What did you do in your garden today?

[Sean Regan]

Just a bit of "house keeping."

Pruned off all the "spikes" on the acer in the front garden, I prune it to lollypop shape each year but a few branches grow at a much faster rate than others, so it looks a bit odd by September.
It'll get a much harder prune once the leaves fall, to stop it getting too big. I do this every year.


Then a bit of "garden management."

Removed the rose in front of the brick gate pillar in the front garden. It was very woody, always suffered from blackspot and was a bit of a mess. It was forever dropping petals. One fewer job.
I spread the end azalea out as the rose branches were compacting it. Now you wouldn't know the rose was ever there.



Reduced the roses on the new patio to ten, as it was too crowded. So now two in their ceramic pots are on this small patio.



Moved the old bird bath from the corner of this patio.
Now it's on the bigger stepping stone between these two tree azaleas.



Had a good sweep up of the leaves in the front garden that have already fallen from the big acer and then swept the paths and patios in the back the garden. Missing my Flymo garden vac/blower I'd bought in April that went O/S last Sunday week. After a lot of hassle it's being picked up on Monday and I'm getting a refund. I won't have another. I'll get something else. I bought it to replace "a cheapo" I'd bought ten years ago which was still working, but I was always having to dismantle it every few weeks (a couple of dozen screws) to remove a build up of mud around the impeller. A right pain. With the Flymo you just need to undo a big knob on the top to open it to get to the impeller.

'arry our hedgehog has given us some concerns. He only ate a bit of his dinner on Sunday, ate nothing on Monday and Tuesday night and the camera didn't pick him up. So on Wednesday afternoon I checked on him. Not something I like doing. He was tucked up in his bed and tightly curled up by the time I lifted one end of the roof of his house. But I could see him breathing. So I guessed he was OK. At leasdt he hadn't wandered off and died somewhere. That would have distressed my wife (and me a bit).
He came about 10.00 pm last night and ate some of his dinner.
(I provide a 85g sachet of Sheba cat food every night plus some hedgehog pellets in a separate bowl).

Tonight he arrived at 8.00pm and ate some. Then went back towards his house, but later, something triggered the PIR on the side of the teahouse at the bottom of the garden, so that could have been him "on patrol." He may come back later for some more of his food. He has in the past.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Had another check on 'arry's 'ouse again tonight whilst he was out.
He's building up the sides of his nest. He's lining it with dead euonymus leaves.

Winter is Coming.

 

[Sean Regan]

Winter is Coming.

We thought that.

It has been colder the last few nights, though it's promised to get warmer.
He has built himself a bit of a nest, with the small handfuls of hay I've been leaving outside his door every now and again, when before, in the really hot weather he just lay on top of the hay in his house.
But it's far too early for him to hibernate, it's usually November early December time.
But he is quite chubby. This is the time they start to build up their fat reserves, maybe he just started early and was having a "dummy run."

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Remember that game years ago as a youth called "Pick up sticks" doing that these last few days. The Hurricane IDA left me with lots of sticks to pick up. Maybe tomorrow I can start the fire in my huge stick pile.

 

[Sean Regan]

Checked 'arry's feeding station today and he'd eaten most of his dinner. So we seem back to normal. He's been digging in places through the phlox on the rockery.


Just a few hoursin the garden today.

What was the filter room when we had the koi pool, became the "back-up freezer room" when I closed it down. The basin and the hot and cold water supply have been there since I built the pool. Now there's too many power sockets which were necessary with the pool, so I've taken out a single and a double over the basin, leaving just two doubles and I took out a double one the other side, over the freezers, leaving just two doubles. The yellow plug was for the quarantine pool strip light, but I've since added the supply to it to the lighting circuit.

It has a decking floor, a false ceiling and a door in a partition into the garage proper. The fluorescent was over the 300 gallon quarantine pool, but I've left it as it is.

But for the last six months, it's been a store room for some of our youngest son's furniture, (more was in the garage proper), when he and his partner sold their second house until they bought another. House purchased, furniture's gone.
it wasn't as clean looking as this, so I've given it a good tidy up and I'll probably re-paint it tomorrow.
When we had the house re-decorated a few years ago we ended up with two five litre cans of an off-white shade when my wife decided she didn't like the colour she'd chosen. "So I look for things to paint."

