a possibility as apparently they will grow in Aberdeenshire.
That sounds very nice @Firenze! I used to have a shaded garden and found it difficult to get ground covers to grow well. I think I had something called snow in summer which used to do well, even though it was pretty neglected. I have assumed you want something perennial, rather than annuals. I used to do OK with primulas, daphne and azaleas because our soil was acidy, don't know if any of those would work for you.
In other news we have discovered our vege patch has got a layer of mud at the bottom with a very large layer of almost dust over the top of it. No wonder our veges have not been doing well! Come autumn we will take off all the mulch, get a couple of bags of nice soil, dig in lots of worm castings and refresh that bed. At the moment we have veges planted, and husband has added a dripper to every individual plant to get them growing. If that's no successful we'll give up and get started on our autumn plan early! At least we discovered the problem and can work to address it!
Hi @Cheery Gardener , I am doing some weeding and general improving, but with a pause for the heatwave coming across just now. After 30 years I am starting to achieve something in the challenging bush capital environment. I now have lots of irises, as they clump and expand, so each time I tidy an iris bed, I have enough to fill two more. Am now running out of space and starting to use the green bin more.
I will do another iris division in early autumn, PM me if you would like some then. I haven’t quite recreated Monet’s Garden at
Giverny but there are some similarities.
I knew it was hot on Saturday when I went out yesterday morning and the petunias had wilted!! Gave them all a good drink and today they are good as gold.
Cheery husband has made some progress over the holidays. A plan for the shed area drawn up, creation of levels for the sheds with a paved area and a garden bed in front. Worked out that we are only about 5 pavers short, so we can probably collect those ourselves rather than needing an extra delivery. Hopefully a solution for the dry vege beds and our sun tough daphne plants seem to be holding up to the hot weather, fairly well. The lavender plants he put in after fixing the watering system, seem to be growing OK.
I have my fingers and toes and eyes crossed for some rain later today. Our pond is shrinking before our eyes and I'll be glad to see the back of this heatwave, I know it's something we have to get used to and plan around, but urk.
It's been lovely and cool the last couple of days but other than racing outside to give plants a quick drink, I've not managed any proper garden jobs. Perhaps today I'll go out and sweep up the leaves that find their way to the front door, it's a bit of a trap there. It's probably a good job to have done before the weather warms up again as it requires lifting pots and a garden seat to really get into the hard to reach places.
In the 2024 Gardening thread, I was surprised that my laurel oak wasn't blooming yet. Well, it's in full bloom right now! Normally the honeybees cover the whole tree, and their humming could be heard in my house even with the windows closed. I don't see any bees right now, but they will hopefully be there soon.
I am not sure where you are @jedijudy - is it the right time to be flowering now? Bees are madly gathering around the lavender that has snuck into my yard through the neighbour's fence. I enjoy it very much, but have to watch for bees when I want to cut it.
I hope you have some bees soon, hey are so important!
@Cheery Gardener, I'm in SW Florida, and my oak usually blooms in December, but with the hurricanes knocking limbs and leaves off it two different times this year, I think the poor thing is confused. It does rebloom after weather events like that, however.
It did the same thing in 2022 after Evil Ian came through, but at that storm, I lost almost half my tree. It had been a beautiful, full tree before that, and even now is sparse with very little of the top remaining. I guess it's a good thing it's still alive.
In other gardening news, my very small crop of black sapotes are close to being ripe!
Not about plants, but I went out onto my patio to find one of my patio chairs, covered for the winter, turned over. These are not lightweight chairs. We have had no wind storms. It is a mystery.
Squirrels? They're my go-to villains for any kind of garden vandalism - uprooted bulbs and demolished bird feeders mainly - but I wouldn't put anything past them.
I paid a fleeting visit to the garden to cut some rosemary for dinner - even the leaves on that were feeling a bit crunchy.
@jedijudy I just checked out black sapotes (not having heard of them before), I must have some - do they really taste of chocolate???? I saw there are some cultivars suitable for Oz!!!
Black sapotes are obtainable from Tropical Fruit World on the NSW Far North Coast @Cheery Gardener. I can vouch for the fact that they do taste like chocolate, especially when they are very ripe and can be eaten with a spoon. They also make a beautiful soft-serve icecream. Not sure they would survive your winters though.
