What did you do in your garden today?

[Sean Regan]

Sorted out the drive along the side of the house. I call this "the alley of shame," as it's where roses my wife doesn't like end up. I refused to chuck them out.
The next move could be into the green bin in front of the garage door, so they have to be on their best behaviour. . At the moment there are four in tubs, plus two mayleen clematis which are permanent residents. There is space for a couple more roses should any become out of favour. There's about eighteen on the two patios. But I think they're all safe at the moment.

I dug out the mixture of soil,old chippings and debris in the 4" gap between the concrete drive and the base panels of the party shelf and replaced it with new chippings. I reckoned five bags were needed for ten panels. In the end I only needed four. But it's better to have that rather than buy four and find you need five.
I also "red leaded" the kitchen door step. and the top and bottom of was once "the coal hole."Which is now handy storage for all sorts.

You can see my £300 patch in the drive. The result of the repair of a broken soil pipe last year.

The low waney lap panels are now over 50 years old. They don't last much longer than ten to fifteen years these days.

 

[zigs]

Did I notice undue lingering over the succulents?

I had to, someone had abandoned a cactus in the middle of them

Guess what we brought home?

 

[Sean Regan]

I re-painted "the rabbit shed" today.
We still call it that because that was what was its original function, to house our eight year-old daughter's expanding collection of rabbits and guinea pigs. She'll be fifty-three this year (own homes, four kids, no pets).

The back wall is that of the garage, the rest is made from re-claimed roodfing ply, re-claimed three by two and 3 re-cycled 1960s wooden kitchen windows from next door's when they had their double glazing fitted.

It's still in perfect condition, though I changed the roofing felt two years ago. It stays bone dry.

It is "multi-functional."

For a small shed, there's a surprising amount of room in it. Even a little bench on the left hand-side. Essential, as I can't get at my "proper bench" with its vice in the garage, as it's full of youngest son's surplus furniture!

 

[Sean Regan]

The main job tody was re-locating this small birds' feeder. It was originally on the pergola post, but the birds and particularly the many starlings were making a lot of mess on the patio. Now it'll all fall on the garden. It was a bit of a pain to do as the access was poor, I was trying to drill into the concrete post at arms' length.

The birds were impatiently waiting for the job to be completed. (I must clip off that surplus garden wire).

A much quicker job was installing this additional socket in the garage.
There's a bank of sockets above my workbench a couple of yards to the left.

The sockets below the consumer unit are for all the different mains and low voltage lights, fairy lights and fountain in the garden.
But they are controlled by switches behind the lounge curtains. So now if I want to test out any of the three supplies, or change a lamp, I can just unplug them and plug them into the new socket to check that they are working OK without having to go indoors and turn them on from there.

Niot a lot else to do, everything seems to be looking after itself.

The acer palmatums are nearly fully in leaf. They'll get a trim of wayward branches once they've settled down.

The phlox on the rockery is strarting to come out.

The bluebells below this wisteria are out.

That it turn will be out by the end of next week.

This little maple is undergoing its several changes of colour. Lots of buds on our two tree azleas in pots.

 

[zigs]

A springtime look around the garden

 

[Sean Regan]

The re-sited birdfeeder wasn't working out for the smaller birds as the starlings were monopolising it. The flock could expand to a dozen sometimes. So I put it back on the pergola post, but made the peanut butter feeder too high for them to reach from the roof of the house. They now have to perch on the tiny bar in front of the peanut jar, they have to constantly flap their wings to be able to feed. So the visits have reduced.
We noticed, that the smaller birds, blue tits, sparrows, "Rocky" the robin and the dunnocks are often in and out of the azaleas.
So I bought this on eBay for eight quid (free postage).

I've put it on a stake in the middle of the azaleas, there's quite a bit of room in there under the canopy so the small birds will be able to access it, while the starlings won't.

The top slides round to reveal an aperture for filling. It was a quick job to bang a stake into the ground and the feeder slid securely over it as the central spine is open at the bottom. Then close up the canopy of the azaleas.

 

[zigs]

Bit of tidying up in the woods

Last year's compost hasn't rotted down (Lack of rain ) so will be adding layers of it to new greener stuff.

 

[Logan]

Potted on 14 chillie plants into their final pots got 10 more to do for the conservatory.

 

[zigs]

Found a wasp nest in the shed wall

 

[Sean Regan]

Spray it with ant powder.... and run!

 

[Tetters]

Honestly, he`s a bit of a drama queen - there were only two wapsies in there and they were long deceased. He found two mummified rats as well

 

[DirtMechanic]

Honestly, he`s a bit of a drama queen - there were only two wapsies in there and they were long deceased. He found two mummified rats as well

Yeah, that was a few generations of bugness. Still impressive though, how little they care for what we think is important.

 

[Superslam250]

Didn’t want to start too many threads to ask another question, so I was hoping someone here could answer. Should I plant corn, carrots, watermelon, and squash in a section of my yard that receives direct sunlight throughout the day, or a section where it receives direct sunlight for part of the day and then is shaded for the rest of the day as the sun’s position in the sky moves? I’m in planting zone 9b and we get pretty hot summers with a lot of days in the 90’s to low 100’s

 

[DirtMechanic]

Didn’t want to start too many threads to ask another question, so I was hoping someone here could answer. Should I plant corn, carrots, watermelon, and squash in a section of my yard that receives direct sunlight throughout the day, or a section where it receives direct sunlight for part of the day and then is shaded for the rest of the day as the sun’s position in the sky moves? I’m in planting zone 9b and we get pretty hot summers with a lot of days in the 90’s to low 100’s

Sounds like Florida or South Texas. Its getting late there for first crop. Due to some pollination related issues there is a lull when the heat gets intense. The corn, squash and melons will do ok with water. Not sure 'bout carrots, as I do not grow them.

 

[Superslam250]

Sounds like Florida or South Texas. Its getting late there for first crop. Due to some pollination related issues there is a lull when the heat gets intense. The corn, squash and melons will do ok with water. Not sure 'bout carrots, as I do not grow them.

Southern California actually, and it says on the back of the seed packs (scarlet nantes and danvers) that this is the last month for carrots. So according to what it says on the seed packs, I still have time left but time is short. What do you think about where I should plant, direct sunlight throughout the day or only part of the day and shaded for the rest?