What have you done today in the Garden?

Yeah Riley! We had blue skies today as well. My tree shed Enough that I was able to cover at least one bed. There's enough to cover the other one as well. But my neighbor wanted to give my granddaughter the birthday gift that she got for her and take her out to the coffee shop where I get my burlap bags. Her birthday is Wednesday, she will be the big 1-4 (14). So we went there and found out, that little area was having an open house thing, so we walked up and down the street and went to the different shops. I see glass blowing in our future. I made a bowl about 20 years ago in the Seattle area (a small suburb). It would be fun to do again. And my granddaughter can do it as well.

I will finish up the other garden and take some pictures tomorrow when it's light again.

Sjoerd, does your country do daylight savings time; or is it just a U.S. thing? There's one state, that I know of that doesn't do it. I don't remember which one it is.

 

Yes Willow, we still have to spring forward and fall back over here as well.

 

It's raining, so nothing will get done today.

 

Nothing today it's raining again.

 

We went to the lottie again to clear more annuals. A garden pal stopped buy and we wound up getting cold as we sat around chatting and drinking tea. Before that a couple of newbie ladies were allowed to move to a different allotment. They were over the moon with their new plot which had a very nice garden house on it which was in good nick. I fished some reed out of the canal.
Cleaned out the greenhouse the other day.

 

The Battle of the leaves have begun…the Before and After….

 

That is a lot of leaves…but they are pretty. Will you use them to make leaf mould or compost?

 

@Pacnorwest those leaves look pretty, well done clearing them, hope that you use them somehow.

Nothing today again, it's been raining and it looks as if it hasn't finished. Gusty winds from the west south west.

 

No rain but very strong winds.

This has stripped almost all the remaining leaves, from the big acer in the front garden




Same with the two acer palmatums.






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I've moved the two "tree azaleas" in their ceramic pots from their stone circles at the back of the lawn, to the path to the side of the tea-house, as they're in leaf and could otherwise get blown
over.


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Although the tea-house has a large area of roof over its veranda, I never worry about damage from strong winds. The turned up corners of the roof act like a "reverse aeroplane wing," and there's as much air pressing down on it as forcing it up. Well.. That's my theory for the last 36 years.

I've put new batteries in the cameras and made a new support from a piece of dowel and a larger cover from the lid of an ice cream tub for this one.



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It's a bit late in the day, they might hibernate at any moment.

Still not as bad as this. For years, I'd opened a door in the teahouse on extremely hot days, as I didn't want my jukeboxes, "cooking." It does have roof vents and two near the floor in the back wall, these I open in the summer. But that wasn't enough for when it was very hot.
The year we had the fox cubs underneath the building, (2017), I didn't want to leave a door open, as they got older they were out during the day and would have gone in it.

So when it started to get warm, I bought and installed this extractor fan at the top of the front wall over the middle door and put it on a timer. This meant I didn't need to leave a door open.





Two days later their mother took them out of the garden and we never saw them again!


If it stays dry tomorrow, I'll do some leaf gathering, it's green bin day on Wednesday, so It'll be empty for Thursday if there's more to clear.

 

This is a good posting, Riley. I liked how the red Acer leaves automatically gather under the tree. It is like an automatic mulch, if they stay there.

What. Story about the foxes. Talk about timing.

Did you once say that you loaded the hedgehog boxes with straw for their comfort? They are going to have it good this winter, aren’t they.

 

I mulch all the leaves with the garden tractor mower and as I mow over the laws where there are blown with leaf blower…the leaves a chopped in tiny pieces by the mulcher and feeds the lawns , pastures and I just leave leaves in the flower beds . They are usually all decomposed by next spring.

 

The rain let up today. I was a little disappointed because I felt lazy. With the sunshine and nice weather, I thought I should work instead LOL.

My neighbor had a big pile of Liquidamber leaves. I love that tree name. In the Spring, I give her tomato and zucchini plants, and some fruits in the fall, but I feel like I should do more. I really appreciate those leaves.



I crushed the recent batch of chicken bones and spread them, raked them in the fresh soil on the raised bed I repaired. And a bit of wood ash / biochar, some coffee grounds, and a jar of crushed eggshells. Then covered with a thick layer of leaves. Now it sits until Spring.

