What have you done today in the Garden?

Too wet to do anything in the garden today, I'll just watch the acers go a progressively deeper red.

 

Well so far the leaves will have to wait as we're experiencing strong winds today along with some bouts of heavy rain.

Instead I've spent the morning dashing in and out of the greenhouse getting soaked as I collected up some of the big pots. They've been emptied out ,cleaned and refilled with fresh compost and homemade organic matter ready for some more bulbs.

In now for dinner and hopefully the weather will improve slightly for another session this afternoon. Certainly blown the cobwebs away.

 

Riley— it’s a joy to see your Acers. You have done very well with them.

 

Riley enjoy seeing your beautifully maintained garden showing its beautiful autumn color .

 

@Oreti leaves are a necessary evil around here. So many deciduous trees and shrubs. Almost overwhelming until i attached a mulcher kit on the rider mower. The mulcher kit has two blades instead of one and mulches leaves to tiny pieces. By next spring leaves are decomposed.

For compost I have set up an area in the pasture for larger garden debris . I use the larger tractor with a front bucket to turn the pile. I don’t burn my yard debris. By next spring turn over the top debris and expose the black soil and worms ready to top coat the plants and trees .

 

This year, I'm not collecting leaves around town. Fortunately, some of my own trees are giving the gift of leaf. I have to be quick about any near the road - some guy who I don't know drives around on his vacuum mower, collecting them. Most of my trees are safely inside the fence, so I shouldn't complain.

Today I planted the second raised bed of garlic.

After planting. Just looks like soil, but I know there are buried treasures in there.



I left the drip irrigation loops loose. I will need to check them in the Spring. I think some might be plugged.

After I raked the red maple leaves (my tree outside the fence. I saw that guy with his leaf vacuum riding around so I rushed and collected them).



I gave this bed of garlic some home made chicken bone meal. I can compare with the other bed, that didn't get any. Both beds got crunched-up eggshells and general purpose organic fertilizer.

Some of the gardening is indoors now. Here are the rosemary cuttings that I started this summer.



They had nice roots.



I potted four of the cuttings into individual containers.



I think they will be in good shape, next Spring.

The sage cuttings grew roots too. They are up next for repotting. I don't see roots on the lavender cuttings, but they still appear alive. So maybe?

I prepped some containers for starting basil seeds. I want to see if I can grow it inside to use during the winter.

I bought a plug-in thermostat to use with a space heater in the sunroom. It works. The temp has been dropping into the 40s at night. I want it to stay about 60.

 

@Pacnorwest ,although obviously no match to your scale ,we have plenty of deciduous trees around us too that we eagerly collect to compost down. Our area was once a large area of woodland in centuries past and we live among some of the remaining sections.
We have an area where collected leaves are stored to compost down.....infact I'm now using last years harvest of composited leaves to add pots and around the garden...lovely stuff.....and free too!!

Like you we don't burn ..well apart from once or twice a year ...we have a little incinerator where we store dug up invasive weeds that we definitely don't chance in our main composting pile!! In there we store all other garden waste alongside some Darlek bins where all kitchen waste goes to decompose a bit before being added to the main pile. This area is teeming with those lovely red worms who are busily helping to create the magic that is ....beautiful compost!
Even our refuse collectors have congratulated us for the lack of waste we produce......they only have to stop by occasionally.

I may moan but I value what mother nature freely gifts us with at this time of year and collecting the leaves up has an added bonus of providing me with a great additional workout too. Win win situation.

 

Great looking Rosemary cuttings @Daniel W , very healthy root system.
You definitely have the Midas touch in all that you do!!

 

Beautiful image!

 

Ddaniel— That is great work, mate. The layer of maple leaves look delicious in a strange sort of way— the colour makes me think of pink lemonade blueberries, or cranberries. Will you pile more on there as time goes on

Chapeau for the excellent propagation successes. Well done.

Oreti— that is so good of you to use the leaves. Leaf mould is so good for your garden soil, it plays a big roll in our soil care here.

Interesting about you living in an area that was once an ancient woodland.

 

Great rooted cuttings Daniel.

I collect leaves from around the back and up the road. I don't compost them, i put them under the plum trees in the back garden, the soil there is lovely now.

I've been weeding another border, got a lot of wild Geums in it, the leaves are like the cultivated ones but have very tiny yellow flowers. An old lavender is going to go and I've been pruning back the redcurrant bush. Ordered some more tulip bulbs, jparkers had a free p&p weekend.

 

Some of the former garden areas, that I'm converting into lawn, have trenches and holes. Those need to be leveled and smoothed. My source of soil for those is the forest of molehills down the hill, on my property. For some reason, moles are staying down there.

I filled four 5-gallon buckets with mole-hill soil. It's nice because it's finely ground, although being wet now it is VERY heavy. I hauled the soil up the hill in two batches, using my hand wagon.



I think that will finish one area. Another area could probably use twice as much.

Does removing mole hills result in lumpier ground? I don't know. Normally, I would just rake the soil around, especially to fill any low spots. But it's an orchard, not a golf course, so I guess it's OK.

It was pouring rain when I finished. I came into the house, threw my clothes into the washer, and threw some epsom salts into the bath tub for a hot soak.

 

@Daniel W I love your AI illustrated stories and several others about your garden projects. That simulated version - AI of you pushing the wagon makes me smile from ear to ear. I just adore your garden stories and many other pictures of your garden projects. You might think about collecting the posts made this season and eventually you could have a great children’s book. Would be full of stories , illustrations shows interesting entertainment for children and encourage young kids to the world of gardening. Many moons ago I worked with handicapped children who loved working in the garden.
The gopher war -AI, your avatar AI, Get well-AI , many other illustrations seen so far is just the beginning . I have a feeling there are many more to come.
A picture tells a thousand stories.

 

Thank you Pac for such nice comments.

I think sometimes the images tell the story better than I can. It's fun doing it.

I try not to overdo, so I'm glad you like the images

 

Daniël—Great AI image. Too bad the roodborstje let the worm fall. Haha.
Did you know the Brits call that little bird a “Robin”?
We have them here as well. The ones we see now are coming down from Scandinavia.

BTW— your soil looks very rich with all those worms, mate.