WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2023

Hi,

I'm still pulling out Ivy & Hollies; more this morning and it wasn't raining which cheered me up but the soil was like a bog.

I keep running into problems with the Howard rotavator restoration; yesterday filled both drive units with gear oil; today its wet itself needing four new oil seals. I've just returned from pour local bearing supplier with four new seals and one new A25.5 drive belt. It's pointless rebuilding without replacing the seals so it should hold oil with the repaired broken casting and new oil seals; I'm now keen to get it working then I can rotavate the meadows.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Did some more weeding in one of the borders, cut back some of the Japanese anemone.

 

Thanks to a lovely fairly sunny day today I was able to spend a few hours on the balcony again! One more session like the last 2 will set the balcony up for the winter!

After putting up the shelving unit on the balcony yesterday & putting the trays & pots of Carnation on it as well as the 2 pots of Clivias, today I did some more juggling with pots & plants & what have you. I think I have the majority in their places for the winter now. I don't expect to be doing much in the way of juggling any more till late spring.

I pruned back the various pots of Fuchsias & put them underneath the big table where they will still get some light & will be protected from rain & wind &, hopefully, the worst of the cold, as long as we don't get a winter like 2009/10.

I have 10 pots of Amaryllis on the balcony. Some days ago I cut off the remaining leaves & put them inside the mini-greenhouse.. Well today I took them out again! I put them, still in their old pots, inside the new pots I bought from Wilcos before they closed down. I then put these on the shelving on the balcony wall where they will have to stay until the first hard frosts when I will move them inside the flat - though where I'll put them I have no idea!

I also removed the variegated Geraniums 'Vancouver Centennial' that were on the middle bar of the balcony railings & potted them up individually. To get them out of the chicken wire that covers the railings I had to cut off some branches. Well afterwards I prepared them as cuttings. They will probably die on me but at least they have a greater possibility of growing another year than in the rubbish bin! I then put the new potted up plants & cuttings in the MG. It's a Geranium I'm particularly fond of! I have more plants of it inside the flat, on our bedroom & kitchen windowsills that have not been anywhere else this year!

In the trough that the Geraniums occupied I put some Anemone De Caan corms. I put it back in its place on the railings. I have 2 troughs with Pelargoniums in which I cut back a few weeks ago. I want to get these out soon & pot them up for the winter as well. I plan to plant other small bulbs in their place, maybe more Anemones, 'Sylphide' as I have several packs of them.
.

 

Hi,

A typical day;



First job after breakfast will be changing the rotavator oil seals then I hope it's ready to be reassembled. I've still got plenty of ivy to pull out; will I ever get on top of this ivy removal.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Weather warning in place yet again for heavy rain so I will do whatever is achievable out there, nothing is of any urgency now.
It would get so very messy trying to carry on with the borders as the ground is so soggy, we have a little river running along our lane from the run off from the hills / fields opposite us.

 

Yesterday after clearing the leaves up and sticking them in a dumpy bag to rot down; I spent a bit of time dealing with the ivy growing up neighbours fence panels. I deal with the ivy by cutting through the stem at about ground level, preferably removing a couple of cm, then in 3 to 6 months time it comes away with no effort. Ivy growing across the ground just gets pulled up and composted.
Today may go up to the greenhouse and start cleaning the glass.

 

Nothing today it's raining again.

 

Opened the back door, took two paces outside, swam back in. The grass has decided to start growing again.....I'll have to get the sickle out

 

I've stopped making plans to do jobs in the garden now, I just look out of the window and curse

 

Hi,

Oil seals bought yesterday not identical to the originals so am now heading back into the workshop to do a bit of modification to them. Everything I touch seems to bite me but it's better than trying to work in our bog of a garden. Every cloud has a silver lining.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Raked leaves before our adventure away. Not more fallen. And that's my task for the next 10 days till we leave again, Raking, and burning leaves.

 

Just had a call from the Fox Project, they got a vet to look at him but he was in such a bad state that they thought it best to put him to sleep.
At least he's not out out there tonight, freezing cold, soaking wet and scared to death with all the fireworks around here.