Gardening corner 2018 season!???

I'm not actually doing any jobs in the garden just now, I just stand on the patio and look at it. I expect I ought to wash some of the pots (whoops, should have done that last season) and then I'll pull out the weeds.
I'm thrilled with the mini daffodils and helebore, the muscari are just showing their little heads. This is my favourite time of year.

Much of the snow has disappeared and I'm both amazed and delighted at the amount of green shoots I now see. Just rembered (!!) I planted a wheen of new and untried bulb species at the back end. Gosh - so much to look forward to. Doesn't every day often bring its own bonus no matter how small? That's mine for today. Hope you all find some unexpected pleasure for yourselves.

Oh Kacee think of it as a sort of therapy,clearing up, starting afresh with your own ideas,you may begin to enjoy it.????

My hellebores are splendid this year - did what Robin Lane Fox recommended in autumn (put it in the diary!) and watered them with Miraclegro. It really seemed to work.

Camellia with many flowers on before the Beast came and browned them all. Tete a Tete daffs are doing their stuff but the lawn is awful. All moss and if I dose it, there will be nothing left. Why am I sitting here when I should be out there??

First the snow now heavy rain. Will I ever get my lawns cut? Paving is going green so it will be a toss, when weather permits , grass v pressure washing.My Cornus Midwinterfire are still showing their spectacular colour so their annual february pruning can wait.

My garden is in a dreadful state. I have been ill since September (usually have problems October/November so that am always playing catchup) but at the moment the lawn is like walking on wet sponge and needs mowing which can't be done yet and the borders are depressing so will start with general tidy up.
Regarding the no dig post, DH emptied the composters onto the borders in the autumn and left them saying that the piles would go down, which they have, even the ones that have not been used as cat litter by the local population including my own dear moggy. SO first job is clear up cat poo!

I had a happy hour yesterday tidying pots. I had kept most in the garage to protect the plants from frost. Hopefully the frost has gone for this year, so all my plants are outdoors again. It's raining today and i feel the nature is doing it's work. I have a window box of winter pansies which have flowered all winter. Even when dumped with snow they came back as good as ever.

We saw a yellow butterfly on Sunday and someone said that means we’ll have a sunny summer. But if the first butterfly you see is white the summer will have more cloudy skies. I’ve never heard this before, has anyone else?

The snow 2 weeks ago & freezing rain have killed all the new buds on my hardy (perennial) fuchsias. Hellibores are doing ok, crocuses have been & gone but miniature daffodils starting to flower. Most of the rest of my bulbs are slow.

No pruning of roses until end of March & Alan Titchmarsh is recommending delaying cutting back shrubs etc to give them a fighting chance. It's been either wet, windy, very cold or snow so doing anything other than a quick walk around the garden is impossible. Roll on Spring

Thanks for Acer comments.
Am thinking of one near kitchen window - sheltered, facing north-east, light shade.
Second in open south-facing spot and 3rd south-facing but sheltered by hedge.
The trees are tiny and the pots are fairly large so off to buy bright primulas today to place round the edges. Just a bit wary of putting them out, given weather forecast.

I need to tidy the pond of tree branches and leaves and cut back the grasses and water lilies. Problem is the wild ducks arrived at the weekend - normally here til June - and the water is teeming with frogs. Don't like to disturb them in case they disappear.

I went to a talk last week about the new movement for growing flowers here in the UK rather than importing. The woman giving the talk recommends the 'No Dig' policy - I'm not sure how that works as your beds could become higher and higher, but apparently digging disturbs the underground systems where nutrients are supplied to the roots etc.

www.charlesdowding.co.uk/no-dig-growing/why-no-dig/

I'm very lucky in that my garden is divided into sections around the house. I've decided the bed furthest from the kitchen window is earmarked for renovation. My first plan is to dig it over (can only roughly remember what's in there worth retaining and where!) and then overwhelm the bed with lupin plants which are already in pots and rarin' to go. The subsequent conflict of actual result and mind's eye remains to be seen! All part of the challenge methinks. Love it and itching to get out there but still have patches of snow. Dream on!

This thread has almost brought me to tears. Since my husband left me my garden has gone to pot. I have no idea where to start.
I think my first job is to rake the dead leaves then seed the lawn which looks dead to me.
I would love to lay fake grass but it's too expensive

Have been out doing some tidying up, pruning roses and fuchsias that hadn't been done earlier and clearing away dead leaves off the crocosmia and iris and hesperantha that hadn't been done earlier. That cold snap and snow seems to have done quite a lot of damage though. I have a two year old standard cotoneaster tree which looks as if it is actually dying now. and the new shoots on a photinia are completely frazzled. A friend told me that fish/blood/bonemeal will improve soil condition if used for a couple years. So have been scattering a couple of boxes of that.

I love acers. I had two for years in pots in my last garden where I was trying to get a bit of a Japanese theme going . One I had to put in the garden because it outgrew a very large pot and the other moved here with us because i couldn’t bear to leave it behind - and then promptly died! This garden is very sheltered.

Looks like a sunny day for us today, maybe the last for a while.
I went to the nursery and bought some flower seedlings, late yesterday. I really couldn’t resist! Just in case none of mine germinate. So it’s in the greenhouse for me, pricking them out.
mcem Acers prefer a sheltered spot, but having said that I planted one at the front of our last house, in a very open spot and it thrived. The leaves can get wind scorched.

DH is the real gardener but when he was out yesterday as it was such a nice day I emptied all the pots out into the compost and cleaned them ready for some planting in a few weeks. I planted to small pots of winter pansies by the front door to make a welcome. Lots of bulbs up in the garden and buds on everything. Good to hear about the perennial fuchsia. I hope mine comes back.

jalima It was only a fairly cursory clean. I removed the sand deposits but left some of the lichen & moss that give them that ‘lived in’ look

Around September I bought online 3 tiny acers. The DGCs were upset when visiting a couple of weeks later and finding three little sticks! Opportunity to discuss deciduous and evergreen trees.
Acers spent the winter on the kitchen windowsill and are now three beautiful wee trees ready to be planted up in their new pots soon.
Just deciding where to place the pots so comments would be welcome.

Well it's cold but dry so today's the day, waterproofs on,pond repairing! A dirty,wet job haha hope do it successfully!

I went out and inspected everything then came in again to check on the internet because my Rozanne geranium looked dead but I am reassured that it will shoot up again when the soil warms up.

Everything is rather behind this year, the daffodils are not really out yet.

I’ve just finished cleaning all the plant pots that got covered in sand
That reminded me of the time that DH power washed the Belfast sink in the garden because it looked 'rather mucky'. I explained that I had scratched the surface then carefully coated it in a mixture of earth and yogurt to try to develop an 'aged' coating on it.

Thanks *J52. If it keeps flies at bay, that would be useful!

I had a lot of rubbish in my garden, left over from the snow and gales a week or so ago and so have spent a couple of hours just sweeping paths and raking all the rubbish together. I've noticed how many snowdrops and crocuses are still in full flower but none of my daffodils or narcissi are in bloom yet. Everything seems to be rather late here this year. The camelia has buds on but I think it will be a while before that blooms. However, a lovely sign that Spring is definitely on the way was when a huge, beautiful bumble bee settled on a yellow crocus. It didn't stay long but I was smiling for hours!

Greyduster lavender is great in pots near the washing line, it scents the clothes. Also pots by the back door keeps flies away, but will encourage bees!