What have you done today in the Garden?

down to 50 cages. hip hip hooray! thats 2/3's done gleaned a bucket of decent tomatoes to treat the girls with along with a few nice peppers. I also saw a pheasant in the yard yesterday and when I went to the chicken yard last night there he was in the chickencoop. still there today. wild.

 

Wow, a pheasant? You may have a new pet, Carolyn!
I weeded and watered the garlic, which is coming up nicely. It will get leaves about 2" long, then sit there quietly until early spring when it takes off growing. I also cut back the spent zinnias and saved seed to plant next year. The hummingbirds love the zinnias.
Our hens have accepted the new outside coop. The 12-13 year old coop of wood and chicken wire was deteriorating, so we replaced it with a metal wire coop. Hens do not take well to change, and refused to go outside yesterday. When I went out this morning, I tossed some of the stale bread treats out and the "head hen" went out to get some. The other girls saw her and figured it was safe. Here I am, a college graduate, trying to out think chickens. The sad part is I feel so proud when I manage it!

 

Chickens will win every time !

 

We shall order seeds and spud starters for the coming season right after the tea this afternoon.

 

Chuckle! An admirable plan!

I am currently sitting with various gardening magazines, pouring over garden plans. The article that has gotten my attention is entitled " A Thoughtful Transition:. A Vermont Gardener Fine Tunes Her High-Maintenance Garden & Proves Aging In Place Is Possible With Less Stress".

Definitely worth a read!

 

I harvested leeks and carrots, a turnip and some rocket.

 

I like the sound of that. The title may be rambling, but it promises an interesting content.
Please give us a review when you are finished.

 

I have two roses waiting for planting. Maybe tomorrow if it’s fine.
Otherwise nothing as the gardener will be back in March
K

 

I went to the barn and harvested parsley from the big pot on the shelf. If the week between Christmas and New Year has good weather, I'll do more garden clean-up.

 

Found another bunch of snowdrops coming up in the soon to be lawn. Will move them today.

 

Anything brave enough to pop up here will be fighting "Snow-drops"
due to snowfall. So far about 3 inches. I'm long past the desire for a White Christmas.
Sjoerd, I will be ordering seeds soon. Hopefully the Governor will
allow us to order from a seed catalog!

 

Not a lot to do on Christmas Day. I topped up the bird feeders.

But it was extremely cold overnight.

Both the bird bath and our Maranelli fountain were completely frozen. It took several watering cans full of hot water to remove all the ice.
This wasn't necessary last year as it was never that cold.
As a precaution, I then pulled the drain plug on the fountain and completely emptied it




I also switched off its dedicated socket in the garage. Just in case I accidentally turned it on from its switch behind the lounge curtains, when I turned on the other lights in the garden.

 

Riley, will the birds have another source for water?
I hope our birds eat snow. We empty the birdbath in winter.

 

GP I have read that they do, but at a cost. They have to use more energy to warm themselves up. I'm hoping Santa will bring us a heating gizmo for the birdbath.

 

There's plenty of water for them in that the grass will be wet and there'll be a few puddles here and there during the day as it warms up. They probably can find water in other gardens too.

The recent rain has refilled the fountain! So I drained it and I've left the bung out. (I've put it where I can find it again!)


As I'm going to risk going to golf tomorrow, not having played for over a week, the last job was to clean my golf shoes and change the wheels on my leccy golf trolley for "winter wheels." They just snap on and off.



They are half as wide again as the standard wheels which have no tread.
These wide wheels are excellent for getting a grip on soft ground, but are a right pain to clean. You have to take them off and put them in a bucket of hot water and go at them with a bottle brush.