What Jobs Are We Doing In The Garden Today 2019

Discussion in 'General Gardening Discussion' started by Fat Controller, Feb 16, 2019.

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  1. capney

    capney Head Gardener

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    Someone is going to busy.
     
  2. ARMANDII

    ARMANDII Low Flying Administrator Staff Member

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    Did I hear a volunteer somewhere in there???:scratch::whistle::cat-kittyandsmiley::coffee::heehee:
     
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    • ARMANDII

      ARMANDII Low Flying Administrator Staff Member

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      upload_2019-11-25_20-30-39.jpeg
       
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      • Sian in Belgium

        Sian in Belgium Total Gardener

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        I didn’t do much today, apart from pick fallen leaves out of the pond, and pull out dying-back water lily leaves. Boy! Is that water cold?!!
         
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        • luciusmaximus

          luciusmaximus Total Gardener

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          :rain::rain: and more :rain:. In between the :rain: the garden has been to wet and muddy to do much. I think all the jobs I had hoped to catch up with and a few new ones will have to wait until next year.

          Last week I did cut back a Scabious in a pot and pull a rather astonishing amount of blanket weed out of the pond. I started mulching a few of the pots but only did one before :rain:. Mr Woos beautiful patio Rose has decided that later November is a good time to have a repeat flowering :hate-shocked:. Should I mulch it now or wait until it's finished flowering?
          IMG_20191119_1618231_rewind.jpg
           
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          • shiney

            shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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            I did a load more of leaf clearing and tidying up potted plants and moving them to a clear nursery area - out of the leaf fall. Filled one and a half wheelie bins with willow leaves (take too long to rot down) and stopped after doing 100 pots. :phew:
             
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            • Mike Allen

              Mike Allen Total Gardener

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              I use the small bubble kind. It's wide enough to cover two widths of glass. My GH is made of cedarwood so fixing is fairly easy. I measure and cut the plastic from just above the side window line, then I take the plastic to the ridge and down the other side. I use an electric staple gun. Having completed the roof span, I then do the sides. As the GH is T&G boarded base to bench height I cut lengths so as to overlap the ends of the roof span and fix the lower end to the framework at the bench. Originally I had fixed the sheeting down to base level, thus covering the inside of the boarding. This sheeting is still good. Always make certain that overlaps will allow any rain etc that does get in, will be able to drain between sheet and frame. I leave my insulation in situ all the time. Good luck.
               
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              • Mike Allen

                Mike Allen Total Gardener

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                Just an extra tip. When I was using two 75foot GH's I would divide the run off by using broom handles and making roller blinds. These I fixed across the house. Very handy for mixed collections.
                 
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                • ARMANDII

                  ARMANDII Low Flying Administrator Staff Member

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                  Well, it was wet weather stopping "play" outside so I decide to use the two large unused pots for the remaining Daffodils and Tulips in the buckets and the bag of 60 Daffs in a plastic bag. So, while listening to the pattering of rain, again:wallbanging::gaah:, I made up another bucket of Compost, sand, and potting grit and started putting the bulbs in layers into the pots. I managed to pot up one of the large pots but needed more compost for another mixture but, since it was then pouring down with rain, and the compost was outside in the side passage, I decided that was a :nonofinger::nonofinger:, so I settled for partly layering bulbs in the second pot. But, since the two pots won't be sufficient to get all the bulbs in, I had my eye on two long, empty, plastic Troughs on the Patio to help. The only problem with the Troughs was that they had no drainage holes. So it was a case of dodging the rain drops, picking up the wet Troughs and running for the House. After that, it was a case of using a large, old, wide bladed Screwdriver, heating the blade up and making holes for drainage in the bottoms of the Trough. Job done, it was a case of..........:coffee:
                   
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                  • shiney

                    shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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                    I was out most of the morning whilst it was sunny and when I got home I started to carry on with tidying/removing leaves from another 50 pots of plants and moving them to a nursery area away from the trees. It started raining whilst I was doing it and I continued until My coat was soaked through.

                    I got indoors and the sun came back out! So I went out again - with another coat on - and did another 50 pots.
                     
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                    • CarolineL

                      CarolineL Total Gardener

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                      Hi @Mike Allen - wow those were BIG greenhouses! Unfortunately the roll of bubble plastic I had was just a bit too small to cover 2 panels - also the extra supports my greenhouse has between the uprights and the roof get in the way. I have an aluminium greenhouse - so no staple gun! Yes, separating sections for a mixed collection is worth doing - I used to rig up curtains between them. But with my new greenhouse I ordered it with a glass partition to save the effort. Thanks for suggestions - I will just have to be thankful that I do not have 150 foot of greenhouse to insulate like you did!
                       
