What are we doing in the garden 2024

@AuntyRach - its a constant fight against brambles and no mistake , just have to keep digging the blighters out , bindweed and ivy are a total pain but at least they are not trying to attack you , just take over your garden.

 

I agree with all that @Robert Bowen. We've got brambles in both front and back native hedges so not a hope of digging them out, just keep cutting them back. At least the ones in the front hedge provided a few blackberries every now and then.
Today I've just unpotted, inspected, root washed and repotted a Christmas Box and 2 helleborus. I had thought all three might have vine weevil grubs but couldn't find any but repotted into a fresh compost mix just in case.
When I tipped out the compost in a big old terracotta pot I wanted to use for the Christmas Box, I found a large round green fruit of some description (peach or nectarine size) buried in it.
A bit large for a squirrel to carry I thought but maybe a fox perhaps? I also found some slugs hiding upside down in one of the terracotta crocks at the bottom. No wonder my salad/carrots seedlings got nobbled!

 

A fox is quite likely @lizzie27 . They often take stuff and hide it. Just cutting back brambles with a hedgetrimmer is the easiest method if they're in a hedge. I don't mind the thorns on these kinds of plants, but I'm probably just used to it. I've always had jaggy shrubs and hedges in various gardens. It's not as bad as pushing a narrow screwdriver into the end of your finger...

I didn't really do as much as I intended yesterday. Decided to fix up the other bird cage I have for feeders [r*ddy squirrels]. I knew it would take a while, but frankly, I was losing the will to live. It's slightly bigger than the one on my screen, and I wanted to make it a little narrower, and swap them over. You know that thing of - nothing's ever simple? This is a prime example!
Anyway, I should get the roof sorted and fixed back on, and maybe swap them today - all being well....
Other than that, plenty of little jobs I can do. The trim for the shed possibly, as I didn't do that yesterday. I have some clearing to do in the front garden, right down at the gate end, so I might tackle that and see what I'll plant in there. I have some more cuttings of the gold lonicera I can put in for the hedge, and the last bit of the existing hedge can get chopped/binned if I can face it.

 

Cutting back brambles around the orchard fence is my next job, not looking forward to it. Probably not today as we had a storm in the night and more rain and storms are forecast. I hope it will be cooler now. Last night it was so hot and muggy in West Dordogne. 30C, but cloudy, when we had dinner on the patio.

 

Managed to cut the grass for the first time in well over a month, relentless rain giving a whopping 250mm in August meant it was impossible to do so. Given my compost heap a good boost at least

 

I fiddled with my compost bin - I’ve put cardboard bits but any other ideas for ‘brown’ as my balance is a bit out?

I also have a compost pile with bigger, more robust bits and two builders sacks with stuff in! Oh and my council bin of course! The builders sacks can go to the tip… if I can be bothered.

 

Taken some trailing geraniums and hubby bought a lot of daffodils from the garden centre.

 

@lizzie27 Squirrels love treating my pots as a larder too , they bring acorns from somewhere but i dont know for an oak tree anywhere nearby . Cheeky little blighters. They also treat my conifer (@RowlandsCastle ) hedge like a playground and i see them bouncing lightly across the top of the hedge from time to time. If you grow it , they will come!

 

@AuntyRach try the link from the RHS. I would not recommend egg shells , rats are attracted to egg shells .Hope that helps.
Composting / RHS

 

Dead-heading New Zealand Hebes.

 

We shred a lot of paper and put that on the compost, envelopes, packaging, egg boxes, punnets etc @AuntyRach. Seems to make all the difference. We do compost eggshells and haven’t noticed any problems.

 

Spent the morning in the garden. First time in a few weeks I’ve managed to get outside for any length of time. My gardening style is moving closer and closer to semi-natural/re-wilding so lots of wildflowers, self-seeders etc. I spent the morning pulling up some some of the more thuggish self-seeders, here and there, so I keep a (hopefully) happy and attractive balance.

We’ve been very pleased with how it’s looked this year so will be interesting to see how it develops. The long grasses running through the borders have looked wonderful and so far most of my roses and perennials seem happy to compete. The only ones I’m wondering about are my Astrantia as they didn’t do very well this year. I divided them quite aggressively last year so that plus the competition may have been too much. Having said that they look healthy enough just a poor show of flowers, which could be weather related as well?

Also spent some time adding some pebbles to the pond top shelf and beach. We have quite stony soil so I can easily collect a bucketful of lovely pebbles from grape to grapefruit sized over a few months. Also added some more hazel sticks to replace those which have rotted away (our pond is edged with sleepers and I stack the hazel below to hide the liner)

The bees are enjoying the Persicaria, especially the bistorta Superba, Alba doesn’t seem as popular

 

I use eggshells in compost bins too and haven't had a problem.
Have you anyone whi has rabbits/guinea pigs/hamsters or similar @AuntyRach ? The bedding is very good, and would be considered a brown addition. The manur econtent of it is also excellent. I shred stuff too, and have just done a load of stuff. Newspapers are the obvious, but not everyone buys/reads them now, including myself. We're almost at the point of having dead stems from certain perennials which are not quite woody, but aren't green, so if you have any plants of that kind, they're good.
Do you get deliveries of any kind that come in cardboard boxes or sleeves? I tear those up and use them. but supermarkets often have an excess of boxes - I bet they'd be delighted if you offerred to take a few!

Nothing being done here today as it's wet and to be like that all day, including a thunderstorm warning. I carried on with redoing my bigger bird cage yesterday which was soul destroying. Would have been easier to start from scratch! Almost there with it, but I won't be around today to finish it off in the shed. Other than that, I planted up the border where I removed fennel. There's room for a few small bulbs at the front, so I'll see if I have anything. I've already got some species tulips in there, so maybe some crocus. That may mean a look at Peter Nyssens....

 

Nothing today it's raining but yesterday hubby bought 2 boxes of daffodils from the local garden centre. It was fill a box for £5.99
At the moment hubby is putting together a bird table that we bought.

 

I've been pruning one of my New Zealand Hebes. I've even taken several cuttings. I know that my wife doesn't want any more of these plants, but I'm doing it anyway. Of course, the reality is that I've never yet succeeded in nurturing a cutting to maturity.
Still, I try.
I've also pruned a large pyracantha, which was hiding behind the hebe.