Thanks, that is helpful @Barnabas_Aus, I had wondered about them surviving frosts knowing JJ is in Florida- do they get frost there?
I like the sound of them very much, but would probably need a reliable microclimate spot or maybe a greenhouse to ensure they survive. I had wondered whether I might find one online that I could read the growing instructions, I may just have to dream ...
It’s currently -4° and our local community gardening group is holding an event at 11 with the intention of recruiting more volunteers to our meagre team. Great timing, with the ground having been frozen solid for the best part of a week!
@Cheery Gardener, yes, as @Barnabas_Aus said, they do taste like chocolate and I would add, with a touch of cinnamon! When you cut the fruit, it looks like chocolate pudding, hence the other name for the tree, Chocolate pudding tree.
We do get a very occasional frost here. In 1979, Christmas morning was 27 degrees F, which is five degrees below freezing. So many plants and trees died, and when the dead things thawed the next day or two (because the temp usually goes back to normal the day after a freeze or frost) the air was thick with the stench of rotted vegetation.
The result of the frost sounds quite yucky @jedijudy, I hope when frosts strike they are few and far between!
The chocolate pudding tree sounds amazing, but wouldn't go well in our climate. However, I might find some for sale at a greengrocer and I'll have my eyes peeled.
Cheery husband and I went out early-ish to the local garden centre and picked up a few things from their marked down trolley. All plants past their best, but if they are not totally dehydrated we don't mind giving them a go and have had some successes. Today's purchases included a scabiosa, some petunias and a couple of other plants one to attract bees and another to try as a groundcover. Husband has planted his petunias and I watered them a couple of hours ago, as they were looking pretty sad in the heat.
I'll plant my things in the morning while it's cool-ish and put them in the shade to recover. Very pleased to get some showers last night, but we would enjoy a bit more!!
I thinned out my beet plants enough to have some beet greens for dinner. Cut back the parsley sufficiently sufficient to share with my neighbor. I noticed that the bulbs are starting to come up. Today, a friend is coming to pick some of my lemons—Winter in Northern CA.
Most of my lawn is a sheet of ice after the flooding we had this week. As least the borders didn't get drenched this time.
Due to a mix up with my sister in law and birthday presents we now have an unexpected voucher for a rose plant. I chose the four roses we already have so I guess its my husband's turn to chose.
Sounds lovely @Sarasa, mix up or not! I hope you have fun picking a new rose. Lovely that you could share some produce with your neighbour @Graven Image and I wish I had a friend who would give me lemons!
I was up in good time this morning, where there was still a scrap of shade to work in, so have planted the Iberis and the scabiosa and also a punnet of seaside daisies, not all 3 in the same pot! I did have to wander around the back yard to identify some pots that I could use!
I gave them all a good water and checked on them during the day and they seemed to be OK. I did make a bit of mess though and undid all my good sweeping of the weekend. Never mind, I can redo that next weekend!!
I see a lawn treatment van has just parked in the street, so a least one neighbour is redding up their garden. However, despite the temperature in (only just) double figures, I'm not going out just yet. For one thing, I have a slightly sprained arm, so the vernal comb over will have to wait. Not that I actually mind that grass is in the minority - it's mostly moss, self-heal, clover and buttercup.
I'm wondering about bare-root roses. I need to replace a patio one, and I would like one to scramble along a bit of wall, but the starting point is fairly arid and gravelly with a particularly aggressive lupin.
It is day 2 of the Garden office project. Yesterday they did the base work and today they have put up the cabin, fitted the doors and windows, and are now working on the roof. Presumably this afternoon they will fit the laminate flooring and plaster board internal walls. They are remarkably efficient (presumably this is what they do every day). I expect them to be finished today and the plasterer to come tomorrow. But we probably won’t be able to paint it until next week after the electrician and heat pump fitter have come.
It looks amazing and I am both excited and slightly apprehensive to have an office in the garden. I’m looking forward to the day light and wildlife around me, which should be good for my moods, and the privacy and peace of getting out of the house. Once it’s done we can do some planting up of the nearby flower beds, especially the side view from the cabin (as well as some work indoors, turning my old office into a spare room). I hope they haven’t trampled too much on my hellebores.
My summerhouse is a much more modest affair, and it's over early in the year to be out in it (though it does have a heater). But I value how much more integrated with the garden I feel, with the resultant benefit to mood.
