2025 - What I did today

If your hydrangea splint doesn't work, maybe you could turn it into a cutting? Glad there wasn't any structural damage .

Potted up some rooted Sage and Pineapple sage cuttings. Cleared out all the tired seedling plants in GH3 and put the sage pots in their place.
Cleaned & weeded the path between GH3 and the house. Also the back of GH3 where convolvulus and ivy were creeping into the GH. It was also a dumping ground for pots & buckets so those have been sorted out, some binned.
Had to bale out a trug of water as it was too heavy to lift, especially as it only had one handle. Used a flower bucket to bale - unfortunately, it was a bucket with holes drilled in the side for drainage so water shot out of four holes and my feet were watered too. This could be another new thing for my list as I can see a future for this bucket.
Lots of pulling up of rampaging mint and grapevines. The garden waste bins are crammed now. Chopped up the vines to mulch a path. Not the mint though - don't want that rooting everywhere!
A busy day making up for yesterday's washout.

   

Sorted all the timber laying around the plots...more than I thought!

More raised beds, Boss?

I visited two gardens in nearby villages yesterday with the gardening club. The first one was really cute, with plenty of 'infrastructure' like stone brick walls and metal bedding edges, statues etc. Very nice.
The second one, however, took my breath away. She's really embraced the idea of having separate rooms in the garden. First was the zen garden with a pergola path along one side with vines climbing up. Next room had a small pond with planting and deep beds all around - gorgeous. The rooms are surrounded by 2m tall fences, with climbing plants coming up it, with tall trees behind it, so it really created that secluded feeling. Then coming out of that into a more formal area with a view over the lake in the distance, with the fruit and veg garden on the opposite side. To the left of the house up a hill was a cottage from 1600's and still stood in its original place, with a little man-made beck trickling into a pond, with a pump moving the water around. Plenty of water plants. Wow, so beautiful.
The house has an extension on it that was intended to be mediterranean, well insulated and large windows and a semi-seethrough roof. It is more tropical to be honest, both in temperature and in feel - they had massive plants in there, and a passion fruit, with actual, ripe fruits hanging off it all over in the ceiling. Just gorgeous.
I went to a friend's house after for coffee and cake, then got some hydrangea and elder cuttings from her.

Picked some more dry beans. Pulled up a couple of finished DFB and cut back the hanging basket tomatoes that have mostly finished apart from a couple of stems. Had another really good look round after the storm as the wind has died down completely now. Really quite disheartening. Collected some seeds.

Pulled up the mangetout and sowed some more pea seeds. Dug up some potatoes - grown from sprouting spuds that I'd bunged in an odd corner and forgotten.
Had a chat with the worms and fed them some lettuce.
Also had a chat with my neighbour who gave me some plums (his tree is laden, unlike mine). He offered to buy me some brushing sand on his trade account as I need it for the cleaned drive. It was about half the price of what I would have had to pay elsewhere - and he fetched it for me.
Did some GH pot shuffling and tomato staking.
Cut back some brambles and pulled up nettles - should have worn long sleeves!!