What have you done today in the Garden?

If anything happens to this rooster, I do not intend to get another one.

Not sure how much he really "protects" them, because snakes do get into the henhouse and steal the eggs.

Buff Orpington roosters seem quite nice, at least the one I had a long time ago was a nice rooster.

I got him from a friend, and she raised him by hand and he used to be pretty good with me. She would give me another rooster if I wanted.

It is wet and soggy the next several days... I won't be able to mow. Guess I will mostly work indoors. If I get time, I will try to plant some more seeds and the few seedlings that lived.

 

It’s snowing…


Well…No not really . The down side of cherry blossoms , everything is covered in pink petals…
Blowing them off the porches, driveway, roof.

Off to mow the pastures I finally got the big tractor repaired.

 

@Willowisp0801 's seeds just arrived. Yay. (milkweed) I set them in the fridge for the moment. If they still need cold treatment, they will get it.

The wild milkweed that I moved last summer is back, and has 2 leaves so far. I have not seen any sprouts yet from the seeds I had planted so far.
The one with the curly leaves and yellow flowers might be my broccoli, but it is NOT the torch lilies. Not sure how they got mixed up because I had marked them. Those pitiful looking seedlings are my spinach, and will go in the compost.

I have some houseplants in that window because the cats broke pieces off, so I put them in water and rooting hormone with a bit of plant food. I think they will be fine.

My grapevines have zero signs of life, so I expect to take them out, and move some wild blackberries into that spot. They are not so finicky.

I found a wild yarrow the other day, and transplanted it yesterday into my herb bed. We had a lot of rain yesterday, so I figured it would do just fine getting moved. They have delicate feathery foliage.

There is no sign yet of the new hollyhocks that I planted recently. But my potatoes are sprouting and look good. Even some that I missed last year.

 

The illuminated Firefly Petunia arrived today.

 

This wasn't gardening but was a job outside that needed attention.
The slates on our roof are rough finish concrete, so attract moss on two sides.
This eventually starts blocking the gutters and they will overflow.
This is the worst side and when blocked the water will overflow onto the flat roof extension of our lounge. I won't let the window cleaner go on it as I'm concerned the felt might get damaged. I don't like being on it, as the felt is twenty years old now, but needs must.
A case of putting one extending ladder up to the flat roof and a second one up to the eaves but standing on a large sturdy plastic bread tray.




Fortunately, the pergola easily takes my weight so not hard to get up there, with a bucket, trowel and hose, as I can stand on the crossbeams.





This side was a different matter. This as Peter Kay might say needed, "the big ladders." These must be sixty years old, I inherited them from a neighbour who died ten years ago. They are solid hard wood so a bit springy, but I'm used to them.

My wife says, as I'm 84 this month, I should "get a man in." I would if I could find one, but then I wouldn't want them going on the flat roof. Anyway, the job's done now.




I gave the pot movers a second coat. They can go out tomorrow.
I'm just going to give the roses a spray of Sulphur Rose this afternoon.

It looks like it will be dry tomorrow, so I'll cut the lawn.

 

Emptied one of the dalek compost bins and put it all into containers for my tomato plants at the end of next month, they did well last year in it.

 

does anyone know if those seedlings with the yellow flowers are BROCCOLI (de Cicco) or a WEED? I don't care to plant more weeds! If they are broccoli, I will put them out today also.

I have some new weeds out front, and I am going to pull them today. I never saw them before, and there were some other new weeds in my veggie garden this morning, I pulled them also and gave my chickens a bunch of weeds to eat.

A friend gave me some more salt/mineral tubs for containers for growing stuff, but they are stuck together and I cannot pull them apart. It is rather far for asking them to come back. oDS is on the road and it will be awhile before he gets home. Any ideas on getting them UNstuck? I would like to fill them and plant some things in them soon. The bottom one does NOT have holes so I want to save that one for watering my animals. I do not know about the middle one, but the one on top has a hole so it will be a planter. I don't want to use any chemical lubricants.

 

@AAnightowl they do look like a brassica plant with the yellow flowers.

 

thank you @Logan .

 

Strimmed some weeds and planted a new plum tree— the Reine Claude d’Oullins

 

Your welcome @AAnightowl

Sjoerd i hope that your plum tree does well.

 

Can you put a pic to see what they're like.

 

Ta Loggie. It is planted next to a young Opal plum and they can cross-pollenate each other. come on now!

 

Sounds like a superb plum!

https://www.treesofantiquity.com/products/reine-claude-doree

 

I pruned the In-Law house Chicago Hardy fig tree.

Before


After



There are still some dried figs from this tree, in the freezer. I got them out to make fig bars tomorrow.

This tree is a champion. So are the figs. It's possible this drastic pruning will make it skip a year. Chicago Hardy bears on new growth, so maybe there will be a crop this year. Gardening is an adventure.

These helped a LOT! Thank you Pac for that inspiration!


I pruned this Asian pear tree. Being in bloom, gave me the ability to prune based on bearing potential. I could not reach the higher branches to prune, pick fruit, or thin fruit, before this pruning. Now I can reach them all. Also, branches are less likely to break due to weight of too many fruits.


Back in my Battle Ground orchard, I pruned this Gravenstein apple tree.



The goals here are the same, but also more out of reach from deer. Even very high branches can droop under the weight of apples, and tempt deer to do this.



and



Which destroys part of the crop, the tree structure, and can introduce disease. So I try to keep those high branches too short for that to happen.

I saw that the orchard gnomes had an important meeting there last night. They left their mead chalice.



When gnomes meet at night in your orchard, it means they decided to adopt it and will keep it safe.