@Heavenlyannie that sounds brilliant and being able to see the garden and work sounds perfect. I can well believe what @Firenze has said about feeling integrated with the garden, many of our rooms overlook our garden and it certainly helps to make me feel more connected to the birds and plants as they do their seasonal things.
I planted some wildflower seeds, which I found in a shed left by the former owner. I have no idea how old they are, but more than three years as I just saw them stuck behind a shelf. The package says wildflower mix. I am planting them in several pots rather than in the ground.
I am fretting about my garden waste bin still not being emptied. There has been a bit of industrial action in Sheffield and the emptying day has been a Saturday. It was filled to the top in October but I missed putting it out in November and December. I did put it out last Saturday but it was not emptied. The Council claim it was not presented. My problem is that I live on a corner. The usual binmen know that our bins are presented outside the gates to the yard at the side of the property. The Saturday people, if they did turn up in the bad weather, would have only looked at the front.
The next collection is 8th February. I have spoken to the Council because I am worried about the state of the bin which is now three quarters full.
No gardening here today, even though it is cool, it has been wild and windy. If the wind drops I'll go around later and give my pots a water, otherwise they will have to wait until morning.
I had a whole year when I missed the window for paying for garden waste collection. In the summer we would drive sackloads to the dump, but as autumn and winter drew on and the new subscription year approached, I started filling the bin. It is surprising how much you can get in, particularly if you leave intervals for the stuff to rot down.
No gardening here today, even though it is cool, it has been wild and windy. If the wind drops I'll go around later and give my pots a water, otherwise they will have to wait until morning.
They confirmed when the next collection would be....weather permitting. They did not say they wouldn't remind the bin team where the bin would be
Cheery husband has made a good start on his low brick wall with a couple of rows of paving. As well as that, he decided to go mad with the cutting back and finished off the hedge he began trimming last week. Fortunately he wants to use the branches in the bottom on his vegetable patch to help with the soil retaining water, so I won't have to cut up all the new ones for the green bin.
I do hope your next bin collection goes well, @Telford
I do hope your next bin collection goes well, @Telford
I will let you know. When I was younger I was a fairly keen vegetable gardener. 7 years ago, due to a bad back I had trouble cutting the grass and so I started employing a gardener to cut it once a fortnight, weather permitting. He also does bigger jobs, especially in the Autumn when most of the plants are cut back. The stuff he cut back in the late Autumn is still in the bin.
I should start filling my bin - which involves bagging stuff, then hauling bags up one flight of stairs and down another to reach the front path. I went out yesterday and discovered the neighbour at the back had sawn off a big chunk of a large elder that overhangs the fence. It's an elderly elder and very brittle and I wonder they didn't fell it outright.
But anyroads, that corner is now much less shady. It's gravelled and I've been putting pots of hostas there, plus a clematis over an arch and a variegated ivy - all chosen as suitable for shade.
Besides all the elder debris, there's a lot of overgrown stuff along the fence on their side - they're not attentive gardeners - that I need to chop back as best I can. Not so much because I mind the ivy, roses, potato vine etc, but they provide pathways for rampaging bindweed.
Then in my own garden, it's time to prune the apple trees and lift the dead foliage from monbretia/crocosmia and weed everywhere.
Your pots sound really lovely @Firenze. I'm really looking forward to March which will be peak gardening time here. I plan to take a daphne out of a pot and put it into a garden bed with some others, I have a newly arrived bulb catalogue that I'm trying to resist ordering too much from to plant in March and I have some Lily of the valley from my Mum's place which I might transfer into a garden bed then as well.
At present it's just the watering to be done and the mowing, both waiting for a cooler day or even later this afternoon and then a couple of cool days to recover before it gets hot again
I was coming here to say that I'm going to be lazy and do no gardening today. However, I've noticed a heap of snipped or blown off bunches of leaves on my lawn. As I want the boy wonder to mow it later, I think I'll go now and clean it all up to give him a nice easy job and also it's probably better for our lightweight mower, not to have to go over and chop up all that mess!
I finally made it out into the garden this week. I've been looking at a few pots that have been overtaken with weeds, or they have been looking at me. After a couple of hot days, I went out yesterday and gave the pots a good soak, followed by some weeding as it wasn't hot outside. Some of the plants in the pots were looking past their best, and I have some smaller ones the same in another pot, so I might pull out the ratty ones at the weekend and move the younger plants into those pots.
