What have you done today in the Garden?

We'll soon find out, he's been up there since I put the new roof on so they should be used to him

 

Busy day today, so not much in garden. I finished transplanting ever-bearing strawberries to half as many plants per container. They had a LOT of roots! I hope that means they are ready for a productive year.

 

Just the usual… checking the garden and pastures for invasive moles. Spotted several new mole mounds around the decorative cherry trees and ran the tractor over all the mounds . Set a few traps in an active runway.

Went to another section of the pasture to check for critters and found Belding ground squirrels ready to begin their hunt for food and I’m ready for their invasion. I set up the ground squirrel trap and hope to snag those little buggers before they unearth the areas near the foundation of the house …again.

Went to another section of the pastures near the woods and set traps for moles. Limbed up a few trees then ran over the mounds from the Belding squirrels with the big tractor. It was an area about 35x35’ around the weeping 60 evergreen tree.
Let the battle begin…

 

Nothing today, after a week or so of gorgeous weather, it snowed yesterday. By the afternoon today it was pretty much melted. My son told me it was my fault because I told him the nice weather was the Milwaukee fake out. He told me that spring, like the Great Pumpkin, flies over the town and if it sees anyone not sincere it keeps going onward to Chicago, leaving winter in its wake. Hmmm, maybe I'll try to be more optimistic, but it's hard when the trees stay bare for so long.

 

We're promised fine weather for the rest of the week, with temperatures possibly as high as +18c by Thursday.
At the moment it is only +4c.
I'm going to re-organise the small bed at the bottom of the garden, in a few hours, adding the two rhodos I bought yesterday.
I'll also give the tea-house a good wash down and check for any signs of rot, which so far in 38 years there's been none.
It will also give me an opportunity to give the jukeboxes a bit of exercise, as I'm likely to be down there for a few hours. Most people will be at work, so they won't bother anyone.

 

Sunny and warm +12c.

I got quite a bit done either side of lunch, a bit of shopping and doing some laundry.

I got into the little bed at the bottom of the garden.





I used my garden vac to blow out a lot of dead leaves behind the bamboo. There's some dead canes that need pruning out and the "stand" looks a bit thin, but it always does at this time of the year.

The two new rhodos I bought yesterday went in. I turned the hedgehog feeder round to face the tea-house. I also put in three roof tiles to act as stepping stones so I can get to it when the food needs refilling.





I gave this little acer a haircut with garden shears, as I do every year, to stop it getting too big. I might take a bit more off on Thursday.



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The pagoda was looking a bit sorry for itself, losing some paint.





So the roofs got a coat of "Teal Green" Hammerite. I dunno if metal paint was designed for concrete, but that's what it always gets.






The teahouse got a good wash down and the windows cleaned.





Even the floor of the verandah!





It doesn't need repainting, but I might give the "weather-side" a coat and possibly the verandah floor.

I replaced the dead heather with three new ones, which were only £2.50 each.





This is the little azalea that will take its turn in the pot by the front door, when it's in bloom.




I cut the grass and gave everything some water.

The two rhodos, the three heathers and the azalea I bought were all pot bound and the bottom of each plant dry. They don't water enough in these stores.

But we're looking OK.

I'm trying to keep the sun out of the camera lens with a bit of cardboard.









Tomorrow, when I come home from golf, I'm going to use the grass seed I bought, where it's needed, like under the acer palmatum and give the lawn a feed, it still looks dog rough in places.

On Thursday I'll do a bit of patio re-pointing, which I'd been putting off until we got a succession of dry days. Unfortunately, they've arrived!

 

I got stuck in weeding like mad. I had all kinds of tiny weeds growing on the top layer of mulch. These had to have been blown in when the hurricane hit last year. I still have two beds to weed then I'll be done. I put in 7 hours of weeding and adding mulch and that's it for today.

 

Everything is lookin super spiffy… you keep your garden and accessories in tip top shape.

 

Picked up some large trays from the cactus club a few weeks back, just what I needed to put the early strawberry pots on to keep the slugs off (I fill them full of water to form a "moat")

Picked a bit of Kale too

 

I spread more arborist chip mulch in the kitchen garden pathways.





Jays ate all of my Swiss Chard, Lettuce, and turnip seedlings. I am working on a plan to re-plant with protection, or grow to size indoors.

This mini rose rebloomed several times last year. I thought it grew too large to bring indoors, so I left it outside for the winter. Now it's making a nice start. I think the variety is "Daniela", but I'm not certain.



Chives that I planted in-ground last fall, and little Pushkinia flowers.



I made a big mistake, 14 years ago, when I planted this "end of season sale" Greenspire Linden. I think it might be too close to the house - maybe 20 feet. Plus, as it came from the home improvement store, it had sort of a fan of branches with narrow crotches. Those make weak connections that can split and break off.

Today I removed the outermost two branches. This is the "after" photo. I need to get out the bigger saw to shorten the stubs.



This shows how many years I've had to remove the badly placed branch.



I'm wondering... Maybe I should wait a year, then remove the remaining two, leaving a single leader? Vs. Take them off now. Vs. cut down the entire tree. I think it's probably OK there as far as fire risk, but removing it would settle the issue. And it will continue to grow larger. I do have other Lindens in the yard. I like those trees and am sentimental about them.

 

Maybe you should wash your sheets once in a while

 

@Daniel W Wow your garden has really come a long way . Looks so different and spacious organized well and easy to maintain in many ways. All your hardy work or should I say all of Rufus hard word had paid off. Wow what a pooch!

 

It was a golf then shopping day, so I didn't get into the garden until 4.00pm.
But it had been warm all day. I removed the finials on the corners of the pagoda roofs (all 36 of them) they just sit in holes I drilled and are secured with a dab of clear silicone. They will need re-painting. I gave the roofs another coat of paint.
Applied more iron sulphate on the moss patches on the lawn, where necessary. Spread some grass seed around, gave the grass a feed and a good watering.

I was going to do some "patio pointing" tomorrow, but I've other stuff to do.

 

I didn't get anything done in the garden today because I had a friend over, but, we went shopping. We both bought a black mulberry tree and I bought a Verbena Canadensis Homestead. I'll plant them tomorrow. She ran me ragged, my friend, wanting to go to almost every store in the Big town 20 miles from here.
This is the Mulberry


The Verbena.

 

Didn't do much. I gave the Chinese Chives, and "regular chives" some nitrogen fertilizer to promote leafy growth.

Mostly I was up trying to make sure the cement crew workers didn't irritate my "sensitive" (I'm being very diplomatic here) neighbor too much. It's all poured, smoothed, and broom-surfaced. I think they did a good job. There is more that needs doing - sidewalk and part of the driveway. I might have him do those in a couple of weeks.