Gran/Grandads Gardening Corner

At the moment, moping about the moss problem on our lawns.It's an ongoing battle with the stuff but is getting worse.
Thinking about planting some new small shrubs, also must uproot two dismal looking escallonias.
Also thinking of power washing the patio.
All this thinking and not yet doing

On the plus side, all the Spring bulbs are either coming up well or are flowering already and look lovely.
On the down side, all the pelargoniums that we moved inside over the Winter, have gone mouldy!

roses are you going to take some soft wood cuttings from your escallonias before you uproot them?

Having a general tidy up of borders although the moss seems to be taking over the lawn and after OH's disaster of putting weed and feed on the lawn in the Autumn (he burnt great patches of the lawn by chucking sprinkling it unevenly I won't be letting him anywhere near the weed and feed again
I was just wondering when I can split up a very large clump of pink Hellebore, I've never done it before and not sure.

Thinking of growing strawberries in containers this year, never tried before, does anyone have any tips please. Also thinking of doing the pressure wash on the path and the fence could do with a paint.

rosesarered, I am thinking about the same things as you are! I need to give the grass its first cut when it dries out a bit more. Moss is always a problem, if I take it all out there will be little or no grass left. I usually decide that if it is green it can stay! That includes the daisies.
In my little postage stamp sized front garden there are primroses which flower most of the year, but they look their best when the Anemone Blanda come up amongst them, they make a change from the yellow of a lot of the spring flowers.
Might re-instate my water butts today, but the largest one has a slow leak which I need to locate. The best way to see it might be to upend the butt over my head and shoulders and look towards the sun, but I worry that I might get stuck!

I love this time of the year, everything just ready to burst. I had some beautiful cyclamens from a neighbour several years ago, and they have spread all over my front garden. My neighbour sadly died last year, lovely to remember her every time they bloom.
Plants are full of memories, just the smell of certain flowers can instantly transport you to another time and place.

I tried strawberries in those strawberry planters a few years ago but honestly for the few strawberries I got it wasn't worth the bother I think 2/3 small bowls was all I got. I did think of covering them in netting but in the end I just grew small alpines in the pots. Maybe I gave up too soon.

J52 we are going to re-plant the escallonias in a different place and hope they do better.We only put them in two years ago so they are still not very big.I think they need more sun.

Shysal haha, I have an image now of a water butt walking about......so be careful!
Moss is such a problem, and ours has got to the point that we really either live with it or have it all taken away and new turf put down and then keep on top of any new moss that appears by blitzing it.Expensive though.

The only advice I can offer, Alima, is avoid the lovely strawberry pots with the individual holes in the sides. They look nice but aren't particularly practical. You will get more strawberries by growing them in large round or windowbox type containers. I dug up my strawberry bed last year. We had lots of fruit but they weren't particularly tasty.
I got an email last night from my SiL, forwarded from GS's school, asking for people to help the children with a potato growing project (not in their ears hopefully!), so I have offered my services if they are stuck for volunteers! I used to enjoy growing spuds!

Alima. I have a friend who grows great strawberries in hanging baskets. Might be worth a try, I haven't done it myself.

Glad the escallonia live on! Lovely picture Shysal I also love those anemone, spring has such delicate flowers.

Growing strawberries - husband made a range of 4 rows of wooden troughs on a frame and fixed it to a south facing wall.
filled with suitable soil/ compost, and then planted. Soil needs replacing now.
It works very well, no weeding or bending down to pick the fruit. Easy to water.
I've got a photo somewhere.
We've cut the grass twice already, bit it's too weth htis week.

WARNING! Having read Shysal's post I thought I'd just repeat what I've pm'ed to her:

Thought I'd just do a quick 'Warning' message about water butt upending. My husband did just that a couple of weeks ago and had his head inside for just a minute or so. It was full of fumes from the gunk that had got into the butt (moss off the roof etc) and unbeknown to him he was breathing in the methane! He could barely stand up after he emerged. It could well have been fatal, but luckily had a happy ending for him - damn, no life insurance claim!!!!! So, please be very careful.

Alima I had a neighbour who grew strawberries in hanging baskets last year and had a tremendous crop. Unfortunately she has since moved so I can't ask her about the variety for you

Cant do much yet, garden is a quagmire from constant rain. The bulbs are braving it, though, some in bloom some soon will be, primulas and primroses look great, roses are shooting well. Camelia in a tub is blooming and looks lovely. Small garden so not much work to do, but would love to be able to get started on a general tidy, gardening is my best stress reliever.

Lots of cutting back of scruffy shrubs to do; and I need to decide what to do with our huge area of decking - it is wet with mouldy areas and needs something done when the weather is a bit better - I am tempted to just scrub with dilute bleach solution and a broom.

Warning seen and heeded, MiniMouse. I will find another way to find my leak.

shysal We had no idea this could happen, so it really shook us! Methane is an asphyxiant and uses up the available oxygen. Well, with my DH's head and most of his body in the butt, there wouldn't have been much O2 in the butt in the first place

My garden is a quagmire as well, not helped by raining ALL day Saturday. I have just picked up half a wheelie bin of twigs and sticks - dog will not be happy.

At the moment our garden looks such a mess with all the hedge bashing we have been doing that I can't imagine it ever looking nice again. So far, we have filled two of the huge sacks that builders deliver sand and gravel in, and have another to go. They are then going to be collected and put through a chipper. The upside is that we have an area of garden we didn't have before and a lot more light. Lots more work to do though .

I grew a lot of alliums in pots over winter so they're going out now. I didn't want to plant them straight into bare soil last autumn because I wasn't sure where I wanted them to go.

Glad I waited because they're putting on lots of growth and I'm happy that they're in the right place.

Located the leak in my butt! Mended with Bitubond tape, warmed then pressed on with my cake icing smoothing tool! Seems to have done a good job, but time will tell.
It is lovely to see the blackthorn in flower in all the hedgerows, and today has been so warm (19 degrees) that I had my lunch on the patio.
Next I must clean and top up the gravel under my kitchen window. The postman put a pile of post down on it while he scanned my parcel, and managed to pick up a cat turd and spread it all over the letters and himself! That spot is a neighbourhood cat toilet. My cats tend to come indoors to use the litter trays.

Well pruning etc and moving plants around BUT trying to sort my lawn from horrendous mole damage?. Also planted new shrubs all along back flower beds as last autumn the cows leaned over the stock fence repeatadly and ate/uprooted everything they could reach!!! Asked the farmer if he would move the stock fence a foot or so back but he didnt....sheep in the field at the moment so fingers crossed..oh also rebuilt my wildlife pond...already full of newts&frogs! Primrosezs and tete a tete out in abundance...love my garden?