What have you done today in the Garden?

I walked round the crescent to call on the neighbour just now, (in the rain) it's very disorientating in the dark as all our houses look the same from the front, but managed to work out which one it was, He works from home and is quite happy for the work to be done from his side. Why not, i'm paying for it. I'll ring the fence man tomorrow and give him his phone number so they can decide when the job gets done.

You can work out a lot from a phone call. I found the fence guy on the internet. I put in "fencing erectors" and my post code and Google found several near me. On the one I chose, it just listed a land-line number. I rang that and it sounded like his mum who answered, she gave me his mobile, but said "Don't ring for 20 minutes as I know he's in his car." So he probably works from home. He lives on the road that our crescent joins, 200 yds away.
Just one more job near enough out of the way.
Just my car getting its service and MOT on Thursday. They come and collect it get the job done if it can all be done on the drive and bring it back after the MOT. A lot of my golfing pals use the same people it's a father and son outfit.

 

@Doghouse Riley I'm sorry for your sad loss. I hope the garden work gives you some peace of mind and distraction.

That's hard work, removing cement and hacksawing rebar. You are a very hard worker.

@AAnightowl, if you take photos of your bulbs and post them, we can guess. From your description, my guess is the red ones are hyacinths. I don't know others that size and color. Maybe alliums? That 's what I thought of with the big white bulb. Maybe it's a globe allium.

All of those leaves will serve you well. Ten years ago, my garden soil baked hard like a brick in summer. During winter, it was gummy and heavy. After ten years of leaves, the soil is almost like a moist chocolate cake, soft and spongey. The plants there flourish.

@Logan sometimes I dig for bulbs, and discover others are already there. This fall I dug out a container of day lilies and found tulip bulbs. Those got planted in containers.

 

Today I pruned the "Triple Crown" blackberries. They are one of my favorite fruits, and only get a few hours of care per year. I pulled out the invasive wild clematis vines, cut off the spent canes from this year, and covered the soil with about 6 inch thick carpet of tree leaves. I do that each year, and other than the weedy clematis, there are no weeds to speak of.



There is another patch that has two younger Triple Crown blackberry clumps, and one of a new dwarf variety, "Ponca". I also cleaned those up, but the mulch replenishment will have to wait a bit.

I pruned the first of the border row of fig trees, down to about six feet tall. They bear on new growth. I want to keep them within reach, and I want them to be a privacy hedge. That row has four other trees to prune.

 

@Daniel W, fortunately I did take a photo of my mystery bulbs before replanting them.

I posted on FB, but could not find it. So I posted it again. My phone pictures are sometimes too big for here.

I put them in a feed bowl so they could be seen easier. FB shrinks my photos, so I don't have to fool around with the editing tool.

 

I don't recall planting any hyacinths out there. I made this flower bed for my oldest granddaughter when she was little. She is 27 now. I had a few in two other flower beds far from this one.

 

That's interesting. For the smaller ones, if not daffodils, could they be snowflake flower (Leucojum)?



It's only a wild guess. I hope others will chime in.

I wonder if the larger one could be a Crown Imperial? The bulb looks kind of like one, to me.



It's hard to find images of the bulbs. This one isn't the best.



Or a lily? That might be a better guess.

 

I have never seen a crown imperial before. I love snowflake flowers, but have never planted them either. I sure hope they bloom in the spring/summer so I know what they are.

I have an unusual iris nearby but it rarely blooms.


fortunately I have a photo of my "fancy iris" that only blooms occasionally..

 

I saw some torch lilies in a gardening video, and liked them so much, I looked them up on eBay and ordered a few for my yard. Does anyone grow those? It says they will grow in zones 5-9 here in the US, and I am in zone 6b. They should arrive this week. I almost forgot, they get 5 feet tall, and attract hummingbirds and pollinators. Oh boy!

 

sorry about your friend @Doghouse Riley.

That is a ton of work to fix your fence!

I have a fence project to finish, but I have been hoping for some good rains to make it easier to put in a couple more posts... A friend here is having some roof repairs as part of a project to make her home larger (kids have moved back home), and her roof is open, so I guess I can wait a bit on more rain. I hope we get a drought buster soon as her roof is finished!

 

@AAnightowl I can't see any hyacinth bulbs in your picture but i can see a lilly bulb, it's a large white one on the right.
The others look like daffodils but can't be sure.

 

I have not planted daffodils in that bed, and my daffodils have much smaller bulbs than these. My daffodils are nearly all out front, and some in other far parts of my yard.

My other lily bulbs are not so huge as that big white bulb. I will take pictures if any bloom in the spring. Or at least pictures of their foiliage.

 

Today I replenished the leaf mulch for a row of fruit trees in my garden, and for half of the remaining blackberry bed. That required some digging, to get soil away from a shed wall. A few feet remain, then I can complete the blackberry mulching and on to more winter cleanup and prep for next year. There is a lot of pruning ahead, as well.

 

I'm so sorry DHR. It's a big loss especially when it is someone you spend day to day time with.

 

I am living vicariously through all of you...thank you so much. I received one of my seed orders yesterday. So so happy. And I also received my second order for my daughter for Christmas. EVEN happier!

 

My car's having its annual service and MOT today. It's a father and son outfit, they've done it for years. They are used by several members of my golf club. You need to book them at least two weeks in advance they are that busy.
They do what they can on your drive and then take it away for its MOT. Anything else they take it back to their garage.
They are only marginally cheaper than a main agent, but at least you know it will be done properly. I could get away with not having it serviced every year as I'm only doing a couple of thousand miles, but I think it's worth it.

I've got to re-attached the down-pipe to the gutter on the back of the tea-house roof. It's there to stop the rain running off the roof and down the back fence panels. It's only clip together connections.