What have you done today in the Garden?

What will you do about the yellow jackets? Such vicious creatures.

Today I puttered quite a bit. Moved container geraniums to their summer location in the sunny border. Moved the Schlumbergeras to their summer location North of the house. They like it there. Moved some other containers to front walk.

Also completed the cardboard mulch for the cooking tomatoes. Not pretty but it helps a lot - no weeds, better consistent moisture, preventing leaf diseases.

 

Nice Job @Daniel W

 

As the amount of the increased water pressure disappointed both the contractor and myself after the £1080.00 new supply had been installed, I asked United Utilities for a quote, to dig out the sandy soil, in the two foot by 18" hole dug by my water main contractor, who had to connect the new 25mm pipe to the old 15mm copper pipe which restricts the flow, as he wasn't allowed to connect to the water meter the other side of this two foot high wall.
(the hole was in the border, just next to that large bit of stone)





It needs no more than about a foot and a half of 25mm pipe and a couple of connectors. Not even more than two hours work for one man with a spade and a spanner. A job not beyond my own DIY capabilities.

As I mentioned before,

I had a quote sent back to me by e-mail of £1800.00.

Yes! Eighteen hundred quid!

So I've decided to not let it go.

I've sent a recorded letter to the chief executive, saying, "Surely this was a case of the decimal point being misplaced and it should have read £180.00?"

But then I added "I thought maybe the reason this company has recently announced £172M as their pre-tax profits is by ripping off old age pensioners in this way?"


I went on, "I considered, perhaps, I should stick this all over social media or better still take a video of the location add some comments and post it on my YouTube channel.
But I decided this would be unfair before they'd had a chance to think again."

I await a response.

 

Riley Cheers to you for sending a complaint to the company. I agree a lot of repairs are totally ridiculous. In my experience they can add whatever they see fit , jack up the charges and everything in between and still leave the customer in the leach and unsatisfied results.
I am very sorry that your experience was such a let down. Water pressure is important. Maybe the main from the street to the house needs replacing. Another spendy project.

Even though I am not trained in many repair and maintenance techniques I find myself more and more looking online - YouTube for repairs. I recently changed the oil in both tractors and oil filters . Saved a ton on that as well as carb filters. It’s all on you tube - thank you…Some experiences in the past with this company - literally stealing the tires off my tractors while in the shop for maintenance and repairs during Covid . There was a shortage on tractor tires they stole my tires and replace with bald tires…and also drained all the gas out of them both then spoiled the gas in my garden tractor and I had to buy a new one , plus buy new tires for the big tractor. Costs a small fortune just for a tune up. Long story short I get the senior citizen rip off you explained . And many can’t imagine how senior lady’s are treated in the tractor shop . This is one of the biggest tractor companies in the PNW . It’s always something. I’ve learnt a lot the last few years about household maintenance and repairs.

 

Daniel you asked what do I do to contain the yellow jackets…? I set out yellow jacket traps in summers.
Your tomatoes are lookin good. You have a nice system set up for your tomatoes.

 

Yesterday I went into my greenhouse to open it up ( take down the hung fabric, turn off the heat lamps and open up a bit) and I heard some consistent plasticy sounds. There was a Garter snake trying to get out through the plastic, bonking his head against it. I was able to grab him behind the head and let him outside, but he was so big he wrapped around my arm! Yikes! I like snakes ( all safe here) but that was a bit much hahaha. I put him in the grass and he went off. The next day I found him under the black plastic around the new bean garden. I'm so glad that my snakes aren't like many other folks and poisonous...but I'm also glad that he didn't spray stinky musk on me. AND that he may eat some good size bugs and small mice.

 

@Pacnorwest and @Doghouse Riley you both have had crummy experiences with contractors and repair people. Me too. I hate dealing with any of them. Add to that, veterinarians.

Riley, I about stood up and cheered for you fighting back. Good for you!

@Pac, did you confront those jerks, or just let pass? I would probably let it pass, and kick myself for that.

@Melody Mc. that poor snake! Enjoyed your telling of that. I always like when I find them. My slithery friends also like exploring under black plastic.

 

Gosh how brave @Melody Mc. ... .I could never pick up a snake...even a friendly one! I've never had to deal with any over here fortunately.

 

Nothing done outside today....and it was the most perfect day too for garden work.
I felt off colour after doing the weekly grocery shop this morning...most strange in fact, I came over feeling so extremely tired and had to go and lay down...weird feeling indeed.

 

Daniel—mate, what a great job you did with those toms.
The yellowjackets— I put out traps, self made and some bought ones. For me, the degree of success has to do with what you put in the traps to lure them in. To choose what I put in the traps are based upon observation.

What do I see yellowjackets going after in the garden, at outdoor terraces, in nature. They also go for different things at different times of year, determined by what’s going on in their nest.

I was motivated by their presence in my bee hives. I would see them in the hives when I was doing the ten day inspections.

I could see them eating fruits, I saw them eating dead things as well as bee larvae, they are attracted to soft drinks and other drinks. They like fermented fruits.

So what I do is put a combination of liquids as well as bits of fruits in the trap. There must be quite a bit of liquid in your trap.

Good luck with the battle.

 

@Pac, did you confront those jerks, or just let pass? I would probably let it pass, and kick myself for that.


Daniel I have learned to let that stuff go. DH was in the hospital at that time. ‘I believe in karma. What goes around comes around. Staying positive , foster gratitude and appreciate the gifts we share in life has stronger value than spinning my wheels in the negative.

Melody no poisonous snakes here too. The garter snakes are good hunters eat slug eggs and other insects. We have tons of them around here. They do like warm spaces.

Sjoerd sounds like an excellent strategy. I just use the yellow jacket pheromones in store bought traps.

 

Today we went out into the country and got a few plants, came back to the lottie and planted them before the rain fell. Also picked more strawbs to take with us to the cousin’s.

 

Everyone here is sooo busy. Great job!
@Doghouse Riley hope your sweetie is on the mend and home soon. She is blessed with an incredibly proficient partner.

I got a long arm hedge trimmer yesterday so proceeded to whack away at the wisteria on the west and privet on the north. Then I took a whack at other odd bushes and trees that were in my way. A swath of destruction was left in my wake.


The tool is cheaper than hiring someone and really helpful when vertically challenged. Unfortunately I will eventually have to hire the cherry tree pruned by a professional.

 

Planted out a border with gladioli, cosmos, verbena bonariences and snapdragons. Trouble is it's very wet weather lately and the cosmos is taking a beating from the slugs, I've put crushed eggshells down and tried to cover as much as the ground but didn't have enough. Had to go out slug patrol and kill a few but it's raining, thought of the other things can do but have to get rid of them afterwards and where to put them.

 

We were out this morning but this afternoon despite being lovely and sunny we've also had a fairly strong breeze blowing so I've been doing a lot of precautionary staking after finding some battered ' pokers'