What Jobs Are We Doing In The Garden Today 2019

@seller I too grow tomatoes and don't care for them raw. I do like them cooked into various things such as chile con carne and spaghetti sauce and such.

I've only been sizing up the garden as yet. Still got buns in the oven to watch out for

Can't figure out where the extra line that is watering the floor of one of the small greenhouses is hiding. And I have to move 600 liters of potting soil to achieve this, I think.

I did put the cover back on the air conditioning unit. No danger of regretting that.

I'm not watering as I believe that Dorian's tail is going to lash and give us some free water. Nothing stormy just a steady stream for a few days. Hmm. Best get out and get my fall fertilizer for the lawn.

 

Picked a load of tomatoes and cooked them, reducing to a lovely tomato sauce. That's in the freezer now (5 servings worth for 2)

Dug out the smaller laurel roots and decided that the last one was too much for me and my wrecking bar (it was about 15" diameter of multiple trunks) so demolished a chicken shed (was due to come down anyway) and set a fire over the roots with the shed wood. It now has a good pile of glowing embers on top, hopefully burning the root away

 

Hi,

I've been fighting our laurels for many years andrews; a lot of them had grown to 30 tall and were trees rather than bushes; years ago I borrowed the works 7 ton flat back lorry and ran a full load to our local tip; this only made a dent in them.

Over the last few weeks I've remodelled our front garden involving removing lots of 30 year old conifers digging the stumps out. Last week I was digging laurel stumps out at the top of the mountain. The work never lets up here and when I think I'm at last on top of all the heavy jobs up pops another. The dire weather also takes its toll doing it's best to destroy everything I create; it's no fun mid winter in snow to have an 80' tall specimen conifer split by the powerful wind. I just keep getting stuck in.

Do you have a bottle or trolley jack; if so you could dig access under the laurel stump then jack the stump out; this is what I do; it's definitely hard work but better than paying gym fees only to show nothing for a workout other than sweat. Why not dig your stump out and enjoy the exercise; I'm 72 and still active enough to climb a big tree to "top" it. Nice big house you've got.

Kind regards, Colin.


The top of our mountain after I removed a 40' long hedge including stumps/roots. Here it's been rotavated.


Only a few weeks ago this was the hedge to our front steps; I had "topped" it but never liked the look of it and it was very well established at over 32 years old.



After a lot of hard work it's gone including stumps/roots.


One storm split our 80' tall specimen conifer; the section hung up dangerously over the garden shed.



Here's the damage having removed the section; I then felled the rest and disposed of it which was a real shame because it was a beauty. Just more hard work.


The top of our mountain with a 60' long high laurel hedge fronted by a 40' long mostly aggressive snowberry hedge this was 8' tall before I lowered it then a couple of years ago I'd suffered it enough so dug the lot out and also turned the grass over; Bron generously bought me a new Hyundai petrol rotavator but when first tried it just bounced off so I ended up having to dig over again to break up the grass sods and to remove many stones and roots before I could use the rotavator.


Digging underway in sodden soil but I'm too stupid to know when to quit.



The second 80' tall tree I felled and disposed of; both the stumps remain being too much of a job to dig them out. This was a beautiful fir tree but it was dangerous in the high winds we suffer so it had to go. My petrol chainsaw has seen lots of action. These are just a few pictures of what I get up to in our gardens.



Another big stump on its way out.

 

Wow that's a lot of work @Retired. Next door have a laurel hedge that has been allowed to grow and not maintained. When we visited Highgrove a few years ago they had raised the canopy of an old laurel hedge and it added interest to the garden. I wish our neighbours had been with us - they may have seen the possibilities..... We cut our side but it's always been an issue between us along with their oak that drops it's acorns our side
Today I've been tackling a slope that had become infested with creeping buttercup. The earth is very dry so I got hot and bothered. I dug up a large number of iris which I'm not fond of so they went down the bottom of the garden to take their chances. Short flowering period and ugly for the rest of the year but if they are not in regular view I can tolerate them. Two chances iris - you've been in the garden for over 35 years so have been here longer than us but I don't have any sentiment for you. Goodbye or if you survive adieu for now.......
Sunny bank will have a new look come 2020 - bare earth at the moment but plans afoot