My petunias are looking spectacular, red and white for Christmas, and some pink ones in different pots, blooming madly!
Even got Cheery son outside to mow the front lawn before the weather heats up again, all ready for Cheery husband to do the edges at the weekend.
I'm jealous of you folks who are in the growing season!
I cleared up the 'meadow' today in anticipation of planting annual wild flower seeds in the spring. It's small 5m x 5m. I've given half to perennial wild flowers and half to annuals. No grass allowed!
I do feel very fortunate that most of the year here seems to be growing season @Boogie. In winter things slow down a bit, but it's only for 3 months really and the rest of the year it's pretty much on!
I've been outside this morning because again it's been overcast and I've moved a few plants from small into larger pots. I may regret this because it's going to be hot again next week, but I've put the moved plants into sheltered places, and I'll be giving them extra drinks tonight and over the weekend.
I'll be watching out for the winter flowering things like pansies to start hitting the garden centres.
We have snowdrops out! I know lots of people do, but ours are in the shade, so take a wee bit longer to come. Also the first crocus! And I saw the beginnings of dawn at 6.45 this morning, so the endless night of winter is moving on.
Comments
Exciting!
We will also need to revamp the large bed down the other side of the path as we have done a lot of clearing to allow light around the area and it will be the view from my side window (the main patio doors open to the lawn and look down the garden). We have never had much success with this area, partly due to the poor light caused by next door’s plum tree and overgrown and neglected bushes our side. But we have now cleared the area so we shall see. If no flowers grow I will put a bench there.
That leaves us with a lovely empty bin for Cheery husband to cut back a shrub that has grown madly without us noticing and is now about a metre wide. He has cut back a test patch yesterday and hopefully more next weekend.
He's also started working out the layout of a new small bed and a slope leading up to an area he's earmarked for a garden shed. Some experiments this morning and chats about how to modify those to make it a better use of the space. I had to come inside and have tea and cake after all that!
I already have Lamium (Yellow Archangel), geranium, monbretia (too much in fact), chameleon plant and hellebore, but I'd like something with a bit of height.
Tiger lilies are a possibility as apparently they will grow in Aberdeenshire.
In other news we have discovered our vege patch has got a layer of mud at the bottom with a very large layer of almost dust over the top of it. No wonder our veges have not been doing well! Come autumn we will take off all the mulch, get a couple of bags of nice soil, dig in lots of worm castings and refresh that bed. At the moment we have veges planted, and husband has added a dripper to every individual plant to get them growing. If that's no successful we'll give up and get started on our autumn plan early! At least we discovered the problem and can work to address it!
I will do another iris division in early autumn, PM me if you would like some then. I haven’t quite recreated Monet’s Garden at
Giverny but there are some similarities.
Cheery husband has made some progress over the holidays. A plan for the shed area drawn up, creation of levels for the sheds with a paved area and a garden bed in front. Worked out that we are only about 5 pavers short, so we can probably collect those ourselves rather than needing an extra delivery. Hopefully a solution for the dry vege beds and our sun tough daphne plants seem to be holding up to the hot weather, fairly well. The lavender plants he put in after fixing the watering system, seem to be growing OK.
I have my fingers and toes and eyes crossed for some rain later today. Our pond is shrinking before our eyes and I'll be glad to see the back of this heatwave, I know it's something we have to get used to and plan around, but urk.
I hope you have some bees soon, hey are so important!
It did the same thing in 2022 after Evil Ian came through, but at that storm, I lost almost half my tree. It had been a beautiful, full tree before that, and even now is sparse with very little of the top remaining. I guess it's a good thing it's still alive.
In other gardening news, my very small crop of black sapotes are close to being ripe!
I paid a fleeting visit to the garden to cut some rosemary for dinner - even the leaves on that were feeling a bit crunchy.
I like the sound of them very much, but would probably need a reliable microclimate spot or maybe a greenhouse to ensure they survive. I had wondered whether I might find one online that I could read the growing instructions, I may just have to dream ...
We do get a very occasional frost here. In 1979, Christmas morning was 27 degrees F, which is five degrees below freezing. So many plants and trees died, and when the dead things thawed the next day or two (because the temp usually goes back to normal the day after a freeze or frost) the air was thick with the stench of rotted vegetation.
