What Jobs Are We Doing In The Garden Today 2020

Got our little shed put up on the lotty. Just need to trim the felt, put the guttering across the back and paint some of the batons. Had to leave it there as it was getting dark and we were so cold.

 

Struggling to concentrate on anything today. I've managed to trim the excess felt off the lotty shed roof and take a little potting table up there which I've had no room for at the house. Also pulled the masses of cosmos from the front garden borders as got a bit sick of seeing them now. Back in the house for a cup of tea and checking on poorly Dotty. She seems happy enough...Curled up in bed snoozing

 

Planted some more wallflowers and tulips where i dug up the michaelmas daisies.

 

Went to the Garden Center today and bought a pinky red Bougainvillea, a lovely pink Hebe, 2 Dianthus (one bright pink, one burgundy, 4 Felicias, two greem, two varigated and two terracotta pots.

Came home and took the Bonsai Bougie out of it's pot which I bought about 12 years ago, It had lost it's yellow and white graftings and was a pathetic purple one and very bare. T'other Half "planted" it nest to the big one that climbs over the house and I planted the new one in the lovely pot.

When the Bougie was new ...



After it lost it's graftings (left in dark pot) ...



New Bougie ready to train ...

 

I took a day off to do autumnal things and managed quite a lot. Houseplants have been showered, windowsills scrubbed and various move-arounds happened.

The Dragonfruit grown from seeds had its last shower this year, the aerial roots are so fascinating that I love showering it regardless of the pain. Dragon fruit is easily grown from seed, and whilst it might not be a thing of beauty, it certainly has character. ("vicious" and "vigorous" come to mind if looking for adjectives) A tip- never grow it on a windowsill of a window you open frequently, such as a bathroom window.


Apart from that, the Dahlias that have stopped flowering came up and Tulips and winter pansies went in. Sweep sweep, rake rake, sort things out. A lovely day

These Dahlias are still in full swing so will stay in a week or so.

 

Dave and I ventured up to the lotty when he finished work about 5:30...took up the raised bed frames we'd put together at the house. Gosh they were heavy to carry. Will go up tomorrow and level off the ground, staple on some damp proof membrane to the insides and get them filled up with the soil I'd dug out the old beds.

 

The builders started work on our kitchen today (ripping out the old one and knocking down an archway to open the room up) so I escaped outside to avoid the noise. One of the first jobs we ticked off when we moved in was to get the small front garden (basically a square of paving slabs and concrete) blockpaved as a parking space - I'd have preferred to keep it as a garden, but we're one street over from a big hospital with no permit parking, so private parking is a premium. But it's still got three beds of small to very small size, so that's something! Today's job was planting up the first and largest of the three. The front of the house is pretty much full north facing, with a couple of hours dappled sun, so I'm hoping my ever-increasing collection of hostas and hellebores will enjoy it; there's daffodil and tulip bulbs in there too, which might not do so well, and I think I'll bulk it out with some bleeding hearts come spring.





I may well end up doing some re-arranging once the hostas are back in leaf next summer, but I didn't want to leave them squashed in their slighty-too-small pots all winter. At one point a little girl walking past turned to her mum and said "mummy, why is that lady planting dead flowers?"

 

I've done nothing for over a week constant heavy rain and wind. I did get these pics of the last dahlia left this morning though.

 

Nothing today it's raining again.

 

Raining here so I've been making some small envelopes to put seeds in, What a sad life I have

 

I will be honest ... I didn't do anything but direct and let T'other Half do the heavy work. Continuing with the Front of Casa Patio, he gravelled the end to the lane ...

 

went up to the lotty in the drizzle and levelled off the raised beds.


...cut the plastic membrane to the right size whilst it was raining, then went up to the lotty and stapled it to the inside of the beds (in the dark again!)

 

Not much. It is raining fairly steady now. Yesterday when it was just "spitting" I went out to remove the old clear plastic bag on the electric fence solar charger as it was in shreds after the storm the other night. After getting a mighty good jolt, I got the bag off and decided no more flimsy bags. So I made a new cover out of 10 gauge clear plastic -same thickness as I used for my cold frame cover. This stuff lasts forever and I won't have to get a nasty shock.

Yes, there is an off button and I had turned it off but it had a jolt left and me standing on wet grass. Perfect conduit...

I did look through the indoor cannabis seedlings and found a few males that had to be ripped out. That's six males so far. It is just an experiment to see just how many plants I can stuff in a 14 square foot area so not a giant worry.