What have you done today in the Garden?

Some small jobs turn into much bigger jobs.

Some of the tangle of creepers growing over the roof of next door's garage end up entering our garage under the roof panels. Some I can get at with my Barnel extending pruners, by standing on the roof of our shed on the end of our garage. (I wouldn't stand on the asbestos roof panels of the garage, but I built the shed and unlike store-bought sheds, it'd take the weight of several people).

But some of the creepers I just couldn't reach a few days ago, so I needed to go up between the two garages to get to them. Not an easy job as there's all sorts of junk up there (none of mine) including a pair of next doors gates, left by a previous occupant. To get up there I had to remove the small panel between the end of the side fence and our garage. When I got it out I noticed that even though I'd made it of hardwood, (recycled garden bench seat rails), it was rotting from the bottom up. Mind you ir's been there over 20 years.

So first job was to cut three inches off the bottom with my jigsaw and make a new "U" shaped aperture for the gutter downpipe. then painting the back with Cuprinol and repainting the front with Dulux Woodstain. I made up a dry concrete mix to lay under the shortened panel, so it's less likely to rot in future. There's a bit of cardboard under the panel between it and the concrete until it goes off. I re-painted the garage soffits while I was at it. Then did my pruning.

I scrubbed down the garage door and the tall left-hand fence and door which I'd treated a few weeks ago with "Wet n' Forget or Spray and Leave" whatever it's called, as the film of dead verdigris on the featherboarding had gone white in places.




Refuse bins are a problem, they look ugly and it's how to hide them.

When I first built the fence between the house and the garage I set it back a couple of feet and built a 3" high concrete plinth for the three refuse bins, so they'd be less visible from the front of the drive. Even my hose reel on the wall above the first bin is unseen.
I dragged out the three bins and scrubbed down the plinth.





Shortly after I built the plinth, the council insisted on fourth bin, for which there's no room. So I gave up and it lives in front of the garage door. We can't see any of the bins from the house.

 

Sounds like a great repair job Riley.
And I like how the original 3 bins are out of sight.

Today I rode my bike down to the Community Garden, weeded, watered & planted more beans.

Then I went surveying the various plots in the Garden. Everyone is doing a good job keeping their plots maintained & most plots look productive.

Everyone goes about their plots differently.

Witness:
(This one's mine) Nancy's perennial garden Pam's. Her husband is trying to reduce how much she needs to bend over

C's. She's in her 80's.
A lot going on here!
This gardener is planning on growing all kinds of veggies up those poles & fences.



This was an abandoned plot that has been reassigned. Three people spoke up for it, I let them work it out amongst themselves how to share it. It was either that or drawing straws.

I look forward to an end of the year potluck with all the gardeners. Fingers crossed that it will be possible.

 

I planted up 3 containers with summer bedding in the front garden by the house.

 

This is one of our three quinces on the side fence. This one is white and flowers early, here the blossom is just coming out in March.




But there was a lot of dead wood in it. So I fought my way through the azaleas this afternoon and pruned it all out.

 

Raspberries




Gem squashes


sweetpotatoes and
Peas and asparagus and the last of the cabbages I tansplanted in October last year.

More veg

 

Double posting. A bit of randomness

 

Cayu— Thanks loads for this good posting. It really gives me a more comprehensive idea of your municipal gardens and how they are laid out. Further, I can see some of the things that everyone is growing. It is like being right there.

I do not know what a thing or two are though. For instance, in the foto showing the raised beds—on the far right, way in the back in that last bed with the yellow flowers, there is a reddish structure with hoops. Actually, she seems to have quite a few in her plot. What is this thing and what is it used for? They look like support structures. I think that you may have some of these to the right of your cow arch.

Tell me about the Lowe’s containers that I see in your and another person’s gardens. What came in them and what are they for?

That man’s garden with the wigwams and trellises look intriguing. I wonder what he is planning to grow and what they will look like once his plants are well underway.

The perennial garden looks almost mature already. That clematis cow arch is looking most attractive, isn’t it.

Now then— your plot. Why don’ t you explain at length to me (well, us all) exactly what is going on in each segment of your garden, what your plans are and how you are faring this season. I just can’t make out what you have going on in your small raised bed.

Odif— Your garden plots are looking super and very tidy. I realise that you are only showing tiny areas here, but what is shown looks impressive.

 

Sjoerd I got some more pics too

 

Herb day, I trimmed the basil and cilantro and pineapple thyme and cleaned them and got them started on the dehydrator. I picked a bucket of cucumbers and a mixed bucket of peppers, summer squash and beans. It has rained a lot and everything is soggy and hot so I cleaned the garden of spent flowers and anything that might rot and attract undue fungi. DW picked a couple of fruit buckets of blueberries and blackberries. I guess thats all for the blackberries this year but they make a good cobbler pie.

 

Those extra pics were a delight to see. I like seeing pictures.
It looks like you will have a bit to sell this year. Do you also put up some for yourselves?

 

First tomato, first tomato! I cleaned out the spent sugar pea vines, tied up more cucumber vines, picked three more cucumbers, and picked our first tomato of the season!
Granted, it was one tomato, and it was a cherry tomato a bit larger than a ping-pong ball, but it has two siblings that are ripening nicely. I have such great plans for those tomatoes.

 

Whoopee !
Lucky you. That is great news, it gives me hope.
Ermmmm....what sort of plans do you have for them ‘materz anyway?

 

Sojerd, depending on how many we have, I'll be making marinara sauce and freezing it, canning tomatoes, and at the end of the season, coring and freezing tomatoes. Frozen tomatoes are good for cooking, and the skins just slip off when thawed.

 

Gosh Jane, those are good uses. The Bride wants to know what you mean with “the core”. The freezing of the toms is new to us and that the skins just slip right off is interesting to me, for when we are processing, it is my job to remove the skins by hand off the toms that have been dropped into boiling water. Ouch. Ha, ha.
Marinara sauce. Brilliant.

 

Sjoerd, the tomato's core is the whitish central thing that runs from the top where the tomato came off the vine to the bottom. It doesn't cook well, and in marinara sauce stays whole and doesn't look very appealing.
May I suggest that you put your tomatoes in a pan, pour boiling water over them and let them sit for two or three minutes, drain the pan and add ice water? That's so much better than going to the doctor with second degree burns!