What Jobs are we doing in the Garden today 2014..

Borrowed the chain saw from work and cut down a large, mature apple tree at the bottom of my garden. It had finally given up this summer after looking sickly for the last couple of years.

A somewhat tricky operation, as several of the boughs overhung the chicken run. However, with a bit of forward planning and a large strap with my strapping brother-in-law on the other end, the job was safely completed with no mishaps.

The larger logs will be going in his wood burner, I've cut up some of the thicker branches and made a log pile in the wildlife corner and the rest is in a pile ready for a bonfire tonight, so nothing going to waste.

 

Jobs, raking leaves, and more raking leaves, and more raking leaves. Hoping to find a company to help. Looking. But we rake into January. There is no other jobs I will be doing now until spring. Just raking leave. Boring.

 

About a month ago I picked up a "cheap" apple tree from the local garden Centre 'cos it had blown over in the night & come out of its pot. I repotted it & sat it in the sun when I got home, and this weekend I got around to clearing a bed & planting it out:

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Its going to need a bit of a prune to get it into the shape I want, but that can wait until its settled.

 

Today we fitted the replacement glass in the new greenhouse and I put a few things in there (mainly because the shed and patio were full!)
Then I dug up half of my dahlias and left them in there to dry out.
Didn't have chance to plant any tulips so that will have to wait til next weekend now, the removal of the dahlias uncovered loads of weeds and self seeded foxgloves so there's a bit of work to do first.

 

Yesterday potted up some Buxus and dug out a couple of Rodgersias and potted those up too until I can find a spot in the garden where they'll be happier

 

I lit some tea lights and put them into el cheapo lanterns so I can see far enough not to fall over the step at night when Ozzy goes out.
Don't get caught out thinking this isn't gardening ... ... garden lighting is just as important as garden planting

Took a look at the piece of wall I planted up the other week: the forget me knots haven't died; the honeysuckle hasn't died; the Virginia creeper is dormant ( ) and the bulbs must still be hibernating. It's a piece of wall I see from my kitchen sink window and as I haven't killed anything off that I've put in there yet ... it promises to be a pretty sight come Spring.

 

Buddleia & big rose pruned back, before rain stopped play

 

Not really in the garden, but in the shed. Giving all the shafts of my tools a rub over with linseed oil and cleaning up the metalwork on items I won't use for a while and giving them a coat of wax polish ( I use up all the odds and ends of furniture, car and shoe polish for this - works a treat)

a-a

 

driving lawn mower around sucking up leave, burning. and around and around and around. only got half the front yard done yesterday.

 

Got stuck in yesterday afternoon and started emptying one of my two large wooden compost bins. Ran out of daylight, so finished the job this morning. Eight or nine barrowloads of good stuff now spread on the vegetable plot ready to be dug in.

Both compost bins sit in front of a tall Leylandii hedge belonging to the neighbours, so I took the opportunity to cut my side of the hedge while the first bin was empty, then turned the contents of the second bin into the empty one, cut the hedge behind that bin and finished off the rest of the hedge while I was at it.

After that, I just had time to dig over a small section of the veg patch and sow my Aquadulce Claudia broad beans before the rain arrived.

 

Today after 2.30pm was my only chance in the garden this weekend, and due to work I wouldn't be able to get out there in any daylight this week. So I grabbed my chance (despite heavy rain) and got all my tulips planted in borders and containers. With a thin layer of grit under them I'm hoping they'll do well. Most are botanical, though I've a few hybrids mixed in with some alliums.
I also dug up some tired annuals, checked on the drying out dahlia tubers, tidied my shed and greenhouse and swept the patio. My best achievement (still in rain) was planting up a large concrete container I got from ebay. I've gone for:
2 pink speckled hellebores (original price was £26, I got them for 4.50!)
An aquilegia grown from seed
3 allium purple sensation
A variety of black and orange hybrid tulips
Some white dwarf tulips
3 pansies (matrix)
And a single primrose

Needless to say it's quite full and should look good over the coming months! Was going to paint it but might leave it grey for a year at least.

Gardening in the rain by floodlight is fun!

 

Nothing, the garden is flooded. I think it's always going to be like this...

 

That is such a shame nFrost, I'm sure there must be something you can do. Is the flooding all over or where the willow used to be?