 

Thanks Colin. With a big house come big jobs - some for me, some for tradesmen - the roof was replaced this year which put me back a month. Weve been here for 20 years now and are on top of the place now - it was a real mess when we bought it.
I could've dug around the trunk further but after about an hour I was getting nowhere - the wrecking bar wasn't moving the stump so decided to burn it out. I'm grassing the area so don't need to dig too deep. I have to plan where I put more effort as I always have a list of jobs. I dug out a large lilac some years ago and that was a challenge !
The paddock hedge (native hedging) is next to be tackled which will take me the best part of a week to cut back and dump in a skip. I used to burn the trimmings but the polytunnel is in there now so I cant risk stray embers melting the plastic.

 

Been GC this morning and picked up some autumn crocus and some fleece registered 3.8C last night in the GH - Winter coming

fed all the pots / toms etc , the pots are looking really sad may have to chuck them early this year spot lawn weed killed weeds in the lawn . i thought I'd done more than that today must of been dossing makes to many brews .

 

I’ve been busy lately with work and helping my companion and today is a full day with the scarifier. Bit of rain forecast, wish it had rained over the weekend to soften the soil but hey ho can’t be helped.

 

Started with gusto on revamping the borders. Chopping, lopping, chucking and moving plants of all sizes. Haven't the foggiest idea if I'm doing it right....if indeed that it's even the right time of year to be doing such things .
All will be revealed next spring!!....I hope

 

All my garden woodwork has had a good clean yesterday. The tea-house never lets me down, still in perfect condition after 32 years of use.
The shine has gone off the Dulux mahogany Weathershield, which is only to be expected after a year, it's the effects of the weather. I'll be giving it all another coat later in the month.






I always have to check the decorative panels on both this and the pergola railing, to make sure none are starting to delaminate. Always possible with plywood which has gone through the trauma of being cut with an electric jigsaw, whatever the age. If left, the wood rots from the inside.





I removed the top three inches of soil (and a few weeds) from all our rose pots and topped up with fresh compost. Gave them a good watering.




I took in several solar lamps leaving just five that get a reasonable amount of sun. I packed away the ones I removed after giving them a good clean and the contacts a spray with switch cleaner.

It's mostly a bit of weeding, a bit of pruning of the wisterias and tidying at this time of the year,as ours is mostly a "Spring Garden." This suits me as I've other interests I neglect a bit when the garden is all consuming. So it stays pretty much like this.







The big acer in the front garden has lost half its leaves already although producing quite a few new ones. It happens every year at this time. It doesn't matter how often its watered. I filled half the green bin with those I collected. This tree is due a prune in a couple of months time. "I just can't get it to grow evenly," there's always a few branches that "bolt."

 

Sorry folks...I'm repeating my posts!!!

Trouble is I can't remember when we last had internet access. Bear with me or humour my lax memory!!!
Ta.

 

Posting the same stuff on different message boards, can cause duplications, as sometimes I forget which ones I've used.

My biggest problem with this board is its accessibility. It often "times out" before I can find the forum I need. So much so, I now save actual links for a few forums and threads so I don't have to wait for the selection I've made on the main page to find them. Editing too, is "hit and miss" as it can time out and change to the main page and I have to start all over agaain.

I don't have this problem with any other board.

 

... Sadly I'm the only problem @Doghouse Riley . I have posted on this thread two differently worded posts on what I did yesterday

I have never experienced any problems on here at all. They have been all my own doing!

 

Hey, it's okay to write about it twice so long as you didn't have to do it all twice

 

.....sadly I'll be doing more than that Lori, all the borders need a makeover.. well that's my plan, but I'm a fair weather gardener....and Winter is creeping up on us!

 

At least you can remember

Be positive!

At least you can remember what you did yesterday!

Sometimes I can't.