Six on Saturday 28-12-2019

So that’s it, all over for another year. Waistlines have expanded, sore heads have been nursed, leftovers have been consumed, snoozes have been had. Yup, Christmas is done. I trust you all had a nice time with family and friends.  As is normal on a good break from work, I lost track of the days and only just remembered I needed to bash out a Six on Saturday post. Here goes then, Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday.  Could be anything  – a flower, a bulb, a pest, a plan, a job to do, a success, a failure, anything at all.  Join in!

Here are my Six for this week…

1 – Wisteria pruning – a job to do, I’ll probably get round to this next weekend. It is quite unruly, despite getting a good haircut back in the summer. I’ll cut all that whippy growth back to 2 or 3 buds.

2 – Verbena hastata roots. I’m not sure if this is normal, or if I just didn’t plant them deep enough last summer. There is a circular thicket of roots on the surface, surrounding the plant.  I can also see next year’s growth peeking through, but I’ll save that for another winter Six post, one needs to ration at this time of year, dontcha know.

3 – Compost heap, turning. I have got out of the compost habit this year, but I decided to turn the heap that I built a few weeks ago. It is mostly conifer chippings, with a bit of garden compost material thrown in. It has stubbornly refused to heat up, but never mind, it is alive with worms that will eventually munch through it all.

4 – Mulching.  You may recall last week’s pallet of horse manure. I spent a happy hour or so yesterday shovelling a few bags of it around the front garden. I still have about half of it to do, plus all the back and the veg beds. I hope I have enough.  It is lovely stuff, nicely rotted, sweet smelling and very friable.  The borders look neater and much happier afterwards!

Before.

After!

5 – Hellebore. Among my bog standard white hellebores, a non-standard pink speckled one.  I have some more to plant out, courtesy of grannysgarden, purple, I gather.  I had a rummage in the bag, I see new shoots so I should get some flowers this winter.

6 – Seeds!  Cobeae scandens, or cup-and-saucer vine. I’ve not grown these before, I’m looking forward to them racing up a fence panel.  Grown as an annual in the UK,  I’ll sow in the spring, they should put on a lot of foliage and flower July to September.  I think I will sow half and save the rest for 2021.

Those are my Six, what are yours?  If you’d like to join the gang, just publish your post and pop a link to it in the comments below. If you also mention my blog in yours that would be spiffing.  For more details you can peruse the participant guide.

I hope you can squeeze in some gardening this weekend, what with visiting family, dodging showers and so on.  Don’t forget to pop back as more links get added during the day.

I’ll be back next weekend for the first #SixOnSaturday of 2020.