Yawn yawn - wakey wakey..!! Mk 4

Good morning Kandy and everyone,

It was a bit hot yesterday for doing too much so I pottered around, did a bit of mowing, lazed around and put the sprinkler on the beds.

Of course, things never turn out simple . The sprinkler wasn't working properly so I walked along the 200+ft of hose to check what the problem was. Fortunately there wasn't a split in the hose :thumb:. Water was pouring out from the extension hose reel. So I had to unreel it to find the hose had come loose in the connector inside. This meant bending down to work and trying to wiggle my fingers insde to refix it and try and tighten it up (no room for tools in there). I eventually got it done and went and turned the hose back on. When I got back to it the connector on the outside had come loose and blasted the hose off of it. so I refixed that and tightened it up.

It worked OK after that but Oscar had been watching me all the time and looked as though he thought I was mad. "What's that idiot Mr shiney doing wandering back and forth messing around with that horrible wetting thing when he could be lazing in the warm shade and stroking me!!!"

I'll have a go at some more mowing and edging as well as setting the sprinkler up on the other hose - another 200ft in the other direction .

I'm still not attempting any more pressure hosing.

Our publicity for the open garden is building up. We've got posters in five village halls, five shops, one nursery (so far), two churches, publicised it to three gardening clubs, emailed the poster to the Chamber of Commerce for them to send to their 200 businesses (no harm in trying) and already received an email from one of them (big firm of accountants) saying that they have forwarded it to their 20 branches. I don't know whether the businesses will produce any punters for us but it costs nothing to try.

I'll also get it emailed to the members of three bridge clubs - you don't ask, you don't get! :D I'll also have a chat with the local paper to see whether they will do something but they normally won't advertise without payment.

Have a great day :D

 

Good morning Kandy and shiney and all my other friends here at Gardeners Corner,I do hope this early morning call finds you all OK and rearing to goKandy have a good day,Shiney no more bending down until further notice my friendhere,s wishing everyone a thoroughly enjoyable and safe day

 

Good morning Kandy, woo penny and everyone,

The sun is shining gently on the lilac out side my office window :thumb:

I got quite a bit done in the garden yesterday. Three hours of mowing with many breaks in between for cuppas and Oscar stroking. I also did a bit of pulling up the dandelions but I find that mor difficult than mowing. I finally finished the watering of the front garden but the back garden is in need of it now.

We're also on a water meter but we consider the cost of getting the garden ready for open day as a donation to the charity. After open day the only use of the sprinkler is for any new beds and the veggiies (that's why we are able to sell so much runner beans for the charity - and eat a few for ourselves). I reckon the extra cost of water for the open day is about £15 - I checked the meter last year.

Oscar had a patch of fur on his back all stuck together and very sticky. Mrs shiney couldn't work out what it was and couldn't get rid of it by brushing or combing. So she washed it out. Oscar wasn't very happy about having his fur washed but he stood still and let her do it - with a grumpy look on his face. He enjoyed the cuddles afterwards:kittykiss:

One job I never got around to doing when my back went was cutting a new edge for the veggie area. The ground is now too dry to manage that but I shall attempt to cut the overhanging grass which is about three or four inches long. Also there is still a lot of dead stuff to cut that the winter killed off. I think five of our ceanothus bushes have had it and a number of other shrubs. I'll have to do the bark scraping bit first. On top of the damage done by the stag that got into our garden in January we have lost a fair amount of plants.

Have a Good Friday :D

 

Good morning all my friends how are we all on this lovely Saturday morning ,feeling good I hope,have a great weekend and please stay safe.

 

Good morning woo, Kandy and everyone,

I've done an hour of pottering in the garden and it is a lovely morning

Yesterday I did a bit more of the pressure hosing and my back is letting me know it - but it has eased up now. I also trimmed the edges of all the front lawns and then spent an hour with the very fiddly job of cutting off all the dead bits from the summer jasmine.

I'll have a go at all the hundreds of dandelions that have suddenly appeared and the goosegrass and mares tail are starting in earnest.

With the goosegrass I use a very tough pair of gloves that were given to me by a friend (about 20 years ago) who used them at work in a metal foundry. He had given them to me for working with roses and hawthorn etc. The good thing with them is that the goosegrass doesn't stick to them so I can just drop it straight into the weed basket.

I'll now be starting my regular mares tail patrol which tkes about 15 minutes at this time of year and 30 minutes a bit later in the spring. The once a week patrol keeps it down and Oscar usually does it with me.

We have friends coming for dinner this evening so I shall do a quick inspection round the garden to look for obvious baddies. Got to keep up the appearance of being on top of everything

There are lovely scents starting to come from all around the garden now that the hot weather has brought out the blossom

Have a great day. :D

 

Happy Easter Kandy and everyone,

It's a bit cooler today

I spent nearly five hours working in the garden yesterday mainly doing regular maintenance work. I shall try and put the bean poles in and leave Tracey to get them in deeper when she turns up on Wednesday.

We are now at the stage with the garden of wondering if the plants that normally give a really good display for open day (particularly the aquilegias) are too far advanced because of the weather. At least the 85 aquilegia plants for sale should still be on bloom as they had been slowed down by being transplanted. The 500, or so, allium siculum bulgaricum are all ready to open but if the weather cools down a bit they may be delayed long enough for us.

Enjoy your Sunday and make the most of the weather.

Have a great day :D

 

Good morning everyone,

It's a bit breezier this morning but still set to be a hot dry day. The garden's looking lovely but it's hard work .

Our 7ft high saphora that looked as though it had been killed by the winter weather has now got 3 small flowers on it but no leaves. I can see little buds where the leaves may start to appear. Hopefully some of our ceanothus plants that appeared to die may also recover. :thumb:

Have a great day :D

 

Good morning Kandy and Shiney and all my other friends on this wondrous bonus of a day,we are getting spoilt lately I hope that you are all OK and well ,so enjoy your day and please stay safe my friends