What Jobs Are We Doing In The Garden Today 2020

Yesterday I cleared some more driveway weeds, deadheaded some more lychnis, and did some general weeding.

Today I cleared more driveway weeds, harvested a large courgette, fed all the plants (nearly 90 chilli plants, 10 tomato plants, roses, courgettes, squash, beans, etc). I went to tidy up the veg bed and firmed in a stake on a tomato plant in preparation for the strong winds this afternoon ... which snapped. I fell into the veg bed - trying, as I fell, not to damage the squash (oh yes, don’t want to squash the squash, do we?!), or the tomato plant. Amazingly, we all seemed to survive relatively unscathed!

This afternoon I raked the worst of the large stones and scattered hard-core debris out of the refilled trench, following the work to connect us to the mains sewage.

I think I deserve that G&T!

 

Still trying to tidy up and keep up with the dead heading and clearing away all the windfalls as they are attracting an army of wasps. But its been difficult as we've had numerous bouts of un-forecast heavy rain.
Donna ( from my parent's garden) has had a good but gentle scrub up and is now in her new home.

 

I've spent a couple of hours in the garden this afternoon. One of the large jasmine I had put into the ground a few weeks ago I noticed was leaning this morning when I was going out. A quick inspection and the obelisk its grown up had rusted at the base. So a stop off at the GC. Bought some strong support poles and hammered them in and tied them so hopefully now it will be fine for a good few years. Chopped down some verbena that had also gone over. I didn't realise how vigorous it gets. I left quite a bit as I noticed the other evening that it was covered in moths on the flower heads the wind has snapped the top stem of the Gardeners delight plant taking 2 lovely half ripe vines with it so cut off the bottom stems and stuck it in some compost in the greenhouse. Nothing ventured I suppose. Sprayed the clematis with milk and water to get rid of the powdery mildew. Seems to be working The other half (sofa gardener) has decided he'd like to eat home grown onions now but it ain't happening I'm stopping at tomatoes. I might just pretend and in a few weeks rub some dirt on some shop bought ones for him

 

Ohhh, I see some yellow pear toms in there! Good to know that they are doing well for you
(And remember, they have come true from seed for us for many years....)

 

Did a bit of watering and deadheaded the roses.

 

Yesterday I raked over the refilled trench following the connection to the mains sewage,to removed the rubble that has been brought to the surface... (yayy, we passed the inspection today, and are all sir-tiff-ee-kate-Ed and evryfink!)

In preparation for the arrival of storm Francis, due later this afternoon, I have tied in all the tomatoes, and brought the chilli plants in. We can see the garden table top for the first time in many weeks, and the lounge looks like a jungle!

 

Well, I came back after two weeks holiday and checked the garden..
Dry weather, then stormy weather, then high winds, plus squirrels and assorted pests, did for it.
The tomatoes are in good shape and grew a lot, some are 8 feet now, even if unfortunately a bunch of fruit are overly ripe and split due to irregular rains. The aviditas taste excellent at least.
The veggies in the back also did well, pack choi, spinach and the like. I guess they like it a bit cooler anyway.
The rest took a veritable beating, lots of dead plants.

Well, I did enjoy it before and managed to harvest some before leaving, to bring to my mum back in Italy.

 

Started pulling up the calendula plants and weeding to put the wallflowers in.

 

So, today started with pulling up the remaining runner beans, after the frame was blown over in the gales overnight. We could not bring it upright and make it stable, and there was a risk that the frame would further damage the plants around.

This really depressed me. I know - compared to everything else going on, it was nothing. But a bit of a final straw. The rest of the morning, I struggled...

This afternoon, I pulled myself up by my boot-straps. I went out and cleared the beanpoles from the plants. I set aside about 6-7 plants, set up a wigwam, and replanted the cut-down beans around them. There’s very little chance that they will come to anything, but there’s more chance than if they went straight on the compost heap. I also cleared the pond of dead lily leaves, pulled out some meadowsweet and some blanket weed. The moss around one half of the pond was cleared of grass, and other weeds. Then the pond was topped up (still very little rainfall here), the veg bed watered, along with the patio bed plants that are new in this year. One of the yellow pear tomatoes had been ripped off the trellis, so that was tied back in. The new planting for the North-west face of the house was watered and checked.