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                      • Mike Allen

                        Mike Allen Total Gardener

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                        Yes Caroline, fair size. They were in the grounds of a military hospital. I'd been headhunted to take on the post of head gardener. Sadly previous gardeners were nowt but labourers and merely kept the paths swept and the grass cut. The GH's had been donated by the Nuffield Foundation. One had cold frames the full length. Both houses had hot water pipes from a small gas boiler. Realising that the powers to be, (MOD) were as tight a the proverbial gnats ****. It was agreed that, provided the hospital was cared for, then everything else was mine.

                        Silly me. As perhaps some kind of surity. I suggested that I'd have the GH's full within a month. I could have bitten myown tongue. Nevertheless, by a bit of scrounging. Both houses were full by the end of August that year. Close to where I had just moved to was Eltham Palace, and the grounds there were used/maintaned by a section of the Royal Parks, here they trained their gardeners. I soon had loads of geranium cuttings etc.

                        Time passed and I had quite a following of outside customers, especially for roses.
                        The chap who delivered the medical gases asked one day if I could get rose bushes. This became a good earner for that time. He would turn up with a clip board and lists of his workmates requests. I had at that time a good friendship with a market stall holder in Woolwich market. Strange but true. Alf, the gas man, said. That the chap on the market sold a load of rubbish. Strange. This is the man I dealt with. I'd give him a list. He would deliver the roses to me at the hospital. He'd give me a receipt including VAT. Honestly. I made one old shilling profit per rose bush, plus the return of the VAT that I'd never paid.

                        Poor old Alf passed away about a year ago, sometimes we met in the supermarket. Topic of conversation. Hey Mick, those roses are still growing well. Little did he know. Alf old friend. RIP.
                        At that time the IRA were very active. Woolwich had been victime to some of their bomb blasts. A pal, a sgt in the RA, his wife had an early morning job, cleaning some offices. She, on route to the front door noticed a toy gun on the ground, she picked it up and woke up in hospital having had her hand blown off. This was the era.

                        OK. Taking all things in all. Those days wages were small, thankfully I was a civil servant, job for life etc etc. I have to honestly say. Although I started out helping/hindering dad to harvest the spuds 1945. My life has been dominated by horticulture. Leaving the police servic and joining the GLC parks. For some unknown reason. I passed my 1st class gardeners and groundsmanships. Then truly my gardening life and experience has been learned by practical experience, self taught. Fair do's, I have survived on the compost for several years. I have utilized that time and got me a few credits, including becoming a plant pathologist and plant scientist. Mere titles, but so what? I love watching that series. The Victorian Garden
                        but although my old dad wasn't a professional gardener. I feel that in the series. I am retracing some of my footsteps..
                         
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                        • CarolineL

                          CarolineL Total Gardener

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                          Goodness those were scary times re IRA. I remember how your bag was searched as you went into every department store. Your problem with financing the greenhouses is a common one. People buy some big resource, then conveniently forget that it now costs money every year to service it, maintain it etc. I call it 'Brass Plaque Syndrome'. Someone gets their name on a brass plaque for donating/opening a resource, then it goes downhill because annual funding doesn't get a brass plaque and publicity.
                           
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                          • shiney

                            shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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                            We have that problem but the blame is ours! We bought a large wooden greenhouse in 1976 and have done our best to maintain it (probably not as good as most people would do as I'm useless at DIY) but it is rotting away in places. I've replaced some of the timber but can't do too much with it. The supporting timbers at the bottom, now the worst ones, can't be replaced without taking the whole thing down. That's an impossibility :doh:. The panels come in 5ft x 2.5ft sections (fully glazed) which could be replaced but they no longer make them in Imperial measurements.

                            A few years back we got the manufacturer's installation people to give us a free estimate for repairing it. They said it couldn't be done and suggested that we either buy a new one (now £9,000 :yikes:) or keep using it until it falls apart - which could be anything from next week until ten or more years. I think we're at four years now. :noidea:
                             
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                            • redstar

                              redstar Total Gardener

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                              its a bit chilly today. but intentions of getting out there and raking some leaves. they are dry, and I am home today from work.
                               
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