What did you do in your garden today?

[Sean Regan]

Just one job, as there's a lot of tennis on TV today.

Last night, after 'arry had eaten his dinner, he returned to the patio at about half past midnight and spent several minutes covering every inch of it. He walked the full length of the top step outside the French windows and peered in at us a couple of times. He then spent some time examining the underside of the door in the side fence. There's a gap underneath it, as I made it so hedgehogs could get in and out of the garden (but nothing bigger). Presently I've this bit of scrap 3" X 2" pushed against the bottom to keep him in.

But there's always a danger that I might forget to put it in place when I close the door.

I'm sure that last night if it weren't there, he'd have been under it and out.

The problem is that there's really not much in our small front garden to interest him, so he'd be likely to cross the road.
He must have come from the other side of the road when I found him collapsed on our front lawn a few weeks ago.
I think it would devestate my wife if I let him get out and he got run over.

So I've built up the area under the door with concrete to stop him getting out. Just an additional 3". I'll apply a scim of sand and cement with yellow dye to match the patio when it's gone off, which could be as early as late this afternoon. The area under the door was higher than the patio as I ran an alkathene water pipe to the garage from the supply above the drain at the corner of the house when I built the koi pool, it now supplies just the wash basin in the garage, the tap on the outside of the garage and the lawn sprinklers, there's also under there a 1.5" waste pipe from the basin to the drain. They were protected by the original covering of the concrete ramp I made so I could push my sack truck over it with anything heavy I need to get into the garden.

I will eventually stitch drill a hole in one of the side fence concrete panels at the bottom of the garden so he can roam a bit, but not for a while. But I think even then, he'll mostly stay where he knows, "his bread is buttered." It'll also allow any other hedgehogs to get in or out.

 

[Sean Regan]

The jobs's done. The door is now 'arry proof, (as long as I always remember to close it!)

I'll still be able to push my sack truck over the higher threshhold. It'll dry an even colour.




It's difficult to get an even shape with an arc. I use a just damp mix, spread it on with a trowel then finish off with a dry 3" paint brush.

I also tied up a few more clematis, dead-headed these two rhodos and gave everything a good watering.

 

[Mike Allen]

I managed a couple of hours in the garde. I have been growing my roses in 15Ltr pots and i'm happy with the results. At one time I couldn't get campanula to grow. Next door neighbour grew it. She passed away and, ye gods, noiw I can't get rid of it. So many of my roses were competing with seedlings. So fiddly weeding and top dressing. Also tended my liliums. My garden is a favourite site for slugs and snails. Pity we can't sell the snails to the French.
Nice to see Upsy Daisy and Verdun on this forum.

 

[Sean Regan]

Dug the grass out of the rockery. There's wasn't much, but it irritates me when I'm looking out of the French windows and I can see a few fronds "waving at me."

I did a fair bit of pruning of the wisteria on the garage pergola. There was a bit of "bunching" above it at the far end. I want the many branches to continue flowing to the left, to "cascade." So, "uncooperative untrainable branches" those that grow upwards have to go.
It's been reasonably successful this year. It's just disappointing that the blue varieties, at either end of the white, had their blooms damaged by frost. I'm hoping for a better show from them next year.

But I'm happy with the canopy, which will fill out during the summer, as it will be putting on a lot of growth in the next few months.

I gave this acer palmatum's "fringe" a bit of a trim. The shade doesn't do the grass any good. You can't trim it too much as it would lose its "dome shape" and end up looking like a cocktail umbrella.

I had to sharpen my garden shears. Easy enough to put the blades in my vice and attack them with a file.
That's all I'm doing today, my golf clubs neededed cleaning and now I'm watching the tennis.

 

[Sean Regan]

I sorted out all my "stuff" in the shed and garage and cleaned the cupboards and vacuumed the floors.

Mostly, I wanted to see what I had in there and what I could afford to chuck out. There was quite a bit of stuff I'd forgotten I had, that I was "saving"
In the end most of it went back, but now I know it's there.

