What did you do in your garden today?

[DirtMechanic]

Ferns are stretching and Trilliums are yawning so the yard is waking up from a long winter sleep.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Leaf raking, and burning out a stump on Saturday. Rained over night. So Sunday, inside stuff.

 

[zigs]

The succulents have been overwintering in the greenhouse so tidied them up and made space outside for the summer.

The cacti will be going out after the frost period is over..

I kept the Peanut cacti and the Mammillaria fragilis in the cooler part of the greenhouse but it didn't get that cold this winter so that might mean they don't flower this year

 

[Sean Regan]

Finished repairing the pergola on the back of the house.

It was a right pain replacing three bits of wood.

Nothing's ever easy. The pergola is attached to the house by means of a long beam screwed to the back wall of the house above the French windows.
But the kitchen window is in the way at the left-hand end so thirty-odd years ago I had to design it to accomodate that. So the end piece that connects the double front beams to the wall next to the top corner of the window is important and that had a bit of rot in it.

Removing the old bit was difficult, as I'd used very long screws and the old ones were hard to get out when you're on the top of a ladder.

But the new piece is in and the cross beam that also had a bit of rot in it has been replaced. The one that is slightly lighter in colour. More coats of Woodsheen will darken it down.

This end bit was just has hard to change being so close to the party fence the top of which you can just about see at the bottom of the photo. The whole structure is now "rot free" and as we say, "will see me ouit."

Another less than easy job was building the garage pergola, a long time ago. I had to find a way to connect it to the garage and accommodate the gutter, so I had to make special wooden brackets. But like the other one it's as solid as a rock.

This and the rail on the right are due a coat of Woodsheen, "soon."

The house pergola beams slope slightly away from the house, a full of about an inch, so water dripping off the wisteria foliage onto the beams, won't run down the brickwork of the house.

The garage pergola slopes about the same towards the garage, so any water from the wisteria foliage, will run down the beams into the garage gutter and not at the time I built it, into the koi pool.

 

[DrMike27]

Transplanted my bell peppers last week and transplanted ground cherries today. Sunflowers are all over a foot already. Saw about 10 ladybugs in my garden for the first time this year...but also saw my first aphids as well.

 

[Andrew_]

I'm going to start preparing a bit outside today. Is it best to remove all the blue shard slate things from the soil? There's quite a bit.

 

[DirtMechanic]

No. Root aeration is improved by chunky stuff. I would trade my clay for that in 2 seconds. Well, maybe 1.

 

[Sean Regan]

Trying to get on top of everything in case I get the virus.

Cut the lawns and treated some moss patches with iron sulphate.

Fed all the pots. I'll give the roses a spray with rose tonic tomorrow, too windy today.

Did a bit of prep work ready to give the garage pergola another coat of Woodsheen tomorrow, the tea-house will not need doing.

Played a couple of dozen 45s on both of the jukeboxes in the tea-house, as use with these, is the best form of preventative maintenance.

Loned a neighbour my long tree branch loppers. The tall trees in the garden of the house between ours are encroaching way over his garden. Fortunately he has a tall scaffold, I may ask to borrow it to do the ones my side.

 

[Sean Regan]

Painted the top half of the garage pergola. The posts and the balustrade may get done tomorrow.
I had to replace the end beam as it was beginning to rot, fortunately I'd anticipated having to replace more bits when I repaired the other pergola, so I bought an extra length of tanalised 4" X 2." It'll need another coat.

I painted the rondels on the other pergola gold to match those in the balustrade.

I had to release all the ties of the wisterias, to get the painting done. Several were a bit tight, so it worth doing. This Woodsheen on previous coats, dries very quickly, so I was able to re-attach all the branches with fewer necessary ties.

I made up a mixture of soil and grass seed in a bucket and applied it to the perimeter of the front lawn where there had been a lot of moss. Doing it this way, means the the grass seed doesn't get blown away.

 

[Sheal]

You would never be able to remove it all Andrew_ even if you dug done, it's a natural part of the area you live in. You could remove some from the surface if you feel the need but natural movement will bring more to the surface. I'll swap your slate for my bedrock.

 

[Andrew_]

Ok cheers. I assumed the previous owners put a load down as it's on the surface (was above a liner) of a few places but not others.

 

[Sheal]

In that case it may be worth digging deeper in a couple of spots or elsewhere in the garden to see if there is more underground. It could be they were just put down to cover the liner.

 

[Andrew_]

In that case it may be worth digging deeper in a couple of spots or elsewhere in the garden to see if there is more underground. It could be they were just put down to cover the liner.

Looks to be liner cover (we took the liner away a while ago) so I'll see how many shards i can round up

 

[Sean Regan]

The decorative panels in the garage pergola balustrade are in a worse condition than I thought, I've tarted them up a bit by using some filler and will paint them to make them look a bit better, but i'll have to replace them, again... for the second time in the last fifteen years.
It seem whatever plywood I buy the action of my jigsaw disturbs the laminations, the available plywood is of such poor quality. I'll have a go with a thicker plywood, but I'll leave it until the summer. But I did paint the rails.

I might get another rhodo, Aldi had some today about a foot tall for £7.99.

 

[Sean Regan]

Did a bit of food shopping today and bought some petrol. People won't be using their cars much so the Asda petrol station wasn't busy as usual. But it only needs the Daily Mail to generate a "possible petrol shortage" scare to get people rushing out to fill up.
Went into Aldi and bought two of their £7.99 rhodos I'd seen yesterday. I had to be selective because out of a dozen or so a few were beginning to wilt. Aldi never water their plants. I learned this last year when I pointed out some wilting plants on sale and an assistant told me they aren't allowed to water them, "'elf 'n' safety."

They are quite a reasonable size, in 9" pots. No idea of the varieties as there were no tags on the ones I chose, but with a different shade of the leaves they won't be the same. I'll have to "squeeze them in," somewhere.

Need to get on finishing the pergola balustrade today.

I'm quite pleased how how the rondels on the other pergola turned out.

Amazing what you can do with bits of scrap haedwood window sill, a jigsaw and some paint.