What Jobs Are We Doing In The Garden Today 2019

Not much done , quite a nice day but a bitter wind . Just been out and mulched / feed the raised veg planter and planted my potatoes yukon gold. And wrapped up the wisteria with some fleece the best I can, the last few years it budded up really well then been hit with a hard frost , I've never seen it in all its glory yet just get a few flowers mid/late summer.

 

Not much happening at the moment. Yesterday I planted a young Clematis Koreana 'Amber'. It makes a nice change to dig a hole without hitting rocks or roots. Today I mowed two of my three lawns.

 

Had 3 stinking migraines in the last 18 hours....but just managed to get outside for some fresh air. Beautiful blue sky. Managed to rake some muck out of the old small pond when has now got a hole in it ready for being filled. I also mixed some grass seed up with some grass seed/patch filler. The two large boxes weren't even enough for a quarter of the lawn...so have ordered a huge back Amazon Prime for tomorrow/Friday. Still the grass is looking much better than it was after last years drought.

 

Not much done in the garden today but a very warm, even hot, day to do it in
Mind you, Nico did his share in the garden by trampling over my emerging veg seeds
Hope your migraines ease ASAP Snorky

 

Not much done here either as I had a large slipcover to complete. I did re-install the solar electric fence charger. It's about the right time for the raccoons to start using the fence top as their highway to my back yard. It'll be somewhat of a shock for them should they try to invade

Refilled and adjusted the iv drip for the capillary watering in the greenhouse and then mended one of the cold frame covers.

@Snorky85 thise migraines sound horrid. I should probably send you some of my seeds for medicinal plants they really might give you plants to help you

 

I’ve not had much time for gardening today. But I have done a little deadheading, and also extended the “geranium bed” up the slope towards the road.... another 3 metres to plant up!!

@Snorky85 so sorry to hear that you have had multiple migraines in just 18 hours. I hope that you manage to break the cycle soon!

 

You have my heart felt sympathy @Snorky85 , hope it eases soon.
Touch wood I've not had one for just over a month now....awful things!!
Take care

 

Aww thanks everyone for all your kindness. I was just amazed i managed to eventually get outside as it looked a lovely day. Head is much better today. Lori, I’ve actually been looking into medicinal CBD oils! The new migraine drug aimovig still isn’t available in the uk so hopeful for that too. In the meantime morphine and gardening is my therapy lol.

Id got my automatic solar powered watering system rigged up a couple of days ago. Today i just need to be cutting the pipe and adding the drippers.

 

Glad to hear you're feeling a bit better today @Snorky85 Enjoy your day

 

Hopefully, I'm going to make a start in the filter room at the back of our garage, tearing down the redundant koi pool filter, the 300 gall quarantine tank, it's filter and all the pipework under the removable decking squares that form the accessible floor. There will be two mains water supplies to be blanked off.







When it's done I'd really like to be able to find the same decking squares I got from B & Q to complete the floor, but after thirty years, "they seem not to do them any more." So I'll recycle a lot of the 3" X 2" timber to support some ordinary decking to complete the floor in this 8ft X 8ft room.
I'll be using it to store garden furnuiture and some of the stuff I've got in the main part of the garage.
I'll be retaining the baisin and water heater. As they are very handy when I'm working outside. It also means I don't have to carry a bucket of hot water from the kichen when I want to clean my car.

 

That's a seriously big filtration system. How big was the pond ?

I have this for a 3500 gal pond KF 20,000 Fibreglass Filter - Kockney Koi which looks about 1/4 of the size of your ex setup

 

Very cold today. On my tour of the garden I noticed that tall double daffs had bent their heads so I cut them and brought them in the house to enjoy in a vase. Not a good choice of bulb - beautiful long stems but too weak to hold the stunning flowers.

I planted a small rhododendron which was looking bit seedy in the pot it was in. It's in the border now alongside two larger rhodies so it may do better there. I had to move a large clump of asters to make room for it. Had to bin them which goes against the grain with me.

Checked the growing plants in the greenhouse which are doing well considering there's no heat in there. I did move large pots of tulips nearer the house (thank goodness for my trolley..) so I could enjoy them from the windows. If it warms up a bit I may go out again later.

 

When it comes to koi. "I've been there and done that."


You have to remember, what was available in 1986 when I built this pool.

Nexus and the like weren't around ('cept in Blade Runner). So big filters like mine with open cell foam and flowcore were the norm. But maintenance, was just a scrape of the foam with a wet n' dry vac every year (the more blocked the foam gets the better it works) and five minutes a week purging the bottom drain via the pump sump and pumping the crud to waste. That's it, finito.

My water perameters were boringly consistantly acceptable.

I'm amazed at the amount of maintenance some modern and expensive filters require.
I made mine out of four large plastic water tanks, about 12sq ft of 2" open-cell foam and a shed load of polypipe, bends and connectors, which are still "as cheap as chips."

 

Mine does need cleaning out about three times a year. The brushes and filter material get clogged up badly. I know its not ideal to clean them but its that or empty the pond via the top of the filter. Cleaned it out last weekend so should be good for 4 to 6 months.

I have mixed fish in there, including Koi. I know that this is frowned upon but it works for me.
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@Snorky85 I have solar powered water pumps. I have only hooked up one unit last year but I had it pumping water from the rain barrel and out to the trugs where I had my lettuce and things. Dandy little devices those. I'm thinking I want to hook up both this year and have one service the 6x8 greenhouse and the other take care of at least one of the other little greenhouses. I have two rain barrels that collect water from the greenhouses now that I copied the rain gutter system like @shiney has. Did that as soon as I got back last year