Pulled out the rest of the chili peppers and turned over the soil.

Pruned about 2/3 of the raspberry patch.

A neighbor dog came over to keep Rufus occupied while I worked.





I don't know his name, so I call him "Sparky". Rufus is really gentle and playful with the little pup.

 

No way am I going to read this whole thread, so pardon me for just jumping in.

I have been out in my garden a lot, and trying to get that giant pile of wood chips hauled to the garden. I try to haul a few loads per day at least. I have done some raking, but there are lots more leaves where they came from. The ones that land in my flower beds get to stay and enrich the soil there. I have a flower bed I call the 'fish pond' because it was supposed to become a fish pond. When my kids were trying to dig it they ran into a layer of soil that is rock hard and could not get it deeper. So I began adding compost and it became a flower bed. It is still a good sized hole in the ground, so I keep adding leaves in the fall. I think I will add wood chips this year also, since I have so many.

So far, most of the wood chips have gone into my veggie garden in my raised beds and containers. I have gotten 3 of 7 rose bushes transplanted into containers and am still looking for more xx large containers. My veggie garden is looking pretty good with all of that nice mulch. The parsley is still going good, and the beets and carrots and garlic and Egyptian walking onions look good despite 3 nights of hard freezing earlier this month. We have had a few light frosts since then, but nothing major. Other plants have gone dormant for the season, except my berry bushes still have green leaves. I am making a little bit of progress on the flower beds also.

Hauling all the wood chips around gives one lots of exercise and no need for any gym visits. A nice hot shower tonight ought to help the sore achy muscles. I wish it would help my figure though. I think some menthol rub will help too.

I am close to half way through moving that huge pile (2 full loads) of wood chips to my garden. It has lots of stuff to help the composting along in it. I found a nice black and yellow salamander in it recently. I put him over in some leaves, so hopefully he has a new place for the winter. I put the grub in a bird feeder for a lucky bird to find.

Should I add wood chips to the beets and carrots now, or wait a bit on them?

I almost forgot. Yesterday, while cleaning out an old flower bed, I found a pile of bulbs that I do not recognize. Most of them are large reddish round bulbs, a few had green tips on them already. I have mostly old fashioned day lilies in that area--but those have roots like fat fingers. They are not daffodil bulbs either. I do have some tiger lilies (the leaves are wrong) around, but I don't think this is them. Then there is also a huge fat white bulb about the size of a grapefruit. I have no clue what that one is. I do have some Asiatic lilies in pots, and these were in the ground. Their leaves are like my tiger lilies. One friend thought I have dahlias. I have never planted dahlias. She has dahlias that are lovely. I hope they will bloom come spring. My mystery rose bush has yet to bloom, but it is doing well. Those large red bulbs are about the size of a nice redbeet. I guess they were too crowded, but they did not bloom this year, and I don't think they did last year either. I did replant them some in pots and some in the ground and spread them around. That big fat white bulb is in its own pot so I know what it is when it does grow.

Your garden pictures look lovely.

 

Last Saturday finally got the last of my bulbs. Today i pulled up the cosmos and planted the tulip bulbs there before it started raining again.
Still got the hyacinth bulbs to plant but got to find where I put the last ones from last year that's in the ground.

 

Sad day, went to the funeral of a golf pal I'd known for more than twenty years. Lots of club members there.

Cleared a lot more leaves this afternoon, stopped when the bin was full and it started to rain.
It will be collected tomorrow, so I will be prepared for more leaf collection later in the week if it ever stops raining.

I have a problem with the back fence behind the "bamboo forest." It has five concrete posts which support the four and a half panels




The middle post has disintegrated. There's just the stump left.




What has happened is the soft metal rods that strengthen the concrete, similar to rebar, have rusted and blasted out the concrete. I was left with bits of post swinging on the reinforcing bars.
So I had to get in there and hacksaw them off.






I've got a quote for a replacement post fitted and the stump taken away, of just under a hundred quid. It will have to be fixed from the garden behind ours, as there's better access and the level of that garden is lower. I'll have to go round and see the people tonight to get their permission for the guy to do it.

More rain scheduled tomorrow, but it's a golf day and it's a competition, so if the course is open as it has been most days, though fewer holes, I'll go.
But I'll put my wet gear on before I leave the house as if we play, I'll need it.