What are we doing in the garden 2024

Thanks for that @fairygirl , it is really, really tucked in so maybe we'll be lucky. Even if we have to replace it 15 times it'll still be cheaper than the glass greenhouse we invested in at our last house

 

Today strimming and removing weeds to compost heap.
This afternoon have some plants to plants.

 

Been digging a large hole in order to remove the stump (and more) of one of the trees I cut down a few weeks ago.
Problem is that it was a conifer less than nine inches from the boundary, and I don't want to damage the fencing - or plants grown by my neighbours. I also don't want to damage the gravel path less than nine inches the other direction.
I've dug a circular hole about 18 inches deep, but can't even make the stump wobble!!
Any ideas, other than using a small saw to cut off the stump as low as possible. I want to plant raspberry canes in this area later this year.

 

@RowlandsCastle, I use a mini mattock for those kind of jobs and dig out around the stump with a hand fork/trowel to expose the roots all round, then either cut them through with a lopper or use the mattock to bash them through. I use the other end (axe end) to hook under the root if need be so I can then get the lopper underneath to cut it.

Hope this helps, good luck with that job.

You do know just how far raspberry roots run - don't you?

 

Buy a small electric saw from B&Q. Speaking from experience it does a great job. It comes with two blades one for wood and one for metal. It tells you on the side of the blades so you do not get them mixed up.

 

Thank you @lizzie27
I know how far raspberry roots run. I don't think my neighbours will mind, since I've provided their garden with a bit more light, having removed three trees in the vicinity. I'll be reducing a couple of others, and keeping a rampant hawthorn under control.
Apparently the previous owner of this garden admitted to a neighbour up the road that she may "have overdone it a bit" concerning the number of trees, etc, that she had put in.

 

Finally, a change of direction! Instead of removing things, put some in.

Planted up my permanent herb planter with English Thyme (reduced to clear at Morrisons), Hot Oregano (we tasted before buying, indeed a spicy version of good old O, reduced to clear at Dobbies), plus some rooted Rosemary cuttings from the old house. French Tarragon (reduced to clear at Dobbies) will get it's own pot to be moved into the greenhouse for the winter. Some Chives will get in somewhere, we eat a lot of them.

The Iceberg Rose cutting and the Dianthus (reduced to clear at Morrisons, I'm starting to see a pattern here ) are in there just over the winter until the ground is ready for planting.

The plastic box with Elodesa shaded by the bin is my current pond.



I split all herbs in half and potted them up for kitchen windowsill. It's south facing so hopefully the herbs will do well without grow lights- but there is a handy socket in case.



Potted on the cuttings from their very frugal rooting pots into decent sized plastic pots. The New Garden in it's glory (and yes, that's my underwear on the line and yes, the pink thing on the table (reduced to clear at B&Q) is a slipper ).



Some finishing touches may be required, but at least all cuttings have rooted well. Now I have 5 Viburnums and 4 Hydrangeas on the go (Lacecaps, my favourite and Mopheads, The Child's favourite with no way of telling them apart), a stolen Deutzia plus plenty of Musk Strawberries and assorted Vinca Minor, and bits and bobs I just wanted to take with me.

Took cuttings of the lovely variegated Thyme that has gone leggy.

Probably I'll have to dig a nursery bed for this lot to overwinter.

How lovely it was just to plant things up and make a mess with expanded clay, horticultural grit and MPC.

OK, I should probably have done this after the garden broom gets moved over but hey ho!

 

Thank you @waterbut
Sadly, my OH prohibits me from using an electric saw. I'm accident prone. I'm surprised she lets me loose in the garden at all, actually.

 

If it helps they are light and have very short blades your OH might enjoy using it.

 

Glad you're having some fun in the new site @Selleri . I did something similar when I moved in here [13 years ago] as the whole back 'garden' was just a fenced off part and all slabs and gravel. I did pots of various things I'd brought from the rented house, and pots with bulbs, and bits and bobs from the reduced section of B&Q, although I think I got a few things from Morrisons. Homebase was good too! Fortunately the house was pretty much move in condition, so I was able to crack on with the garden doing new boundary fences etc and opening it all up. Enjoy it all
Yesterday I did the guttering on the shed, and I'll finish it today if the rain stays away long enough, although it's unlikely. I knew I'd need to cobble together a few things as it's not being attached to a down pipe, and I was trying to avoid buying one. Some hose from an old hoover, a little bit from an old washing line base, some sealant, and fingers crossed that'll do the job for connecting from the gutter section to the butt.
Other than that, some cuttings taken from V. bon to grow on over winter, some tying in of sw. peas, and burying the little yellow underwing moth that daughter brought home from work last week. He'd got stuck in the back area of the shop where they have various 'zappers', but also a bit of that sticky paper - which he'd found. She brought him home in a cardboard box with a hairnet over it. His legs were quite badly damaged, so we didn't hold out much hope. Poor old Trevor [ no idea why she called him that!] but at least he had a decent few last days with some bits of strawberry, and flowers etc.
Daft maybe, but I understand her thought process too, hence the burial, round in the new bit by my shed where there's lots of little hidey holes.

 

Can't believe your weather @shiney ! This summer has been another miserable one - rain basically ever other day at least. I think we had a sequence of 5 dry days once...
Garden full of floppy greenery and far too few flowers. All I can do is pull out willowherb - which is the only plant that seems to be encouraged to flower by the weather.

 

Belatedly, my tomato plants have taken off, growing, fattening up and producing flowers.
I removed the side shoots, tied in the tops to their canes and watered them.
Oooh! Didn't the nettle soup stink!
I hope the same thing applies to home made plant food as applies to human medicine. The worse it looks/tastes, the more good it does you.
Several tomatoes have now set and there seems to be a glut of cucumbers on the way. I gave the pigeon pecked kale and runner beans a slurp of nettle soup as well.

 

I never use nettle feed for toms as it's more useful for foliage, and therefore not so good for flowers/fruiting plants. I've been using the comfrey feed this year instead of the purchased tom. food though, and they seem to be doing ok on that. They're a bit slower maturing, but that's not down to the food, it's down to it being cloudier rather than sunny, so the fruit's slower to ripen, and the plants were smaller when I planted them too.

Glad the gr'house seems ok @Bluejayway - hope it stays put for you! I changed to a little polycarbonate one [still attached to the wall!] and that lasted about 8 years until the polycarb, started deteriorating and holes were forming in some bits - mainly the top and the doors which were more exposed to weather damage. I revamped it earlier in the year using heavy duty polythene, so it's a cross between a gr'house and a small polytunnel now.

 

With the weather conditions we have had this year I am amazed I even have any plants. They were miniscule when planted out and weedy due to lack of light. I have a nasty suspicion it will be Green Tomato Chutney this year unless we have an Indian Summer to help with ripening.

 

Mine are undercover @Goldenlily26 , which is the norm here. The climate is too irregular for a reliable crop if you try to grow outside. While that's certainly changing, I'm not about to suddenly start growing them outside any time soon! If I was in the Clyde valley, I might get away with some varieties, as it has it's own micro climate there, but not where I am.