WHAT JOBS ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2018

Gary it should look nice mate when you've finished and I that rich fencing colour you've added to your fencing down the back end

Woo it's not the new lawn your put down is it

 

WO, you may change your mind about removing your lawn when its green lushness returns in a few weeks . A fantastic, and probably a one off, summer for most of us but for lawns, well, they have never looked worse have they?

I used to be impuslve about changing things, often on a whim, but try now to be a little more circumspect about such rashness.

Never used pine nuggets but not sure bark chippings is a better look than grass WO

 

Ok, sounds good WO
How about a new flower bed then?

 

Woo I would match that up looking the same as your other side as it would look very nice...when entering in to your garden and up the path

 

Good size WO.
If its sunny there how about a lavendar hedge to edge the path? Wonderful scent and billowing blue flowers???

 

It's been cold, wet and miserable here but I was able to get a bit done during breaks in the rain. Planted a new almond tree, continued weeding and mulching the beds and fertilising.

During the downpours I sat under cover and washed out all my seed starting pots, some of which were then planted up with the first tomato and chilli seeds and put by the fire to germinate. The last few years I haven't started my chill is early enough so hopefully will have nice big plants this year.

Wishing I could take a week off work to keep up the progress.

 

Cassie although it was raining mate at least you've achieved something which you needed to do

 

Thanks Gail. Sometimes my expectations are larger than my abilities.

Feeling in a shopping mood tonight - might have a look online and see if there is anything else I MUST have for this season.

 

The rain gutter I transferred over from the other shed. It's not perfect (It leaks at either end) but it will be better than nothing. I drilled a large hole in the pipe directly above the water butt. I tried to glue on a spout but it didn't take. I think the whole thing looks quite neat.

G.

 

Hiya WO
This is part of a lavendar hedge here cut back 3 weeks or so ago. Until it was cut back it was billowing with blue flowers and associated perfume for several weeks from early June. This hedge is now 3 or 4 years old and replaced another lavendar hedge that had been in place for 20 years.

If you cut lavendar reasonably hard back immediately after flowering you will be left with an attractive, neat, aromatic evergreen hedge for the rest of the year...until it starts to flower again next spring/summer. I am almost as happy with the formality of the clipped hedge as I am with it flowering. The formality is a perfect feature of the winter garden here

Varieties? The well tested Hidcote and Munstead .....this is Munstead.....are probably the best for hedging. This hedge was propagated from my own cuttings....they rooted during the summer months and were planted out the following spring so what better value can you get?

Agree, lavendar can look straggly but that is only because they were not regularly pruned back .
Nothing to beat a lavendar hedge for sheer beauty, scent and for attracting bees.

 

I cut back all the cosmos in pots and hope that they will get going again. They were beginning to look a bit tired and straggly.

The dahlias in pots are outgrowing their space (I seriously underestimated how large they would grow). I'll put them in the ground next year. The agapanthus flowers are nearly over so I cut them down leaving one seedhead on each plant. They have been spectacular this year but they are outgrowing their pots so I'll split some of them next year.
Earlier in the year I repotted two large bay trees into v large pots after the half barrels they were in started to disintegrate. They are doing well in their new homes and the paler one has greened up.
I dug up and weeded the unsuccessful fruit/veggie patch which is in too much shade to give good results but having no-where else to grow edibles I'm giving up on them (apart from the apple trees). Now, I'm left with a largish plot with nothing in it. I sat in the summerhouse for an hour this afternoon and contemplated. It was a pleasant respite and a chance to recharge but I haven't made a decision on what to do now.