WHAT JOBS ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2018

That`s the most important job on my list today too Shiners - it`s all go ennit

 

I didn't realise what I was letting myself in for when I dug up a large clump of Crinum Powellii. Its in the greenhouse now drying out a bit so I can divide and separate the bulbs.

My white appleblossom pelargoniums have been amazing all summer spilling out of pots on the patio. Now is the time for them to be uprooted and cut back. They're the only pelargoniums I'm keeping this year. I've decided the white ones are best (for me) I saw windowboxes in London with just white ones and they looked the biz.

 

Cor Woo, that looks lovely now, much less work for you, I bet you are feeling pleased with yourself .......as well as knockered ..............time for putting yer feet up!

 

I have at long last tidied my shed. It is probably more accurate to say that I have taken out the things that can happily live outside. I had a lot of offcuts of wood which were taking up a lot of floor space. They seemed a gooď idea at the time.These I have advertise as free to anybody willing to collect. If they are not taken they will go to the tip.



It's interesting what you find when you have a clear out. I found a bag of gravel and a bag of cobbles. I sought of knew I had those. I found a bag of sharp sand. I bought one recently so now I have 2 bags. Not necessarily a bad thing. I will probably need both of them. The most impressive thing I found was a half moon spade. I was planning to get one of those. It's a good job I resisted the temptation of buying it before I was ready to use it.

G.

 

No work in the garden at all but on my way back with the dog a neighbour cornered me. She is "doing out" her front garden and, fatally, I spottted a few plants in the wrong places and said so.
Now I have promised to call around and advise her, help her ...maybe do it all for her but she is one not afraid to get her hands dirty
She is a typical newbie ....she has been tempted by everything "pretty" yet not bothered to improve the soil. That's the first thing I will suggest, turning in plenty of compost.

I will water plants in containers soon though.....despite being a cloudy day with mizzle at times it has been a very warm and humid day and pots will still dry out. Pleasant day

 

Just the sort of shopping you like best then

 

Update.....plants duly watered and and a chance to look at a few plants' progress

Azaleas and rhodos in pots are full of buds; not seen them as prolific before so huge promise for the spring. Ditto the camellias.
Most if not all the hostas are still looking relatively pristine.....perversely they seemed to have enjoyed the hot summer but they were well watered throughout the summer.
Strong scent from honeysuckles and heliotropes but the most delightful still lingers on me from brushing past a large pineapple sage

 

Been out sowing grass seed in bare spots and overseeding other thinning spots. We're expecting rain in spurts over the next three or four days according to the weather guessers. Going back out to put soil on the bare spots too.

And I'll be watering... I don't have a lot of faith in those guessers.

 

Just awarded myself Good Parenting and Hero of Labour medals

Survived a back-to-school- shopping trip in the town with a teenager (Primark was involved!) and trimmed half of the hedge.

Now the Hedge is a handsome Privet feature of some 15m long. When we moved in last year it was in a sorry state, very uneven and not growing well. I paid a lad to do it, he took a hundred £ and the result was neat uneven sorry looking hedge.

So off I went in the spring with plentyful fish&blood&bone, and the hedge responded well. Very well in fact. During the summer the hedge started to grow vigorously, but due to the birds I just left it.

Now it was in a state where the council might have warned me any day to stop blocking the traffic, so off I went with clippers and confidence. "Honestly, how hard can it be? " I have never had a proper hedge before so am a total newbie.

3 hours and several entertained neighbours later it actually looks ok, I'm barely able to lift my arms to the keyboard and the other half still needs to be done. (Hedge, that is , not the spouse)

But it was a nice job to do, and falls nicely into my gardening motto: Study the basics, get appropriate stuff if you can, do your best, have fun, and more likely than not the After is better than the Before.

Lovely and warm here

 

A hot day here

Lawns to be cut later...After a nice cool lager

 

Beautiful day so after a hedge cutting session, we headed down to the local park for a stroll in the sunshine. Pleased to see the park's department has invested in perennials and grasses instead of summer bedding. Still plenty of colour in the island beds.
I couldn't take the picture without getting my shadow in it

 

Finished the other hedge and counted 3 passer bys lightheartedly commenting that I don't have to worry about bingo wings. How funny and original.

OK, in all fairness, they all also told me I'm doing a cracking job, which was very nice and kind even if not quite truthful... but the hedge looks better than what it was before I started and at least I don't have to worry about bingo wings.

Poked holes in the front lawn and had the Teenager filling them with sand. All those trips to playground sand pit finally paid off. Watered, deadheaded, chatted with The Teen who paid back yesterday's horrors in Primark by using the last of basil to make pesto.