As a room it's handy as it's quite dry. So we can keep our new garden furniture in it, which haven't used this year.
I could use it as workshop as it's less draughty than the garage, almost airtight. But I've no projects in mind at the moment.

 

[Sean Regan]

Did the re-painting of the "freezer room" at the back of the garage. Now looks little different from as it did in 2019 when I took the previous photos. I first removed the three surplus power points.
I keep spare golf gear in here, a tour bag and a full set of irons and woods, replaced by the new ones I bought, a "carry/stand bag" for if ever electric trolleys are banned on the course and a "pull trolley," in case my leccy one brakes down.

When this was the filter and quarantine tank room for the koi, I replaced one of the garage roof panels with a clear plastic one and put this skylight in the false roof I made. The clear plastic panel can be slid away if I ever need to get at the electrics in the ceiling.

The Santon water heater must be around fifty years old, I got it in the late seventies and it was second-hand then. My firm used an old mill as a storage warehouse for all surplus fittings from store closures and refits, which ended up in it. Remember the end scene in Raiders of the Last Ark? It was like that. I was friendly with the works manager and I asked him if he'd an old water heater in the warehouse that had come from a re-fit and he found me this, I think I paid a couple of quid for it. The outer casing is a bit rusty in places, but it 's worked perfectly ever since.

There's a story behind the table top freezer on top of the other one. I bought it almost new on eBay for not a lot of money. The vendor had a son starting at university in Scotland, he was going to share a flat with two other students, but mentioned the flat didn't have a freezer. So his dad being a dad, went out and bought this. It's unusual as it has a lock on it. Ideal for people sharing accommodation or the residents of nurses' dormitories. When he phoned his son to tell him about the freezer, his son said he no longer needed one as they were getting a better flat for less money and it had a freezer!

I keep a stock of dinners for 'arry in a tray on the top.

There's not a lot in either of these freezers at the moment as we're expecting a delivery from Donald Russell which my wife buys on-line, the freezer in the Meile fridge/freezer in the kitchen seems always to be full.

I dumped the two striped padded fabric loungers in the previous set of photos as they haven't been used for years.
We have added four immitation "rattan" chairs, but neither they nor the newish green loungers got used this year as they were buried behind the stored furniture!.
Whilst I was wearing my "electrician's head," I put this spare PIR security light on the back of the garage. I replaced it and a matching one on the side of the drive when one went U/S and I couldn't find another like it, well it is ten years old. We now have two PIRs with conventional lamps in them in the same positions. But the one next to the kitchen door doesn't come on if I'm coming out of the garden through the door in the fence, until I'm nearer it. It can also go off whilst I'm sorting out the bins. This will solve that problem.

This afternoon it was more mundane tasks like mowing and dead-heading roses. The lawn's looking a bit rubbish with a few dead patches, I'm sure it's the work of the manky old cat of the people opposite, who let it roam all night.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

still picking up sticks. have a huge stick pile ready to burn. trying to light it up. fun times.

 

[RiyaSingh]

I have this in my garden.

 

[Marck]

Good morning, what a beautiful flower.
A hybrid rain-lily (Zephyranthes spp.) of some sort. There are many species native to North & South America.
Pale yellow ones such as yours, are often hybrids of Z. candida and Z. citrina.

 

[Sean Regan]

Yesterday, dpd collected the Flymo garden vac I'd purchased direct from Flymo in April that went U/S a fortnight ago. They are giving me a refund.
Tuesday mornings are always a" shopping day," but while I was out my new garden vac/blower arrived. So I assembled it and gave it a go.
There's a swing down "window" on the other side so you can freee up the shredding vanes if they ever get jammed.

I like the wide quick release detachable scoop on the front, it means you can hoover the patio and paths more easily and a lot quicker. You don't have to remove it to use it as a blower. It's rated at 3KW like the Flymo but I think it has better "blow and suck."
So I'm well pleased with it.

 

[Sean Regan]

Had an e-mail today from Flymo to confirm they've refunded to my credit card account the money I paid for the faulty garden vac they had collected on Monday. Their garden vacs may be rubbish, but I think their refunds are excellent.
Rain is promised for today, so won't be doing a lot.

Last night was the second night the manky old cat belonging to the new people in the house across the road who let it out at night, has been picked up by the trail camera near 'arry's house. It is outside the wire protection fence. I don't think it could cause him any injuries, but I don't think he'd be too pleased about its presence.
I also think this cat is responsible for a few brown patches on my lawn. At the moment. despite regular watering and an occasional feed, the lawn is the worst it has looked for decades.

