Found time for a good tidy round yesterday - lawns, path edged, cut back shrubs now frost damage is clear - and just as well as this weekend doesn't look like an outdoor one.

Rained today. No working on the pots. Looks like the plants may go in the shed Until Tuesday ......

I managed three early hours of digging before the rain set in this morning. Gemma sowed more veg seed and got  the cloches on to protect them. I bought some bedding plants for hanging baskets this afternoon but will be keeping them inside for a while yet.l, as nothing tender gets left out here until after the late Spring Bank Holiday!  A very busy and cautious time for gardening. 

I trimmed our Hawthorn hedge yesterday, for the first time this year. Very hard work as it was very overgrown, the weather has been too wet as it `s not advisable to use an electric hedge clipper in wet weather. The hedge is about 12-13m long by 1.5m high by 3/4m wide and runs round the side and front of our front garden. The hardest part of trimming it is holding the hedge clipper at shoulder height to cut the top, as it`s quite heavy. ( I don`t suppose I should be doing work like this at my age and with my health problems but I`m too tight to employ a contractor)!

As if that wasn`t enough hard work, today I mowed both front lawns (2nd time this year) while the wife did lots of weeding.

A few weeks ago I fitted two pieces of trellis to the fence in the back garden, then bought 2 Clematis plants to grow up them. Planted the Clematis last week and that was a struggle of a job just digging the holes to plant them. Roots everywhere, and roots from a large tree outside the garden were crossing the bottom of one hole.

A few years ago I had to pull up and relay the back garden path as I found that a large root from the said tree was pushing the paving up and had grown almost the full length of the path almost up to the back door.

I'm sure that this has been asked before(possibly even by me) but I'm wondering whether anyone has any ideas about substitutes for weedkiller or some form of weedkiller that is less harmful to the environment(probably an oxymoron). I had quite a bit of tarmac laid down 2/3 years ago. The first year or so was weedfree. But as you would expect, weeds are now increasing. My biggest concern is moss. I haven't done anything about this yet(apart from scraping it off, which is really of short-term use only). However, I also have a sprinkling of weeds growing here and there, which I have sprayed to date. Admittedly, I could probably just pull up most of the latter but that's not an option with moss. Any ideas, especially for moss?

Iron kills moss and i don't think it harms the environment. Quite often lawn fertiliser has it in it and that's what makes the moss go black when you feed the lawn.

There are various horticultural products, many of which contain iron compounds.

Some of these need to be applied after rain to make the product dissolve and soak into the moss.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=422

Of course, you always have the option to get to like the mosses.... 

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants-and-fungi/bryophytes/

and their associated fauna like the wonderful tardigrades.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhgnYGEJYh0

Roger

Thanks for the replies, Roger and Jim. However, would those products work on tarmac surfaces? They seem to be more for moss in lawns? Are iron compounds and the other compounds mentioned etc harmful to anything else apart from moss? I may be looking for the impossible but in light of our disappearing insects thread, I would like to use as few chemical pollutants as possible. Some of the products mentioned on the RHS site warn that they may kill grass, so presumably, they're not really great for insects etc?

As for liking moss, I have absolutely no difficulty with moss in my lawn - my lawn is full of it. In fact, it makes the job of mowing a bit easier as it means less grass to cut! And it's green so, as far as I'm concerned, it's an honorary grass(though my wife doesn't see eye to eye with me on my general lawn maintenance regime). However, I would prefer to keep by tarmac area black, if possible.

Just had a thought, Lionel - wouldn't a flame gun do it? A quick blast on the tarmac hot spots?

You could always blob on a bit more tar afterwards where/if needed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3V6Q8JvCqE

Also see:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5229395

Roger

Iron will work on the tarmac. Don't believe it will harm anything else, in fact it's a benefit for the lawn as it greens it up.

Thanks again for the replies. I will definitely check out iron compounds the next time I'm at a garden centre.

The flame gun is another one to look out for, though I suspect that it needs a little bit of skill in order to ensure that you kill the entire weed, roots and all and not just the above surface parts. Definitely an option, though, if it's not too expensive.

Trailing geraniums planted in hanging basket and now hanging up. Geraniums planted in pots and placed by the side of the shed. Just the right weather to do it. Strawberries are fruiting well. Basel will be sown today... 

To bed or not to bed? Tempting to buy and put bedding plants in but (a) the garden centres will be packed out this weekend (b) dry weather forecast for the week so lots of watering would be needed.

Decided to wait until next weekend when the centres will have stock back in and the weather is cooler, and spent time trimming back shrubs instead

All newly planted containers have been watered this morning. Slugs and snails have been removed.... 

Anyone else being plagued by garden ants?

http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/black-garden-ant

You can imagine how welcome these are to a sticky beekeeper!

Roger

Very harsh conditions for all the newly transplanted plants around the country today!

With the loss of our Sycamore trees I'm expecting a very different year in the garden with a lot of extra light and the loss of most all of the aphids!

I'm expected a lot of benefits from the diffuse light now that it isn't just useless green being reflected back!

I expect aphids will find you somehow, GW - and quickly - given their approach to reproduction.....

R.

Have been squiging white fly on the rose this morning. Shall give them a squirt with some diluted washing up liquid. 

The hawthorn leaves are at their most delicious right now. Should've posted this on wild food but it's been neutralised. 

Tut! Tut! Washing up liquid has not been approved for use as an insecticide

That means home-made solutions, made from substances such as washing up liquid, are technically illegal

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/today_in_your_garden/ethical_chemicals.shtml 

Please remind me, Bert - wasn't there a "folk name" for this hedgerow food? Bread and Butter or Bread and Cheese?

Roger

Bread and cheese Roger. Tastes more like bitter-sweet beech nuts though- opinion.

I tasted a bit on our morning walk, Bert. Not bad.

We were looking at possible early elderflowers as we are on our last bottle of last year's cordial.

Roger

Good job I only have one rose bush.  Shall wait for the ladybirds to come along if any greenfly appear ....