What Jobs Are We Doing In The Garden Today 2019

As it was sunny I continued tidying pots and moving them to an area where most of the leaves don't fall.

Helped Mrs Shiney with potting up a couple of hundred tulips - some of the pots are for other people.

Potted up a couple of dozen tete-a-tete small daff bulbs that I found scattered about when tidying the pots in the nursery area. There are no tete-a-tete in that area!

Fed the birds.

Moved a quarter of a ton of bagged horse poo from the front, where a friend unloaded it, to the compost heaps at the far end of the garden. I reckon I walked about half a mile doing that . I'll get Lewis to empty the bags and dig them into the compost heaps ready for next Autumn.

Picked another bucket of apples.

Frost starting to form on the car

 

Well, I like wooden Green Houses and was going to buy one originally but after some consideration decided to go for an Aliuminium one. It wasn't the price that mattered but I wanted something that would be maintainance free as much as possible. Looking at the market now, you can get a Belmont 8' x 18' Green House with 5 roof vents for as little as £1400 Thats the single door version but adding a two door version isn't much more expensive. and you could add extras such as louvres.

 

I waited until it got warmer at around 1pm when the temperature rose to 40f, after a 27f start to the morning. I've been waiting. due to rain, for days to plant 225 Crocus bulbs but managed to find some space in the borders for them, so that is all my bulbs that needed planting done Now all that needs doing is to place the 50 or so Hardy Perennials in pots on the borders trying to plan what will best go where.
After the Crocus were planted, I mixed two buckets of compost, sand and grit and took them into the Green House to finish off planting a large pot with Tulips and Daffs and then two long plastic troughs with the same. I've still got two half buckets of last years Tulip and Daff bulbs left after planting the Troughs and large pot up, so I've have to find somewhere to plant them.........and then wait, impatiently, for Spring!! Oh, and I nearly forgot to say that I've placed the two big Fleece over the Hardy Perennials in pots on the Patio ready for the frosty night tonight.

 

I took advantage of the quiet, mild, weather to don my mucky clothes, old fishing boots, Secateurs, Scissors, string, and leather gloves to finish off pruning the Jasmine/Clematis Hedge along the Wildlife pond and some of the 10 or more climbing roses lining the West bank.
I'd also discovered two large pots that had some plants which, shamefully, had been left unattended for decades and so I'd forgotten what was in them. So, I've cut out some of the dense growth with roots, potted them up, and then used the Porters Trolley to move the large pots to the Green Waste bin on the driveway to empty them. The compost and plants actually slid out of the pots, when turned upside down, into the bin without much encouragement, presumably due to it being wet and heavy, either way it made the job much easier. A large sack of hedge and climbing rose prunings followed the pot contents into the bin leaving the garden looking much tidier.
I've still got to cut down and collect a lot of the Hardy Perennial debris on the borders and dump them into a large garden sack to go in one of the Compost bins, but I'll leave that for another day.
I had a little sit by the Wildlife pond and tried tempting the fish with a little fish flakes but they weren't all that interested, but only a day ago were in a feeding mood. I also saw that I would have to skim the pond with a net to gather up a lot of leavess that were floating on the surface, while also having to clean up the paved area where the bench is......the jobs keep coming but I'm not complaining as it keeps me through the dark days of the Winter. I know it sounds silly but there are times when I suddenly stop mid gardening jobs and realise just how much I love the garden and how many memories are entangled in it. There are some things in Life that you can't put a price on.!
Needless to say, while I'm doing all this, my Cat (Jenny) has opted for the Sofa and a snooze

 

I did more leafing and a lot of pressure hosing. Back aches now

 

In the Green House at the moment.




The Triffid Collection, with 3 "Monkey Cups, a Venus Fly Trap, and a Large Sarracenia to come.


The Garrya is reaching 12' in height but not so many tassels this year as last year so I might give it a feed next Spring.


Last year........

 

You can come and work with me in my garden if you wish

 

I've done a couple of hours pressure hosing but have given up as the wind has gotten really strong and I'm getting too wet! One advantage of the strong wind is that it has taken all the leaves off the willows. I've raked a lot of them but between the hosing and the raking my back isn't up to bending to pick them up.

 

I've spent some time today in the garden checking on everything to make sure that everything is either tied down or in what shelter there is in case the forecast stormy, windy weather comes true. I've put all the empty garden bags into the Green House so that they're not added to my neighbour's collection.
One thing I do have to keep an eye on is the 10 or more Climbing roses attached to a now 15' long trellis, with the roses getting to the same height. It runs along the South/West bank of the Wildlife pond and so acts like a "Sail" when the winds are coming from the South or the West. The Trellis is one I made out of 2" x 1" timber from the local Timber Yard some years ago and is quite heavy and, if you add the weight and mass of the roses, it's even heavier, so I've used five 2"x4" six feet long pieces of timber set at angle as braces against the Trellis and into the pond bank. There have been times, rare, when the winds have been so strong that even the timber braces are not enough and I've found the rose trellis blown to an angle to the East. Getting 15' or more of climbing roses and a heavy trellis back to being upright can be "interesting", especially when you factor in there is a pond only 3' away