What have you done today in the Garden?

Nice video Pac.
I use mine all the time. It's a great product.
It also brings out my curmudgeon side - too much stuff made today is just not as good as a lot of the old stuff.

Maybe it was too good, and too much never wore out so the market dried up?

My cast iron cook wear is also ancient - 60 to over 100 years old. lighter weight and smoother than new ones.

 

I got a job done, I'm never fond of doing each year.
Dead-headed our biggest rhodo. I find with jobs you don't like doing it's best to get them done early in the day, if you say to yourself, "I'll do it later," it doesn't get done.
There was still some blooms, but most had died off. I find it's better to lose these while you can still get at the heads before the new shoots get in the way.
With some rhodos, you need a pair of long nose secateurs, but with this it's easy to pinch them out with forefinger and thumb.






Job done.






We've had this rose for a couple of decades. That long ago, my wife decided she didn't like it. But I wasn't going to chuck it out, so I moved it down to near the bottom corner of the garden where it wasn't in view from the house. But it's always had other ideas, it only flowers above the height of the fence, so it's still in view from the French windows.



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These are the two hydrangeas I bought with the twenty quid voucher from Sutton's Seeds, in compensation for the poor quality begonia plants I'd bought for them.
I first posted a photograph of them on 7th June.

They are doing very well and will have quite a few blooms on them.










Still haven't got round to repointing the patio.

Lots of berries on our Sorbus, at the bottom of the garden, these will go bright red in the autumn.


It's June 23rd. "The nights will be drawing in from now on."

 

Wise words, Doghouse!

 

Pulled up a few weeds from the shingle path and raked it all as it does get a bit uneven in the well used parts.
Deadheaded.

 

@DogHouseRiley -DHR now that you have done your rhody’s I have to admit I have 2 dozen or more some 20’ tall and never dead head. You have inspired me to get up on the roof and tackle the wisterias though it’s a nighmarish job. I’d rather tackle the blackberry brambles. UGH. I haven’t kept up this year and it’s a zoo up on the arch’s. Lots of vines crawling in the nearby trees and roof tiles. Yikes. Did I mention I really really dislike wisterias.
Every year I threaten to cut it down. This time I will cut out one large branch…4” in size which has fused with another branch.

@Oreti that is a beautifully manicured path. Lovely formal rich green space with flowers and shrubs of color complementary to the surrounding landscape. Your weeding has paid off.

@Daniel you are a workhorse always ahead of the game. Your garden is invariably as clean as a whistle.
very inviting.


Today’s list of chores was detoured. I was up early today to spray the pastures where the white clover is coming in big time, it is a herbaceous perennial weed. It attracts the gophers since the area looks like swiss cheese the weed has been spreading like wildfire. I mounted the 15 oz sprayer container , attached the 12 volt battery last night to spray the whole pasture this am, just kills the white clover. But it was to windy. A surprise at 7am. Usually it’s pretty quiet and still. The birds weren’t even out , literally a sign of more weather ahead. It’s cloudy and overcast clouds are misting away. The weather guessers hit or miss…

So … I cut down a couple of trash trees growing in the blackberry brier patch . They were tangled in the long thick arms of the octopus canes of the invasive blackberries , trying to travel across the front boarder. It was a chore but using my battery op small chain saw made mince meat of the long thick 2-3” canes . Then pulled out several 20’
alder seedlings that grow like weeds here, while wrestling them from the grip of the prickly canes. Tied them together and took to the burn pile. Tomorrow I will mulch the blackberry canes to smithereens with the tractor.
The good news - Not one prick today from the detested briar patch.

 

The other day, I was outdoors working and some bug flew into my eyeball. It has been irritated, even though I think I removed it. I guess I have been rubbing it too much and gave myself a shiner. I have been putting aloe vera on it, and today some cucumber slices. Both feel good on the injured area. It is improving but might take a few more days.

Thursday, I mowed again... And today I was out with the trimmer doing some trim work mostly on the path to my pond. Thankfully, I wore long slacks and do not look quite as green as @Pacnorwest. DS showed me how to put more string in that thing... I picked a few blackberries, but most are not yet ripe.

I hope to go back out after I cool off some more and do some mowing with the push mower in the tight places.

RE SOAK HOSES: I saw a garden video last night, where they have a better hose than soakers. It is a sprinkler hose and works like a sprinkler. It comes with clips to fasten into the soil, and two 50 ft lengths of hose. You can aim it into the ground, or let it spritz into the air. I want to order some next month. You can hook them end to end or just one, whichever you like. It was Millennial Gardener on you tube. I don't watch him much, but was interested in those hoses. You don't need an irrigation system with these. He got his on Amazon, but eBay also has them.

 

@Pacnorwest Your weed is my favorite lawn planting . I have white clover spreading but it’s taken multiple seedings. Watered a few patches of the baby clover seedlings. It has been interesting watching the green expanse of very poor soil slowly changing. Had a wide variety of mushrooms this year so the soil health is improving. I empathize with your battle against rogue trees and blackberries. Did some hedging of the invaders along the fence/property line.

‘The first bin of wisteria cuttings are on the curb. Still need to prune the plant to one or two trunks. Will approach that project this week. The snowball bush is trimmed back into a semi small tree form. Needs more work but have no place for the cuttings until recycle day.

