WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2023

What? Who said that?

 

That's good news @Loofah .

 

Hi,

7:49am and still too dark to see the garden.

I wonder if I could borrow my old pit lamp & helmet.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Hi,

After breakfast I donned my work gear and headed out; it was dark and I thought if it's raining I'll give the garden a miss and wander down to the workshop. It wasn't raining so garden it was.


The top meadow has a boundary of stones and bricks this is the edge of the rotavating area; lots of the stones & bricks had fallen into the meadow or become badly overgrown.

This is the top meadow; beautiful each year with wildflowers in full bloom but now grass has taken over and is the reason I'm keen to complete the Howard rotavator restoration; everything as usual is soaking wet.

Where to start; it was so bad I decided to start from scratch as seen running a straight line to work to. The soil was heavy it being so wet but the soil is excellent. I used a petrol strimmer first to clear the soil and it worked a treat.

Another heavy mornings work but I can see where I've been; I turned over a spade width to spade depth in front of the line then dug back to create a level landing replacing the stones & bricks; the debris I tossed into the border area and next springtime this will be raked; I won't be happy until it's rotavated.

Amazingly in spite of the heavy work I enjoyed myself; it was dark with a mist; everything wet but the ground was very easy to dig over apart from being heavy and hard work; no drizzle or rain; no sun beating down (in my dreams) and although quite cool not cold; ideal working conditions in fact so I made the most of it.

12:15 job done and tools cleaned and put away; dinner time; in the kitchen I started washing my hands and as I looked out down came the rain; WOW for a change perfect timing; it was a shower; now it's just downright miserable; foggy and dark.

It was lovely to get into the garden rather than stuck indoors due to our dire climate; I now need to push on with the rotavator restoration.

I like to keep active even indoors so last night at around 8 o'clock I decided to make some ginger buns; time is precious;



Kind regards, Colin.

 

You've done a great job there @Retired and yummy buns.

 

Hi,

Thanks @Logan; there's always jobs to do but a bit of baking makes a difference and is therapeutic.

This morning I cleared lots of items from the top hut to the bottom hut to create space for working on the rotavator restoration. The engine is now reunited with the chassis unit but would have been a five minute job on the bench in the workshop; it took about an hour in total. Next I created level spaces in the garden for two planters and filled both with compost so they're now ready to be planted when the plant order arrives from J Parker's.

Coming indoors I was frozen and couldn't feel my fingers; it was cold but made even colder by the chilling breeze; it's winter so no surprise but it didn't stop me.

I've just enjoyed a mug of tea and one of the ginger buns so now I'll head down to the workshop to paint odds and ends belonging to the rotavator; I need just one dry warmish day to complete the rotavator assembly which will need doing in the garden because there's not enough space in the hut. I'm winning at last but everything seems to take forever these days.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Ask Santa for these:
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Nothing today in my own garden but yesterday the weather were surprisingly better in the afternoon than expected . I got the two barrels and 2 large pots at front door planted up with tulips / daffodils / hyacinth .

I had some cordyline trunks quite large from a job I'd done last week, unfortunately last winter had seen them off . They'll not burn ( i think ) they not woody like a normal tree trunk so no good for neighbours wood stove . So I've used them for edging some borders on the garage site next to me , it will help stop people driving on the borders squashing my plants.

 

Hi,

Many thanks for your suggestion and link @infradig; appreciated. I bought three pair of these and they are waterproof but not very warm; I'm forever handling lots of wet stuff whilst in the garden.



I've worn baseball caps for many years but recently bought my first Beanie hat and it's brilliant so I bought another which arrived today; these are waterproof and much warmer than a baseball cap; it keeps my solar panel dry and they cost very little.




Kind regards, Colin.

 

I didn't do anything outside on the balcony - too cold & wet for that - but I did do some work on my houseplants. All the plants on the kitchen windowsill (3m/10ft long) got a looking over & dead leaves/flowers removed. I found a few pots of cuttings that had dried out & which I threw away. A few with surviving cuttings got some water. After finishing that I cleaned the windows a bit. Being as we are in the deepest darkest days of the year I thought a little cleaning would do the plants some good. I put them all back in the window but it's like a jigsaw puzzle trying to get them all back, more or less, in the position they occupied an hour earlier!

I also did some cleaning of the plants on the bedroom windowsill. I removed lots of dead leaves & dead flowers & then I cut off the stolons on the Spider Plants. They had become far too big & were swamping the Geraniums I have there as well. I didn't clean the windows though.

 

Well it looked like things were drying up slightly this morning so I thought I'd go out and fill the garden bin for tomorrows collection.
Within minutes it came over gloomy and drizzle yet again.

I thought this week was supposed to be dryer but its turned out just as wet all week, as ever.

 

Hubby deadheaded the roses that were left and a bit of pyracantha.