The chocolate pudding tree sounds amazing, but wouldn't go well in our climate. However, I might find some for sale at a greengrocer and I'll have my eyes peeled.
Cheery husband and I went out early-ish to the local garden centre and picked up a few things from their marked down trolley. All plants past their best, but if they are not totally dehydrated we don't mind giving them a go and have had some successes. Today's purchases included a scabiosa, some petunias and a couple of other plants one to attract bees and another to try as a groundcover. Husband has planted his petunias and I watered them a couple of hours ago, as they were looking pretty sad in the heat.
I'll plant my things in the morning while it's cool-ish and put them in the shade to recover. Very pleased to get some showers last night, but we would enjoy a bit more!!
Due to a mix up with my sister in law and birthday presents we now have an unexpected voucher for a rose plant. I chose the four roses we already have so I guess its my husband's turn to chose.
I was up in good time this morning, where there was still a scrap of shade to work in, so have planted the Iberis and the scabiosa and also a punnet of seaside daisies, not all 3 in the same pot! I did have to wander around the back yard to identify some pots that I could use!
I gave them all a good water and checked on them during the day and they seemed to be OK. I did make a bit of mess though and undid all my good sweeping of the weekend. Never mind, I can redo that next weekend!!
I want to do some garden tidying and preparation for the spring. But it's too cold, so I'll sit and plan and dream instead!
🥶 ❄️
I'm wondering about bare-root roses. I need to replace a patio one, and I would like one to scramble along a bit of wall, but the starting point is fairly arid and gravelly with a particularly aggressive lupin.
🌱🌱🌱
It looks amazing and I am both excited and slightly apprehensive to have an office in the garden. I’m looking forward to the day light and wildlife around me, which should be good for my moods, and the privacy and peace of getting out of the house. Once it’s done we can do some planting up of the nearby flower beds, especially the side view from the cabin (as well as some work indoors, turning my old office into a spare room). I hope they haven’t trampled too much on my hellebores.
The next collection is 8th February. I have spoken to the Council because I am worried about the state of the bin which is now three quarters full.
No gardening here today, even though it is cool, it has been wild and windy. If the wind drops I'll go around later and give my pots a water, otherwise they will have to wait until morning.
They confirmed when the next collection would be....weather permitting. They did not say they wouldn't remind the bin team where the bin would be
I do hope your next bin collection goes well, @Telford
I will let you know. When I was younger I was a fairly keen vegetable gardener. 7 years ago, due to a bad back I had trouble cutting the grass and so I started employing a gardener to cut it once a fortnight, weather permitting. He also does bigger jobs, especially in the Autumn when most of the plants are cut back. The stuff he cut back in the late Autumn is still in the bin.
But anyroads, that corner is now much less shady. It's gravelled and I've been putting pots of hostas there, plus a clematis over an arch and a variegated ivy - all chosen as suitable for shade.
Besides all the elder debris, there's a lot of overgrown stuff along the fence on their side - they're not attentive gardeners - that I need to chop back as best I can. Not so much because I mind the ivy, roses, potato vine etc, but they provide pathways for rampaging bindweed.
Then in my own garden, it's time to prune the apple trees and lift the dead foliage from monbretia/crocosmia and weed everywhere.
At present it's just the watering to be done and the mowing, both waiting for a cooler day or even later this afternoon and then a couple of cool days to recover before it gets hot again
My petunias are looking spectacular, red and white for Christmas, and some pink ones in different pots, blooming madly!
Even got Cheery son outside to mow the front lawn before the weather heats up again, all ready for Cheery husband to do the edges at the weekend.
The sunflowers are going up at a rapid rate. 60cm (~23.6in) or so for the largest of several stalks.
I cleared up the 'meadow' today in anticipation of planting annual wild flower seeds in the spring. It's small 5m x 5m. I've given half to perennial wild flowers and half to annuals. No grass allowed!
I've been outside this morning because again it's been overcast and I've moved a few plants from small into larger pots. I may regret this because it's going to be hot again next week, but I've put the moved plants into sheltered places, and I'll be giving them extra drinks tonight and over the weekend.
I'll be watching out for the winter flowering things like pansies to start hitting the garden centres.
How are things going for your office @Heavenlyannie?