What have you done today in the Garden?

I actually use the seat off an exercise machine my wife had decades ago. It was used mostly for sitting on, when she was on the phone to her friends and the handlebars came in handy to hang a jumper on that needed airing.

 

@Doghouse Riley you really work hard on your patio. I would never have the patience, or the knees!, to do what you have done. I love my Kärcher but wouldn't want to spend too much time with it. We've only got a small entrance area, a verandah, and the cars to clean, lol.

Oh, edit: I completely forgot to say your patio looks very nice now.

 

Nothing today it's been too cold, if the wind would die down it would be nice with the sun shining.

 

That's a clever idea DHR. Must look after our knees.

I put a cushion on one of my planter dollies when I have to do the floor or deck, and scooch around. Except my floor in the original cabin has a slope...so I always seem to be fighting to go uphill or I end up at the stove.

 

Thanks for the kind words,

I find using the Karcher, quite therapeutic (for the first half hour), then it becomes a pain.
Added to that, it generates a lot of water.
There's holes, in the bottom of the curtilage walls on both sides, you can see in the photo.
They can handle rainwater, but not that amount generated by the Karcher. I did put a 1.5 inch pipe in the corner of the patio through the wall and the fence to the kitchen drain on the other side. But I built the patio with a fall away from the house and the pipe doesn't have much of a fall either, because the patio is only just above the level of the lip of the drain, so little will go through the pipe on its own accord.

I have a Nilfisk wet n' dry vac, I use to suck up the water, but it'd be another pain constantly having to empty it into the drain the other side of the fence.

So I made this a few years ago.
It plugs into the pipe and I can keep emptying the Nilfisk into it to clear the water.



I'll give the patio a sweep and replace the bird bath and the rose pots after I've cleaned them tomorrow. If it isn't too cold, then sort out the pots on the other patio and brush in some sand. I'm in too minds about repointing the path to the side of the garage at the same time, or leave it until Thursday.
.

 

Pricked out 96 snapdragon seedlings into cell trays.

 

Ooo snaps …can I have some? …snaps is a childhood fav.. remembering those days of snap puppets, talking two finger to move the snap into talking flower heads.

 

Yes you can have some if you want to collect.
They're my childhood favourite as well, also the cosmos, pot marigolds and lupin.

 

These are the snaps, it's a new colour called cherry twist.

 

Got quite a bit done in a few hours today. Lots of heavy lifting.

Removed all seventeen glazed pots and their pot movers from the new patio. Brushed in half a bag of fine sand, before the rain had a chance to come. Some of the sand is a bit wet. It's the damp coming up from the fine hardcore below the flags, by capillary action. Needs another brush over in places.

The fountain sits on a round paving stone on the top of what was the koi pool pump sump. Which is connected to what was the bottom drain of the pool. There's a hole in the concrete plinth I made for the fountain, so I can put a "dip stick" down to check if there's any water in the sump, which would indicate the hardcore under the flags would be waterlogged. But I've never found any. The stick always comes up dry. I must have drilled sufficient 1" holes in the pool's concrete floor, so the water is draining away. Our soil is a bit sandy, so free draining.


Topped up with compost and cleaned all the pots and their pot movers, put ten back on the new patio and the rest on the other one. Put the troughs back with their heathers. Replaced the bird bath and 'arry's feeder with some dry hedgehog food, in case he shows up.





The pointing's not yet completely dry. I'm getting couple more glazed pots on Friday, when they arrive at the local garden centre for those hebes on the French window steps. I'll just put them in, in their plastic pots. I can then ring the changes with other plants if I choose.





Nothing planned until Friday. (Golf tomorrow, shopping Thursday).I need to get into the rockery and remove a lot of dead leaves, a few weeds and a lot of grass, to give the phlox a better chance.
The re-pointing of some places on the path next to the garage, isn't urgent, so can wait for a week or so. I won't spend more than three or four hours "doing stuff" in the garden.

 

Logan.. those are enchanting snaps, you definitely have good taste in garden flowers.
Haven’t had a free moment to start seeds yet. The snow issues and power loss is quite intimidating at the moment.

Right now my confidence is running a bit low when to start any seeds. It’s not a good time , weather is not cooperating.
Even for starts inside. I’ll wait till April.

 

Thank you Pacnorwest, it's best to wait a bit for you to do some, but they'll soon catch up, chin up.
Here's a video to cheer you up.

 

Logan. AWW Thank you . That video really did the trick…

 

Checked all the clematis, we've more than a dozen, all showing signs of life. The two Mayleen in smaller tubs in the drive that climb up the party fence are fine.
But this in a big tub by the front door is not. No sign of life, which is a pain. It's been there for at least ten years.
May have to replace it, I'll change the compost at the same time.





Its smaller companion, which grows along a wire under the front room bay window, has survived.

This year's David Austin catalogue has arrived. As we've sixteen roses in pots and two in beds, I'll try to resist buying any more.

 

Today I cut down some gigantic arborvite trees. Well, "cut down" is a stretch - the roots had rotted, and a push sent them to the ground. That means more firewood to cut up. I think "Arborvitae", meaning "tree of life", is kind of a misnomer because they don't seem to live long here. A few remain in the original row. The privacy function is taken over by bamboo and legal buddleia. Legal, because they are seedless hybrids, so not invasive. When I bought them, the catalog said they were compact, reaching up to six feet tall. They are more like 15 feet tall. Bees and butterflies don't seem to like the flowers on these. But they seem good for privacy.

Here are the tigridia seedlings.


They look crowded, so I repotted them. Not much root yet.



Now they have more too,.



I also repotted some of the chili peppers. All of the varieties from the second batch have germinated. I need to get to work on the bed where they'll be planted in May or June.

The pile of tree branches is much smaller now, after being cut up to make firewood. Then I added those arborvitae trees, so it's sort of a wash LOL.