What did you do in your garden today?

[Sean Regan]

Didn't actually do much in the garden, but this morning a tree surgeon came to look at the oak tree, I watched him do the one next door about eighteen months ago and he made a nice job. Ours is getting a bit dominating, he reckoned it at about seventy foot, so thinning it out a bit and taking off two or three meters all round should be good. He is going to give us a quote and aim to do it end of summer.
This afternoon I went out to the shop with the missus, Saturday shopping is not my thing, but I wear an N95 and keep my distance from people. Anyway, I did manage to find a watering can with a rose, my old one is a galvanised can, and for some reason they didn't do the inside of the rose, so the holes keep getting blocked with little bits of rust. It is the real thing, with brass screw fitting to take the rose on and off , and one day I will clean it out and paint it with Hammerite, but I need something now for seeds and to treat the lawn.

Can't you just buy a rubber rose for it?

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Went to a couple of places, but didn't see roses sold separately, or I would have got one for my other plastic watering can. It was only £8.99 and not a bad can, so even mean old me doesn't feel too bad about it.

 

[Sean Regan]

To be honest, I wouldn't have left the house if I were going for just that. I know you were looking for other stuff.

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[Sean Regan]

Cut right down a dead azalea in the main border, spread out a couple of branches of the two either side to close the small gap. I kept the branches in position by forcing a couple of canes into the border. I say canes, but they aren't, they're these 1mtr. metal stakes with notches and a dark green plastic coating, they're hardly noticeable, where a bamboo can would look a bit naff. Wilko sells them in packs of three.
Tied up a few more clematis. I'd mowed the lawn yesterday, so there was nothing else to do.
This afternoon I watched an F A Cup football match on the TV, over my laptop showing another.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

. I'd mowed the lawn yesterday

Wish I could, mine squelches when you walk on it.
Sowed a few seeds. Put old moss raked out of the lawn in the bottom of one of my largest pots. Then I filled it with a mix of compost, earth and manure before planting a cucumber in it. That moss spent a year in a black compost bin, it went brown, but didn't change much otherwise, I have taken to using it as a liner that holds water, a sort of variation of hügelkultur

I had a large pot I had planted three lavenders in in the hope I could produce something impressive quickly. I have done it with other things fairly successfully, but this didn't work, so I took them out and tore them apart before potting up separately, If they make it they make it, if not I am not short of lavender.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

went about and took a bunch of pictures.

 

[Sean Regan]

Should have been a golf day, but it rained for most of the night, so didn't fancy it, but there's always Wednesday.

Bought some teal grey and red paint in advance of repainting the 6ft pagoda. I've some of the other colours I need.
It's looking a bit sorry for itself, not having had any attention for two or three years.

There's quite a bit of green mold on the edges of the roofs that aren't showing up in this photo and there's one or two red finials missing from the corners of the roofs. Still, not too bad being that I made it 36 years ago.

I'll get the jet-wash to it, being concrete, it won't come to any harm.
I'm pleased that the sorin (the thing on the top) has lasted so well. I wouldn't want to have to repair it.

The body of the building was easy enough to make, using numerous moulds I made for it.
The sorin was a pain.
But I wanted it to look right.
In the end, I made it from,

A long steel rod,
The top of a Decleor shaving gel cannister,
a wooden cupboard door knob.
Eight brass cupboard door knobs drilled through
Nine wooden shower curtain rings
Nine tops of 4 pint milk cartons
Another brass door knob
A large nut
The stake for a garden spotlight, drilled through.
Two wooden beads.

I've made some replacement finials, a recycled orchid support stick is the right diameter.

I need a few dry days to get it done. I'll also do a bit of re-painting of the tea-house and the pergolas. I need to do it before the wisteria foliage gets in the way and before "stuff" blows off next door's tree blossom when it appears and sticks to the paint.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

No sign of 'Arry yet, Sean? People are starting to post pictures of their hogs coming out on our village facebook, but we are a good bit South of you.

 

[Sean Regan]

No sign of 'Arry yet, Sean? People are starting to post pictures of their hogs coming out on our village facebook, but we are a good bit South of you.

No sign yet.
Last year, he didn't come out until the end of this month. It's been much colder this year, so it might be later. That is of course, if he survived. He's not in his house and i've had a good search around the garden and there's no sign of him anywhere else. He can only be under the tea-house.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Can't see why he wouldn't survive, unless obesity got him Fingers crossed you see him soon.

 

[Sean Regan]

Got the jet-wash out today and gave the pagoda a go over. Over its life, it's had two different colour schemes.
It's ready for a paint job.

I also jet-washed the little patio behind the shed , the path down to the tea-house, the York stone area in front of it and the two flagged paths either side of it down to the back fence. There will be some re-pointing required of the small patio in places.


I also did the brick lawn edging, not too severely, as I don't want to make it noticeable, but it got rid of any surface moss on the tops of the bricks and any moss or grass between them.

(The bricks are holding down wires attached to the net over the acer).

 

[Oliver Buckle]

That acer net makes me smile, it reminds me of the hair nets women used to wear when I was a boy.

 

[Black_Thumb]

Yesterday, we went to the nursery and picked up several bags of red mulch, and I also picked up another big bag of weed killer/grass food for my spring pre-emergent installment. I ran out before I finished the lower part of the backyard. I finished that up as storm clouds were moving in, and was rewarded overnight and this morning with a nice steady rain! The weed killer and fertilizer will dissolve nicely in this rain.

Rain today, so no work in the yard today. I may try to plant some starters indoors in anticipation of the last freeze and then put them in the ground later. It depends upon my motivation level. I didn't get much sleep last night, and I love to sit in my rocker and read on rainy days!

 

[Black_Thumb]

It's supposed to be near 80 degrees today, so my plan is to make some significant headway on my chicken coop. The plans I have for it are absolutely horrendous, and I've had to basically modify them completely as I build. Measurements are wrong, fitment is impossible in some of the drawings, and it's just been a nightmare. What should have taken me perhaps five days has turned into five weeks. Such is life. I should redo the plans and sell my own version that actually is workable.

In any event, I am quite pleased that I did finish aerating my yard and getting the weed killer and fertilizer applied a couple days ago before all the rain yesterday! I am excited to get my lawn looking fabulous!

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I should redo the plans and sell my own version that actually is workable.

Sean Regan has posted a video on YouTube of how he built the tea house in the corner of his garden, it has had a heck of a lot of views.