What did you do in your garden today?

[big rockpile]

It's great to get a bonus like that. I found a little bay tree that must have grown from seed and popped it in a pot a couple of months ago. It's looking okay, I am wondering if it will grow true or if its smell will be different at all, too small to start damaging it yet, but I got a slight whiff when I brushed it to make sure it was what I thought.
Wonder what colour your lilacs will be, I had a really white one once, but mostly they're lilac

Lavender.

Had a beautiful bush by the house.

Guy that bought our place mowed all the Bushes and Flower Bed right in front of us then went to work and bragged about it.

big rockpile

 

[big rockpile]

Put a bag with Worm Castings in it in bucket of rain water to water my House Plants.

Had a Tote in the Greenhouse that I thought all the Worms had run off so I was going to dump it in the Compost Bin dumped part of it. What the heck had about a hundred European Nightcrawlers in it.

Maybe I better rethink this. Took the Worms out put bunch of bedding in it put the Worms in try again.

Then I put our Christmas Tree up.

big rockpile

 

[Sean Regan]

Too wet for gardening, but I've been busy. The new dishwasher packed up over the week-end after just a month's use. I phoned Bosch first thing and told them I wasn't well pleased. It must have embarrassed them, as they are sending an engineer first thing in the morning. I hope they can fix it, as at the moment, it is as dead as a dodo. If it has to be replaced, that could take a week.

Then I had to ring my car insurance company. Why do they always try it on, at renewal? They'd put it up by 25%. I was armed with several other quotes.
I settled for a 7% increase.

On Saturday I collected a tuner/amp I bought on eBay, it's just a spare and I'll use it in my "office" our box-bedroom. It's to replace my other spare, which is getting a bit tired. A Leak 2000.

It's younger but still over 40 years old. It's a Leak 3400.

Of course nothing for me ever seems easy. It's wider than the previous one, the speakers would not have fitted either side. So I had to by a new length of shelving and swop them over. Harder to do than some might think. Needed a bit of fettling to change them.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Not a lot, mostly cleared up the fire I had yesterday. the cat came and hung around watching, then came over for a stroke and to walk through my legs, why do cats always do that with their family? (Cats don't have owners).
Lots to do, but I had to drive to the store to get stuff for the second bedroom floor, it is concrete, and a bit damp. We have painted it with sealer, now needs carpet gripper, paper and underlay putting down, carpet coming in next few days. looking forward to having somewhere better than the living room to go when ejected for snoring.

 

[Sean Regan]

The Bosch engineer came at 8.00 am this morning. I explained that I'd checked the fuse and it was OK. He attempted to turn on the machine and of course nothing happened, no lights, nothing.

He pulled out the machine from under the counter top and noticed it was plugged in to a double 13amp socket, the second socket is for the washing machine. He un-plugged that and plugged in the dishwasher into the same socket. The machine came on!
He said the socket must have burned out.

This must be a common problem, for him to determine the fault so quickly.

Now this double socket has been there for well over a decade and we sometimes have the washing machine and the dishwasher on at the same time, as we did on Sunday. The only difference was that I usually have the dishwasher on "Express" a 1hr 35m programme. as we rinse off everything before it goes in. But on Sunday, I put it on "intensive" (2.5hrs) for the first time. It stopped working halfway through the programme. I guess the fact that the heaters in both machine would have both been on together and the "dishy" one for longer than usual.

He said that with heaters in both machines working, sometimes one of the sockets fail.
But it didn't blow the fuse nor trip the mini breaker that protects the kitchen power ring main. He was in the house for less than five minutes.

So I went out and bought a new double socket from my local electrical wholesaler.
I removed the old socket and could see no evidence of burning, discolouration, or melting of any of the wires where they enter the terminals at the back of the socket, or any tracking on the metal back box.
So I just fitted the new socket and plugged both machines in again. They were then "good to go."
To be safe, in future, we won't be using the dishwasher and washing machine at the same time.
The new double socket cost me less than £4.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Result, weird you could see nothing though.

 

[Sean Regan]

Result, weird you could see nothing though.

