WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2023

Started planting out the polyanthus and wallflowers along the path. A lot of the polyanthus survived the summer because it was a wet summer, so there's only a few i had to replace.

 

Just come in. Cutting back bamboo (I'll dig some out, it's getting too big, the ground where it grows is like reinforced concrete), and shredding it.

The shredded bamboo smells like fresh-baled hay (perhaps not surprising).

I didn't want the chippings, so put them into my green council "garden waste" bin. The bin smells really *rather* piggy, if you know what I mean. *Quite* an aroma

 

Nothing for the past few days, as I've been reveling in the cooler temperatures, rain, and drizzle. Fantastic!

 

Some seeds I sowed a few days ago are germination - Bellis, Lupins, Sweet Basil and Sweet Peas, and something else I forgot to label ...

I repotted a summer Jasmine - the indoor type.
Took my Plumbagos and Sollya into a shelter. They're looking rather dishevelled from the recent rain and hopeless summer weather.

 

Weeded and swept all the paths, weeds were incinerated straightaway as some had seed heads forming. Hubs mowed the lawns too. I cut back all the Day Lillies , removing the spent blooms and dead foliage. Some nice new foliage has regrown.

Harvested some Apples and Pears and took them round to our neighbours.

A good day was had.

 

Cut the hedge between myself and the neighbours out the front this morning, sprayed weedkiller on the ever increasing amounts of Ivy out there as well.
The watering of pots was reduced due to the lower temperatures but still took a while.

 

Got all of my seeds for next year, some catalogues were offering 20%
off and free p&p and some just free p&p. For seeds is about £2.99, some are more.
But the new catalogues aren't out until next month, if there's any new varieties i might get, fothergills and DT brown do free p&p all of the time, for now.

 

Yesterday I cut a Schefflera variegata stem in three and stuck the two top pieces in the same pot. This is a cutting from the mother plant which lives on the Dining Patio. This one lives in The Courtyard. They have always lived outdoors. J saw the mother plant at the rubbish bins more than ten years ago ... so I had him retrieve it. It is starting to bloom...



I also sowed some seeds directly outdoors ... five Carica papaya seeds (I only want it for the leaves not fruit), Tulbaghia violacea and Catharanthus rosea (Dwarf Madagasccae Periwinkle) and will just keep .

 

Hi,

I've just been doing a bit more weeding and am ticking and sighing as I cool down. Not normal weeding pulling them out; digging them well in using a spade made difficult due to our valley side location.


Having rotavated half the middle meadow the rotavator couldn't stand it any longer and sadly passed away; I'll complete the other half by digging.

The grass which I strimmed plus the weeds are dense and the soil hard. I learnt this method years ago; stab the spade in hard chopping sections at a time then dig deep and turn the block over; the couch grass is a real pain but it would take forever trying to get it out by each spadeful; once it's all dug over it breaks the ground up and cuts through the couch grass so next time over the couch grass comes out a great deal easier.

I'm still making steady progress restoring the vintage Howard Bulldog rotavator which I plan to use on the meadows; digging over firstly gives the rotavator an easier time but digging like this is hard graft.


Looking rough.

This work takes a lot of time but is worth it in the end.

This looks like the reason this rotavator was sold; under all the dirt is this broken casting the joint now leaking oil; a repair job I could do without. Life is never dull.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Potted up 2 trays of self seeded Primulas that were removed from the paths, at this stage not too sure if they are Primrose or Polyanthus plants....but we have loads.

 

I'm filling up the water butts and topping up the pond yet again.
Apart from a couple of days of on off drizzle the last time we had useful rain was 10mm on the 18th of August before that 11mm on the 2nd August.

 

Nothing today it's been raining since 9am, so i defrosted the freezer.

 

I cleared one Potato Bag, a very nice crop of Pentland Javelin, two more bags to go.
Then lots of deadheading. The Grass was still too wet to cut, maybe tomorrow.

 

I've just finished harvesting my Kelsaes. They are not giants but still welcome.

I cleared out some of the dying annuals and rollered up gallons of crabapples. I use what looks like a football shaped whisk on a long handle. It it dandy for gathering up the apples without having to crawl around.

Tomorrow is yard waste pick up day so I want to put out at least one bag's worth. I also pulled some of the Dahlia tubers because I wanted to move the rhubarb to their spot. Hopefully the rhubarb will forgive me for moving it twice in one year!

 

Picked the last crown prince, a massive one unfortunately the stalk is rotten next to the fruit so I'll have to eat it soon I think.

Also picked more corn, somewhat patchy fertilisation with mine this year.

Did a bit of watering in the greenhouse.

Picked first Florence fennel of the year, I usually sow it for early summer too but didn't this year.