What did you do in your garden today?

[Meadowlark]

Started harvesting a new to me "drying" bean, the Bingo. Looks like we will have several gallons of these to freeze. The taste is yet to be determined but very easy to grow.

From the description: "A classic in Italian cuisine, Bingo is a highly sought after Borlotto-type pole bean. Big, creamy green pods are streaked in bright pinkish red, growing 5 inches long and 1/2 inch wide."

 

[DirtMechanic]

I like the description...highly sought after...always adventuresome! They look cool though!

Today was about getting ready for the rain to come, so I picked a couple gallons of yellow squash, put out fertilizer and 54 bags of lime on the lawn.

 

[Sean Regan]

I just realized you have round paver stone simply to handle the plants in pots. I am in an envy\awe celebratory mood because of how much practical sense it makes!

Thanks for that.

It's easy to drag them to one edge then the other, when I'm mowing, as I can mow over the stones. The grass then doesn't get damaged by the pots.
I've also stepping stones from the paved area around the tea-house so I can reach the pagoda or the back corner of the border without walking on the grass. Not that I don't walk on it, but it's surprising the number of times you can walk back and forth over the same area when you're doing something and it shows where you've been, particularly if the grass is a bit damp..

 

[JBtheExplorer]

I've slowly been working on a new project. I haven't talked too much about it, but I'm excited about what it might become.

Along the side of my driveway there are a row of maple trees between my driveway and my neighbor's. They've grown considerably over the last decade and now shade out the entire area. Beneath these trees, all that grows are weeds. I've recently been thinking about doing something with this area and started planting native seedlings a few weeks ago. I want to make this area beneficial to pollinators in the spring. I did discover a few natives such as blackberries, one Redtwig Dogwood, and one Downy Yellow Violet, which was a huge surprise, because I've never seen this specie around here before. Maybe it'll spread some seed and create a larger population.


I also have non-native bleeding heart over there. I do like the flowers, so for now I'm going to let it stay.


My main native garden is old enough that my woodland plants are reliably producing seed, and I often find new seedlings popping up, so I'm starting to move them over to that area. I'd like it to eventually look more like a natural woodland floor. Next week, I'm going to start pulling some of the weeds and planting more native seedlings. Right now, the priority is Wild Geranium, Eastern Red Columbine, and a couple of fern species. If things go well, I may purchase a few other species next year, but I want my budget for this to be close to $0.

It's a big area. Only about 6 feet wide, but around 40 feet long, so this will be a multi-year project, and there are some pretty aggressive plants or shrubs over there that I may not be able to defeat. Right now, I'd just like to get enough natives in that they can establish and start spreading their own seed. If I can get even a few species to establish populations along there, I'll be happy. I'm excited about the possibilities of this area. I'll be sure to photograph it in the future.

 

[DirtMechanic]

I've slowly been working on a new project. I haven't talked too much about it, but I'm excited about what it might become.

Along the side of my driveway there are a row of maple trees between my driveway and my neighbor's. They've grown considerably over the last decade and now shade out the entire area. Beneath these trees, all that grows are weeds. I've recently been thinking about doing something with this area and started planting native seedlings a few weeks ago. I want to make this area beneficial to pollinators in the spring. I did discover a few natives such as blackberries, one Redtwig Dogwood, and one Downy Yellow Violet, which was a huge surprise, because I've never seen this specie around here before. Maybe it'll spread some seed and create a larger population.
View attachment 54677

I also have non-native bleeding heart over there. I do like the flowers, so for now I'm going to let it stay.


My main native garden is old enough that my woodland plants are reliably producing seed, and I often find new seedlings popping up, so I'm starting to move them over to that area. I'd like it to eventually look more like a natural woodland floor. Next week, I'm going to start pulling some of the weeds and planting more native seedlings. Right now, the priority is Wild Geranium, Eastern Red Columbine, and a couple of fern species. If things go well, I may purchase a few other species next year, but I want my budget for this to be close to $0.

It's a big area. Only about 6 feet wide, but around 40 feet long, so this will be a multi-year project, and there are some pretty aggressive plants or shrubs over there that I may not be able to defeat. Right now, I'd just like to get enough natives in that they can establish and start spreading their own seed. If I can get even a few species to establish populations along there, I'll be happy. I'm excited about the possibilities of this area. I'll be sure to photograph it in the future.

I look forward to those pictures you take so well.

 

[Sheal]

Good luck with the project JB.

