What have you done today in the Garden?

Didn't like the second template, too many, "freehand elements."

So I did a third and cut them all out, this afternoon. There's still a bit of cleaning up and rubbing down to do. Then they'll need a coat of Cuprinol, then painting to match the rest of the balustrade. Then any inconsistencies between them won't notice.



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They aren't perfect. The geometry isn't too difficult but transferring it onto an uncooperative piece of wood, (the grain wants to push the pencil anywhere but where you want it to go), then cutting by hand with a jigsaw, you can't ask for too much. I used five fine cut jigsaw blades.

I'll attach them to the frames with a half inch "washer" of dowel top and bottom, as the rondels are as large as I could make them out of the timber available, so won't fit the frames without them.

This will be my last "project" in the garden this year. It'll soon be too cold for any DIY in the garage.

 

Nothing today, all day it's been raining but the garden needs it, haven't had good rain for a few months.

 

Gonna rain here tomorrow and started ahead of forecast today. For a guy with a "Tapestry" yard it is a brutal time of year. Overseed? Play "Toxic Avenger" with chemicals on the buttonweed and wild violet? What becomes of the upcoming 20 yards of leaves about to be cleaned out of the yard? It is stressful just knowing you people sometimes!

 

@Dirtmechanic can't you leave the leaves where they are? They'll be great for the soil, I don't have any in my garden and I collect them from the roads just for the hedgehog and the bugs that they'll attract.

 

No. Our leaves have enough volume to be a lasagna compost layer, smothering all beneath. The grass loses the ability to go into dormancy with early leaf drop and nothing emerges in spring with the fall root starvation from having leaves on top. We have at least a 10 month growing season if not 11 or 12 some years. Low light plants can be temperature sensitive, and it has been warming. We were in zone 7b now its 8a. The chlorophyll is still in most shade grasses when the leaves fall. Damned transition zone!

Out there are oak, softies like maple and pear and full grown crepe myrtle, added with the wind blown drop from the forest in which the house is located. They are slow to decompose, choking and also full of acorns and other seed like box elder maple. The sheer number of oak tree starts would be amazing to most because of the squirrels burying. Letting them process naturally just adds to the volume of tree starts. I could seriously pot them up and sell them.

For every action there is a reaction. In my yard, mulching promotes propagation of plants that can grow via the little mulched pieces. Mostly hyper aggressive weeds show up from mulching. Dethatching the fescue helps expose earth so the weeds root better. Same with aeration, nice deep holes for weed chunks to start from in their quest to irritate me. I have become aware that the idea of mulching grass actually produces a lot of work and while it may save nutrients, they could be return via compost sans weed. Vacuuming a yard makes a cleaner stand of grass. For that matter, just side discharge wher the cuttings can die in the sun works well toward weed control too.

Using broadleaf herbicides with 2,4-D creates growth conditions for weeds that laugh at 2,4-D. These include wild violet, virginia buttonweed and nutsedge, all three having a good year in the yard due to rain. And I am smelling cut onion again. I wish chives were a weed that grew here. Of course they look green when I cut them, and are wicked hardy.

This indicates weed control pathways with triclopyr, quinclorac, MSM and other nasty tree killing, multi year lasting chemicals OR I kill it and start over causing more work. St Aug is the only grass I have that can defend itself, so I have been replugging it. Even then some areas simply have too much shade and too many tree roots. Lucky I have sources for dwarf and regular mondo.

Here all roots are high or even on top of the clay, so a big fight for water in dry shade late in the year occurs. I have been saving charcoal from twig burning, and the first piles have aged a year now so I am to mix the composted leaves and charcoal to see what I can do about some persistant bare spots. Like some one said, exposed roots are mostly where topsoil has eroded away so a topsoil mix not so prone to leaving is indicated by those roots. Like a gritty mix maybe. We will see, but something has to give.

I mulch and lawn sweeper leaves up due to volume. Overseed would get swept up this time of year, save what falls into aerator holes to battle weeds starts, so I have a star point pull behind aerator-seeder to make many small holes when I start that fight.

I have gotten tired of reseeding tall fescue under the trees and feel a change in culture is due. If you are in a hole stop digging? I hate digging anyway. Far to lazy for all this mess so thus a "Tapestry" yard. Haha it makes me want to "Tap Out" sometimes.

 

I finished installing the rondels today.
I went to the local woodyard yesterday and was able to buy two 3mtr lengths of dowel for just a pound each, as they'd reduced some old stock, I expected to have paid around £5 a length.

I 've fixed two lengths of dowel either side of each rondel, just one screw attaches each side to them. as they are only glued top and bottom. The dowels ar glued to the frame, but they are all a "tight fit." They'll stop any chance of the rondels twisting.
From aesthetic viewpoint, it might have looked better with lateral dowling from the midle of each rondel to the middle of the side of the frames, but I kicked that in to touch, as attaching lebngths of dowel to the rondels would be difficult and impossible for me to achieve a completely straight line down the length of the balustrade, given the rondels are not quite all the same. (I'd have noticed).
I gave one a coat of paint last night to get an idea of what they will look like.

But today I was working against the expected rain, so just gave them another coat of clear Cuprinol. I'll wait for a couple of dry days before painting them. I'm reasonably pleased with the result.

 

Cut down and dug out a sage plant it was getting old and I'm going to plant something else, haven't decided yet.

 

Planting the polyanthus around the path sometimes I come across clumps of crocuses, so I dig them up and put them in between the polyanthus.

 

Is garden deflation a thing? I was pulling okra, and the nematodes just depressed me. I hear worms like it wet and we certainly fit that bill this summer. I still have some tomatoes and peppers making but it goes into the 40f range this weekend so they will lock up and I will pull them. Maybe its time for a raised bed system? OMG there I go. Is there a spray for optimism?

 

Come on mate, optimism is the best tool in the garden shed.
I am not going to pray for you, I’m going to congratulate you !

 

It took three coats of paint to get the rondels and dowels to match the rest of the wood.



I regularly check on all the wooden features in our garden and on Saturday I noticed the bottom tread on the steps to our thirty-four old summerhouse I built, was a bit rocky, so I decide to replace it. I had a bit of 9" window sill left over from another job, so I went to Wilkos and bought a new mat for both steps. I decided to do this on Sunday, but found when I ripped off the mat on the top step, there was some rot in that too.
Of course the wood yard was closed, so I couldn't get any more wood.

But "I'd started so I decided to finish." I cut the small area of rotting wood out with a jigsaw and there was enough left over from the new bottom step to cut and let in a new bit. I gave it the exposed wood a dose of Cuprinol. The repair doesn't notice as it is under the mat.
I cut the new mat in half as I had the old one and glued and stapled the two bits to the treads and repainted where necessary.
Job done!



I took this photo this morning.
Would you believe I'd hoovered up all the leaves that fell in our garden from next door's tall silver birch trees yesterday?
There's as many again today, but it's raining so I won't bother for a few days.

 

Planted some more polyanthus around the path, I do about 12 every day, sometimes I come across clumps of crocuses so i dig them up and put them in between the polyanthus.

 

Here you are mate - I hope it works! Keep smiling.

 

Added to the new compost pile. If I can catch a rain and keep things wet it is so much better. The mulched leaves can be amazingly dry under a pile and that means forking it around and using a hose. I would rather wet smaller piles and just dump them on top. It has air pipes so I wont even turn it and all but the outside makes compost by spring.

 

Re planting a border, cut the sage and put it in the freezer and dug up the sage plants. Weeded it and Just managed to do it before the rain started, going to plant some tulips and wallflowers there.