WHAT JOBS ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2017

Things didn't quite work out as planned. I did finish the mowing with one annoying hiccup. Almost three hours of mowing and then the tank in the mower ran dry - with 18sq ft to do . Filled the tank up but the mower wouldn't start . So went out and did the last of the shopping for the hoards.

After lunch the mower started OK and I finished the last two minutes of mowing . Got a gazebo out of the shed and managed to put it together. All the bigger ones are being delivered tomorrow, as are some of the tables and all of the chairs.

I finished a number of odd jobs around the garden by 5 p.m. and was going to price up some more plants, but Mrs Shiney decided to plant out courgettes (people have been dropping them in over the last few days. So I needed a change of plan to protect them from rabbits.

Had a quick look round the shed and found some plastic netting, trellis type. Started running it around the planted area but it wasn't long enough. I also had to make some supports for it. I did this with canes slotted through it and pushed into the ground through the weed suppressant plastic. This plastic is 4ft high so not easy to get in to pick the courgettes when ready . If it had been long enough I would have overlapped it with a a part that could be turned back to use as a door. So I found a length of 30" high plastic and attached it to the rest and we can now step over it. I then hammered a short post into the ground just inside the short section to be used as a hand hold when stepping over. Us oldies need all the help we can get

The whole thing is a bodge job but it should work.

After 8 hour working out there I'm knackered

 

I forgot to add that one of the reasons for me feeling knackered (bad back) was the silly thing of dead heading the Welsh and Californian poppies. It doesn't take long but bending over to take off a couple of hundred dead heads puts a lot of strain on the back.

It's going to be a bit chaotic in the garden today. Some tables and about 60 chairs are being delivered early this morning (have to go and collect a load more ) and we'll start putting out over 1,000 plants on the tables. We need to get the lawn protectors out of the loft and put around the tables. Gazebos being delivered and need people to put them up. Some of the entertainers are coming for rehearsals and/or to set up/test sound equipment.

I'll need to clean and fill up the bird feeders and move them out of the way of the chaos to a quieter part of the garden. The smaller birds will still feed whilst there are lots of people here but all the big birds will disappear for the three days. The pheasants and woodpeckers usually voice their poor opinion of the situation.

Some of the runner beans are going to need tying in as they're 2ft - 3ft tall and not climbing their canes. I don't want them climbing the canes alongside (they always try that ) or stretching themselves far enough to weave through the chicken wore surrounding the area I'm not looking forward to that as it's another strain on my back - even if I sit on something to work.