What are we doing in the garden 2024

My Thalia bulbs arrived unexpectedly so they have been planted along with some Calendula Indian Prince seeds. Still waiting for delivery of the Tete a Tete bulbs and then I can finish off some pots with them plus violas.

 

Went outside this afternoon to dismantle my blighted tomato plants, but then felt that hint of rain in the air and re-tasked myself to rake up leaves whilst they were still dry. It's mostly silver birch so far, with a little bit of rowan. Just got it done before the heavens opened, but it looks to have calmed down again now so I can go out and finish doing the tomatoes. I ordered myself a leaf blower/vacuum yesterday which will hopefully make my life a little easier this year, though looking at the forecast I won't get to try it out for a few days. It's not so much an attempt to be tidy, as to collect plenty of leaves for making leaf mould. I've been collecting them for the last 2 or 3 years and hope to get to use some next spring.

This morning when I first went outside I noticed a strange gritty brown substance in little piles and straight lines all over the grass. Weird .. I searched around and found the cardboard box that had held granular plant food. I had planted out a new white anemone the day before and put some food at the bottom of the hole, then of course completely forgot about the box and left it outside where the foxes must have found it. They had pulled the plastic inner bag containing the food right out and chewed it - I found it further down the garden, still about a third full. Hopefully it's not harmful to them; it looks like they played with it rather than eating it. It's very smelly though which is probably what attracted them.

 

I have picked all the green tomatoes and given them to my neighbour to make chutney. Hoping I may get a jar back, but I decided not to make any myself after i weighed myself the other day!
I have left a few red and yellowish ones in the hope that they may still ripen.
Also fed the remaining bedding plants and dahlias.
Then I came in and ordered two new plants for the front garden bed which I cleared earlier in the week.

 

I did the same many years ago, only with a bee @Robert Bowen. That'll teach me to mow grass wearing sandals. Hope you're ok.
I didn't do much outside yesterday, and I don't know if I'll do much today. Couldn't be *rsed if I'm honest! I potted up some little sempervivums for putting in the shower room with another wee pot I have in there, and concreted in some rocks below the plants I moved/planted a few days ago, just to separate them from the bits lower down. Also planted up some new daffs in a contianer.
I have a Thalictrum to plant, so I might do that, and it frees up a pot to put lilies in, so that I can use the pot they're in for some tulips. I also have some more daffs to put in, and I may need to do a bit of shuffling plants around to get a pot for some crocus I got. I suppose I might get around to that geranium in the front too....

 

Torrential thunderstorm yesterday early evening , 3” rain in 3 hours according to local news - i was out in the car and can only remember rain like that once or twice in decades , water spraying out of storm drains etc. garden looks surprisingly unaffected just really really well watered. More to come today cant see much getting done outside for a few days.

 

@fairygirl - thanks for asking , my foot is irritatingly sore still , but then i ended up ankle deep in flood water last night getting out of the car in the dark which concealed the depth so i applied more antihistamine cream to my foot after another cleansing shower. Could have done without that. - still its a minor matter , my grandmother died after a bee sting so i am fortunate not to have had that passed on genetically . Its still blinking sore though and i am even less of a wasp fan now , even though they do have a role to play in the garden over and above cynically attacking humans.

 

Continued to clear out a somewhat neglected border, pruned a large buddleja, cut up logs from it and stacked them. Removed elderberry bush to allow more logs to be stacked. Now have a very large pile for the shredder. Finally removed the skeleton of a dead Zanthoxylum.
Had a look at the neighbours handywork putting a fence in between me and him, consists of some unmatched posts and some weldmesh sheets all held together with a plethora of large cable ties. If he'd asked I could have let him have some binder twine.
Today it will be carry on pruning and weeding.
In the process of getting a dead larch removed, about 40 ft tall. The local council have instructed it be replaced with a 2" diameter hawthorn; so my neighbour is sheltered from the shocking view of my house wall. Fortunately I have two such hawthorn growing in a rough area, just got to move one of them to a spot within 2 m of the larch. Will have to remove two young mahonias and recently planted Fuchsia magellanica; to allow tree surgeons space.

 

@Robert Bowen - yes, I'm lucky not to be affected by stings, other than the temporary pain. Very sad about your gr'mother.
I always enjoy watching the wasps rasp wood for their nests, which are stunning. I usually have some nesting somewhere in the garden, as well as the bees. Haven't had any wasps nesting this year though, and I think the bees have definitely moved on from the nest under the shed. Not seen any going in and out for a few weeks.

 

Well ... this looks like the last half decent day for a while so ... housework or gardening? Actually, after yesterday's exploits, either may be an ask for my back.

 

@fairygirl - thank you . Each year we have ashy bees nesting in a small patch of lawn next to our pond. This patch has quite a lot of sand in the top layer unlike the rest of the garden , probably a spin off from when the pond was put in by a previous occupant. The bees themselves are grey and black and very attractive to my mind and burrow little holes in the grassy ground. They are a welcome addition to the variety of insect life that shares our garden space. We have had a lot of bees this summer , especially bumble types, but they benefit from a succession of lavender rudbeckia and sedum- its also interesting to note the different insects that graze the different plants when the flowers overlap. - almost a case of sedum for bumbles , rudbeckia for honeybees and sedum for everything else, not exactly in that breakdown but thats the spirit of it that each different insect group seems attracted to the same plant group and sticks to it rather than mix the daily diet.I find it fascinating .Wasps have been much less noticable until recent days normally August heralds the arrival of marauding wasps here but this year i hardly saw one until September. This reads more like Autumnwatch than gardening but if it werent for the insects we wouldnt have our gardens and what would we do day to day then?

 

Harvested the white wine grapes yesterday before the rain. Very small harvest this year. One vine had mildew and on 3 others the bunches of grapes had all shrivelled up. Will manage to get one demijon only this year.

 

I love the ashy mining bees, they are so pretty


We only had one short, sharp shower yesterday and it stayed dry overnight. My leaf blower/vac arrived last night so I was able to try it out today. It's pretty good - I have two mature silver birches and they make a lot of mess, with seeds and twigs as well as leaves. This will be a big help.
I'd never even considered getting one before I had tree surgeons in just after Christmas. They used one to clean up after themselves and left the garden much tidier than they originally found it.
(I just proof read my text before hitting Post Reply and found I'd typed "I have two mature silver bushes and they make a lot of message ...)

 

I hesitated about buying a leaf blower/vac @Escarpment but have had one for a few years now. It does make life much easier with messy trees and autumn leaves! I'm sure you'll find it very useful .

 

@Escarpment - very useful tool . There are a lot of deciduous trees by me so there is a great eiderdown of leafage that drops into my garden from elsewhere each year . I tend to leave it when its wet and claggy but as soon as the leaves dry out the blower does its stuff and if October is dry its a daily task . Last year as an experiment i put them on a sheltered bed at the front of the house to see if the thick covering of leaves would act as an extra mulch. It certainly did the plants no harm and in the spring i removed them from the winter quarters and stacked them for leaf mould so , all things remaining equal , i shall aim to do the same again this year.