What did you do in your garden today?

[Sean Regan]

Just a bit of clearing up today. I didn't finish my fence repairs until it was nearly dark.
Checked on the phlox plug plants on top of the freezers in the garage.

I'm in two minds whether to leave them there are put them on the windowsill in the shed. even in this weather, it gets very warm in there during the day, but of course it could be below freezing at night.

Whilst I was clearing up I noticed the snowdrops were coming out to the side of the rockery. I moved them there from under the azaleas in the front garden about ten years ago. We didn't plant them, the seeds may have originally come from bird droppings.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

My smaller , warmer greenhouse was getting very crowded. Sorting through my timber I found quite a lot of small strip wood and was thinking about building a staging, I really didn't need another job though so I looked on line and found a mini greenhouse from Argos. Picked it up this morning and assembled it without the top part or the cover ans then stood it on four half cinder blocks, so I have a floor and two shelves. Moved seedling onto it and there is now room to get into the greenhouse, and I still have an empty middle shelf, best £20 I have spent in a while.
The missus looked at the box, "The MacGregor greenhouse, better watch out for Peter"
I foresee it being useful as a greenhouse with the cover and top section on once the weather improves a bit.

 

[UrbanWild]

Yesterday I was able to get six jugs and winter sow the 30 Empetrum nigrum (crowberry) seeds I got online. I looked for plants without success. It's an experiment since we get lots of heat and humidity during the summer. I did it in the front yard and people walked by gawking probably thinking someone escaped the asylum. It was 40°F with a 10 mph wind.

I also managed to get some birding in while in the garden. The highlight was 62 sandhill cranes flying directly overhead.

 

[UrbanWild]

I have been soaking 25 Gaultheria procumbens (American wintergreen/Eastern teaberry) plants for about 36 hours. I will be planting them this afternoon before we get snow later tonight..back to rain on Wednesday and Saturday.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Chopped a days worth of wood and came straight back in, it's horrible out there.

 

[gary350]

I have been doing MELON research. I am tried of planting 90 day melons from seeds and not getting any melons for 4 months. Last year I replanted seeds several times it took me a whole month just to get seeds to germinate.

This year I will plant Sugar Babies 6 to 10 lb. melons, green outside, red inside, 75 day crop.

I am also going to plant Kajari determinate melons about 2 lbs. and 6" diameter, 50 day crop, very sweet with amazing flavor tastes like a cross between cantaloupe and honey dew. Replant from seeds every month.

I want to grow Moon & Star melons 10 lb. Red inside very sweet good flavor 2 month crop.

I think I can get a 4 to 6 week head start if I buy melon plants at the garden store those plants are probably already 4 to 6 weeks old.

When I was about 19 years old I learned from a watermelon farmer that melons grow 10 ft long roots straight down in sand soil in search of water. His 30 acre field was next to and 6 ft above the Ohio river. When I was young and full of energy I use to make a 6 ft deep hole fill it with sand then plant melons on the holes. I had very good melons. I have not done that in 45 years I need to try that again this year.

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[gary350]

I have seen Aldi's grocery store mini melons many times but never bought 1 until today. Wow this is a good 8" melon, it only had 4 seeds probably hybrid and probably won't grow. This makes me more excited about growing small melons.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I grew a melon plant in a greenhouse once, one melon about five inches across that tasted of nothing. Learned my lesson, this is England, I have stuck to buying them in the shop since.

 

[Tundra20]

I have seen Aldi's grocery store mini melons many times but never bought 1 until today. Wow this is a good 8" melon, it only had 4 seeds probably hybrid and probably won't grow. This makes me more excited about growing small melons.

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fumny u posted this im wrkin on adding to the garden that will have watermelon and cantoloupe ive had them before but deer or squirels seem to getem before i can so starting over in better spot hopefully

 

[gary350]

fumny u posted this im wrkin on adding to the garden that will have watermelon and cantoloupe ive had them before but deer or squirels seem to getem before i can so starting over in better spot hopefully

We have about 12 to 14 squirrels, rabbits, possum, about 15 deer, skunks, moles, field mice, Bobcat, rockoon, and they are no problem in my garden a 15 lb. loud barking dog scares them away. We have 1 cat that eats some of the squirrels. We have 14 bird houses and lots of birds. The bobcat worries me after dark.

Get a small loud barking dog that does not eat much.

 

[Sean Regan]

Cloudy and +4c. No good reason to go in the garden today other than to feed the birds.
There's a few things I'm planning to do once the weather improves.
I want to sort out the area under the acer palmatum that's in my avatar.
As you will see, it's a lot bigger than that now.

Consequently, the grass below it really struggles, due to the lack of light.
This was the best it looked last year. No amount of "shady place"grass seed grew.

It really looks bad at the moment.

I've a couple of choices, I could re-turf it (again) and shorten the skirt (again), but not by much. otherwise it will end up looking like a cocktail umbrella.

Or do what might be better, which is to make the brick circle of a much larger diameter.
The bricks are set in a fine concrete collar. I'll need a lot more bricks, but it's unlikely I'll be able to find the same ones again.
So I think I'll give the re-turf and shorten the skirt option a go first. But not for a couple of months.

In the meantime, I'll scout out a local reclamation yard to look for similar bricks.

On a positive note, the acer is producing its usual new growth. The restraining wire and net will remain on and be removed just before the foliage gets too big to pass through the net, by which time the branches should have set.

I hadn't intended to do anything today, but every Tuesday, I put out my next door neighbour's bins, as he's in hospital and will be for some time.
He has a gardener who comes once a month, but he doesn't seem to do much.
When I went round, I found a lot of garden refuse that needed clearing and I managed to fill two green bins with it. I don't know why this guy who does his garden, left it all.

A friend who lives the other side of this garden came round and told me he'd pruned off some branches earlier in the day of the tree that overhangs his garden. He said he intended to come round with his scaffold tower at the week-end to reduce the height of the top branches.
He's only got one tree that causes a problem, where I have three close to the fence on my side!
They are all silver birches and when the catkins and then leaves fall, they make unnecessary work for us both and anyway, they are way too tall for a suburban garden.
So at the week-end (weather permitting) and we'll reduce the height of the one on his side and the three on my side.
They need reducing to the height they were cut down to only a few years ago. I've pruned them as far up as I can with my Fiskars telescopic lopper, but the tower is needed to get at the higher branches.

 

[gary350]

I found a good video of Kajari melons. These are smaller than I realize 1 person can eat a whole melon. They look easy to grow. I already have a plan for an easy trellis. I like this size melon. These are 6" diameter melons that weigh abouy 2 lbs. This is a 50 day crop.

 

[Meadowlark]

Here is a video for Sugar Baby melons 9 lbs. This will be much better than a 30 lb. melon. Average weight 6 to 10 lbs. and a 75 day crop.

Here we go again...this thread is about "What did you do in your garden today?"

Start your own thread @gary350 about Sugar Baby videos if you wish, but KEEP THIS ABOUT TODAY please in respect to all those who faithfully use this thread.

 

[redback]

43C here today - that's about 110F. I gave the chickens a 3-liter frozen plastic milk bottle to keep their water cold. I watered 6 garden beds and then stopped because the water pressure was low due to everyone watering. Not much traffic on the road due to everyone being under the air con. The treat of bush fire is at a maximum.
If only it would snow. lol.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

The treat of bush fire is at a maximum.

Love the typo, 'Time for a barbie' ?