What Jobs Are We Doing In The Garden Today 2019

Oh great can't wait, what's on the menu?

 

Not doing much just picking blueberries.

 

That's great sounds lovely, it will be nice to have somebody else to cook for me for a change.

 

My neighbours' builders are still breaking rocks in the hot sun. We don't speak to our neighbours because of a hedging dispute (a long story!) but it's interesting to watch what's going on. They are having their third patio laid due to subsidence. I'm a brazen, nosy neighbour - no curtain twitching for me I just stand and stare.

Not much to do in the garden - I spend more time looking than doing at the moment - still lots of flowers to enjoy. I do have lots of stuff planned but all autumn jobs so I should learn to appreciate this quiet time before I have too much to do.

 

Pruned the wisteria and a bit of the apple tree this morning cut back the sambucus blacklace it doesn't half grow, come in just before a shower was hoping to go out and shred the bits buts its raining more continuously now.

Looking at seeds at the moment a few perennials - Echinacea pallida which I've fancied for a quite while - Penstemon Barbatus purple and red - Agastache Liquorice white any one grown this variety ? were think of buying in alabaster but they look very similar , and some veronicastrum Album mum decided she wants some white veronicastrum after seeing my Diane my bank account gets battered enough without buying plants for mum garden as well so going to grow from seed . I getting bulb magazines through the post as well

 

I noticed that the weeping birch was growing some upward branches so we got out the long handled pruners and chopped them off. I supervised the job and dragged the branches down the garden
The pruners were purchased at the BBC Gardeners world show in Birmingham a couple of years and my husband has never been completely happy with them and reverted to using our old Fiskers loppers. When we were at Hyde Hall the same guys were there and he told them about his dissatisfaction with the product. We found out that he's been using them wrong Not really believing that he could possibly be wrong he tried them when we got home and the loppers are fine. Sorry Le Jardin for all the swearing we've done about your pruners.

 

Perki, never grown white agastaches despite growing lots of varieties. I was always put off by their propensity to self seed??? I also like the variety to be true to type....not always the case with seeds
However, cuttings work well enough for me to achieve low cost replacement plants

Can’t you charge your mum commission Perki? Ha ha

White veronicastrum is lovely ....find space for it if you can

 

I never had much success with agastache cutting I took some yesterday or day before see how they do , not tried rooting them in water though might give that a try next.

I have a white V. Diane already with Monarda Scorpion its starting to look really good now, from me to me for that combo

 

What jobs did I do today? Not a lot really. Fitted some support canes for the dahlias as they were flagging a bit. Not a lot of large blooms as yet but they sure get heavy when they are large. Checked out the outside toms and spotted a little critter munching away inside one! I still have to check out my baby dendrobiums for growth and keep them moist. I seem to be having some success with cuttings from them. Really pleased with that as I love those plants.

 

Watering ,deadheading,planting out more lettuce and had a really good sweep up..My old Dad was right,he always said one of the most important tools a gardener can have is a broom.."Keep things tidy and all will look good".

 

Not much getting done today, as we have intermittent drizzle.

So far I’ve tidied up the blanket weed that I pulled out of the pond yesterday, now that the little beasties have had a chance to wriggle back into the water and deadheaded the pansies that are amazingly still flowering! I’ve potted on my indoor Thai basil and purple basil plants, and they are now enjoying an outside drizzle bath. I also potted on my wasabi plant. To be hones, it hadn’t outgrown its pot - rather the ancient clay pot had finally shattered, and so needed to be replaced!
This afternoon I hope to finish weeding the hardcore at the bottom of the drive, then I can re-level the gravel at that (top) end of the soak away, so that there isn’t a slowing down of the drive run-off water....

 

One large lawn cut and that’s it, took Rosie as the customers love her and always have a handful of treats for her, got my lawn to cut again and then thats it.

 

Not up to too much as I'm a bit sore from trying to maneuver the brolly clothes line. It is much taller than me and trying to balance it upright and into the pipe a few times/arms outstretched to reach, I now have a new respect for those caber tossers.

But I did pick some tomatoes and doing a circuit, discovered one of the cannabis plants blossomed as a male. He was six feet tall before he revealed his sex so ripping him out was a bit sad however now he's no danger to the females.

Potted up a basil. It didn't have a label so I'm not sure what type it is but I purchased it because I was fascinated with it's small leaves.

 

I’ve finished weeding the bottom of the drive, and then decided to do a bit of hard landscaping!

When we have storm rain, the water has always backed up, to the point that there is a large puddle right outside our front/only external door (not counting the patio doors).

Clearly, the only way to fix this is to lower the gravel.... but not something we have got round to, in 16 months. I hope I’ve got it done now!

I’ve lowered the level of the gravel interface, and the gravel going back as far as the third planter. Two of the stepping stones have also been lowered.

The “spare” gravel I’ve used to fill the hardcore area of the bottom of the drive. I hope to put a few small alpine plants in, here and there, to give the impression of a dried up stream bed.
Have I gone mad?!!

Before, standing on the doorstep

And from further up the drive (aren’t septic tank covers beautiful?!)

After, with the level lowered, and a bit of a trickle...

...leading up to the dried up stream bed.

The dog is not giving an opinion either way...

We’ve some heavy rain forecast for tomorrow, so hopefully I will see it in action then, and can make level adjustments as required.