What are we doing in the garden 2024

Our village garden club keep the tubs and baskets at the village hall in summer foliage and then spring bulbs. Today a few of us emptied the plants and planted out hundreds of daffodils and snowdrops. Rather late this year not sure why but at least it has been done.

 

Full day of hard labour

Dug up the grass and weeds from front of back paving area between the greenhouse and the shed. The soil is lovely and just right moisture-wise for digging.

My friends who live in fairly new built houses complain that they have a scattering of topsoil and underneath, builders' rubble. My soil just goes down and down, but, unfortunately, so do roots.

However as the consistency is so good, all I needed to do was to give a stern look at the Dandelions and they quickly pulled themselves up and quietly made their way into the bin.

Well, sort of. There are also very thick unknown orange roots going down so deep that if I managed to get them up, China might issue a diplomatic claim. (Anyone suggesting "carrot" will be banned from the forum. ) Guess I'll find out sooner or later what they are.

Anyways, I dug up the good soil and replaced it with the rubble the previous owner had layered by the fences over a sheet of plastic, and laid some weed barrier (thank you Shein!) to house paving slabs. It's not a permanent solution but rather a placeholder. And now I have builders' rubble and am just like everyone else

After lunch I tackled the mound of weeds in front of the shed to realise that it must be an old compost heap.

Loads of good soil is now piled in a perfect grave formation and if the police comes I'll make some lame Halloween jokes.

The garden is starting to take shape even though there are no plants at all. I re-arranged the placeholder paving slabs (plenty of those around) to mark the path and stood out there a long time visualising where everything will go.

Amazon will bring my Crab Apple Red Sentinel and Arbutus Unedo Rubra next week. Bergenia plugs are roaring in the cold greenhouse, Ammi Majus, Liatris Spicata and hardy dwarf Larkspurs sp. FreeSeedsWithEveryIssue have germinated and the cuttings are all doing just fine.

If I'm able to move tomorrow I will consider starting the pond excavations.

 

I started to dig out a corner of a bank when my spade hit stone. I cleared away a patch and think it's a paving slab path which the previous owner had installed alongside the back of his greenhouse (which he took with him). Probably the bank had gradually slipped forward and covered it. For the time being it's staying covered! I have however taken a photo to remind me it's there.

 

@Selleri I wish I could use more than one "rating" on some posts. I enjoy reading about how much you're accomplishing , the obstacles you are plowing through, your creative re-use of builder's droppings and your light hearted humour! Like, creative, funny!

 

I agree with the others @Selleri - a new garden of any kind is always a challenge, but it's always great to hear about others' progress with a new plot, and all your hard work will pay off. I've dug up old kerbstones and all sorts in different gardens, but that can often be easier than persistent weeds, despite adding to the back problems. The deep soil is definitely better than the new build rubbish too - even though you're probably cursing it just now! I look forward to seeing the pond. I've always had one in any garden I've had, and it's just a joy in so many ways. Good time to start it when ground's damp. Hope your deep orange roots aren't going to be too hellish either.
I spent a bit of time yesterday re-doing my shed door yesterday, as the top was catching the surround. Rather than just removing it and sanding, I redid the edging where the hinges are, and dropped it a fraction, which has done the trick.
The r*ddy squirrels have annihilated my new bird feeder, so I've removed it and will repair it, and add a wire enclosure to keep them out. I was hoping to avoid doing that, but it's the only way.
I went round the corner and collected a load more leaves, so I might start making a cage for those. I'll need to go and get some fence/wire staples though, as the ordinary staples I have aren't going to be hefty enough, despite being heavy duty ones.
I might sow a few more sweet peas, as I forgot I'd ordered some Cupanis - not grown them for a few years. I've done a couple of pots of Balmoral and Flagship, and I'm hoping I get some more seed from my existing purply ones which I thought were Dr Uvedale, but it seems they aren't as it's a rather ugly pink colour, so no idea what these are. Most will be sown in spring though.

 

At my previous house i had a very long garden and the bottom section was very uneven so i decided to try and level it . I excavated 400 house bricks ( house was built in 1905) ,several lengths of 12” diameter earthenware pipes , a concrete pad 10x8 , 20’ length of cast iron railing and an Andersen shelter. I wished i had left well alone but the bricks were very handy.

 

Digging out brambles. That'll teach me to leave the seedlings, even for a few weeks

 

@noisette47 You will get there !

 

Doing the jobs I should have done yesterday. It's very dreary out there but at least it's dry. It occurred to me that I don't have a fraction of the leaf clearing that some of you seem to have. I don't have space for a leaf bin so just as well. I only get 3-4 old compost sacks full (though they are well shredded and compressed). It makes enough to go round things like the Camelias, and a little bit for mixing in when potting up larger and more permanent plants. Wish I could have more.

 

Harvested some of the spartan and Worchester permain apples. There are plenty of fallen apples but the magpies and blackbirds insist on taking chunks out of the ones on the trees. Finished cutting and moving the elder branches. Found yet again cat mess on the bottom of our shoes!

 

More digging out of Japanese anemones. Out there until my wife called me in, as it was getting dark.

 

Dug out the last dead shrub, trimmed some of the long grass intruding into the borders, moved the tired dahlias from the front of the house to the greenhouse to dry out. Repotted a few plants and sowed the chitted broad beans into root trainers.

 

Thursday the rest of the tulips arrived but couldn't plant them on Friday so i did it on Saturday.

 

Plenty of leaves on the ground here @Allotment Boy - bit far for you to come and get them though! You'd need to cope with the persistent 'smirr' too - and yes, you spelt it correctly
Bags are good for them - you can squish them into small spaces here and there. I've got two pushed into the gaps between my two round compost bins, as it has a 'box' around it to disguise it all. They just fit nicely in there.

I didn't do a lot yesterday - started the leaf cage, but I need a couple more battens cut to do the sides and make it more freestanding. The cracked ribs I have just now made some of the work a bit painful too, so it took longer than it should have. Sorted out the little bird feeder, but the chicken wire I have is too big for protection, and I have a cage thing I rescued from the dump [don't ask...] but it'll need the jigsaw for cutting the frame as it's too hefty for wire cutters etc. Collected a load more of those aforementioned leaves, and I can get more if I get the cage finished, which I'll try and do today.