What Jobs Are We Doing In The Garden Today 2019

Planting the last of the half hardy annuals, moving the fuchsias and dahlias round to the front of the house. Cutting the grass and then planting some perennials that have been coming on in pots.

 

Had a productive day at my Dad's yesterday. First job was deadheading...loads of it!! Finished planting out the remaining summer bedding that I grew for him. Managed to scramble around his big pond and remove a ton of the dreaded G E .....can't even bear to type it's name!!!
Cleared some moss from some of his more shaded patio area.
While there the garden refuse collectors came and emptied his bin....by the time I went home it was overflowing again!

Have to say ...if you don't look too closely, his garden is looking pretty good now and if Mum is looking down I think she would approve!!.

 

My Dad would never give up his either @wiseowl.
He dug out ponds in every garden that we had. This house already had a big pond ,albeit in a terrible shambles when they moved there 50 yrs ago nearly...but what did he and Mum have to do....make a 2nd one!!

 

It won't be the ideal weather to do any gardening today as it's going to be hot. So if you are, put the sun tan lotion on and wear a hat. There's a bit of a gentle breeze here which will disguise how warm it will be. All I'm going to do today has already been done. I've opened up my tea-house doors, so avoiding my jukeboxes suffering from excessive heat.
Three tennis tournaments on TV today, on different channels, so "plenty to do."
There's nothing in the garden that really needs any attention this week-end.

 

I dragged one of the four bikes in the shed out and put baskets on the front and back. I've put geums in pots in them - now just waiting for the flowers The bike is propped against the shed so it's easy to move back inside for the winter. Pictures later.
I had an old bike in the border years ago (just found a couple of pictures from 2008) but it rotted so this one has been looked after so it's staying where it won't get ignored.

My old bike 2008

No wonder it rusted away.....

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Hi,

I've been pushing the hoe around again up the mountain catching the weeds as they put their heads up.

The area at the very top of the mountain where I spent so much time and effort removing a big hedge and all the roots then rotavating at least five times leaving it totally bare; it now has really taken off as our new meadow; the rape seed has been in bloom a while; the cornflowers and the poppies are starting to put on a delightful display; I bought the meadow seeds from Meadow Mania and also from our local Home Bargains; the seeds were cheap but I think preparation has shortened my life by ten years.

Kind regards, Colin.





The two rows of primroses planted last year and rotavating again ready to create the new meadow; Bron generously bought me a new Hyundai rotavator for Christmas a couple of years ago and when I first tried to use it the tines kept fouling with turned over grass sods and endless roots with lots of stones mixed in; I turned the area over by spade and let it winter but after the first frustrating attempts using the rotavator the ground finally accepted I was going to win.

 

Cleaning up the bench and chairs in the garden ready for tomorrow's puppy party (Ghost puppies coming ).

Sitting down in the garden for a rest I noticed a Harris's Hawk, wonder where that escaped from?

 

Sounds like a lot of hard work @Retired but the result is worth it. The roundabouts here have been seeded with wild flower mix and they are real showstoppers. Perhaps that not such a good thing on a roundabout but they are much more interesting than the grasses they have replaced.

 

I said I wasn't going to do anything in the garden, but I did spend fifteen minutes in the garage.

This cheap bird feeder, I think it was about £7 on eBay, was proving as unsatisfactory as the larger one we had before. It dispensed too much seed into the tray. The starlings would swing on it and seed would end up all over the patio and the drainage from the tray was poor, so seed in the tray ended up permanently wet.

So I've improved the drainage by enlarging the drain holes slightly. I've restricted the amount of seed that can get into the individual feeders by bolting a large cylindrical restrictor in the base and changed the support wire to a bolt.
Less seed dispensed, better drainage, greatly reduced amount of swing possible.

Let's see if that works.

 

@alana ,we've noticed a lot of wild flower sowings on roundabouts and grassy verges too this year....looks really lovely. There is a great area on the slip road as you join the motorway too. Good to see an effort being made to support the wildlife.

 

Every weekend I tell myself I must get up early and get stuck into the garden. As I'm not naturally a morning person, this rarely happens. It didn't happen this morning. When I do get round to gardening (usually around 10am) it's usually unpleasantly hot. There is a bit of cloud cover today and a slight breeze.

I didn't achieve much this morning as I had an unpleasant reaction to a bunch of nettles I was pulling out. That's the reason I prefer to garden in long sleeves. Unfortunately in the summer that's not a viable option.

Having soaked my rash in vinegar for several minutes, and made myself a consolatory cup of coffee, I ventured back out into the garden. My two front flower beds are now weed free. Within reason at least. After lunch I shall probably carry on weeding. That is of course unless anything more interesting presents itself.

G.

 

Started off by cutting back the growth on the pampas grass. I then tried to lever lumps from the edge of the roots and ended up taking the whole plant out (root mass was over 3 feet across). I / we never liked the pampas in that location so glad its gone.

Then took out a bush that gives us both terrible hay fever at the end of winter as it flowers (forgot its name). It didn't offer much, other than the heady scent so it had to go.

After this I set the 7 ft wrecking bar to one side and did a bit of pruning.
Moved the penstemon into the space vacated by the pampas as it was crowding other plants.

Swept the edge of the driveway and along another fence - looks so much tidier now.

Just re-fuelled with pea and ham soup and will be taking down one of the chicken sheds this afternoon.

We ordered a skip a week ago and my wife wasn't sure if we would fill an 8 yarder. No fear - its half full already !

 

Digging out a pond can be quite hard work.

I may have suggested this before. It's just general information on pond building.

However you want it to look when you've finished. It's an idea to lay a narrow concrete collar, before you start to dig it out. In this way, using a spirit level you can ensure the end result will be perfectly level. It will also mean you can dig it out without making a mess or treading down the sides. Even if you want to make it look natural. You can lay the edge of the liner over the collar and place pebbles or whatever on top to hide it.

This is how I made my first big pond (before I converted it to a koi pool).Rockery to one side paving on the other three sides.

Warm up the liner in the sun before fitting it.