WHAT JOBS ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2017

Made a start on a border of mixed hedging out the front. Its become very choked with brambles and I don't particularly like it. It adds a bit of colour but I want to replant with stuff more wildlife friendly. The only bit I want to keep is the Baggessens Gold bush, which has been used by the birds to nest in. I attacked with the hedge cutter to cut the B/G bush back to a size where I could get underneath it to cut the brambles. Digging all the brambles out isn't going to work ( too many ), so is there anything other than weed killer that I can apply to the cut off brambles to kill them without damaging the bush? And once I've cut the rest of the hedging down will the root systems be a problem if I replant in the same place?

 

Apart from battling PrimroseUK about poor quality products....

Harvested the tatties that had got blight tidied up the general mess id been leaving around the garden and then fished out 20 or so dead fish and 30 or so alive fish from our communal pond (which had some bad algae and the rest of the oxygenating weed removed unfortunately). Now got 30 little gold fish in my tiny "nature pond". Theres a pump and oxygenating weed though so hopefully they will be ok in there for now.

 

Just keep cuttin the brambles down to the ground, they can't survive without photosynthesis

 

I did think of that but isn't that just tedious not to mention boring . Also as bush grows it would restrict my access to the brambles so I would have to keep cutting the bush back.

 

Tidied up lettuce and planted new seeds so we always have some

 

On Tuesday, the local council stated that they plan to enforce the national ruling that all residents are obliged to keep the pavement outside their property free of weeds. If we still have a neglected pavement in 14 days, we will have to pay for a private company to do the work for us, and also a fine. I should have known something was up, when I passed two neighbours clearing their pavements!!

So I spent an hour or so on Monday, grubbing out weeds between the pavers.

Today, I did another hour or so, and then cleared the weeds on the drive. A lot of grubbing around on the ground!!

Tomorrow, I think I'll do something more constructive!

 

Do you remember when folks used to do it as a matter of course?

 

By "it",@noisette47, do you mean keeping the pavement clean, or doing something more constructive?

 

Well, washing is pegged out, although there is a slight chance of rain today (not gardening, but its definitely in the garden!); runner beans tied onto their poles/untangled/run up neighbouring "empty" poles; French beans picked; yellow pear tomatoes tied in/side shoots removed; a little weeding done. Not bad, when it is not yet 9am!
I hope to get another load of horse muck today, and start my giant compost "club sandwich", for fast-track some rich compost-making. Then I will need to finish the pavement-clearing....

 

Perhaps verges rather than pavements. Since the advent of councils using big machines /ride-ons to maintain verges, the onus has been on propriétaires to do the fiddly bits that get missed...But I agree that expecting you to maintain a public pavement is a bit rich! Are they anti-weedkiller as well? Our local towns are using 'eco-friendly' as an excuse to slash the maintenance budgets

 

Hmm, that's a good question, @noisette47, that people don't seem to know the answer for. Legally, we are responsible for the strip of land between us and the road. So that means the pavement, and any bare soil. In some councils, the pavement materials literally change as you walk past each of the houses, as different people use different slabs, gravel, concrete, etc. At least here, the council provide the pavement, and lay it.
I have just finished weeding between the slabs, and the edging between the "inside" of the pavement and our wall/fence. But there is a strip of earth about 30" wide (two cuts of the mower, anyway!). I don't know whether that has to be totally presentable by the middle of next month or not. But the pavement is done.
To be fair, we do all maintain the pavements/verges, but we don't keep them totally weed-free all the time. So I might do our pavement in June, my neighbour in July, next house up in August, etc. What is unusual is that the council want all the pavements to have been recently done by a given date. Maybe they want to do better in the regional tidy town competition? Who knows!!

 

There's some of that going on around here for the passage of the Tour de France, @Sian in Belgium Thank goodness we're not near a road....the weeds are getting well ahead with all the wet weather over the last week....

 

Mis read that as "Perhaps vierges rather than pavements"

 

Just doing a bit of tending in the pollytunnel, so I'd thought better take a snap you never know what the next day brings.

Just hope they go full term

 

Tchhhh.....time for a cold shower and a little white pill