What jobs are we doing in the Garden today 2015

I've given up with hens in the main garden, they ate everything and because I use lots of mulching they scratched it everywhere. The blackbirds are bad enough! They are now in open prison at the end of the garden ........ the hens not the blackbirds!
How many hens do you have and what type Lolimac?

 

Hi Philomel, I've only got 6 'girls' at the moment,I'd have hundreds if I could they're all Hybrids,Rhodys x light Sussex I've been determined for years to try and have a nice garden and chooks and at first it really was a battle but over the years we're getting there I do have a lot of shrubs in the garden which the chooks aren't interested in,it does get a bit more fraught when the herbaceous stuff starts to emerge but if I protect them while they get decent growth on them they stand a better chance.One interesting point I have noticed is that purple foliage plants are of no interest to them up to now anyway.Gradually I'm replacing the messy chicken barricades with box hedging which works to a point

 

Ha ha I know what you mean Lolimac I had nearly 50 a couple of years ago, but am now down to 17 and I've banned cockerels so I don't get any more for a while. The last straw was when they ate the bottom of a newly planted Eleagnus Limelight hedge. It still has a bare bottom
They're all ones I've raised from eggs using an incubator or some under hens. Mainly Marans, blue with copper necks, and Faverolles, which are sand coloured with fluffy cheeks.
Anyway I'm growing veg now too and that stands no chance against them, so prison it is... Do love hearing and seeing them around the garden though.... They used to slow down my gardening attempts though by grabbing the worms off my fork

 

I've done nowt in the garden during autumn/winter, so this weekend I'm going to clear the driveway of pots, compost and other detritis that is lurking there and do some general tidying up. I'm also going to do some pruning (especially the roses); put my lilac h/s in a container; re-pot some dwarf rhodos; mulch the top of all my rhodos/camellias with some ericaceous compost (if I have any left after repotting); and move a couple of large rhodo planters from their position on the drive to somewhere lighter/less wet.

 

I did try the shoes thing first, got them in my local charity shop, but sadly it was a kind of rough papery/canvassey type material (I realise that's not a brilliant description, lol) and the bottoms fell out of the pockets after getting wet lol. I will probably plant up with lots of small flowers, I'm done with veg, to be honest and I like flowers and seeing the bees etc that they bring to my garden - apart from Strawberries and tomatoes - I like growing those! Hope you have a good day x

 

Too damp to inspire me to garden as such, but I have relocated a couple of pots (heavy blighters when they are wet )

 

I transfered my sunflower seedlings into individual pots and soaking my nigra bamboo seeds that arrived today

 

Totally foul day here today, but went to the greenhouse to encourage my little greenies. There are now lots of cabbage and romanesco up, but no one else showing, so I had a rummage in the sweet peas. Roots are being put down

 

Scarified the lawn (half acre) by hand with a rake, I'm now nackered and must be unfit as it used to take me 2 days, this time it took 2 1/2 days

 

moved about 1/2 ton of hardcore ready to build my greenhouse next week

 

Well what a wasted day that's been...couldn't get to the border I needed to sort out because it meant walking backwards and forwards over the lawn which hasn't dried out as I'd expected,it's still like a quagmire I should have known better really...did do a bit of pricking out and a lot of staring Oh and talking to chickens so not completely wasted..

 

Frustrating Lolimac, but sounds as if you did quite a bit of good, and your lawn is thankful you made that decision
What is this life........n all that

 

Jiffy it dosent matter how long it took as long as you enjoyed doing it

 

And so it begins, today I made my first real effort in the garden this year

• Dug over the veg patch, nice a crumbly, not too wet and it was full of lovely worms
• Tidyed up clematis, some have put on a good 2-3 inch of growth in the last week or so, hence needing a chop
• Cut back dead growth on some perennials, leaving some of the more tender ones a few more weeks
• Generally had a good tidy up of other areas

Its good to be back at it, it almost felt like spring today