 

[Sean Regan]

The usual pruning weeding and mowing. I'm very impressed with my new Grizzly garden blower/vac, far more powerful and efficient than the Flymo that broke down after four months three weeks back. All these shredder types have nylon or whatever, blades in their fans, but this one also has one metal blade for anything that is too tough for the other blades.

Then I did a bit of housekeeping.
This big shrub at the end of the rockery had put on a lot of growth lately, it was even bigger than this, taken earlier this year.
Not only was it getting intrusive, it also drops a lot of leaves each year. If I cut it down in size it would have looked odd.

So it went.

It's improved the aspect from the lounge windows.

Our little acer palmatum Taylor bought a few months ago wasn't doing very well in its pot on the patio, so I moved it to the top of the old koi pool waterfall, replacing the big shrub. Hopefully it will recover, grafted acers like this don't always do well, but if it doesn't, I'll buy another and replace it. It will look good in this position. I'll encourage the euonymus to spread along the fence now the shrub which was preventing it has gone.

 

[Sean Regan]

Not wishing to take a chance, I've ordered another acer palmatum Taylor on-line.
I had to search over a dozen suppliers until I found one with one actually in stock, (then delete all their cookies). It was only thirty something quid.

I'll put it in the ceramic pot the original one I bought in July was in. It can go on the patio and stay there if the other picks up. Difficult to tell as the leaves will soon be falling anyway. But I'll put the new one in the shed near the window over winter, as the original one I bought last year got killed off by that hard frost in the spring.

 

[Sean Regan]

More tidying today. There'll be a lot of leaves to collect over the comimg months, fortunately my new garden vac will cope well with them.
Got into the rockery today to pull out the grass that gets into the phlox. Rather time consuming as I have to dig it out with a wide bladed screwdriver, so it's just the grass roots and not the phlox I pull out..

Did the week's shopping this morning, then went into Homebase for some ericaceous compost for the new acer palmatum Taylor when it arrives. It'll go into the pot from which I took out the other one. Bought six more cyclamen at £1.75. Stuck four in around the acer.

Not sure how well they'll survive over the winter. Our best ones fill a narrow bed next to the kitchen window. We've had them for about fifteen years. We bought them from the same garden centre in Cornwall over three holidays in successive years.

The three York stone slabs around the acer, are very secure as they are on top of what was the koi pool waterfall and are set in concrete. I replaced the "training" sticks around the acer and pruned the clematis on the fence.

We've had these fuchsias for about thirty years, they've been "everywhere." They were "relegated" to two places behind the rhodos about ten years ago, but come up every year.

 

[Sean Regan]

I've done nothing in the garden today, as a friend came to visit, not seen her since the start of Covid.

I may have mentiond that she has a Malamute called Sam. Shje and her husband found him abandoned tied to a tree in a wood several years ago. The police didn't want to know, so they took him to a rescue sanctuary, but overnight decided they'd keep him, so went back for him the following day. But they had to pay well over £100 for him as he'd been out by a vet and chipped that morning.

But they've never regretted it, he's a lovely dog, likes people and kids, (but not other dogs).

Sam had to hav a cruciate ligament repaired recently, apparently it's not uncommon. She was taking him to hydrotherapy after she left us. He's been a few times before and he loves it.

So I looked it up. This is what she described was the treatment.

We think 'arry has gone into early hibernation. He'd been eating lerss each night. He's put plenty of weight on and on his last few visits to his feed station when the trail camera has been focussed on it, you can hear his spines brushing against the top of the doorway as he enters.
He's not been for three nights and the camera on the last two when it's been trained on his house, has shown no activity.
I had a sneaky peek at him this afternoon and he was curled up in his house, touching a spine made him immediately curl up tighter. He has also blocked off the inner doorway with some straw to stop any draughts. So I think he must be OK. I wont put any wet food out for him for now. He's got water near his house and I will put som dry food on his patio at the front of his house. I'll leave the camera trained on his house, so if he does come out we'll know about it.

Difficult to know what to do in this situation. He's very early if he is going into hibernation, he may not be well, but he doesn't need the trauma of more further attention. They don't alway hibernate without a break. We'll just have to wait and see.