Spread poppy seeds. It’s late but maybe some will grow and start the self sewing process

Edible pod peas and blueberries are looking good. Haven’t had the fruit and veggie beds looking very good, but the terraces are all new this spring.

 

Looks like a park, or an Earl's estate!

 

Thank you Pac but it's really a big mess of weeds! I hope I can get them under better control. This year is better than last hear, thanks to downsizing, but other demands are preventing me from really getting the job done. I'll keep at it.

 

@AAnightowl now that you have advanced tutoring in string trimmers and a major lesson on what to wear from green legs pic, I hoping to see more of your garden especially since your reports of many seasonal upgrades.

@Jewell I remember your seeding expeditions the last few years over your pasture area. I quivered as I read that was added. It had a lasting effect on my battle with ground critters that have literally made swiss cheese out of several acres of pasture. Adding white clover is like adding fuel to the gopher/ mole battle . I’m spraying all of it tomorrow leaving the grass. It is tough to eliminate hope one application of mass destruction my 15 gallon sprayer will do the job.


@Daniel my garden too is a mess of weeds and some I have become fond of, like the rain lilies that pop up everywhere, hazelnut seedlings the critters plant in all my pots and let’s not forget the little tiny pink flowers on the wild geraniums that cover the entire property.
My original defenses on this dilemma was to eliminate every weed which is a perennial issue as well as the constant wind currents that drop weed seeds that collect near the ponds and entire landscape. The birds are happily involved in spreading seeds everywhere without any sign of a guilty conscience. So all in all, I have adapted the attitude that one gardeners weed is another’s wildflower. Don’t quote me on that because I am known to change my mind as fast as the wind .

 

Our borders are a weed haven as the surrounding fields are not attended to by the big Country Estate that owns them anymore, they are let out to horse owners. Sometimes the air is thick with drifting seeds ......always heading over to our garden it seems , but it's a small price to pay to be surrounded by nature.

I do try to keep up with the weeding but at the height of Summer it proves nigh impossible. I have now adopted the thought (rightly or very wrongly ) that if we keep the lawns and their edgings cut and the pathways as weed free as possible then hopefully the weedy borders will go unnoticed............that's the theory I'm working on perfecting this year.

 

I have a huge yard to keep up with, and something like 50-60 flower beds, plus my veggie garden, so I am always way behind in the weeding department.

Clover fertilizes the soil and adds nitrogen. I would never try to get rid of it. Some of my white clover in the front yard now has reddish flowers. Apparently my little bee friends have been up to more mischief?

Dandelions used to be raised for food, all parts of the plant are edible and good medicine like for liver and kidney problems. (One friend likes to dip the flowers in batter and fry them.?) They are much needed food in the spring when the bees come out of their hives and there is very little else for them to eat. I do not try to get rid of them, but I do remove some to give to Horsey and the chickens. You would never have crops if it were not for the bees, and those poison sprays kill the beneficial insects such as bees and earthworms along with the problem ones. If there are no bugs for the birds to eat, they also starve to death.

Plantains (another 'weedy' plant) have medicinal benefits. There are multiple varieties.

There are some plants that I would like to get rid of, but that would require poisoning my whole property, my well and all the local wells of neighbors.

I have many plants in the mint family here, some are rather invasive. The chickens love to eat most of them. They also have medicinal or food uses. A few are purple dead nettle, henbit, heal-all (2 kinds so far), and some I cannot name yet.

The biggest invaders on my place are the wisteria vines--they are everywhere, and it is impossible to keep them all pruned, and the trumpet vines and wild honeysuckle vines and bushes. The hummingbirds love the trumpet vines, but I remove all I can. Thankfully the horse loves to eat trumpet vines. She will sometimes also eat honeysuckle bushes or some poison ivy. There are many other wild plants, but I have no way to get rid of them. As long as I can keep them out of my yard and garden areas, I guess they can grow in the woods. Maybe they are food for the wild things?

My yard long beans and honeydew seeds are sprouting, and some new zinnia seeds also. I planted some sweet alyssum in with my tomatoes, and those are up. NO sign of any of the new marigolds yet that I also planted with my tomatoes. A few sunflower seeds are up a couple of inches.

Maybe some of the sunflower seeds I feed the birds will grow? I hope so.

 

Been out all morning, so I thought I would crack on this afternoon with tidying and raking a couple more of our shingled areas and paths, a few areas have self seeded Primroses that I've left to rehome when it's a bit cooler .Just packed up and came in for a breather as it's a bit too warm to carry on. I will come out about 7pm ( although it's still going to be pretty warm even then). Hubs is also 3/4 the way through mowing one of our lawns too so hopefully he will finish that tonight or first thing tomorrow.

 

@AAnightowl dang I haven't had fried dandelion in 30+ years

 

@Pacnorwest --I went out and took a few photos around my yard and gardens. I will try to get them on fb today if I can. Then I can save them to my computer in small enough versions to share here. I am not very good at photo editing. For some reason, when you post to fb, either it shrinks the photos, or when you re save them to your computer they shrink. My phone photos are too large for here. I even took a photo of that horrible wall of multiflora rose, poison ivy and other things that I need to cut down. DS needs to get behind it with the chainsaw and cut most of the stuff out of there. I do not know how to take care of a chainsaw yet.

I will visit my doctor's office later today to see about my bruised eye area. It might have gotten infected?