What have you done today in the Garden?

Today I cleaned the chicken house and set up a water heater for the hens. Now, I don't have to go out in potentially hazardous weather in the mornings, to break the ice in their water basin.

Those hens make a lot of "fertilizer" . I know it can't be used fresh, but I hope no harm in burying some with the kitchen scrap compost, under a good layer of soil. The rest is in a "holding area" until weather warms a bit more.

 

I miss my chickens. I am cutting back my back raspberries and blackberries and finishing the weed cloth around my raised beds.

 

I'd been re-thinking my provisions for "hedgehog accommodation and feeding."

The new feeder I've made will replace this one on the main patio.
Seen its better days.





It's principally for the one that lives in this house behind the wire fence, under the azaleas in the bed to the side of the patio. Although last year there has been as many as three hedgehogs on that patio, taking turns to feed from it.





The new house which I put in the border half-way down the garden and wasn't used was probably too exposed, so I'm going to re-site the pavers on which it sat in the corner of the garden, behind the pagoda.




This will be opposite this house, a couple of feet away from the tea-house and far enough away from the other, I've read that the occupants, if any, of each won't be bothered as they are quite sociable.




The problem is protecting the food from visiting cats and an occasional fox. Hence, the assortment of ugly looking posts and wire. It's also a pain getting a little bowl of food and water through a gap between two posts, on a daily basis.

So what I thought was....I could make another feeder.... I've more Key terrain black plastic pipe and plywood, so all it would cost would be another £17 for a box. Well worth it for the convenience and effort required.

I could site it between the two houses. I can mount one of the trail cams on the fixing I sometimes use on the side of the tea-house which would cover both houses, as we like to see what goes on.

This would make this border at the back of the garden a bit of a, "hedgehog housing estate." But won't be that noticeable from even a few yards away. I thought I could always buy a couple of rhodos and plant them in front of the feeder, so it wouldn't become a feature.

So this afternoon, as I had to do some shopping, I decided to go back to B&Q for another box. They had five of that size, but only one lid...which was broken!
So I took the box to customer service and asked them to find me a lid whilst I looked for some small brackets to attach the tube to the box. When I came back, the girl said she couldn't get the guy who looked after plastics (not very well, in my opinion) to answer.
So I said, "forget it." I went into their garden section, as I decided I would get a couple of rhodos. I found two nice purple, "hardy hybrids" at £18 each.
On my way past the entrance going to the checkouts I noticed a big stack of assorted plastic boxes as a feature, included the ones I needed!

After finishing the shopping, On the way home, I picked up a 1' x 4' x .5" off-cut of plywood from the local wood yard for a pound.
I got straight into making the new feeder. I also decided to change the tape covered chipboard on the other house, for plywood at the same time. I was concerned that water would still get in to the chipboard.
I've got it all done and the wooden bits given their first coat of Dulux Woodsheen. and I've put the necessary paving slabs in position. By then it was nearly 5.00pm and I needed to start the dinner.

Tomorrow, the wood will get a second coat and I'll assemble both feeders over the week-end and have a trial run, to see what they all look like.

 

Those are nice raised beds, Willow.

 

Sjoerd- I am truthfully longing for a real winter with snow! I do like the warmer days but it teases us with thoughts of spring, and that is several weeks away. I’m fearful that we’ll be suffering drought again. I would rather spend winter with a blanket of snow on the ground. It seems all the rain and snow have been in other areas of the country. Weird

 

It rained all day here, and I had other things to do. Allegedly we will have sunshine on sunday.

 

I see what you mean, Kay. How different things here from you. We are a low country and water is always a problem for us. A number of gardens on our complex have been underwater most of the winter. This is proving to be a bit of a problem for some.
Having said all that, most folks here would like a “real” winter for a change. We here are just never happy with the weather, whatever it is. Haha.

 

Not doing much at the moment i had a fall and bruised my left shoulder, left leg and badly grazed my left elbow. When walking river i stepped sideways and fell off the pavement on my left side, the elbow got it first, i was lucky that i didn't break anything.

 

Loggie— I had a feeling something was going on with you the past few days. I am so sorry to hear you took a tumble. I hope you are healing well now. Stay in touch.

 

Thanks @Frank and @Sjoerd

 

I was only saying the other day that I hadn't much to do.
But things "find me."
I should have finished the new hedgehog feeder by tomorrow. I'll put out the one that will go between the two houses at the bottom of the garden, just to check what it looks like. I've already planted out the two new rhodos.

I'll start putting out the feeder that goes on the main patio, towards the end of February. So if the hedgehog that's in the adjacent house, comes out early, (providing it has survived), it will "find it where he left it."
The other two houses can go out in early March.

I got into the sixteen roses in their ceramic pots. I removed some dead wood and the top layer of compost with any weeds, then re-filled with fresh compost. They're all starting to sprout. I gave them a bit of a feed and a dose of Sulphur Rose, in the hopes I can get ahead of the usual black spot, I get on several each year. But it's probably a waste of time.
Tomorrow I'll scrape out between the flags on the rose patio and brush in some sand. If it's dry enough. I'll also weed the rockery again.

 

I got done much of what I wanted to do today.
But three hours in the cold was enough. I then had other jobs in the house to do, like the laundry.

I assembled the two hedgehog feeders.

I found I didn't need brackets to secure the tube to the fronts. I'd made the apertures in the front and back bits of plywood tight enough for them to be unnecessary.
I've angled the front of the entrance tubes to give them a bit of protection from rain.

The boxes had locking handles. I had to remove the one from the front to get the tubes in. But I've kept the ones at the back. Those and a brick placed on the top should deter any fox trying to get at the food.





I did a "dummy run," positioning the houses and the feeder to see what they looked like.
The houses and the feeder on their pavers should stay dry.
Then I put them all in the shed, for later in February.




There's a lot of dead bamboo leaves down there. They don't degrade and they're a pain to remove. The bamboo along the back of the fence looks a bit thin, but it always does in the winter. It will thicken up later in the year, as it has done for over thirty years.




I've moved a tall grass to a couple of feet from the front of the feeder. That, the azalea, the hydrangea and the new rhodos, should hide it a bit.
The bottom of the garden is a bit of a mess, there's been so much rain. The less said about the state of the lawn, the better, but it will recover with some help.



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I then got into the rose patio, raking out between the flags and vaccing all the debris up. I had a full bag of fine yellow sand and used up half of it brushing it in, with a wide paintbrush. Fortunately, it's dry today. It would have been impossible if the flags were damp.





If it's still dry tomorrow, I'll weed the rockery.

 

Out in the pastures during a sun break. Quickly checking for critters - “Nothing , Nada” ! Just as I came in the house the atmospheric river hit and it poured. I watched the clouds come across the mountains and skedaddled to the barn.
Ya gotta be quick outside this time of year in the PNW .
The Portland region has broken the record for no rain for 17 days for Jan. We really needed the rain. The region is v

 

Logan, hope you heal quickly!