What jobs are we doing in the garden today 2016

Take it easy on yourself @shiney, I worry about all that you are doing. I need a sit-down, just reading it!

 

I've dug up a large Rhodo, two Skimmias, two Hydrangeas and two Camellias which I then took down to the church cemetery where some volunteers are making a garden. They have a five year plan and a lot of space to fill and I've got lots of plants to donate. I'm not at all religious but I do like the idea of those visiting their loved ones gaining some solace from the plants I've donated.

Also re-potted and root pruned a large Rhodo and took another one out of its pot and planted it in the border.

Few more to dig up tomorrow which are going to a colleague.

 

Finishing the waterworks in the larger of the greenhouses and then lots of potting up.

 

Thanks for the tips M! How long after your first application, did you then apply the second coating? I bought a 2L bottle so thankfully have plenty left to use! I just want the majority of the weeds gone!

 

plant out tomatoes and salad leaves

 

not working nearly as hard as shiney, but starting on getting things sorted this year. Noticed that the woodpecker has decorated my shiney-bean-frame:

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Guess that will teach me not to be tardy when refilling his peanut feeder..

 

I did an application; then two weeks later another application. But, much depends on the weather! For example, if it rains within 48hrs, it might be wise to give it another dose. Likewise, if it is pancake hot for more than a week, a judgement call is needed to decide if it is the drought causing wilting or the weed killer. On the brambles, I have so far made 3 applications and the brute is still giving me the evil eye
In short: play it by ear. One may *look* like it has conquered the issue, but, in my experience, it can take 3/4/5 depending on how bad the issue is. Just keep at it, and eventually you will be King of the Jungle

OMG!! He's an artist!!!!

 

Well, a couple of days late, but we have assembled the runner bean frame. Note to self - veg beds ALWAYS need to be bigger than you think! Wondering where I am going to fit the beans, runner beans, courgettes and tomatoes, alongside the broad beans and mangetout that are already in....

Hubby also mowed the lawn, first time he has used the new lawnmower, and only 3rd time (he's saying 5-7 times) he has cut the grass in the nearly 4 years we have lived here. I know, I spoil him! But then he does earn the lolly to pay the mortgage on this place . (And for the lawnmower, he's just heckled).

Whilst he as cutting jaunty diagonals across the slope, I took out two hollies, three small yew trees, and raised the canopy of one of the golden conifers (it was almost going subterranean, the branches were that low!). Lost count of how many cherry seedlings I pulled out! Also tied in one of our nest-boxes, which is a rubberised clamp-on thing. Probably won't be used by birds this summer, but will be ready for overwintering tits.
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I was hoping the broad beans would be ready to come out when the courgettes needed to go in, but they are only 8" high, and haven't flowered yet. Is that late for broad beans?

 

Got the potting up done. Loaded my dodge carrier with plants for #1 son to take. Did not get to the waterworks but did make new covers for the patio furniture cushions. Nice bright sunbrella fabric.

 

I transplanted some hardy Fuchsias into a new little patch that I'd tidied, so that they might look pretty all together



I also pruned my Ilex Golden King - it had gone to look scruffy and lopsided.
I won't get any berries on it next winter but I don't mind, because after it regrows it will be a better shape ...



Then I cut back an 8 ft tall Fuchsia (Lechlade Magician)
Here's before :-



Here's after :-

 

Weeding, weeding weeding. Weeds everywhere. Weeds in the beds, weeds in the grass and weeds in the patio! I found about 200 small thistle plants growing in the lawn (after having been hurt by one whilst weeding in the beds!) so made it my mission to get rid of them all. It's only a small patch of lawn but there were loads in it. Now it's a bit holey...