What Jobs Are We Doing in the Garden Today... MK3.. 2013

I got the Hedge Trimmers out today and used the small one on the pond side of the Jasmine Hedge which had grown over the Ferns and part of the Bog Garden. I left part of it as one of the Clematis was still flowering in it.
I've got two 12' Conifers close together in the middle of the garden that needed their annual prune so I had to use the pole Hedge Trimmer to get to the top of those. You have to look up when using it and when you do you get a face full of Conifer prunings!! Still, Hedge Trimmers do take the hard work out of the job!!
I put on some long sleeved clothing and gloves to deal with some Nettles at the back of the borders and still managed to get stung! I grow them deliberately in some spots to give the Butterflies and Caterpillars to food plants but you do have to keep them in check.
After that I moved some large pots around and placed them into new spots around the garden and then tried to sort out my little Plant Nursery which was getting a bit disorganised to say the least and discovered some plants that I had no idea I had!!

 

Mowed the lawn - well, chewed the top off it more than anything as my lawnmower is not a happy chappie; not sure if the blade is blunt/knackered (although it shouldn't be as it was only replaced at the back end of last year), I have a sneaky feeling that the bearing is going on the motor as it sounds like a bag of boulders at times, and there is something amiss with the switches at the top of the handle. Me thinks it might be time for us to part company....

I also removed the framework that was holding the netting around my peas and beans that never really did anything, and Mrs C is going to potter away at getting that bed ready to take cauliflowers whilst I am at work this week.

Then, it was spraying the cucumbers with milk solution again, as the mildew seems to have gotten another hold on them; then evicting the courgettes from the greenhouse as I am not convinced that they aren't the source for the mildew, and finally I watered everything.

 

GA, sorry to hear your news


I'm still taking it easy because of a bit of trouble with my knee and just did a small amount of clearing up the stuff that Mrs Shiney was cutting down. She went through the garden like a whirlwind and had cut back enough stuff to fill six wheelie bins. Unfortunately, we have only three bins available so the rest had to go on the bonfire heap - I wish the farmer would harvest the wheat field at the back of us! There's not enough room on the compost heaps and a lot of it would take much too long to rot down.

Apart from that, I'm spending about an hour picking beans each day and the golden plums are ripening quickly. From now on it will be a race between me and the wasps as to who gets to the ripe plums first. They usually win . The blackberries are also coming ripe now and the warm and sunny days that we're getting this week will mean loads for the freezer .

I've started picking some of our early cooking apples - just as we're using the last pack of last year's crop.

 

They may have stung your mower to death!