WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2021

Untidy!!!! Cheeky .
It was the out of control creeping ground covering geraniums that were the root to all evil!! The apple and pear fallers would drop into obscurity amongst it's mass and trying to remove them require being paid danger money !! The wasps would gather there to enjoy any rotting fruit that was not removed pronto!
It became ' the meeting place ' for every stinging blighter in the neighbourhood!!
That is one big time consuming garden chore I can definitely do without. We will still obviously get fallers but they will be easy to spot and remove......I hope.

Wait until next year ... It will look lovely ( says she optimistically while crossing all fingers and toes!!)

 

Hi @Tinkerbelle61 , we had rats once in our Darlek compost bin too!! Like you we never put cooked foods in it. We also have two huge compost pens and have had them for years and have never had rats take up winter residency in them. Someone gave us the Darlek one , it now stands on paving slabs and we've never had a problem since.

 

Thanks @Upsydaisy that is interesting. I thought compost bins had to be sited on earth to allow the worms in? Didn’t know it could be on paving slabs, that would definitely solve the rat issue (hopefully we have already), but worth thinking about if we have the same problem again.

Tink

 

Never had worm issues either, the Dalek bin is crawling with them ! The Red Wigglers are literally hanging off the lid when we remove it.
Red Wigglers are apparently the best worms to have in your compost and our Darlek proves to provide the ideal environment for them....more so than the pens do.

Fingers crossed that you've got it sorted now, it's not nice knowing you have them living in your garden is it.

 

Our Darlek bins are on paving slabs and the worms can get in, sometimes there's so many that they spill out onto the slabs. I find it difficult to empty them through the port hole. I keep saying that I'll fill one up at a time and let it rot down so that I can empty it properly but always have too much to put in them.

 

Our Darlek only gets kitchen waste, newspaper ( I wrap peelings up as I work in the kitchen) and cardboard , once it gets half filled it gets added to the main compost pens. So it gets emptied via the top using a shovel.

 

Using a shovel from the top would be difficult for me also, but your method sounds good upsydaisy.

 

Hubs does it, and it's just a case of throwing it into the big one next to it. Being only half full with predominantly kitchen waste ( no garden stuff) it's light and not compacted.

 

That's ok then

 

Splashed some Resolva lawn weed killer all over the lawn - flat and green just doesn't bake my cake anymore. It looks like there won't be much grass left when all the weeds are gone. We shall see in a couple of weeks.

Pleased to see that the Horwort I chucked into the pond earlier this year looks to have established. I can see a long stalk just below the water surface. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it has taken up residence in the sludge at the bottom of the pond and perhaps will floruish next year and give the algae a run for its money.

 

Been attempting to bring some order to my greenhouse, when busy during the summer I tend to just dump things in there and I'm ashamed to admit it does get into a bit of a pickle . Sorting, cleaning and pot storing too.
Still a job in progress but I need to do it before the inner bubble wrap frame is fixed back in place for the winter.

Washed and brought the Lemon Tree in for the winter, did find the odd scale insects so will keep a weekly check on it.




Has got a couple of lemons on it, but whether they make it through the winter is another matter.

 

Planted some more polyanthus, sometimes I come across clumps of crocuses that I want to plant a polyanthus in so i dig them up and move them over so they go In between the polyanthus.

 

Nothing today; I was back at work after two weeks leave.

 

Moved my cold frame. I had to dig down to put new brick footings for the feet of the structure which is 4' x 8' and then my son helped me shift it to it's new position.

Then I moved the rhubarb so that next year it will have a much sunnier location and not get shaded by taller plants. Yes, all that shifting was just to make the rhubarb happy.

I'm going back out shortly to do a few other tidy up chores until about 2 then I will continue during commercials whilst Midsomer Murders are playing. In between, I'll be carving the leftover turkey. And YES, I will wash my hands after being outside playing with dirt and before carving the bird!

 

Enjoy! Happy Canada Thanksgiving.