What Jobs Are We Doing in the Garden Today... MK2..

Finally I've got all the summer annuals cleared and my wallflowers are in. Cleared out all the pots. Planted my crocus bulbs in the bottom lawn. Hoping to get some cuttings from my penstemon tomorrow and start putting my tulips in.

Rusty

 

Finished planting 3 of.the 4 beds with pansies yesterday. Not even been in 12 hours and the bloody cats have dug them up all ready rrrrrrrr. Got to get some holly clipping today and place around the beds

 

Just been out and moved all my tender plants; Cannas, Erythrinas and a Red Ensette Banana, into the greenhouse which now resembles a sardine tin Last night was the latest in what I would call a warning that our first proper frost isn't far off so I wasn't taking any chances, we had some ice last night and the temperature dropped to 1 degree..

I removed any moss, weed seedlings and dead leaves etc from the pots and also sprayed them with organic insecticide as there were a few of those annoying little black flies about that you get around compost and dead leaves. Nothing has been cut back yet, I'm going down the route of letting them dry out themselves this year.

The one thing that I should cut back to overwinter is the Red Banana but as it still looks stunning I just can't bring myself to do it yet..

I've got a couple of moisture traps in there which are working a treat to remove a lot of the excess moisture..

 

All the leaves dropped on my Coleus in the Jungle garden last night, and there is a bit of brown leaf burn on my Ipomoea batatas Lime Green in the tubs in the front of the house, so I reckon that must have been "A Frost".

Weather forecast said min of 4-5C, tonight it is, currently, saying 5C. Actual was 2.9C (weather station 8' up, so ground level probably a bit colder), and dew point 2.6C ... dunno what constitutes a "Frost" but I didn't think that was quite it, so maybe it was just localised in the Jungle. Temperature forecast for tonight same as last night, but next week higher, so I'm going to risk it a bit longer; I figure the shortest time that the plants are "indoors for the winter" the better, so the later I bring them in the better off they will be.

 

My nephew informed me ,he saw a gritter gritting on his way to Doncaster from Midlands today.

What councils have so much money they can grit this early when not that bad surely

 

I agree too Armandii but I just thought I'd take no chances with the possibilty of frost tonight and maybe tomorrow night; I know they would probably have been perfectly fine with a light frost but 'hey ho' just me being over cautious ........ as I've not cut anything back though and done nothing more than move them under cover I'll probably drag them back out when the night time temperatures are forecast to slightly higher for a few days

I've also got a Canna (altensteinii) just starting to flower....

 

I was coming back from a family do in Burton last night on the M42 and there were gritters out. Madness if they start now there be none left for the winter.

Rusty

 

I know it well, my grandad and stepdad have both worked there.....my grandad was unfortunate enough to blinded in a mining accident....

 

Yep sure do Armandii, down King Street at Rudheath, just minutes from my parents house!!

Parts of those salt mines contain a lot of the older Cheshire archives (census returns etc) I believe..

 

Not much today. Just laid the holly clippings on my flower beds on the front to try and stop the pesky cats digging!