WHAT JOBS ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2018

Lovely down the beach, as always, this morning. Feeling much warmer today; clearly a hot day to come
No chance of working in the garden until at least late pm but things looking up to date out there.
Lots of dahlias in large pots need planting.....prob too many dahlias so may give one or two away But, which ones??? The Bishop of York has become one I like so I will likely plant this one first.

 

Spent Saturday afternoon cleaning out the carb on my John Deere mower.
Easy fix, symptom was starting then stopping once the choke was disengaged.
Took the jet out and bell bottom which was full of crap. Cleaned and replaced and now runs as it should.

 

@martin-f was is you who said you have turned an old sink into a bird bath? I am thinking of doing this with one of mine. Have you added plants and rocks to yours? Just wondering how often it requires cleaning out? My stone baths need changing at least twice a day in warm weather and scrubbed out weekly.

 

Not a lot to do at the moment but will give everything a good watering tonight. Particularly the pots on the patio, they get a lot of sun and reflected heat. I've given the acers a mist spray already this afternoon. It's scheduled for no rain for a week.
Played golf this morning and some parts of the fairways which were extremely wet just a week ago are suffering with the lack of water, going quite white in places. The greens are being watered three times a day at the moment. That's how strong is the affect of this weather.

Late on I'll give the patios and path a dose of "wet n' forget." Although I've jet washed the lot last week, this may help to keep it them clean during the summer.
A daily task for a week or so will be vaccing up all the fallen wisteria blooms on the patio.

 

Hi Luci, yes i was using one as a bird bath but the last two weeks ive let it dry up along with my other bird baths, i am trying to encourage the birds to use the pond,

The sink i have is covered in concrete to make it look like stone, all i did was plug the hole with concrete then put some broken paving slabs in so the birds could drink and bathe,

I never cleaned it out i just let it over flow when i topped it up, the water remained clear all the time unsure if its due to the concrete,


I need to do something with it soon maybe a mini bog or fill it with alpines its sat on my satellite dish base at the moment.

 

@martin-f I've noticed some of my little birds are using the sink pond for bathing and drinking. The water in the sink pond is not very clean, lots of blanket weed, which is why I thought about using one of my other sinks. I haven't seen any of the birds use the larger pond, except once when it was first set up.

 

Mine started of slow with feathered visitors but really busy now, do you have a pad for them to stand and bathe Luci most birds use the waterfall but a fair few use the little flat pads marked red,


All the moss i put on the pond the blackbird has taken it for nest building .

 

@martin-f There is a rock ramp at one end of the pond as an escape route and the tops of the plant pots. The shelves are full up with plant pots so nowhere I could put another rock in. I might try the sink idea. My preferred option would be a larger pond but have to wait awhile for that.

 

Planted out a couple of salvia guanajuato and pennisetum cherry fireworks that had been divided and overwintered. More agastache Blue Boa too were planted out.

Scary thought for the day.....in a few days we will be half way through the year and just 4 weeks away from the longest day. No wonder I have a feeling of urgency now in getting all my plants in

 

My lovrly farmer neighbour just dumped this for me

Afternoon of shovelling sh**....

 

I've pulled a lot more wallflowers up and planted a few more cosmos.

Still a lot to do.

Yes @Verdun soon be Christmas.

 

Last week's garden centre purchases are in the ground and one of this year's new beds is done and dusted (excuse the mess of nasturtiums). Now that they're in place, I feel justified in my view that the bed needed more plants.




The second bed is still a blank canvas, while we wait for its main features to be delivered, but the biggest does at least have its centrepiece and 'bookend' in place. Getting that bed exactly level is impossible, as the fence slopes down a good 4-5 inches from left to right, but hiding the concrete base with the ground cover does at least trick the eyes at first glance. The less said about the palm tree the better, however!




Away from plants, the two biggest projects of the last week or so have been oiling the two decks and building the replacement for our two worn out storage boxes. With those both done, I think it's time to make the most of the sunshine!

 

Busy elsewhere mainly today but it is soooo hot
Feels like flamin' June at its best and the season is catching up fast with itself.

Trimmed hebe Red Edge to keep it nice and compact.

Looking great there moley

Got a feeling the summer of 18 will be another 1976

 

I've spent this afternoon trying to join up my freckles!

Got the sun lounger out, stripped off and waiting for it to cool down, before I venture into the greenhouse/veg patch.