What Jobs Are We Doing In The Garden Today 2019

Done nowt outside today except fill the bird feeders and walk the doggies. It's turned reet chilly. My greenhouse heater is probably wearing itself out! Must make the effort and put the insulation panels up across the windows and roll out the heat mat in there tomorrow.

 

Made a tent for my two little shrubs out front. I had some leftover sunscreen which is a weave of polyester. A little tighter weave than burlap. It will filter the wind as well. And it doesn't look too ugly. I'll add some Christmas lights to the little front garden too. I will not turn them on until December 1st.

I've got some climbing to do to adjust some so,ar panels but that will wait for a dry, sunny day. The guessers say it will be Friday

 

Didn't know you had a lawn armandii, thought it were all plants plants plants .

I've had the lurgy all week but I've been doing a bit over the week still lifted the last of the dahlias yesterday. Had the afternoon off so wrestled the Cannas out of the pots and cut back the plants / removed annuals from the hot border.

The shredding pile were getting quite large so pulled out the little woodchipper but the cutting were to wet and slimy so got out one of the bigger mowers and chomped them up with that. By time I had finished that it were already dark

my last bulbs arrived today I do tend to have a look at the quality of the bulbs when they arrive . Bought 1 allium ambassador and it is HUGE , I think they sent me the XXL bulbs which were being sold for £9 each instead of the £3.50 bulbs

These are 3 of my other Allium Ambassador bulbs compared to

 

The lawnmower has been repaired, and we collected it from the DIY place yesterday evening. Boy that was like a monty python sketch!! The guy was looking for a lawnmower on the little shelves, thinking it might be in one of the shoe-box sized boxes?!! I know my french is bad, but the repair slip was written by them in french!! Then they called 4 people, none of whom could speak English, or Dutch. (The shop is 1km inside the french-speaking area, we live in the Dutch-speaking area). In the end another customer translated my Dutch for them!

Anyway, this meant that today I was able to spend 3 hours cutting the grass, and clearing up some of the leaves. Not so much to cut, but just going back and forth emptying the box!! The oaks are still to drop, but at least now I can put all the “lawn cuttings” straight into the leaf-mould cages!

Deffo needed a double cuppa after that. I’m sure when we first moved here, I’d do some gardening, and then cut the grass. Now, if I cut the grass, that’s often it for the day!!

 

I did a miniscule amount of raking because the leaves were still pretty wet from melted snow and I need them dried out to vacuum and mulch. Plus there are lots more leaves to drop than the leaves on the lawn. It is a tree planted by the town some 30 years ago and it is a nasty Norwegian Maple- we call them swamp maples because they are not very desirable. And the leaves all have black spots in the fall.

I've looked into it and apparently it is okay to spread them around because the fallen spotty leaves don't infect anything but swamp maples and it is considered useless to remove in efforts to isolate the disease.

I sure hope the information was correct.

 

So. Its over, summer that was. The last green bin collection of the year is gone. Always results in that last minute pruning and tidying on my little garden. Now the pond has gone we have planted some alpines there and I hope they survived the constant flooding due the rain we have had and survive the winter. Roses have a short prune. Fuchsias, lavender and 'I dont know what that is' have been cut back and ready for a winter rest.

This winter I shall be nursing my young Dendrobiums. I have several that are doing okay. I have the very small youngters in a heated seed tray for the winter. Thats my update from Roberts garden for now.

 

Well progress has been made in planting bulbs , planted all the pots up with bulbs daffs - tulips - muscari etc . I did make a mistake planting one of the troughs up on the fence , planted the wrong tulips only realized when I finished and picked the tulips up I were supposed to plant I had to remove everything again and replant .

Potted up plants I am hoping to save over winter, I can't find my scoop its driving me insane its been lost for 2 month I've got a feeling it might be hibernating in the compost heap.

Planted out the last of the daffodils but for jenny in the garden and the camassia.
Feel like I am getting somewhere now with the bulbs just a box of alliums and others like crocus- snowdrops to plant

 

I've done nothing of any significance for weeks outside. It's been either too frosty or too wet even though there's been no rain to speak of. Fog for the last three days hasn't helped. I did rake up a load of Oak leaves mid week from the top end of the drive. If I leave them they will get slimy and being an incline will reduce grip for the car after stopping to check the road is clear to pull out.

 

Thanks Shiney. Nowt to do in the garden today. It's a swamp our there.