WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2023

Finished clearing this border of the cosmos and snapdragons, planted the wallflowers and polyanthus, the tulips and Hyacinths are already there. Cut away some of the grass to make the border wider to hubbies dismay.

 

Had a good day out there, dug up ,cut back and repotted lots of plants for overwintering.

Planted out some more of the Hellebores and Primroses.

Emptied out a lot of containers and now air drying the compost, this will be reused along with leaves, bin liners and large upturned pots to cover the Dahlias once the frost has blackened them.

Emptied out the hanging baskets and washed the Coco liners for reusing next year ( like to get my money's worth).

I now have a tower of pots and a variety of display containers waiting to be washed and stored...not a fave task.

Hope to continue tomorrow if our weather permits.

Picked a load of Apple's and Pears and washed them ready to place in a box to leave outside the gate for passing walkers to help themselves to.

 

Hi,

I'd visited the tip with a full load then got very busy indeed in the garden; exactly on midday I was running on empty having completely tired myself to a standstill; after dinner now fully charged I resumed work knocking off at 4:30 with this section of the garden looking much better.


More stones dug out; oh what fun I do have.

Picture taken just after knocking off looking downhill.

This has been hard work but now I'm on top, drystone wall rebuilt and soil leveled off; all the ivy and unwanted shrubs behind the white planter removed this afternoon filling two more bin bags bringing the total bags up to 40 bags; I don't want to do an action replay any time soon. There's still ivy to clear out of the laurels which is next job; I'm pleased by how it's all turning out so far and I'll soon be ordering plants. The big oak tree stump will remain; I've had more than enough digging out these big stumps.

Nice job with the border @Logan; well done.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Thank you @Retired
You have done a great job also.

My hanging baskets are still out, it hasn't been cold enough, the Bumblebees are still going to the fuchsia plants in them.

 

Made a start on putting the most tender terrace plants under cover Like putting up winter curtains, it's not the most uplifting job, but best to do it before it gets cold.
It's going to be a battle for space in the 'conservatory' this year. Several pesty citrus trees, the Brugmansias and a couple of jasmines are going to have to make do with being under the roof but 'outside'.
Evicted roughly 500 shield bugs from the cushion box and discovered that chickens do eat them! Nothing else seems to and we've had a plague of biblical proportions this year.
The days are far too short already and all that nonsense of changing the clocks won't help one bit.

 

Hi,

Just pleased to watch the rain today; worried yesterday in case we would be short of water because it didn't rain.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Yesterday I put the Cyclamen plants back into the rings on top of the balcony railings. Later during the evening I wondered if I had done the right thing by putting them back in their place as we were forecast heavy rain overnight. Fortunately it seems we didn't have the rain after all as everything on the balcony looked to be dry & the Cyclamen didn't have raindrops on them nor did the compost in the pots feel very wet.

This morning I spent 1/2 hour cutting back the Geraniums & Pelargoniums that I want to put in the mini-greenhouse of the balcony table - when I get in assembled & put up again - which, hopefully will be next week.

It will mean several hours work as assembling the MG is a lot of work. Then I will put the plants I want to keep in it for the winter. Even though I do this every year - & have done so for about 15-16 years, I still find it hard to get the right pieces into the right positions! You wouldn't think it would be that hard, especially after so many years of doing it!

 

Planted 26 bare root wallflowers, not bad as I paid for 20. Then more weeding and tidying. Then when the rain came I sowed some saved Lilium henryi seed, hopefully a couple will germinate over winter.

 

@Retired you enjoy your day of rest, you deserve it.

 

Planning to extend my work/potting shelter. Gonna be a big job though!

 

Hi,

Well done @shiney; stick with it you'll win in the end; it's amazing how fast ivy takes over everything; I'm still attacking our ivy.


Here I go again; more ivy growing through the laurels plus lots of small holly trees; everything soaking wet. This is what it looked like at 9 o'clock this morning.

Lots now cleared with a bit yet to go but now with a pile of ivy and and other debris pulled out; not bad though I can see where I've been.


A lot more ivy here yet to drag out and I'll clear the border above the wall; more brambles & small holly trees adding to the fun; this drystone wall was only 4" away from the bungalow wall when we moved in. 2001 the first year of retirement (?) I dug tons of wet clay out the hard way creating what is now seen; the year after I dug out more tons of wet clay to complete the pathway down to the garage; here I now am still trying to get on top working as hard as ever.

Thanks @Logan I'm always busy.

Mug of tea and two chocolates scoffed time to resume hostilities before another day quickly disappears.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

I've been clearing grass from this bed it's got currant bushes at the back and then rhubarb. 2 of the rhubarb has died but they were getting on a bit. So I'm going to divide the others and put further back by the currants.
Behind the currants there's some hellebores but can't see them because of the currants, thinking of moving them to the front and plant some winter flowering heathers at the front of them.

 

I planted some bulbs in pots and then I fitted together a stand of shelves for my greenhouse, ready to take the succulents for winter.

One of my Rhipsalis cacti had become very dry and lots of branches had fallen off so I swept them up and planted them in a seed tray. I gave a drink of meths to some mealy bugs, and gave water to all my Rhipsalises. I didn't think the greenhouse got so hot and they have dried out too much.