What Jobs Are We Doing In The Garden Today 2020

[QUOTE="ARMANDII, post:
I'm not sure, but I think lucius is near South Stack with winds and salt laden air being blown in when the weather isn't great, but she manages to have some very interesting plants while care for Hedgehogs and wanting to increase the number of pools she has for the benefit of wildlife.........I take my Hat off to her[/QUOTE]

Awww, . I am not that far from South Stack. The front garden is the most exposed and catches the brunt of the weather. There is some protection from hedging in other parts of the garden but the bottom of the front garden has been left open, possibly so as to not spoil the view. I should have done something about it years ago, it would be fully grown by now if I had, but I didn't want to lose the view either. But, I've realised now that I do need to do something to increase the potential of the front garden and give privacy as well as protection. I tried Beech saplings a couple of years ago and they didn't take. I suspect they have already been dead when they arrived. However, I've been given some Willow sticks. I have been told that they will grow if I just stick them in the ground and grow fairly rapidly.

 

Shovelled more gravel into the new Herb bath and made a start on the bun run. Had a wander around and contemplated the two Lilacs, trying to figure out where I can put them. Gave the pond a netting and watched the Ramshorns snails feeding. Tried to talk myself into digging a very large hole in my garden ....... but luckily reason and common sense prevailed . I need to do so many other things in the garden. I could maybe manage a large hole next year but I'm impatient and don't want to wait. Had a look on Ebay and found a used pond for £35 in Wrexham. It's a good price but the fuel costs would be £35-40 and husband will expect to be compensated with another £20 worth of Starbucks food and drink for use of his van so it's not really cost effective. I might as well buy a new one for that price.

Sat on the bench for awhile. Several Snowdrops have appeared and there are buds on some of the Daffodils, Spring is coming .

 

I did want a liner pond before I got the preformed pond. I had also planned on a liner for the second pond when I decided to locate it in the disused bun run. As I mentioned before I am having to relocate the second pond as don't want Abernathy falling in. The only other place is the front garden and due to the lack of soil depth it will need to be in the area where the preformed pond is. The maximum soil depth here is 18" and as little as 2 -3 " in some parts of the garden. Although I'm not that concerned about aesthetic appearance I do wonder if a liner and a preformed pond would look rather odd together .

Ideally I'd like to remove the preformed pond and have one larger liner pond. However, finding the time to do all that is another matter. It would take weeks and weeks and one thing I have learned is that things often never go according to plans. I could hire a mini digger or pay someone to help dig the hole but that would be expensive and I want to do it myself anyway. I have thought about trying to make a no dig, raised pond. I have some old rugs that I can put down but I don't have enough soil. Buying more soil just increases costs. I could delay the second pond until I do have time for more digging but I've already put it off once as intended to do it last year. I never seem to have enough time to do all the things I want

 

I think someone earlier suggested star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) but mentioned it might not like cold winds so if you think it could survive the planting spot you have in mind it might be worth considering alright. It has a very nice red colour to its leaves over winter and the pictures of the flowers I have seen look nice. The one I have planted is only in the ground almost a year so hopefully I will be able to see what the flowers are like myself this year. It seems to have got through the winter here OK but has not grown a lot since planted as I suppose it is still just getting settled in. Even had some common jasmine(jasmine officinale) looking good here this year in what is a fairly exposed garden. Can't tell for sure weather these would work on your trellis but another evergreen plant that can be trained to grow on a trellis is pyracantha and I particularly like the bright red berry varieties that really stand out in the winter. They are fairly hardy so should be OK if the site is exposed but there is the draw back of the thorns.

Saw the first crocus out in the garden earlier and the snow drops here are getting better.

 

Well that’s the path around the “far side” of the house half-raked and cleared of leaves, weeds, and creeping ivy. I say half-cleared, as the house is just over 1 metre from the boundary. I keep the 50cm next to the house clear, with a gravelled surface, and allow the ivy and leaf-litter to provide a wildlife corridor on the other half. I’m sure that there are lots of amphibians, insects, and all sorts of critters hiding in there at this time of year, so I won’t remove their cover.

I also did the perilous walk along the edge of the patio bed. I’ve built it up so that it’s level, even though the land drops away from the house. So there is a mish-mash of turf wall, woven tree-whips, and who knows what preventing the patio bed falling down the slope. A couple of times a year I have to patrol the perimeter of the bed, removing invading ivy, brambles etc. For this patrol, I also removed the leaf-litter from the emerging bulbs, banking it around the roses, philadelphus, acer and rhododendron that grow there.

I always feel a sense of achievement if I manage to complete the task without collapsing a section of the banking, or falling off the edge. Time for a celebratory cuppa!

 

Managed to get outside this afternoon-damp grey and chilly but was ok with my ski jacket on...no breeze which made it pleasant.

Tidied a bit more of the back shady border. Pruned back the climbing iceberg rose and chopped down a budleija. Also a general tidy up of pots that I’ve meant to do for months.

emptied one trough of it’s miniature verbena and put all the leftover soil onto one of the beds. Got 2 more to empty tomorrow-it had started to get dark so came inside. Was nice to be out in the garden again

 

Lovely idea, I like Star Jasmine but it's not fully hardly and the trellis in question is in shade for two thirds of the day.

 

I tend to agree with you and I should have stuck to my guns with the first pond. If I was putting the second pond in a different part of the garden as I had intended it would be fine as neither pond would be in sight of each other. However, as they are now going to be located close to one another I wonder if they may look a little strange together. I suppose from the wildlife's point of view it wouldn't matter. I'm still thinking about making some kind of raised pond with some kind of container ........ unless you fancy a spot of digging