What are we doing in the garden 2024

I wrapped the tree fern for the coming night frost.
I will use the next free day to remove the leaves from the borders.

 

Oh dear @cactus_girl, sounds a bit of a nightmare! I hope you made it to the loo and I hope it hasn't made your cough worse.

Too wet and windy for gardening today.

 

@cactus_girl i hope that you are ok.

 

Thank you for your concern @Busy-Lizzie and @Logan. I am now in the warm! Hubby thought the doorbell was a timer I had put on! Poor excuse! He is getting a bit deaf too. Fed up with the cough as I do like to get out in the garden. I still have those bargain wallflowers to plant out. At least the leaf dropping has almost come to an end. So there's not too much to do out there.

Hope some of you are getting some sun and enjoying your gardens.

 

That's good @cactus_girl. nothing at the moment, doing things for Xmas.
But it's been raining and tomorrow is going to be cold but hopefully dry.

 

10 minutes gardening!

JParkers delivery of 5x Hellebores and 5x impulse buy Hollyhocks, both bare root, arrived in between work commitments.

After work I opened the pack, inspected the roots (good), whacked them to soak in jugs and placed them in the porch, while using my left hand to whisk the foil caps off the Hyacinths there as they look ready for some light, checked on the Amaryllises, considered moving the potted small Daffs (for forcing) from shed to porch, decided against it, and finished my gardening effort with a dainty swirl around with a rag to clear some of the soil off the dining table and floor.

All done

 

It turned out drier than expected, but after dropping some stuff at the Oxfam charity shop, we went to SM. So late afternoon all I did was bail out two buckets of water from the patio pond which was on the brink of overflowing. Picked up a few leaves from the lawn with the mower set on a high cut , just before it got too dark to do any more.

 

Freezing fog pretty well all day today (well, temperature rose to 1.9C this afternoon so no longer technically freezing...). Tried not to look at plant porn, but my favourite (and very local) nursery is closing down soon, so I must pay them a visit in the near future.

 

Good that I was so brave to go down into the garden in total darkness and covered the tree fern fronds with a layer of fleece. It's sticky frost ice on everything now.

 

One of those 'oh b*gger' moments @cactus_girl ....
Hope you got warmed up quickly.
I did some hacking and slashing yesterday, so that was handy. Brown bin filled, and hopefully, the rest that I cut down can get put in there tomorrow after it's collected. It'll need further chopping, but I think that'll have to wait until then.

 

How's your tree fern today @simone_in_wiltshire? All snug and cosy I hope .

 

I was thinking about your recent predicament @cactus_girl. I also have an electric garage door and have worried about it malfunctioning! I use the garage as the main entrance to the house as it also integrated. To allay my fear of being locked out, I put a key lock safe unit on a wall under the eaves in the garden and have a spare front door key in it. I've never had to use it, so far .

 

I've not done anything bar cast an approving eye over somebody else's handiwork. It was -1.6 here at 7.30 am and my handyman chappie turned up at 8am. He's worked like a trojan but at least he's keeping warm!
7 sleepers were removed, plastic sheets inserted and post holes dug, posts erected and set in Postcrete, sleepers put back up and screwed into place. Now he's just dug two steps in a new gap between the sleepers, laid two rectangular paving slabs and is erecting a small handrail between two small posts for me as an extra safety feature.

I will soon be able to safely step up onto the raised wall bed to do the weeding!

Oh, and he also uncovered yards and yards of white bindweed roots that had been snaking all along behind the sleepers. They are now in the green bin.

 

@cactus_girl you might want to switch to a keypad on your garage door opener and door deadbolts. I've had them for years and never have to worry about locking myself out.

I have a different code for each family member and when I've got visitors or people coming in to work, I put in temporary codes for them.

Yes, you have to change the battery from time to time on the door but it gives you warning when it needs replacing.

I have locks for my side gates but rarely put them on anymore since my CCTV cameras seem to have deterred any would be trespassers.

Hmmm, maybe as an extra security measure I should also post a pic of me in my hair curlers and brandishing my big rolling pin

I'm preparing to take cuttings from my cuttings that have grown too big too early. Hopefully the mother plants will forgive me.

 

@Plantminded , that corner was as dark as only night can be and I noticed at 7 that half of the fronds were not covered. I expect the worst. We will see in a few days time what survived.
I will go down after lunch and take off the fleece from the root.

I hope your one has survived.