 

[Sean Regan]

I cleared all the fallen wisteria blossoms off the path and patio. Then gave the patio a good scrub with soapy water with my deck scrubber.Lots of pigeon poo to remove.
I've taken away my ground feeder. I noticed on the trail camera recordings no less than six wood pigeons around it at around 5.00am. this morning.
The blackbirds, starlings, sparrows and blue-tits still have the little pigeon-proof feeder house on the pergola post, the smallest ones two peanut butter feeders and the smallest birds have the bird feeder on a post under the azaleas in the side bed. I had to fill it yesterday as they'd nearly emptied it.

Our "rose patio" is starting to deserve its name. Even that needed a bit of scrub at the near end.

This is a relatively new clematis, the flowers are about the size of dinner plates. I leave it to its own devices, as the depth of the azaleas makes it inaccessible.

That's it for today, a lot of tennis on the box to watch this afternoon.

 

[Sean Regan]

I noticed on a trail camera video that a black cat was taking an unwelcome interest in 'arry's feeding station around 3.00am this morning. It then hopped over the little wire fence I put around the azaleas to prevent cats from pouncing on the small birds. There was just a small gap that he could get through above the fence. As I had half the original roll of wire fence left, I doubled it up to give extra height. I had to buy half a dozen of those green poles from Wilko's this morning, to support it, fortunately they had just two packs of three left, Their stock availability is rubbish, so many products unavailable.
'arry doesn't help, as during the course of night he somehow manages to drag his feeding dish down to near the entrance of the feeding station. So I've had to drill a hole in the plastic dish so I can use a big cup hook to attach it to the other end of the station, so he won't be able to move it.

Just a bit of rose dead-heading, vaccing up dead white wisteria blossom and "mist spraying" the acers and the sambucus.
Will give the garden a good watering later on today. Although we're on a water meter, the garden gets the water it needs. Can't be doing about worrying about water bills as many do. Plants that could die from lack of water would cost more to replace than the extra amount on my water bills.

 

[marlingardener]

I had fun in the vegetable gardens! I dibbled for potatoes, picked squash, and picked green bell peppers. Then I pruned the tomatoes again, and tied up more of cucumber vines on the trellis. We have a lovely crop of tomatoes, still green but promising of goodness to come, and I found a half-dozen or so gherkin size cucumbers, that also hold promise of good things to come.

 

[Logan]

Planted up the rest of the cosmos in some pots that some daffodils were in and the same with some verbena bonerenses and put them under the kitchen window.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

just weeding, clearing out done daff leaves, organizing. today more digging out of a plant I should have not planted. (one mistake).

 

[Sean Regan]

It took me two hours of tidying, weeding and vacccing to get this garden to this state this morning, (no mowing) yet I tell myself this is a maintenance" garden.

"low

I noticed outside the door in the side fence there was hedgehog poo for the second night running.

So either it could smell the food, or 'arry has a potential admirer.

 

[Mrsclem]

I cut back my hardy banana tree as it was starting to overtake the path around the pond. I was amazed to see it has a flower. Its a shame the fruit is not edible

 

[Logan]

Started planting the pot marigolds around the path under the roses got about half way around, do the rest tomorrow because it's too hot and later do some watering.

 

[RickRyb]

Planted a few Blue Fescue Tall Grass to create a border for a new planting area which will have heuchera.

 

[Sean Regan]

Did a bit of pruning.
I prune this camelia every year about this time, just to keep it to this size. This reduces the number blooms we'll get each year but we don't mind, when they die off they make a lot of mess and you can't really see them anyway. We like it just for the glossy leaves.

It was originally one of three we planted well over 20 years ago in the centre of the garden, which I decided had by 2005 grown too large. So I binned two and cut this one down to a couple of feet dug it out and re-planted it where it is now. It was "saved" as the leaves are slightly varigated.

I then drastically reduced the size of the bed, built the brick circle, re-turfed the area around it and it's where our sambucus lives in it's big tub.

I also gave this acer a bit of a prune. I'll have to do it several times during the year as it keeps producing new leaves and I don't want it to grow any larger than this.