What have you done today in the Garden?

Yesterday we went to the lottie to check for wind damage after that massive storm. Across the country, trees were down, fences standing at angles, boats broken free of their moorings....all these things, but no power lines down. Why? Because we have power and fone lines underground. I digress.

We had no damage on our allotment this year. The glass panes were still in the greenhouse and because I had removes all the Clematis vines, the arches did not lean (this had been a yearly curse). Normally I do pruning of the clematises in the middle of March because it is according to Hoyle, so to speak. The result had been that I would have to struggle to get those arches more or less straight upright again. The hard winds just caught those dense balls of Clematis and used it to push-over the arches dramatically. Not this year though.

After the check, the Bride wondered if we ought to go ahead and peel-back the mulch on the potato bed-to- be and spread stall poo and compost.


It was a great idea because potato planting time is closing in on us. Our seed spuds have not yet arrived but the ground needs to be ready. The compost, while well-rotted needs to melt down and go into the soil. A month and a half is ideal for us... so high time then.

You can see above that the mulch has been peeled back and away from the work plank, and the stall poop dumped in piles ready for spreading. The compost went on top of that and we raked them into upper layer. All done, we re-spread the mulch back over the bed.


We are good to go.

 

That's great Sjeord about you not having any wind damage at your lottie and great that you started your bed for the spuds. Do you chit the spuds before planting?

Finished cutting the leaves off the hellebores in the front. There's a lot more around the back but never get round to doing it. Also dug up a spurge that spreads too much with root runners and dug up a rotten tree stump.

 

I did a bit this afternoon.
Mowed the lawn and got the garden vac out to clear a few dead leaves and twigs off it which have fallen from next door's trees.
I then gave the few places where there's moss on the lawn a dose of iron sulphate. It's looking a bit rough at the moment particularly under the acer palmatum where grass always struggles to recover until July.




Cleaned out the two birdbaths and the fountain.




These temporary measures I've taken to stop the cat from getting into 'arry's garden, are obviously not working and look a bit of a mess, but you can't see it from the house.





I've ordered another roll of wire fencing to see if I can make it even more difficult for cats to get into 'arry's garden.

I also ordered a couple of Chinese witch hazels.

 

Loggie— yes, I always chit my spuds.
BTW, I had a peek at my only Helleborus yesterday and saw a bud.

 

Sjeord good that you chit your spuds and great about your hellebore.

 

I mentioned a few weeks ago, that we bought this Sage (Breville in the USA) coffee machine from a shopping channel.




But it developed a faulty steam/water switch, a week or so ago, so I returned it and dug out our old Smeg machine and the coffee grinder.


When I came home from golf on Monday, the replacement had arrived, so I had to clean up and pack the Smeg and coffee grinder away, before opening the box, which was a bit of a pain.

I immediately noticed it wasn't black like the original, but silver. I wasn't that bothered, it'd match our old Tesco microwave next to it.

Then I realised it was a completely different machine. No knobs, buttons or dial, just an on/off switch and a touch screen!



I'm not complaining, I looked it up on their's and Curry's web site and its £500 more expensive than what we paid for the old one. I guess the shopping channel bought an "end of range" as they do with some other lines and they had no more, so as they'd already said they'd replace it, they gave us what was the only one they now stock.
I've just about got the hang of it now, there are so many programmes you can put in, so it will make coffee in as many as half a dozen different ways to suit individuals.
I find it easier to over-ride them. It does make great coffee and I like the way it steams the milk. Yiou just put the jug on the temperature sensitive button under it, place the steaming nozzle in it and press "milk" on the screen, it turns itself off when it reaches 65c or whatever temperature you want.

 

Today, an apple tree, that I ordered for myself as a Xmas gift, was delivered. "Apple Babe", a genetic dwarf. Without pruning, it's not expected to exceed six to eight feet tall. It can be kept shorter (I will). It's a gamble - I have never seen a non-hype review of the apples. However, I have mostly filled my "micro orchard" with classic apple varieties that I grafted onto highly dwarfing rootstock, and this will be different. I'm growing these so I can continue gardening as my abilities decrease.

So I cleared a spot. That meant moving what was already there - a young tree that I grafted as an experiment, Asian pear on Chinese Haw stock. That is in a new location, and the Apple Babe is planted.

 

Daniel that apple tree should be good.

 

Sjoerd, I am glad the early pruning of your clematis has worked to preserve your arches. And your potato beds look good. How smart of you all to have you electric wires below ground!

I ordered my seeds yesterday and three blueberry bushes. The bushes will be delivered in mid-April.

Today my husband & I will put on our mini-spikes to sand our driveway. It is ice covered. It is either that or chipping the inch plus ice! We are hoping that the weather report for next week is accurate: it is supposed to be above freezing for 3 days. Ordinarily we are very good about keeping our driveway ice & snow free but this storm has gotten the best of us. I love our mini-spikes though. They are like having Velcro on your feet!

 

Those ice grippers look good. They must give you a safe feeling. I have some as well, but it has not been ivy here for a number of years now.
Our parking garage has an incline like yours but there are electrical heating elements in/under the asphalt, so we do not have to chip ice on that thank goodness.

You folks have quite a bit of snow there! How much longer do you realistically expect it to remain lying?

Interesting that you have ordered some blues. The blues. Did you order different types? Great that you have ordered your seeds. You must feel the season coming on now, in spite of all the white stuff.

 

I pruned 30 knockouts hard. Cut last years dead out of a couple of flowerbeds. Puppy has been fond of eating my metal plant name stakes. Spring will help me replace them once the plants are up.

 

@Cayuga Morning those spikes look great. I don't know how many times I've fallen on ice. Now I just stay inside

@Dirtmechanic puppy likes to chew! Seems like a great time for pruning.

Today I pruned all but the final apple trees. I tied low branches to upward direction, and tied high branches to horizontal direction. In the Goldilocks zone, the branches should be too high for deer to like munching, but low enough for me to prune, thin, manage, and pick. Unless giraffes have escaped from the zoo and joined the deer army.

I also pruned four of eight grape vines, and the only kiwi vine.

That's enough for one day. Will there be fresh grape jelly this year? Maybe.

 

I have 2 kiwi to plant. On the box it says they are female. I need a male too now I suppose. I guess I will trellis them on garden timbers stuck in the ground on end with a cable between.

 

I hope they do well. Do you know the variety?

Mine is "Blake's Red" which supposedly can make fruit without a male, but a male would mean more fruit. Mine is six years old and hasn't bloomed yet. Highly vigorous. I tried grafting on some male scion and they grew but never made a good graft union, eventually those died. I think it's a mean trick, someone selling two female and no male. Unless they are the type that don't need males.

Do you grow muscadines?

 

yes we have both muscadine and scuppernong but they started 20 years ago and trees have grown up stealing their summer sun. B likes them as a privacy hedge. I really should move them one day.

The kiwis are actinidia arguta, hardy kiwi. Hairless and the box says they self propagate so I have evidently purchased an odd set of kiwis! I did not realize there were at least two different types until I started reading deeper after your post! Impulse plant purchasing makes a gardener right?

I trained the red cascades to trellis and weeded and bark mulched 6-7 wheelbarrows around them and other plants up that fenceline. My puppy stole my green jute twine. She should have been named Klepto. I took the paint roller she brought me back to the neighbor. He said the pretty blue glass electrical line insulator was not his but it was cool so I told him to keep it also.