What did you do in your garden today?

[Colin]

Hi,

Middle of May and this morning frost so at 8 o'clock I was in the garden wrapped up. There's nothing like a bit of graft to get warmed up so I set about turning over the Gladioli I planted upside down yesterday. The pictures show what was involved; three rows at 6" deep this time planted correct way up; I planted them deep because of Gale who insists with her prevailing breeze up the valley. No way will I be digging these up every year to store them over winter; I've done my bit so now they can get on with it; I'm going to add ground cover over the top and hope the Gladioli will push through each year. I've got a packet of Ox Eye Daisy here on the desk so I'll have a go at sowing these.

I'll never be an expert gardener nor do I ever want to be; I'm making all the mistakes but I'm enjoying being in the garden pottering around planting anything which takes my fancy; I must be doing something right though because visitors are very complimentary when they see what Bron and I do; two lovely ladies have just collected the last two composting bins and they were amazed as they looked up the mountain; strange how friends are made like this; the ladies are going to be regular visitors and asked if they could bring along their two grandchildren; of course they can and welcome.

One of the ladies was almost in tears when Bron kindly gave her a bunch of silk flowers and a wooden spoon Bron had embellished with pyrography; when we were kids it was all about give and take and we still stand by this but mostly these days its take so it was nice to see someone moved so much by a simple gesture of friendliness; I've got a gem of a wife in Bron.

I've just enjoyed a brew and a bickie so now into the shed and pot up the free Begonias supplied with the plants I've bought from Parker's; I'd better double check how to plant these Begonias otherwise I'll plant them upside down.

I'm delighted to see the ground cover Ajuga and assorted shrubs I planted last year coming along a treat.

Kind regards, Colin.

6" topsoil removed and dug down another 6" to break up the subsoil. Compost was added yesterday.

Ajuga and shrubs I planted last year being appreciative.

A camera shot up the mountain; it's much steeper than it looks.

Hopefully planted correct way up this time; a good easy way to start my day.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Nice Dirt @Colin ! Our soil is red, and a heavy sticky clay that would resist being dug out with tenacity.

 

[Logan]

Good work @Colin yes that soil looks great.

 

[Logan]

Weeding in the front garden to make room for the cosmos. Won't plant them out until the end of may, all danger of frost has gone by then and they'll be a bit bigger.

 

[Sean Regan]

I almost completely filled the green bin with bluebell foliage..
There must have been a few hundred around the gardens both back and front.
This bed was suffering, as there's some dahlias in it which were completely covered by drooping bluebell leaves. I've put down plenty of slug pellets.

 

[JamieB]

So I’ve made a few changes, and have more in the first stages. My flower garden will soon be a big pit, I’m going to move my pond to there, but first comes the digging! By hand, with maybe some help from a step son, a few dogs, the cats like to fill in the holes with . Today we got the iris’ moved over by where the well seeps, in preparation for fencing in an area for the dogs. They’d get smashed otherwise.

 

[Colin]

Hi,

Yesterday I planted dozens of assorted plants to our garden then gave them a good watering; typical of Blackie deserting me when he's needed for a good downpour.

This morning I've been woodturning and glued a pedestal to a bowl but after having a brew I'm heading up the garden; 20 more Begonias to pot up these being free with my last two plant orders then I hope to join two hose pipes; carrying a big watering can full of water to the top of the mountain is draining so hopefully the water can carry itself up?

I've still got 30 plants yet to arrive this time from Thompson's; I've been buying dozens of plants all on special offer and the garden is filling up nicely; I didn't bother flagging the Aubretia but I've flagged a lot of the other plants just to keep track of them.

https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/sunny-border-collection/tka0184TM

Last year the garden was mostly moss so it's nice to see a bit more colour but it's been hard graft to reach this stage.

It's turning into another beautiful sunny day after a cold start.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[JamieB]

It rained a bit last night, so after work, I’ll dig some more! Maybe get a nap in first!

 

[Sean Regan]

I kept finding a ring of soil around the base of the big tub holding our Morello cherry. Pulling the tree out by its trunk the root ball came out intact to reveal there was an ants' nest in it. So a good dust with ant powder over the root ball and the interior of the tub, before returning it seemed to have got rid of the problem. As a plant although it will fruit this year, it's not like its former self. How much that has to do with the ants is a question I can't answer.


So I've given it "The Gypsy's Warning."
If it doesn't perform next year it'll have to go.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=The gypsy's warning

 

[Logan]

Done a lot of watering and started pulling up the wallflowers that have finished flowering.

 

[JamieB]

Well it decided to rain some more, so I decided it doesn’t matter, it’s not bad enough to stop me. I moved my shubinkin in with the goldfish, that gives me just under two weeks to observe them before I’m gone for two weeks. My goal is to get the outline of the pond dug before dark.

 

[JamieB]

The out line plus a little more is dug. Hubby is frying chicken for dinner. I’m thinking; food, shower, bed. I’m tired!

 

[JamieB]

I ate, dug more, ended up getting help from Dad, younger boy, and a few moments of help from the Great Dane! He did good, digging right along the edge I’d already dug out a bit. Lol. However, I’m paying dearly for all we got done. I’m sore!

 

[Logan]

Done some weeding and pulled up some of the wallflowers that have finished.
Do some more watering tonight.

 

[Sean Regan]

I started early today....around 10.00am and finished about 12.30pm.

I gave the "rabbit shed" a coat of Dulux Mahogany Woodstain. It's the replacement for "exterior Woodsheen," but £15 per 2.5 ltrs more expensive.

I built this shed for our seven year-old daughter. I used the back wall of the garage as one side and built it out of reclaimed roofing ply and 3" X 2" plus three wood frame windows, I pulled out of the skip when next door's had their windows changed for double glazing. The shed was a reward for her for looking after her one rabbit in its hutch on the patio.The conditions for letting her have the first one was that she had to clean it out and feed it every morning before school whatever the weather. The shed allowed her to have more rabbits and some guinea pigs. I was forever making more hutches. She bought her last rabbit at the age of fourteen. By the time she was eighteen and left home to train at GOS as a nurse, it was the only survivor. We had to look after it for another eight years before it popped its clogs!

This woodstain is very shiny, it's reflecting the glare off the path.



Anyway since that time, it has housed my garden tools. But we still call it "the rabbit shed." It's rather compact and bijou but I can get everything garden related in. My extending pruners have to be stored under the roof!
The two table-top freezers are storage for my wife's on-line bulk meat and pie purchases. There's a vent in the wall behind them and one in the bottom of the wall next to the door as it can get quite warm in there.

These old filing drawers are handy for all sorts of bits. I've taken some of the drawers out and use them in the long drawer under my workbench in the garage, to store tools, screws, nuts and bolts etc.,

The garage with a big work bench and more stuff than I can ever use is another story.


I have replaced the roofing felt over time, but there's no rot and is quite serviceable, considering our daughter will be fifty next month! (She never came home to live, she and her family live in Staines).



I also gave the pool pergola another coat..

The new wisteria is doing its best to climb over the pergola rails

It's a replacement we've had for just a few weeks. This one which was fifty years old died, well most of it,
one surviving branch runs round and fills half the pergola on the back of the house.
It was becoming unmanageable, far too much wood.

The pergola/pool rail has a history. When I built the pool, (thirty years ago) as it's five feet deep my wife said with her MS she would be frightened to walk past it to get to the bottom of the garden. So I built the pergola and rail. A week after I'd built it, I came home from work one evening to find her busy doing a bit of weeding on the rockery the other side of the pool!