What have you done today in the Garden?

Our balance is controlled by our middle ear.
As we get older, we are more susceptible to falls.
This is a good test to see how we are doing.

https://www.matassessment.com/blog/single-leg-balance-eyes-closed

I think we may be able to improve our balance, with a bit of practice.
After all, how often do we stand on one leg?

 

@Doghouse Riley yes improving balance is possible. After I fell off the back steps a few years back the Y offered Tai Ji Quan: Moving for Better Balance® (TJQMBB) is a research-based balance training regimen designed for older adults at risk of falling and people with balance disorders. Fuzhong Li, Ph.D., a Senior Scientist at Oregon Research Institute, developed the program.
It was great for strengthening my sprained ankles as well as improving my balance.

I love all the outbuildings you have on your property.

‘For yard work today I watched the snowflakes fall.

 

Thank you @Pacnorwest ,@Doghouse Riley and @Jewell
I was just not paying attention to what i was doing, but I've just tried the balancing on one leg and I can do it.
In yoga do that exercise.

Not doing anything in the garden, it's too cold and frosty.

 

Clear blue sky, but the temperature 0c. The sun has melted the frost on the front lawn, but the back one is still in shadow for a couple more hours.
Had a hard job trying to find on the internet the place where I got the bits for the fence panels a few years ago, then I remembered, the address was in my SatNav. I might not go until tomorrow now, as we're both expecting "stuff" to be delivered today.

 

I collected 10 batons and three individual panels from Monton Fencing this afternoon.
A bit of a job, but I managed to finish the fence.
I used up all the batons, replacing those at the bottom of the panels and two individual panels for the bottom one on two sections.
The cable strung between the posts is the 12v supply to both lanterns.





Job done for a few more years, at a cost of £34.

 

Hubby has ventured in the back garden to finish off pruning the pear tree, it's a bit sheltered there from the winds.

 

Nothing today, just fed the birds and squirrels, it was cold and rained this afternoon.

 

Beginning to clean the flower plots.

 

I have been falling down since I was little and just learning to stand up and walk. I have always been a bit of a klutz. That was over 70 years ago.

Last week when I got to run errands, I found new concord grape vines and bought one. I bought some ginger roots and a new rosemary plant, and seeds for beets and dill and lavender. I kept the new rosemary indoors for now.

Today, I got the ginger roots planted, and the grapevine. I put the ginger roots in pots indoors until warm weather. The grape vine I planted inside my chicken run, and mulched it with their straw. I put some chicken wire around it, so neither the deer nor the chickens can get at it. The new grapevine says it is 1 year old, and it is bigger than my other grapevines that are several years old each. I sure hope it does well! The older vines were also supposed to be 1 year old when I bought them, but they have never had enough growth to even prune them at all.

The seeds that I ordered have yet to arrive. I ordered those onion seeds and poached egg plants (flowers), and a thing for vacuuming the dryer vent.

It was cold and cloudy most of the day, until the sun came out just before sunset. They are calling for snow Monday and Tuesday.

 

No gardening outside for now - waiting for the cold snap to end.

 

Allegedly the snow arrives about 11 pm here, and it is just after 9. They have already closed local schools for tomorrow. When I was a kid, we had school even with lots of ice all over the place, and or lots of snow. We walked to school back then also. I don't remember any power outages back then. Here school gets closed for 1/2" of snow.

Since it was not (yet?) snowing, I was outside working. It was sunny much of the day. I was going to plant seeds in my flats. I did get some of my echinacea planted in that 'fish pond'. I also dug out vines that were invading, and dug up grass and day lily clumps. A friend wants some day lilies, and I have hordes of them. They were overflowing into the lawn, so I dug up some of those. I will dig others out soon from other places. I wanted to get rid of those huge grass clumps too. I added a few seeds for the mullein I was given. I don't want gobs of it, so only planted a few seeds. That was as far as I got today.

I am trying to figure out WHERE to put my flats to get light AND be safe from varmints... (and my cats) Indoors is not really enough light, and lack of space. I will have to rearrange some things, as I have a piano coming when I can find a few guys with a truck to haul it...

 

Cloudy and +4c. No good reason to go in the garden today other than to feed the birds.
There's a few things I'm planning to do once the weather improves.
I want to sort out the area under the acer palmatum that's in my avatar.
As you will see, it's a lot bigger than that now.

Consequently, the grass below it really struggles, due to the lack of light.
This was the best it looked last year. No amount of "shady place"grass seed grew.






I've a couple of choices, I could re-turf it (again) and shorten the skirt (again), but not by much. otherwise it will end up looking like a cocktail umbrella.

Or do what might be better, which is to make the brick circle of a much larger diameter.
The bricks are set in a fine concrete collar. I'll need a lot more bricks, but it's unlikely I'll be able to find the same ones again.
So I think I'll give the re-turf and shorten the skirt option a go first. But not for a couple of months.

In the meantime, I'll scout out a local reclamation yard to look for similar bricks.

On a positive note, the acer is producing its usual new growth. The restraining wire and net will remain on and be removed just before the foliage gets too big to pass through the net, by which time the branches should have set.

 

DHR—I was taken by this technique back when you first mentioned that you were going to do it. I thought it a good idea.
I manipulate the limbs of my fruit trees in a different way but the principal is the same. well done, Riley.

 

Since DHR first mentioned the wire technique to train the dwarf acers skirt, I’ve tried it and it works well. I am not quite as talented to tailor the wire as well, so I use the trainer crate that folds into sections for the dogs a square type to contain the dogs. It works great to train back the skirt from the paths and entries.

I have the same problem with moss taking over the small fron lawn . I just put down iron sulfate . Kills the moss quickly, then in spring allows the grass to send out roots and fill in the moss areas. There are shade loving grass which seems to be a good choice here.

 

Tried to do a bit of cutting out the old canes of the cultivated blackberries, but i only stayed out for half an hour my hands were getting too cold.