 

[Logan]

Planted some more of the taller pot marigolds and snapdragons in another border with 2 lupins. Dug up a small growing hardy fuchsia and put it in a pot for now until I decide what to do with it.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Here are the "before" shots. See the after shots in four or five years.

This is the first area I'll be working on, mainly because it's the least weedy.

 

[Sheal]

If that's the least weedy you've got a bit of a challenge on your hands.

 

[vette-kid]

Earlier this week: Ripped out the first round of plants in project " deforestation of the house"! Haha. Some sago's (ouch!), Hydrangeas and philodendron and this palm thingy. No after pics, too rainy today. Next step will be some struggling azaleas and then trees. We've identified up to 8 trees we would like to remove, but that number may get adjusted when we get the estimate. They are all way too big to remove myself and some of them close to the house.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Earlier this week: Ripped out the first round of plants in project " deforestation of the house"! Haha. Some sago's (ouch!), Hydrangeas and philodendron and this palm thingy. No after pics, too rainy today. Next step will be some struggling azaleas and then trees. We've identified up to 8 trees we would like to remove, but that number may get adjusted when we get the estimate. They are all way too big to remove myself and some of them close to the house.
View attachment 54749

I would still like to burn or retort wood to biochar, but splitting the wood down is my trap. I just keep finding other things to spend a grand on beside a log splitter. No way I do it by hand.

 

[Sean Regan]

As rain was forecast for around 1.00pm, I went out around 10.00am and mowed the lawn.
It's nearly recovered from my scarifying a week or so ago,

For once the forecast was right it rained at 1.00pm.


If I'd gone to golf as normal on a Friday, I'd have got rained on when we were on the 15th or 16th, so all the wet gear would have had to come out of my bag. I can do without that.

Our cheap garden chairs arrived this morning in two cartons, just a question of bolting them together. I hate stuff where you have to use an Allen key, when you can't get a full turn on it. Fortunately I've an Allen key bit that fits my leccy drill, so it wasn't a problem.

I'm quite pleased with them at just over thirty quid each. They are well made, very sturdy and comfortable.

 

[vette-kid]

I would still like to burn or retort wood to biochar, but splitting the wood down is my trap. I just keep finding other things to spend a grand on beside a log splitter. No way I do it by hand.

I tried doing it by hand... Still have an ax stuck in a log, haha! I'll probably have them leave me some for the fire pit, but my rack is already full from the aftermath of Michael.

 

[DirtMechanic]

I tried doing it by hand... Still have an ax stuck in a log, haha! I'll probably have them leave me some for the fire pit, but my rack is already full from the aftermath of Michael.

Last year or so the tree service came and took 7 down for me. I managed to give away the firewood and chipped A LOT for compost. Now the arborist that came to treat my golden raintree identified 2 late cycle trees in addition to 4 that have died or are dying. It comes in spurts thank goodness, but full oaks are monsters

 

[Sean Regan]

Alternating between sun and heavy rain, so didn't do a lot.

Dismantled my cheap garden vac to give it a clean.

I bought it on ebay for about thirty quid three years ago. it's quite powerful, 2,600w.
Trouble is, after a lot of use, there gets a build up of mud inside. So the efficiency slowly reduces. Fortunately, it's held together by screws...over a dozen of them! So easy to take to pieces, clean and lubricate.

Changed our thirty-two year-old tea-house, to "summer mode."

I keep my vinyl jukeboxes in here. They don't like damp and prefer to be at room temperature.
This is because they have in each, four electric motors, some gearboxes and a lot of exposed leaf switches. Difficult to maintain in the winter in an unheated glorified garden shed. The cold thickens the oil and if you try to use them when it's like this, they can trip out (three breakers protect the circuits) and keep having to be reset.
So I cover them with multi-layered dust sheets and keep a 60w inspection lamp on, sitting inside both of them on their floors.

The opposite problem occurs in summer. It can get very hot in there.

So I uncover the vents at the back.

Raise the roof cover at the front, (it's just like a heavy wooden box lid) and insert the vent made from two halves of a recycled dishwasher cutlery tray. I designed it to let air out and prevent anything getting in.

Then set the timer on the extractor fan.

On really warm days I just open one of the doors.


My neighbour came round to return my Fiskar's lopper, he'd borrowed. Took the opportunity to walk round to see how my fish were doing.
They are all in good condition. This pool is only three years old and has a very sophisticated filter system, capable of sustaining a denser population of fish than was mine. The "biggy" is just one which was mine, a tancho sanke. So I'm pleased they are being well looked after.