WHAT JOBS ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2018

Hiya Logan, maybe a badger got your hedgehog.

Beautiful summer's day here.......took a sketchpad around with me and made notes about what to move and change about the garden. Some things already moved, others to move over the next couple of days and the big revamps to be done in October. A couple of plants I have tired of will be unceremoniously dumped they were warned

No real sign of flowers going over and hypericum hidcote is flowering again......I always lightly prune back in July or so and flowers often come again. A main hard prune next month

 

Thanks Verdun, yes it could have been, do get badgers around here.
From the pics that You've showed they look alright.

Been thinking of what seeds to get for next year. There's a new cosmos and a shorter tithonia, 30inch.

 

They are GSD's, look up Ghost pups in pets corner for pics

 

Logan, for me one of the beauties of tithonia is the height!!! I've already got my seed for next year

Picked up a single hardy osteospermum...Cannington Roy...from local nursery. Very cheap but it is for the cuttings really ...duly taken. They will root in 3 weeks or so. I will be using quite a few plants for nephew's wall next spring and they will do nicely and all for a couple of quid Also picked up a couple of echeverias cheaply.

Update: took cuttings of various echeverias and aeoniums.

 

Tackled the front lawn and confirmed to my neighbours that I'm utterly and hopelessly mad. They are still very kind to me so hopefully I don't come across as dangerous kind of mad. :rasp:

It was raining so I didn't dare to risk electric mower so cut the grass with shears. On my knees. Vigorous hole poking followed, then mpc+sand+grass seed spreading and finally watering it all in in the rain.

Unfortunately it has now stopped raining and the sun actually is peeking around the corners of the heavy clouds, so it's time to escape indoors

 

Weeding, topping up mulch and rearranging the bulb pots first thing this morning. My new white crocus - Joan of Arc - have just come into bloom and look 10/10. Hoping they multiply quickly.

Quick coffee and pastry (for the energy of course) and then back out lugging, moving all the dirt from my smallest veggie bed which is going to make way for the greenhouse. Soil went into the bigger bed which was formerly housing the rhubarb and lovage but will now be in annual rotation.

Next jobs: Cover new bed with straw, feed the garlic, sow some flower seeds and work out where the *mumble mumble* I have put my rununculus. I saw them just the other day. Arrggh.

 

Dug up a load of irises - cleaned them up and replanted them in another bed. The flowers are so short lived that they don't really work in my garden.

A golden conifer that was given to me in an assorted pot and I subsequently planted in the garden has trebled in size so I'm moving it.

Not sure weather to dig up the salvias or to mulch and hope for the best. Not a favourite flower but they did well this year.

Two projects in the pipeline:-
Moving a raised bed and converting to a raised pond. It was re-positioned further down the garden when our summerhouse was erected and it will be better where we can see it.
Extending the area around the greenhouse and moving a box hedge (again). Buckets ready for overwintering the box Busy times ahead.

 

Ok, maybe a year older with the passing of another birthday but cut down and dug out an old apple tree at least 15' high despite regular pruning.
Although planned as a winter job, impulsive me decided it had to go immediately

A few "dearie me's", a lot of sweat (sun was quite hot up there)!, a lot of deep and wide digging, root pulling and cutting, a crowbar, loppers, saw etc., the job was done. The trunk, down to 5' now took a bit of lifting but no real problem

Unceremoniously it will all be taken to the recycling depot next week.....wonder if next door would notice it if I placed it nicely in her garden!!

It was a James Grieve and produced well but it was way too near the greenhouse....difficult and dangerous to access both of them so......

Always great satisfaction when such jobs are done and dusted. I enjoy the physicality of it . Enjoying the obligatory cool lager too

Hole filled in but I will add plenty of compost according to what I plant there instead. It does create a 30' x 30' space so could be soft fruit, asparagus bed, grasses and tall perennials or anything. However, a mini tropical area is tempting me A very warm, sheltered spot (the whole garden is walled anyway) hot in the summer, mild in winter. Wont rush in deciding

 

garden? playing with puppies and trying to protect the shrubs they've taken a shine to.

Managed to feed the chickens and ferret, cut a cabbage and pick a few more tomatoes this morning before the "darlings" were wide awake and gardening became impossible!

 

Today started with clearing the mess that I'd made on the lawn from a bit of 'light pruning' in the border.

Then scarifying the lawns, filling half of a compost bin formed by 4 pallets with the clippings. I can see us needing another compost bin soon as all three are now almost full and the oldest one is not yet fully composted

 

The afternoon was spent mixing media and repotting orchids in preparation for winter. Whenever possible I use containers salvaged from the recycle bin. Let's face it, orchids, when not in bloom, are not very attractive plants, so why spend a lot of money on attractive growing containers? Also, most of my orchids are epiphytes and do best if the roots are exposed to air, so used berry containers provide an ideal environment. To use food containers that do not have vents in the sides, I simply use a cutting bit and make my own vents.

When in bloom, the entire container can be placed in a display pot held in place by sphagnum moss. At that point, I bring them indoors to enjoy the flowers. The two plants in the lower photo have been cross-pollinated and I am looking forward to seeing the results, but that is a few years down the road.

 

Watered the pots, baskets and seedlings/ young plants. I was pleased to see some sweet William my son sowed sprouting. Dead headed the cosmos, they look great!
Lastly I swept the paths, how do they get so .......... muddy, leafy?
My stepping stones, surrounded by bark, had more bark on them than the surrounding area! Oh and don’t get me started on dealing with the damson trees that line our garden.... everything underneath is purple

 

Day off gardening today, off to Diss to do some photography. Maybe a visit to a garden centre en route.
My OH is cleaning stones on the proposed raised pond before repositioning. Not a job for me I don't mind dirt but not pressure sprayed dirt

 

Did a bit of pruning - this was the result: