What are we doing in the garden 2024

Just picked two large ripe strawberries. They fruited well in July - not sure why they're having a second crop now, but I'm not complaining!

 

@Liriodendron - same here but i have had a dribble of strawbs each week since July. The leaves are riddled with small holes some have been skeletonised which i have not had before. The plants seem in good heart but wholly holy.

 

The hens and snails have had most of our surviving strawberries this year but that's a problem to address another day.

Heavy rain yesterday so the soil is, at last, soft so OH and I have been out in the sun hacking and digging out a trumpet vine that a previous owner planted by the well out front. It grows far too big so has to be cut back and thus never flowers. It has managed to bring some of the render and stone wall with it but it's out now.

I have rescued loads of gorgeous autumn daffodils along with some fat cyclamen corms and binned loads of Spanish bluebells. I also had a good hack at overhanging branches on our boundary so more light and rain can get into the bed below.

This pm I'll be planting a couple of fancy mahonia in that bed along with some ground cover variegated vinca and some of the cyclamen and daffs then I'll plan up the well bed.

 

I planted my new yellow climbing rose Leverkusen, clematis Prince Charles, geranium Ivan and 18 Tête à Tête daffodils today. Also did some weeding.

 

@CostasK I agree with what you said about lawns and clover "As long as it's green, I'm happy with it".

 

I didn't do much yesterday. Potted on a few things in the shed when the rain was heavier, and sorted some pots out while it wasn't too wet. I have some more bulbs coming, so I was sorting out pots for those too. Our grass stays green here, so I'm happy to have that @CostasK. Easy to get a bit anal about every little imperfection in a lawn. Life's too short for that IMO.
Won't be around for most of today, which is a pity as it's to be dry and possibly sunny after the frost. C'est la vie. If I get a chance, I might get something done when I come home. Probably deadheading, which I do most days.

 

It's forecast wet today, though the rain hasn't yet arrived. I watered the bed in the rain shadow of the hedge & dry stone wall on the west side yesterday, because the shrubs I planted a couple of months ago were beginning to flag a bit. And planted the rest of my bulbs in pots, for something to see out of the kitchen window in the spring.

 

@Liriodendron i have just noticed that you are in the west of Ireland. I visited County Mayo a few years back and was struck by the dramatic scenery but , wherever i went , i also noticed the absence of flowers and apart from flowering gorse the overriding colour was green of every hue . Any tv program filmed in Ireland seems to echo this same greenness. I know Ireland has more than its fair share of rain , i previously lived in Wales for well over 20 years ( another mecca for abundant rainclouds ) but does Ireland really lack floral colour or am i getting a false impression of your beautiful friendly country ?

 

Interesting question, @Robert Bowen . I'm not Irish and have only lived here for 5 years, so this is just my impression, based on what I've seen and read. Ireland is described as "very green", but that's the colour of grass, mainly, which grows really well here and feeds a lot of cattle. Too many cattle, really. It feels to me that Ireland is behind Britain in that people use a great deal of weedkiller, both farmers and home owners (including gardeners, sadly)... conservationists' surveys show that on the whole, the country is very short of wildlife corridors, old native trees (unsurprising really given the poverty in the country until relatively recently), and diversity of native flora.

Some parts of Ireland are full of colour, though. We went to Donegal and found the verges full of wild flowers; I think the SW is the same, though I don't know it personally, and the Burren (which I do know - it's in county Clare, but north of here) is a National Park, and a Special Area of Conservation. It's a "karst" landscape, consisting of the largest area of limestone pavement in the world. It has around 1100 species of wild plants, which is about three quarters of the species found in the whole of Ireland, including some plants also found in the Mediterranean, and others from the Ice Age - and 24 species of orchid. It's remarkable. The small islands off the west coast also have a wide range of native flowers.

There are movements in the direction of conservation, fortunately. Irish Seed Savers is an organisation close to here who preserve old varieties of veg, growing them organically and selling seed, and propagate Irish apple trees. And there's a nursery locally, run by friends of mine, who propagate and grow lovely healthy herbaceous plants out in the open. But there's not a lot of "rewilding" going on.

 

Today, I've been weeding the drive. Not a quick job since it's so long. Despite a kneeling mat, my body didn't thank me for the job, but hopefully wifey will!



I also cut about 12 inches off the top of this tree stump, to give the Rhododendron a bit more light and space. I've left the stump inside the woodland, as I'm sure the insects will appreciate it as a new home out of direct sunlight.



Inside the woodland, I trimmed a few small overhanging branches, as I'm clearing a pathway through for both maintenance and to make an interesting mini trail through the wood.



For the past three and a half years, I've just called this the light green conifer, but according to my plant ID app, it's a Arborvitae, or White Cedar. It is bald on the right side, due to getting no light from a huge conifer that we felled from beside it ( the same stump I just cut lower ).

Today however, I tied up the left trunk, which had gradually drooped out and left under its own weight, leaving a gap in the middle of the tree. The cord pulled the trunk back towards the tree, closing up the gap.

The picture below shows the before, seen more from the side, showing the bald right side and left trunk leaning out making a gap. The second picture shows it after it was tied up, pulling the tree back together again. The bald right side will now provide one entrance into my woodland walk, at about the halfway point along the wood. There's ways in at each end too.

 

I cleaned the bird nesting box yesterday. I was glad that the well made bed made of moss was empty.

 

Didn't do much yesterday as I was away, and I'd been awake since 4am, but I did a little bit of the concreting at the shed corner -it'll need another layer, but that may have to wait. I lifted and potted up one of the plants there to allow me access, and the others will need to be moved so that the soil level can all be raised. Other than that, some PVA-ing/painting of small pots and the usual deadheading. Filled feeders - again. The wee birds are eating me out of house and home.

The grass will need another cut but it may have to be a wet one as there's not much chance of it drying off well enough now. That will probably have to wait for a few days though. The weather's meant to be better later, so I'll look at the concrete and see if I can do the rest of that. Might need to go and get some more gravel for it. A small piece of roofing felt arrived yesterday, so I may try and start re doing the lid of my storage box at the shed. One corner leaks a bit. Other than that, it might be a little bit of painting in the shed.

 

I had a good day yesterday, but monsoon season returned, so it's indoor jobs today.

 

Nothing today as it's raining at the moment - possibly drier later. The best day on the forecast is Saturday when my daughter will be here and we are both going for pre wedding hair appointments.
I need a "What needs doing in the garden ?" thread.

 

I've just been able to dodge another shower and picked some runner beans to have with a fisherman's pie tonight. I had wanted to pick all the apples as well but didn't relish having wet leaves waving above my head so that will have to wait. Pulled lots of ivy tendrils off the fence and half heartedly pruned a few errant branches trying to grow through the fence.