What have you done today in the Garden?

I hadn't intended to do anything today, but every Tuesday, I put out my next door neighbour's bins, as he's in hospital and will be for some time.
He has a gardener who comes once a month, but he doesn't seem to do much.
When I went round, I found a lot of garden refuse that needed clearing and I managed to fill two green bins with it. I don't know why this guy who does his garden, left it all.

A friend who lives the other side of this garden came round and told me he'd pruned off some branches earlier in the day of the tree that overhangs his garden. He said he intended to come round with his scaffold tower at the week-end to reduce the height of the top branches.
He's only got one tree that causes a problem, where I have three close to the fence on my side!
They are all silver birches and when the catkins and then leaves fall, they make unnecessary work for us both and anyway, they are way too tall for a suburban garden.
So at the week-end (weather permitting) and we'll reduce the height of the one on his side and the three on my side.
They need reducing to the height they were cut down to only a few years ago. I've pruned them as far up as I can with my Fiskars telescopic lopper, but the tower is needed to get at the higher branches.

 

@Logan it’s way too cold to be out in our winter cold too. I just barely can get the tractor out and moniter the pastures for critters. Burrrr! Even with my ski cloths on…Yikes !

 

I never heard of what DHR is doing with his tree. Interesting.

No snow, or ice so far. We did get rain overnight and off and on today. It is cold though, so I stayed indoors and did housework.

My daffodils are beginning to put out buds.

 

No gardening today as it was a golf day. Mild for the time of year +6c and dry.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, I'm going to put a hedgehog doorway in a fence concrete base panel on the other side of the garden near the tea-house.

Since the garden on the other side of the existing doorway has been completely cleared and half of it paved, there's little cover for hedgehogs and no places where they can rummage around for creepy "crawlies." The opportunity for them to come in and out of the other garden, might suit them better, as it's generally uncared for and will present them with a better foraging choices.

It'll be a pain to cut a hole in this panel (as was the other one), as I'll have to stitch drill a lot of holes through the panel with a masonry bit in my drill. Then knock it out with a lump hammer.
But it'll just be a 5" rectangular hole. No fancy doorway like the other one.

To be honest, I did that more of a joke, so I could tell my wife I'd found a fairy door at the bottom of the garden.

It was originally to keep 'arry in, as when we found him he wasn't well and we don't think he was "a full shilling."





But after 'arry disappeared, I took the door off to allow any old hedgehog in or out.





I'm going to put it at the end of the border under the side fence.





There's power points in the tea-house, so it shouldn't be a problem.
I can't put a doorway in the back fence as there's nearly a two-foot drop, on the other side.

 

Sleet and snow arrived right after I got up this morning, so another indoor day here. We have about 2" so far. I have loads of indoor stuff to work on, so I ought to get at something.

 

The fairy gate is nothing less than inspired. It looks very smart.

 

Nothing at the moment it's too cold but next week should be better.

The hedgehog/s have come out of hibernation, it's good that i kept putting the dry food out for the blackbird and robin.

 

Yay!!!!....

I have actually done some gardening this morning....about 1.5 hrs of some border cleaning and cutting back. .......and I managed to clear up after me too. This bit was a slow process as hauling a big trug full of rubbish with a pair of crutches was a challenge indeed. I could have left that bit for hubs ....but I had set myself a challenge to complete the whole task.....and I did it.

Off for an appointment with my Consultant this afternoon...first since the surgery so keeping that he says my recovery and ROM are all on track.

 

@Oreti… Congrats on meeting your challenges so soon after knee replacement.

 

Oreti— that is the best news evvuh.
You must be tremendously proud of yourself. That was a good accomplishment.
Now for the docs’ visit. Fingers crossed withya. Come on Oreti !!
Please let us hear how it went, oké?

 

Hi @Pacnorwest and @Sjoerd ... thanks for your congrats.

Consultant was extremely pleased with my progress, warning me that some swelling will persist for a while yet and that completed healing will take about 2yrs.. The surgical scar has healed well and is very neat looking and it is now safe to apply a thicker layer of moisturizing cream that can now cover the incision line too ( up until now I have avoided that and just concentrated on massaging it into the sides of the knee).
Xrays are all good...amazing to think all that has gone on under my skin.

I can now go out on little walks up and down our lane , so I have pinpointed the various stages to aim for.....the allotment gates, the path leading to the boggy woods, the farm, path to the lakes, our local pub ( where I meet up with some of my friends), the bus stop that will take me in to our 2 local cities then hopefully in a month maybe I will reach my brother's nursing home!! That is immediate ultimate goal, it does incorporate different terrains..slopes ,hills and a stretch of unmade up road which is full of large stone and huge potholes!!

But I'm on a mission.!!!!

 

I got the second hedgehog doorway done today. But as often happens, it wasn't without incident. After drilling a dozen or more holes in the concrete base panel, my forty-year-old electric drill gave up the ghost, (I've ordered a replacement). So I had to finish the job with a hammer and chisel. I found some scrap wood and plywood in the garage and made the correct size aperture and painted it. I used a bit of sand and cement mortar, to make a smoother entrance. The wood could do with another coat of paint, but that can wait until the week-end.









I put out one of the feeders this afternoon, in case the hedgehog in the house under the azaleas to the side of the patio decides it's time to wake up. I've set a trail camera to cover it.





I looked at a few on YouTube, but I wasn't that impressed, a lot of sticky tape in evidence, some were made using the box up the right way, which would make it difficult to clean
So I've put my own on my YouTube Channel.

 

@Oreti glad that you are doing some gardening and walking soon and that your knee is healing well.


Fed the birds and hedgehogs.

 

It's +4c, but feels colder. No jobs scheduled for today, but there's tree lopping in next door's garden, with another neighbour tomorrow.
No hedgehog activity on the patio overnight and no little footprints in the cement render below the new hedgehog door.

 

Riley— Superlative effort. Something I like about your posts is your commentary and reasoning.
Nice work.