What are we doing in the garden 2024

Steamed caterpillar? Maybe not.

Feels just like July here today.

 

Feels like July here too. Perfect weather for gardening!!

 

I cut the Grass at the top of the garden. Looked at the Toms and have
decided to not feed or water them anymore now.

 

Picked the entire crop (4 small apples) from the Cox tree. Cut lawn edges and barrowed grass to compost heap after OH mowed. Weeded out several yards of couch grass, encroaching into a border from the meadow. Another lovely day!

 

I decided to cut down the tomatoes in my small leanto glasshouse and put the meagre offerings in a brown paper bag with banana skins and stuck it in a cupboard. Not really fussed whether they ripen or not and have more or less decided not to bother growing them again. A lot of effort for very little gain.
Pottered around the garden still trying to tidy up before autumn storms, pots to stash away and homes found for bits and bobs. I cleared out my sentry shed yesterday and wondered why I had four boxes of 'useful stuff' in them but still couldn't force myself to throw anything away. That's probably not counting the boxes in the big shed and in my wooden growhouse which is now just a store.
Had a bit of shock later on when I'd wandered outside our boundary to check on any wayward wisteria strands. I have trained my wisteria to go along the front terrace wall to the boundary turn a sharp left then run outside along the side boundary as far as the garden gate. Gives the neighbours and passersby something pretty to look at when it's in bloom. So far so good but this year, the wisteria had decided to throw a couple of strands to the RIGHT of the corner and kept going through the privet hedge - about fifteen feet ( 5 m) long! I pulled a strand and it just kept coming! I was quite tempted to let it run riot through the long privet hedge which is getting a bit scraggy and bare but the maintenance and twice yearly pruning didn't bear thinking about so I cut it back to the corner. I shall have to keep a close eye on it in the future.

 

Don't eat them all at once.

 

Did nothing yesterday in the garden as I was away on a hill [scorchio there too] but hopefully I can get a few things done today as it's to be cooler. Time to tackle the front bed and remove the horrible geranium which is really invasive. I can add the contents of one compost bin in the area, which will beef up the soil a bit, ready for a couple of shrubs to go in.
I have a container which can get some of that in it too, so perhaps that too. Other than that, just some deadheading, and planning changes - as always.

 

I had the misfortune yesterday that when changing my shoes in the potting shed i trod on a wasp which kindly stung me 4 times on the soft underside of my right foot. My left knee had been playing up so i was limping on both legs . Apart from some dead heading and cropping the garden has taken a back seat this week as prepping and painting the partially replastered kitchen and utility rooms has been the priority - hopefully finished today.
It looks like the last traces of summer will finally give out here this afternoon - i think the swallows gave it up as a bad job at the beginning of the week. So with the big super moons and the darker evenings rapidly lengthening autumn is well set.
It will be a busy season for me so i hope autumn will play ball since, apart from the usual autumn chores, i have 2 beds to extend , a new bed to create from the old greenhouse and a new boundary bed to create and fill next to my neighbours new boundary fence.
Anyway back to that paint brush…

 

@ArmyAirForce - you have a railway and an observatory ! I am very pleased to have a potting shed but i doubt many people can boast a railway AND an observatory. Have you built a garden railway track and got a telescope set up to monitor the sky? It would be nice to see some photos.

 

Yes, I have a 12 x 8ft observatory with two telescopes and a fullsize railway as a garden feature - a nod to the past history of the site when there were two railways that ran across the bottom of the garden.

The story of the observatory and railway build is covered in this thread and is ongoing.....

https://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/threads/non-gardener-builds-an-observatory-garden-railway-and-even-dabbles-with-plants.134527/

 

@ArmyAirForce . That is a tremendous piece of work. I am not sure what your next project could be , a tribute to Hadrians Wall or a scale model of the Riverside Cricket ground ( as you are from Durham) . I take my hat off to you .

 

Thanks!

No more big projects!! ( I hope ). The project for this morning was to trim the Ivy from the bottom edge of the Hawthorn hedge, where it tries to creep into the border. The Ivy is only along about 40 feet of the 100ft border.

 

You know how when you have housework planned and your back is aching, getting started just seems too much? And then you pop into the garden and notice something that needs doing and your discomfort recedes just far enough from your consciousness to let the idea grow and expand? And one thing leads to another and suddenly you are excavating a planting hole, sieving out stones large and small? And then it occurs to you that the reason you got dressed in pale blue trousers this morning was because gardening was not on the agenda, but, ah well, too late now? And you finish the job, put your stuff away, stand back in satisfaction ... and at that moment, the aching makes its presence felt big time and you have to lie down, meaning the housework is on hold again? Well ... that's what I've done in the garden today.

 

I went out to tidying up an item of rubbish that had blown into the front garden. I noticed that some of the front hedge had grown a lot, so got out the secateurs. I still couldn't reach it, so out came the long handled loppers. I STILL couldn't reach it, so out came the step-ladder and extendable electric hedge trimmer.
Got it!!
But once out, I might as well do a circuit of hedge trimming.
Of course, once done, I needed to clear up.
But the garden waste bin is overflowing, as are two large buckets and two sacks. I searched the shed for something else to store the bits in, as the two compost daleks and extra compost sack are full.
Part way through clearing, I remembered my wife asking me to return her library book. Dashed out to fulfill her request, and met two friends sorting out old photos and postcards in the local museum. I got waylaid, then enroute home, decided I ought to do some shopping.
Home in time for a late lunch. Oh, I need to finish clearing the hedge trimmings.
DONE!!

I only went to clear up one piece of rubbish!!
@ViewAhead I fully understand your predicament. I need to wash my jeans now!!

 

Didn't feel like doing much outside today and expecting thunderstorms/heavy rain. I just had time to clean and replenish the bird's water dish on the feeder and put 4 old decking planks upright behind the garage to keep dry (I hope) when the heavens opened.
Trying to force myself to get up and do the ironing now. Sigh!