WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2023

I finished cutting the Grass, it was slightly wet so to be on the safe side I donned rubber boots & gloves

 

Nothing today it's raining.

 

Hi,

Having sorted everything out indoors I decided to do some more de-cluttering from the two garden huts; two days ago I sold our Bosch shredder for £180 now for more; I carried quite a few items down to the workshop but whilst in the rear garden I thought it looks rather untidy the grass needs cutting.

Out with the petrol mower and cut the grass; the top meadow too is growing again so I also cut this it hard work on the steep slope.


Recently the petrol rotavator broke down but this time I scrapped it and completed turning the middle meadow over by spade; nothing easy living here the site being so steep.

The top meadow having gone over with the mower. The fence posts are vertical.

An image down the garden; getting the petrol mower up here keeps me fit.

15 huge trees felled last year a huge oak tree felled a few weeks ago and we still have big trees.

I'll carry on doing this work as long as I can but now at 76 I think I need to back off slightly; using the mower is easier than using the petrol rotavator so I think I'll turn the middle meadow over to grass but retain the top wildflower meadow; I'm restoring a vintage Howard petrol rotavator this is powered so doesn't need pushing which should greatly lighten my load each year; I'll build an enclosure for the rotavator then I can leave it at the top of the garden.

Got to go I'm busy as usual.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

I can see how steep your garden is Colin, I moved here to get away from the steep garden I had in the previous house. Like yours, when you were at the top of the garden you were higher up than the house roof.

 

Not much in the garden for a while . I made another purchase the other day to replace a laurel I dug out earlier in the year . A lot of thought / time went into it I end up choosing a Cornus Kousa China Dawn, I wanted something with interest throughout the season, they is a lot of brown in the area shed / fence so went with the a variegated variety . I do have a rose Malvern hills on the shed which is yellow fades to cream so bit sceptical how that will look.

My 2nd choice were Styrax evening light but after seeing one in person at beetham nursery the colour were a more dirty brown, it would of blended with the shed /fence. I went to Levans hall before visiting beetham nursery on the way back home .

Today I've manged after losing my rag to fit a gutting downpipe to the Greenhouse and pipe it away from the area the Cornus will be planted and of course it were raining again. The Cornus hasn't turned up yet. I'll have to remove a buddleia as well to fit the cornus in

 

Moved all the leaves from the back yard using a tarp and blower on the mower---to a big burn pile. Now going to throw some Lighter fluid on it all, and toss a match in it. Sit back with a lemonade and watch the burn. Should have some white billowing smoke curling up wards. there is no wind at all so all is good. and that is a delightful afternoon for this retired person.

 

@Retired that looks great so far.

 

Well the Cornus arrived this morning bit pricey for its size when you include postage but so everything now . It is nearly 5ft tall but doesn't look it on picture

I were going to wait till weekend but it stopped raining for 10mins so took the chance which like usual didn't go to plan . Chopped the buddelia down which took all of 30 seconds , dug hole hit roots off old laurel dug them out , they hit a large stone and then another one . I eventually got it planted what should of taken no more than 10mins ended up more like 45mins in the pouring rain while standing in a mud bath.
Doesn't look like much now but it will grow, its starting to get some pink red colour to the leaves now.

 

Cut the front grass and put the cuttings in the back garden under the plum trees over the top of the weeds, hoping that it will stop the weeds from growing if it's thick enough.

 

Pruned a couple of shrubs, dug up some volunteer potatoes and prepared a strip for planting garlic this weekend.

 

Hi,

Bagged up garden debris this morning also gave away lots of tools/tooling.

A few days ago I sold our Bosch garden shredder it no longer needed then carried quite a few items down to the workshop from both garden huts.

Lots of very expensive engineering tooling I'd generously been allowed to bring home from work on condition I never sold it so keeping my promise I gave it away free of charge to the guy who bought the shredder he like me being a mechanical engineer; the company I worked for moved manufacturing over to India but a promise is a promise to honour.

Multi position aluminium ladder; aluminium step up; large pick; 4 ton winch; garden hoe; new stainless steel fork; bow-saw; 12" woodworking vice; large chocolate tin full of center lathe tools; a drawer full of Morse taper spur point twist drills plus more. All in excellent as new condition.

Bron and I have reached a point in retirement we already have everything we need or even want so it wasn't a problem to help this young engineer who obviously thought it was Christmas; he kindly offered to pay but I declined the offer; the problem now will be I'll most likely refill the vacated space in both huts and workshop. It's nice to be in a position to do someone a good favour in this terrible modern world of selfishness and greed.

After dinner I've got lots of English Ivy to attack and bag up; work never lets up living here.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Drowning! It's not stopped raining since early evening yesterday, so I've been nowhere near the garden.

 

Hi,

Here's the Ivy I've been tackling today; it's a nightmare there's so much of it smothering everything;


Making a start to the left of the steps.

To the right of the steps the ivy is smothering everything and is tangled in the laurels.

I've reclaimed the steps but it took a couple of hours hard work and stuffed three big bin bags.

Lots more yet to do.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

I've been tidying and repositioning things in the border where my new trellises are. Lots still to do. I'll put some photos in my 'evolving' thread after I've got it looking a bit neater.

I fell backwards, and landed on top of a terracotta pot. It got smashed to bits !
I won't tell you what I said