What did you do in your garden today?

[Sean Regan]

In your first image of the wisteria against your fence, the branches seem well established and mature, yet you have beautiful flowers coming off them at source rather than flowers coming from extended growth. How have you managed to keep this so lovely over the years? I’ve just drastically cut ours back and it spans the entire of our front elevation, and I’m hoping to achieve the same flowering you have!

Wisterias will throw out new growth from anywhere from Spring to early
Autumn. Particularly near the root. It's just a case of choosing how many main branches you want and pruning off any others.

 

[DirtMechanic]

I picked a spot in my yard that is somewhere betwixt 2000 and 3000 sq. ft. to experiment on. I applied Triclopyr to the yard, knowing full well that most of the "lawn" was weeds of one sort or another, and the stuff did a phenomenal job of killing the weeds. I overseeded a few days ago with 85% to 15% Kentucky Blue Grass and Perennial Rye. It's been raining nonstop every day for the last week, and it all started the very same day I put down the new seed.

Prior to overseeding it, I dethatched it and then aerated it. The heavy rains that evening surely helped to get the seeds into the holes created by my aerator! I'm anxious to see the results! Here are a couple photos showing what the Triclopyr did, and one that shows a part of the yard that I didn't do just for comparison. As you will clearly see, most of the "green" isn't grass; it's weeds. I have an infestation of wild violets, clover, creeping Charlie, prickly lettuce, Bermuda grass, crab grass, and a few other things I forgot the names of. The yard should be gorgeous once I get all of it taken care of. I only have 450000 more square feet to d9eal with.

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I want to know how those trees at the edge fare over the winter. Triclopyr is a brush killer too but one of the few chems that can smoke wild voilet. I so want to use it but there is no way I can miss all the tree roots in my yard,

 

[Esther Knapicius]

This one small truck had been bothering me for years, still shoots out babies, only 22 inches round. Finally dug about it, took my rope and looped it good and tight, anchored to back of car and pulled, made some noise, but got it out.

 

[big rockpile]

Sprayed with Neem. Ordered some Flower Seed.

big rockpile

 

[Sean Regan]

"It pays to complain."
At the beginning of May, my wife noticed an advert in a magazine for a dozen begonias for £9.99, from Suttons Seeds. They came delivered through the letterbox they were that small and the rip-off packing and postage charges made the total. £16.98.
I wasn't best pleased, as only half of these tiny plug plants were viable.
Even now, those that survived are only this size, in a pot on the windowsill of the shed.

So I "ripped into them" in an e-mail.
A profuse apology followed and a voucher code for £20. Which didn't work, so I had to phone to get it applied. I used it to buy two little hydrangeas, one will go in a ceramic pot, the other in the bed next to the kitchen window.
They still cost me £5 because of the high postage charge.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Sprayed with Neem. Ordered some Flower Seed.

big rockpile

got a new bottle of Neem this year, to me it seems to smell stronger than last bottle I used. Just saying.

 

[Sean Regan]

Got into the rockery and dug out a lot of grass. Ran a serrated knife down between the flags on the rose patio removing dirt and moss. Then vacced it all up.
l'll brush in some sand if it's dry tomorrow. Cleaned and re-filled the fountain.

 

[Sean Regan]

I've had a bit of a love-hate relationship with this mimosa I planted up against the fence half-way down the garden.
At one time it looked a bit sickly but has since thrived.
It came attached with tape in several places to an unsubstantial thin support bamboo cane.

This cane snapped despite the plant being tethered to one of the lateral wires strung between the concrete fence posts. I made a temporary repair (four months ago) by lashing a bit of aluminium tubing to both parts of the cane.

But now it deserves something better. I didn't want an ugly thick bamboo cane as it would stick out like a sore thumb. So this morning I've bought an 8ft length of 1" thick strong dowel which I will paint with mahogany Dulux Woodsheen, to match the rest of the woodwork in the garden and attach them with two soft black plastic tree ties.

 

[big rockpile]

got a new bottle of Neem this year, to me it seems to smell stronger than last bottle I used. Just saying.

I've had some say once it is opened it won't keep long.

I just opened a fresh bottle but been using quite a bit lately.

big rockpile

 

[big rockpile]

Sprayed my Cabbage and Greenhouse, the Greenhouse just keeping ahead of things.

Went got couple more Hummingbird Feeders and another Seed Feeder I liked.

Got some Marigold and Petunia Seeds today.

Got some Slugs in the garden I decided to share a Beer with them.

big rockpile

 

[Esther Knapicius]

I've had some say once it is opened it won't keep long.

I just opened a fresh bottle but been using quite a bit lately.

big rockpile

only have one plant that needs it. the climbing rose. pain in the neck. I start very early with it, baby leaves appear. But, better this year. those brown spots are nuts.

 

[big rockpile]

Pulled weeds out of one Strawberry Bed, got two heads of Cabbage replanted in Jalapeño Peppers, had some Tomato Plants that got too big I cut them up and put them in Compost Bin, put some dirt from Chicken Pen put it in Compost Bin.

big rockpile

 

[Sean Regan]

I sorted out the support for the mimosa. A bought a length of 1" dowel and painted it with mahogany wood stain and attached it with two proper tree supports. They were a bit big, but they were the only ones I could find in Homebase.

It deserved better support than a bit of bamboo cane lashed to some metal tubing and all the insulating tape which was securing it when I bought it.
Although I'd hammered in a bit of dowel of a similar diameter to make the hole for the support, so it is "well in," it needed to be attached to the top lateral wire strung between the two adjacent concrete fence posts, to keep it steady.
I think it looks better than using a thicker bamboo cane, which would look ugly.

 

[Sean Regan]

When I replaced the roofing felt on our tea-house fourteen years ago, I made a new decorative feature for the top.

Unfortunately, the elements have got to it and the "scalloped" bit at the top was rotting away. So I removed it, the other day.

It didn't look right without it, so a replacement is "under construction,"

I'll be fitting it probably tomorrow, once the paint is dry. Unfortunately, the local wood yard no longer stocks that particular moulding, so I've used something less decorative, "but there will be some small additional feature to compensate."

Wood is now very expensive, as is everything. This has cost me around thirty quid for something which most would consider is entirely unnecessary. But there you go.

The roofing felt has lost much of its green sand, so appears quite weathered, but it's polymer, so completely watertight, so I'm not bothered. The rest of the woodwork of this building is rot free, despite now being 37 years old.

 

[Sean Regan]

Job done!

I got it mounted before the rain this morning. At 84, I didn't fancy clambering around up there if the roof was wet. What I was looking for, was a bit of "enhancement, " not to make a statement. This after all is really just a glorified old shed.

Some golfers might say, this construction included what would be the best use of Pro V1 golf balls.