What have you done today in the Garden?

Didn't do much other than a bit of watering as it hasn't rained for a week.

I did secure the new pot with a couple of screws in the 6" square block of wood through the drain hole, into the front door plinth.
Not because I thought it could get stolen, (it's not that sort of neighbourhood, lots of big ceramic pots in front gardens in our road) but because it could get knocked off by the hose when I'm dragging it round to water the front garden. If it fell over, it'd break.

 

Congrats' What kind of trees?

 

A dwarf pine and a weeping cherry blossom. I posted in the trees section with pictures!!

 

I did a bit of weeding along the back of the main border. I get grass from next door's garden creeping under the concrete base panels of the fence. It was noticeable that the back of the border was a bit dry, so watering will be needed later on today.

"Tarted up" the 6ft concrete pagoda. It sits on three Corporation paving stones. The roofs needed a bit of fresh grey paint in places. But I didn't bother with anything else. I like it to look a bit weathered, which it is, being now 35 years since I made it.





Everything in the garden is progressing.

There's a Sorbus tree next to the pagoda. It has a lot of blooms coming, these will be followed by bunches of red berries.






The wisteria on the pergola on the back of the house is in full bloom almost, it'll start losing some petals soon.




The white blooms on the other pergola are starting to open.










This wisteria on the fence won't be as prolific this year as it was last year, but it has had the same sort of cycle for over thirty years..






This odd looking one, originally I trained up a tall tree stump but it rotted away from the base, it's now tied to a redundant tall bird feeder.





The front garden is making an effort, the rhodos and azaleas are starting to come out and the tree will become pinker before it goes completely green. Even the grass under the azaleas is recovering.

 

This made me laugh out loud Droopy. My Dad was a giant of a man, and his "big joke" would be to introduce himself to any young male suitor with a firm enveloping handshake, and a stern "All you need to know is that I have a backhoe and a big back yard." They did not often linger around.hahaha

 

This a brilliant idea Daniel. I have rolls of the stuff from when we the kids were home and we raised farm animals. Thanks for that one!

 

Yesterday was a busy day. We have decided change the lower squash patch into a raised bed. It was very prone to the creeping frost from the creek's low land. This will be the new home for the Artichokes, with the exception of the two Green Globes that will live in the memory garden. They will grow quite large and have a much longer maturity date. To house the artichokes the soil needs to be about 18 inches deep. They have a crazy thistle like tap root. Today we will use the tractor and to move the rest of the dirt to brink up the soil level, add compost to the planting holes, some slow release fertilizer, lay down the soaker hose and black mulch.....then everybody into the pool! They won't mind the cool soil,especially after hanging out in a snow bank for much of the last month.

The tomatoes spent their first night in the greenhouse, but not planted. They are on foam blocks under heat lamps, wrapped on the sides with remay. There is one more cool night tonight, and then they will go into the raised beds and a few pots. The beds will have a soil cable close to the root ball ( a few inches) to try and keep the temp no lower than 14 C It's such a cool spring, they will not be happy campers for a bit but hopefully they will settle in.

The rest of the soil went into the strawberries.

Today I will sow the sweet corn in pots, and get their patch ready. Lots of compost and some clear plastic over the soil to try and warm it up nicely over the next couple of weeks.

Today also is hoping to clear out the asparagus rows. There are 5 twenty foot rows. They need a tidy, some fertilizer watered in and mulched. I'm slicing some stakes so that I can cover/tent with remay on the frosty nights. If I don't cover, I will often lose asparagus right into June. Some areas that were newly planted last year need extra soil and mulch on top to bring up the soil level and help with weeds.

With the long winter and late spring, much has to be done in a short time period to cache in on the short growing season, but it is very exciting.

 

Why Daniel, I didn’t know you were having friends over for lunch.

 

Not much today just dug up some hardy geranium to give to a friend and hubby watered the blueberries in pots.

 

I got some topsoil (not enough though) and got my box garden semi set up. I need more mulch on the outside (I'm too lazy to staple the whatever it's called to the side) and need more soil and some of the yums plants like (cow manure iiiicckk lol) so I got a lot done but still need to do more

 

Me. I only stepped outside to put waste in wheelie bin. I even skipped my usual nap in the armchair after lunch. Rest of the day. I sorted out and indexed and photographed onto the computer more of my microscope slides. Taking a break from the computer. I continued to sort my library. Where did all these books come from? Chloee my second granddaughter recently insisted on putting together a double floor standing bookcase. I am quite capable but she and her mum really can't do enough for me. So much love between us. Anyway. This new double bookcase is built over my desk. It is now home to my books on Roses, Medical books and encyclopedias etc. I still haven't completed the task. I will try and upload some piccies of my study etc. Give me time. Thankfully. I recently purchased some cat/pest go away thingies. Hey ho they seem to be working. Most cats thankfully are using other places as their litter trays. Hey! look at the time. Time for my tipple. Nite nite all. Luvs yer lots. Mike.

 

I went out to the garden with all good intentions of weeding the onions again, but stopped off to look at the sugar snap peas. Oh lordy! I went to the barn, got a basket, and picked a quart of sugar snaps. Timi took a nap between the pea rows, and Buddy supervised to make sure I was picking correctly. (Dangling peas could be cat toys in disguise!).
The weeds in the onion beds will be next time out.

 

It rained last night so the garden was still quite wet this morning, so I did other jobs.

Cleaned the car, golf clubs, golf trolley and golf shoes.

But I did have an "aphid check" of the roses and found none.

Our tallest azalea is making quite a statement.







The roses are starting to come out too.

 

It's so nice to see everybody else's blooms when we've just got a few ourselves. Please keep posting.

I went for a bike ride, stopped by a garden friend, and came home with a Ranunculus parnassifolius. She's getting a Hepatica nobilis "Rubra Plena" in exchange. I've planted the Ranunculus, weeded a bit, but the wind bit my fingers so I went back inside. It's going to rain, and of course we'll have rain for at least a week now. Once it starts it never stops.

 

Droopy, how kind-- "please keep posting." I'll ask the same thing in July when we are arid and plants have shut down until the rains and cooler temperatures in the fall!
We had great plans of positioning the herb pots in the flower garden near the house and mirablis dictu, it started to rain! The onion weeding and pot positioning will wait until tomorrow