What Jobs Are We Doing in the Garden Today... MK3.. 2013

Just having a cuppa then of out there to weed the border thats got lots of ground elder in it.
Then - the good bit; pricking out these 13 little Red Robins into 1" cells where they will live on the bathroom windowsill for a while. I will give some of them to neighbours when they are a decent size,
Jenny

 

Put the strawberries up on the wall - the plants which inadvertantly spent two weeks in my desk draw appear to be alive ... lets hope the cold stays off & they dont freeze to death !


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fitted the auto vents to the windows inthe greenhouse, a surpisingly fiddly job:

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Now it just needs to warm up so I can adjust them.

 

Live in hope, cold wind back here today
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At last! The first dry, sunny weekend for literally months.
So me and Mrs Trunky had a cracking couple of days catching up on things in the garden.
Yesterday I tackled a rampant variegated ivy growing on the panel fence near the house, I keep it pruned every year but it's been there for over twenty years and was getting more invasive every year. So out it came, no mean feat considering the stump was about 9 or 10 inches in diameter. However, after a good half-hour workout involving a spade, bow saw and an axe, victory was mine.


Also pruned and dug out several pieces of a large Aucuba which was layering itself and taking over part of a shady bed, got the long-handled loppers out and dealt with a large Pyracantha nearby and pruned the Fatsia right next to it.
All this resulted in a huge pile of material which all went through the shredder and on to the compost heap.
This left just enough time to pop round next door with the mower and cut the neighbour's grass, as she's unable to do it herself.

Today, I had a sowing and potting session in the greenhouse. Potted up the tomato and pepper seedlings and sowed some Rudbeckia and chilli pepper seeds.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Trunky was put to work tackling a patch of small leaved variegated ivy (Hedera 'Glacier'), a refugee from a winter pot many years ago, which I foolishly planted against a wire fence and which has since covered about 10 yards of fence, border and anything else in its path.
I have to hand it to her, she tackled the job with great vigour and determination and the resultant pile of debris was quite impressive!

A most productive and satisfying weekend. Hope you've all have enjoyed yours too.

 

Took my son to a farm to feed animals etc this morning and then put second coat on swing and grow house.

Rusty

 

Feel a bit of a fraud, nice sunny day and did very little in the garden as other demands on my time. Best laid plans of mice and men and all that ...

I put 15 Lilies in ... trouble is I bought 50 so loads more to do ... can't just dig a hole as the clay is too heavy in that area, so its off to the compost heap for a barrow load, dig out some clay planting holes into second barrow, take that to the "spoil" pile, mix some grit into the bottom. Barrow load of compost only does about 10 planting holes, so going to use quite a bit ...

Replacement chickens, which have been here only a couple of weeks, are much more adventurous than their predecessors and are making a right mess of my asparagus bed ... I'll let them into the veg patch for a while longer as I suspect they are finding all the slugs and snails that are available to be found and feasted on

 

Sowed the last of my seeds today. A second batch of Nicotiana as the first lot failed, Thunbergia and Sunflowers. I've also potted on a lot of seedlings.

 

Took my tray of 10 Fuchsia plants out of the unheated mini GH to check them over. All growing on with no sign of chill damage so, as a reward, they were allowed out on the patio for a few hours in the watery sun - just to get a taste of what will come one day....

 

Very optimistic Jenny, I hope you're right!

 

Put some windbreak netting up to reduce the prevailing wind hitting my new shrub border along the edge of our patio.

Planted the shrub border, Sorbaria, Clerodendrum, Sambucus, Golden Leycesteria, Christmas Box and Osmanthus all planted

Also popped in a couple of perennials in another part of the garden.

 

My day consisted of... .....
One very large 40yr old fuchsia removed finally

 

Did you get all the roots out Joolz? I dug one out five years ago, couldn't get to all the root and it still sends up shoots.

 

Woke to frost on ground and sleet showers which continued most of today. It hit 14C yesterday! Totally knackered after spending two 10 hour days repairing greenhouse after main pane got smashed plus turning over potato bed. Had intended doing some seed sowing but dishwasher has packed in so had to disconnect it ready for new one tomorrow and by time I'd done that, reconnected battery in camper van and driven it to garage for MOT I decided that seed sowing can wait until tomorrow.