Wednesday, June 15, 2005

To Prune or not to Prune . . . ?

So many things in the garden need cutting back and tidying up, yet I am loathe to take too much top growth and leave the roots unprotected from the frosts. Perhaps I'll just have to be content with deadheading.

The Tree Dahlias are no longer (in fact they are a lot shorter, ha ha) and now cut into 24 cuttings, each with two nodes. I'm not sure whether to plant them now or wait until Spring. Will they still be viable then, does anyone know?

Completely emptied one of the big compost 'bins' ready for the influx of oak leaves, but by the time I'd removed the top from the other bin so we could use the compost underneath, the first one was a quarter full again. Still, it's amazing how much material can fit in.

Two inches of rain over 3 days was so very, very welcome. I get a bit exasperated when I read and hear people say what wonderful soaking rain it was. They would get a real surprise if they scratched the ground and found just how little had penetrated, even in loose, composted soil. I am thankful for the rain we did get, but so much more is needed over a long period of time.

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Front garden in winter.

2 comments:

The Nature Nut said...

Your front garden is gorgeous - I love the rocks!

Linda said...

I am out here (and about to prune), but it has taken me this long to realise that for some reason your blog had fallen off my bloglines!!!!

So I wasn't reading you because I wasn't seeing you updated. Duhhhhh!

The Tree Dahllias stay viable if stored somewhere very cool - I go for under my house, which is brick. Then they start to shoot all on their own.

Be back into the garden blog as soon as I catch up on life - and start pruning.