Weather- for gardening .... or not

The good morning thread is used for weather jura.

I need to put my garden to bed! I also need the time to be able to do it.

Jura2, that's why we come on GN to get away from the weather. But I am puzzled. Are you coming from Switzerland/France to the UK for the winter? Very strange.
The bees here are happily buzzing around in the sunshine on the Fatsia Japonica.

I potter in the garden all year around weather permitting. I HATE the wind though I won’t go out there if it is very windy.

Am planning on lifting my last 3 dahlias this pm and just finished putting in tulips a few days ago. The ground here is getting very wet and cold so limited gardening for the next few months with the possible exception of some tree work and of course leaf raking for the remainder of November, a job that I do enjoy.

I'm hoping to spend tomorrow lifting the dahlias and putting the last of the fuchsias and pelargoniums in the greenhouse.

I was going to do it today but the wind has got up and I'm feeling lazy.

Might treat myself to a home-made plum sherry in a mo.

I have pruned and cleared the right hand side of the garden, ready for winter. Today I will be filling the 9th builders bulk sack with the prunings to take to the tip. Then I will plant some bulbs that arrived this week.

Tomorrow I will start on the veg patch and next week, hopefully, on the left hand side of the garden. Then I will start raking leaves. It should take me until Christmas to do it all.

We H never lifts our dahlias but we are in the South.
It's very windy and chilly here today but H has just got back from 4 hrs on the allotment. No idea what he's been doing

Ah well, that's the bulbs in and the prunings cleared away. The side border now looks very clipped and clean and winter ready. Only needs some snow to make it look as good as those carefully crafted winter gardens in magazines (my garden is emphatically not carefully crafted.

Now to light the stove and curl up in front of it with the papers and a cup of tea.

Really cold here on top of our hill, so after a short walk I spent some time in the greenhouse repotting. I can see people walking on the footpath under our house with babies in backpacks in the bitting cold north wind and babies do not have hats on, they must be cold.

Lots still to do in the garden, weeds never seem to stop growing even in winter. I try to clear overgrown areas over winter and there are always brambles to dig on on days when we can get outside. Still need to cut back the roses so they do not get wind rock, but they are still flowering and I am reluctant to loose the last bit of colour.

Have put garden to bed except for a few red geraniums that are still flowering even though we have had a couple of morning frosts.
They still look so cheerful I can't bear to remove them

The roses and fuschias are still flowering happily - I should prune them but it does seem such a shame.

The pelargoniums in the pots are looking very sad so I hope they make some good roots over the winter. They're going to have to stay outside as the tubs/pots are too heavy to move so I hope it is not too cold to over-winter them outside.

I reluctantly lifted the giant Cosmos on Saturday, which were merrily still flowering. They overshadowed the plants underneath and I suspect I have lost some.
I try not to cut back too much as insects like to overwinter in the seed heads. Also the frost can look wonderful on the dried stalks. But anything that goes slimy has to go.

Strange how you see different things as the weather changes. My daughter has some very nice grasses which look beautiful now. Am fighting the temptation to order a couple.
And the very thin conifer in the front garden has some berries on it for the first time. Must plant the tulips.

Definitely weather for gardening today. Fairly warm, no wind, no direct sunlight. Have replanted some rose bushes and cut down a hypericum.

I have decided that in January the only thing to do is keep warm. You can try and go out and do things but only if you have a warm coat, warm trousers, gloves, hat scarf etc.
So today I am going to put a stew in the slow cooker, start knitting a bright hat. And go through my seed collection.
I am going to be brutal and throw away all out of date seed packets.
I might walk to the allotment to look at it and perhaps prune an apple tree.

Went out and started to prune the Bush roses, and clear underneath. Also tidied up the bearded irises.

Got bloody freezing cold and back ached all night.

Bitterly cold outside yesterday, but I managed ten minutes of an ongoing job, - trying to cut back a cotoneaster which is encroaching across a pathway. I'll do another ten minutes today.

Icy winds are keeping me indoors at the moment. One job I enjoy and will do soon is doing an audit of my vegetable seeds and ordering new seeds for this year. Later this month I will buy seed potatoes and set them out in a tray in the shed, where they will do absolutely nothing for two months, after which I will plant them.

I'm knee deep in the lovely gardening books I was given for Christmas. Definitely a good way of staving off the frustration of being confined to a fireside chair thanks to the wretched lurgy.

Can't wait to get back out there!

We've had a lot of rain recently and everything outside is soaked and boggy. Our 'pond' has actually filled up at last! It has been so dry up to now.
The only thing growing is a hellebore which flowers at this time of the year. Several starry white flowers.
Gardening here is exciting, but such hard work, as everything grows so fast and so BIG. As we're leaving we will never see that huge growth spurt in March again.

Decided to keep to the greenhouse this week after yesterday, will start tomorrow if I have the time.

I Won't be doing anything until end of January then if it's a nice day I'll cut my grasses down. Plenty to do in the nice warm house at the moment (decorating)

We need to move several bushes as soon as possible. Before they start budding. Just waiting for a dry day !

Potted up some cheap amaryllis bulbs today and repotted tulip bulbs whose pot had got broken.