WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2021

Have prettified some area that were just dug over before winter with another dig and rake over. Makes such a difference, even if they are empty beds! Got some bulbs in now and scrounging what I can to fill it all up
Prepped veg beds for something to go in too...

 

I went to a section of the garden where I put seedlings, cuttings, offsets, etc in pots to grow on. I usually forget about them unless I'm going past that area but today actually went there on purpose to see if there was anything worth planting and found 8 Primroses, A Day Lily, and at least 9 Dephinium, so I brought those up to the Patio to remind me to plant them somewhere in the borders. I planted some more Allium "Nectaroscordums", an Achillea "Paprika", divided some plants that had grown together under the Rose "Trumpeter", planted a Centaurea "Amethyst in Snow" in the borders and, while passing, refilled the Bird Feeders.
I also noticed that the old Bird Bath

has started to lean a little towards the centre path, so I will have to get a long Crowbar and lever it back level again while inserting some supporting bricks under the base.
The entrance to the Lawn is via a narrow grass strip between the Lawn border and the Observatory and it's had a bit of a thrashing due to my to'ing and fro' to plant stuff in the West, Bottom and Lawn borders from the Lawn side, so I've been toying with the idea of going to the Plant Nursery to get some small stepping stones to stop the grass being trodden on. Luckily, while filling a Watering Can from the Butts at the back of the Green House I remembered, and found, the stacks of Pavers the Landscaper had left me after building the Patio. In those stacks were a lot of nearly 4" x 6" Pavers that will be ideal for the job so that has saved me some money and a trip to the Plant Nursery.

 

The last several days have been taken up with repairs in the garden. Fifteen years ago we had a new metal shed erected. It was going on a slightly sloping area that would need a sub-base and then paving for the shed to be fixed to. The men said the base would be made of sand and cement (I'm definitely no expert on these things) and then the paving would be laid on top. I was not around when they made the base and I didn't find out until a week after they had finished that instead of the sand and cement they had made the base from the tons of ash from my bonfire

They surrounded the base with timber so I was not able to see what they had done.



A week later I had some trouble with the doors and we had someone round who was a foreman of works at the council (husband of one of my managers) and he had a look. He lifted one of the slabs and saw the problem. I cancelled the cheque and contacted the people that had done it and said I wouldn't pay unless they came back and did the job properly. Needless to say, they didn't come back! (There's a long story about how they tried to sue me for the money).

The council foreman said that, really, the whole job should be redone but if I didn't want to go through with all the hassle he would put a second run of timber, with heavy duty stakes, around the outside of the other timber and adjust the door. That had lasted for the fifteen years until, during this winter, the timber finally rotted and then the rabbits started digging under the shed.

This is what the base looked like with the timber gone.




The man who recently redid my patio said he could replace the timber with concrete. He has now done most of the work and just has some finishing off to do and cleaning up.

 

He has also been helping me with another job.

45 years ago I built a propagator in the greenhouse (was just as useless at DIY then as I am now!) and this winter it started warping and promising to fall apart. So he said he would 'help' me build another one (he did all the work ).

This was the old one. It had over a quarter of a ton of sand and gravel in it






He said that the heating cable and thermostat were still working although the cable was a little bit brittle but it seemed a very tough one. So he said he would put that back and if it gave up the ghost he would come back and put a new one in.

It didn't look too good covered in baked on sand.




For some decades I haven't been physically able to get down under the benching to keep the power board clean and tidy (Rather old fashioned with armoured cables running to it but more modern fuse box, isolator and RCD)


There were another 15+ buckets of sand and gravel outside on the lawn




The new one in place and everything working OK.


He also made a new framework for the cover I use but I still used the sheet of plastic that I've used for ages.

 

And I thought I was bad with buying plants with projects every year/month/day