WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2023

Your welcome

 

Finished planting the last 12 cosmos and the last 20 snapdragons before it starts to rain.

So sorry to hear that @john558

 

Hi,

Another very heavy morning in the garden logging.




Logs put on Gumtree yesterday this huge trunk plus other heavy sections went by dinnertime today; I cut the trunk into 10" slices and they were still incredibly heavy; more branches yet to cut and shred.

I'm sorry to learn you're so unwell @john558 it must be hugely frustrating for you; I hope given more time your health will improve. Good luck.

Torrential rain with thunderstorm swept along the valley at around 3:15 last night giving the gardens a good drenching.

Just enjoying a mug of tea then back up the mountain.

Kind regards, Colin

 

R

Did you save a few for youself? They are excellent for sitting, or can put pots with plants on top of them.

 

Oak timber gone already shame I am after some oak posts could of put an order in and kept you busy for the rest of the week @Retired

 

Planted out a £6.99 clematis Montana tea rose today

 

Done nothing today I been feeling a tad fragile . Its been rain very hard today so wouldn't of got much done anyway .

I did get the pointing done yesterday , it took a lot longer than expected and I hated every bit of it , its getting put into the same bracket of painting mind numbing boring .

Its a bit messy I could do to clean the flags up round the edges with a stiff brush

 

Unable to do anything on the balcony today as after I came home from the church service our son came round to pick us up & take us to a GC a couple of miles away. I hadn't visited it in 5 or 6 years. Now under new management it used to be a Wyevale but now its a Dobbies. Didn't buy any plants though. We only went to the cafeteria to spend a couple of hours with our son's in-laws who had come over from Spain for the weekend. They go back tomorrow.

But they gave me a beautiful pink lily! Unfortunately it's unnamed!

We had a thundery shower this afternoon but knowing how windy it can be in our street I brought the standard Fuchsia 'Garden News' I've been training, & which is just about to open buds, into our living room as there is no room to leave on the balcony except its place up against the balcony railings. I thought a few good blasts of wind would break my plant, which is still really in the formative process. Fortunately, aside from the heavy shower that only lasted about 5 mins, there were no strong blasts! I've now put it back in its place as no more thunder is expected.

The leaves on this Fuchsia are enormous for a Fuchsia! It's also a VERY vigorous plant! Even though I've stopped the branches 3 times before allowing it to go ahead & flower, the branches are half a metre long already! It's very difficult to get a photo where this can be appreciated!
.

 

Hi,

Thanks for your useful suggestion @Alisa; I won't be keeping any of the tree other than I'll leave the stump about 3' tall for the neighbours cats to sit on.

Oh dear @Perki yes a shame but I think you'd have had problems lifting posts made from this oak tree; Paul who collected the heavy trunk sections was about 6' 3" tall athletic build at 35 years old; he asked if I could log at 9" which I did as he carried then barrowed to the street from our rear garden; he struggled to lift each; they were incredibly dense and hard. When I erected a new mesh fence at the top of our mountain a few years ago I bought 9 treated softwood posts these 4" x 4" x 12' I could lift one at a time but I couldn't carry them up the steep slope so tied each to a sack cart and dragged them up.

I worked so hard all last week for seven full days I feel a bit strange this morning; I've just taken my blood pressure reading and usually it's perfect; it's now 106/63 bordering on low meaning back off and have a rest until it returns to normal; I'm used to hard work but working like I've been working is excessive; I'll heed the warning.

Now perhaps I can spend a bit of time in my studio learning to play my violins and sight reading violin scores; whoopee.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Not had the time yet today but I intend to finish putting up the other half of the strings on the balcony railings. If I don't get them up soon the 'Morning Glories' will start climbing & have nowhere to go once they get to the top of the railings which are about 1m high.

Last night I put the Fuchsia standard back in its place on the balcony. We didn't have any more thunderstorms during the night so they were OK this morning!

 

Spiderworts, I do like them, but they do flop into other plantings, so every year when they have flopped, I get the clippers out, and cut them off at the quick. Maybe I will shovel some out this year and toss. We have plenty in other parts of the garden.

 

A bit of weeding and deadheading...
Excitedly waiting for my first Sunflower of the year.......

 

Now that we have had a smidgen of a shower yesterday ( and hopefully more tomorrow) I have spend the afternoon planting up some left over plants ,still a few more to do. I didn't want to plant them out in all the heat and dryness at the time.
A bit of a mix of plants...a few Geraniums, Cleome, ,Rudbeckia, Zinnias, Oenotheras, Mini Lupins, Mini Snapdragons , and Fuchsias.

 

All I did yesterday was to feed my plants on the balcony and in the flat - that took the better part of an hour!

In the afternoon I went to do some watering in the church gardens. About half an hour's work. Even though I'm doing it 3 times a week every time I go to do it I find many of Calendulas are wilted but the Sweet Williams mostly look OK. The African Marigolds also look OK. During this week the first of the seedlings will flower.

 

Finished off all the remaining planting out yesterday.