As I understand it, a loss of continuity within a socket or part thereof, i.e. one side can happen.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

husband Raking and blowing leaves. same old same old.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Thought I would separate those seedlings I didn't label. They are not leeks as I thought, They are growing tiny bulbs, winter onions I suppose. Split the three pots with fewest in and potted on 28 seedlings, I might have another 50 in the other three pots. Also planted out some winter onions I already had and that were a decent size in pots, so we should be alright for onions from March. I missed a lot last year getting over the operation on my leg and we are actually buying them, I resent that.
The missus cleared a lot of stuff that was over from the flower bed and pruned the buddleia against wind rock, we'll have some more off in the Spring. It made a huge wheelbarrow full of stuff and I set too and reduced it all so it compacted to a thin layer over the new compost heap and had lots of damaged places disease could get in, then took the partially rotted top off the old heap and put it on top of the new one to hold it down, and introduce some spores and microbes hopefully.
Chopped a bit of wood, just to stay ahead, we have loads really.
Took down the construction I had grown climbing French beans on, put the remains of the bean plants into the compost heap, the bamboos were threaded onto the rafters in the larger greenhouse.
Planted some sweet peas in pots.

 

[big rockpile]

Mulched Garlic, Asparagus and Strawberries.

Ordered a Propane Heater for the Greenhouse and bought some Lumber.

Watered stuff with Worm Casting Tea.

Was surprised I have a baby Thanksgiving Cactus.

Started some Basil and Peppermint seed for in the house use.

Got my Grow Lights going in the Greenhouse.

My wife is drying some Apples.

big rockpile

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Started digging a new hole, picked up a lot of leaves and rammed them into three plastic sacks

 

[big rockpile]

Mulched and cut Sprouts. Looked at some Dormant Spray.

big rockpile

 

[Sean Regan]

It's rained on and off for a couple of days. There are leaves that need collecting, but few have fallen yet from the several wisterias. I'll give it a week and then start stripping some more. But on the first dry day next week, I'll collect a lot of next door's silver birch leaves that have fallen into our garden.


I'm only certain that one of the three hedgehog houses is occupied.

This one under the azaleas next to the patios, but the resident has not triggered the camera for two weeks since it last went in.

So next week, I'll check the other two and if they are vacant, I'll put them in the shed having removed the bedding and cleaned them out and I'll let them dry out over the winter.

I've brought this acer palmatum Taylor now it has shed its leaves, into the freezer/storeroom in the back of the garage, as I did last year.

Two others we'd had before it over the past six years did not survive the low temperatures experienced in the winter.

 

[Sean Regan]

Not a lot got done today as it was too wet. But there's lots of leaves that need clearing.

Most are from next door's silver birches, though there are a few from the wisterias.


If it's dry tomorrow, I'll get my Grizzley garden vac out to clear them.

I'll also strip these, down the side of the house, as they are mostly yellow now,

There's a lot of wisteria leaves still to come down.

This is the azalea I put here in mid summer in its plastic pot, which was originally on the patio. I took it out of the pot and planted in the earth.

I checked the second and third hedgehog houses, there were no occupants, the one that was near the back fence was a bit damp inside, although it doesn't leak. As it's permanently in the shade, I wasn't surprised. I cleaned them both out and they are now in a corner of the 8ft x 8ft "freezer room," in the back of the garage, where they will both dry out. It's a bit crowed in there with two freezers, four garden chairs two loungers, two spare golf bags, a spare golf trolley a spare set of clubs and a kitchen high chair. Plus the acer palmatum Taylor and from today, the lilac in its tub. It has a lot of nice fat buds on it. It survived last winter on the patio, but I'm not taking a chance this year.

I've turned off the water supply to the garage and garden. Last time I didn't I had two burst pipes under the basin and the fifty-year old water heater burst an internal pipe. The heater I have now has a "frost stat." I can turn the water on as and when I require it during the cold months.

For the jukeboxes in the tea-house, I've taken their heaters off the timers and they are now on 24/7. They are only 60w greenhouse heaters, so don't use much electricity. But they, with the insulated covers will stop them getting damp. I "turned them both over" this afternoon, gave their mechanisms some use by playing a few records. They both worked fine.

I took the new to me Leak 3400 tuner/amp up to Bolton this morning for the guy to check out the few faults it has. He is retired now, but still does these sort of repairs.
He has a wealth of experience of vintage audio and "can use a soldering iron." He works from his small end terraced house, so there's no big overheads, so it won't cost as much as it would taking to a high street retailer that "does repairs."

 

[tyronee]

Today, I finally got around to weeding the flower beds and planting some fall bulbs—I can’t wait to see them bloom next spring! I also gave the vegetable patch a good cleanup. While taking a break, I was researching Mr Waterheater reviews for a water heater replacement we need. It’s great to see positive feedback about their service; definitely something to consider if you're looking for reliable home maintenance solutions.