What are we doing in the garden 2024

No gardening here today either. No sun, grey sky, wind, rain and a new driveway being constructed next door, with mud and cement all over the road and pavement outside.

 

I've been mostly covering and uncovering dishes of bird seed between 'really sunny' and 'persisting it down' as my mum puts it.
The 4 blackbirds are very vocal at the moment, and appearing for sultanas multiple times a day now. This will continue until late summer, but pretty soon I'll be soaking sultanas for their chicks, and I can't wait to see them!

 

Yuck. They can't really avoid mess in this weather can they? In fact, how can they do it at all in the hissing rain?

 

Now rained off!

It was a lovely morning when the sun was out, but when it went behind dark clouds it was really cold.

It's recycling day today, and I do hate it when it's windy on such a day. We live on a windy corner and I dread the bin being blown over and the contents scattered everywhere. So I thought it was a good idea to tackle the front garden keeping an eye on the bin.

Last year we put a raised bed (2m x 50cm) under the front window (West facing), well I put it there really, and it's really bothered my hubby (ex engineer who's obsessive with precision) that it wasn't straight. This morning I made an attempt to level it up. Lifting one end with the spade using some wood as leverage, with another piece of wood to push under to level it (even used a spirit level ). It's done now, but I was really surprised that after all the rain we've had the trough's compost was powdery dry. It'll need topping up with some industrial strength moisture retaining compost.

Next to the trough I planted a lavender bush that should have been planted last year. It was heartening to see many ladybirds even though they looked quite dozy. Went round the edges with the border spade to make the grass look tidy.

Happy to see Lily of the Valley has woken from its winter hibernation.

 

Well, if they didn’t work in the rain @Mrs. B., they wouldn’t earn much! They’ve made good progress though and there’s been no loud radio, so if they clear up before they go I might even say that I’m impressed.

 

Haha! You've got a point there!
At least the rain will wash the dirt away!

 

And now I'm shouting profanities as I run up the garden because we have a rat. The poor birds will have to go on a diet for a while. That galls me.

 

What a vile day it's been! Veering between torrential rain and an occasional sunny spell, wind howling around and blowing chairs and pots around outside. The dog has had to make do with some indoor games today, she's not keen to go out and pee as the grass is "too wet" for Miss Tippytoes....! It's really cold too, and I'm umming and ahh-ing whether to throw some fleece over my greenhouse seedlings tonight.....

 

No gardening here today. I was working earlier when it was fine, and now it's raining. Oh well, fingers crossed for some dry spells over the weekend. The forecast doesn't look too bad.

 

You have a lovely garden @shiney. I am quite envious but I know it must be a lot of hard work!! Very nice

 

Can’t say I envy you @Loofah. I won’t go out in our garden at night as we have small bats flying around. Still have that childhood fear that they will get tangled in my hair!!

 

I did a bit of halfhearted weeding en route to the shed and then discovered what looked like a fungus growing right under the branches of a potted azalea. It turned out to be half a bread bun complete with a half a sausage nestling in the centre. I blame people who feed seagulls

 

Picked a large bag of salad from the greenhouses. Looks like the white sprouting broccoli might be ready for this Sundays roast

 

Nothing! We have had torrential rain all day with thunder. No chance at all at getting out into the garden even though there is so much we need to do.