What have you done today in the Garden?

Stay safe Daniel. We're thinking about you and yours.

 

What Mel said.
Please stay safe, you guys.
Mind how you go.

 

Daniel. Sending blessings your way that you are safe. This October is the hottest Oct on record. We usually have much cooler weather in summers too. the maps show fire hazard areas are new as we have had to contend with power shut downs for days due to maps which are inaccurate and power company tree trimmers do horrible things to trees and shrubs on private property. No notice or permission to come on private land just over zealous tree scalpers who have totally destroyed much of my garden 100’ feet in the pasture, no the roadside power line but my property I am mad as …

we had to evacuate a couple years ago with the dogs horses and trapped for hours on the roads with animals in the horse trailer in traffic jams. The fire never came close to us but the restrictions and fire maps are not accurate many are protesting the fire zones on the maps. As well as PGE trimmers . Lots of public protest up and down the west coast.

 

Stay safe Daniel

 

Thanks for the well wishes everyone!

Today I spent a few hours on the homestead, then left for town again. I harvested the last of the sauce tomatoes - about two gallons - what a fantastic tomato year it's been! I think these will be used for tomato soup and/or roasted tomato pasta sauce. Yum yum!

The sauce tomato bed is almost full cleared to plant garlic next weekend. I turned on the drip system for two hours, to soften the soil.

I fed the hens and ducks but left them in their coops. I hope they are safe there.

The holiday cacti have flower buds, so I watered them.

I did bring the two vintage sewing machines to the safe haven. The modern, computerized, plastic one isn't as important to me.

The fire area is larger, but evacuation zone is smaller. This is the Nakia Creek fire. It's too smoky to stay even if the evacuation zone doesn't include the homestead. It's like smoking a pack of unfiltered Winstons every hour.

 

On the news the firefighters .
“With the current weather patterns here in the PNW, we have another good week of potential fire weather,” Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency officials said, describing a fire official telling crews that “while the calendar may say it’s October 16th … I need you to think like it’s August 16th.”

Some cities in the area saw record high temperatures over the weekend. The temperature in Seattle hit 88 degrees Sunday, marking its second-warmest October day on record and breaking the daily record of 72 degrees set in 2018, according to the National Weather Service.

Authorities reported other fires in the area Sunday, including near Chelatchie Prairie and Sunset Campground in Clark County, as well as several in neighboring Skamania County.

As the firefight continues, winds are expected to ease but temperatures will remain well above average for the next few days, CNN Meteorologist Robert Shackelford said.

The Nakia Fire is in an area where temperatures are around 10 degrees above average, and the hot conditions will linger until Thursday before dropping to average and below average for the weekend, Shackelford said. Rain is also likely over the weekend, bringing some much-needed relief for firefighters.

 

Start of the leaf collecting season, the first, is always the big acer in the front garden.






Some of the leaves fall on the azaleas, so I have to drag them out by hand. More fall between the azaleas and the party fence.
It's a pain to drag them out with a lawn rake, then use my trusty Grizzly garden vac. to collect the rest.
Doesn't look much, but it took me an hour to clear them and they filled the green bin.
It'll be a weekly job, as there's a lot more to come down.




It's quite a tall tree, the top is level with the eaves of the roof.

In a couple of months, it will be time for its annual prune. I take up to a foot off it all round. Trying to retain the lolly pop shape.
Easy enough with my Barnel telescopic pruner for the thinner branches and my Fiskars lopper, which I extended by adding a six foot pole to the long handle and more string to work the jaws. I can easily reach the top branches without having to use a ladder.

 

That's a good sign that your back is letting you garden DHR! That Acer will be ready for lights soon.

Now....can you tell me about this garden vac?? I've only heard of a leaf blower. Sounds like I could have a new friend......

 

Thanks for the interest. It's 3000w Swedish machine. It has a bag for collecting leaves, turn a lever and it will blow.

It has a removable scoop on the front, it's best for sucking up leaves on paths.

It has a variable speed control.

https://greenfingers.com/p46649/grizzly_els_3017e_electric_leaf_blower_and_vaccum.aspx

 

Riley Looks really professional great fall view of your garden. Your beautiful garden is always a joy to see.

In my lawn area …After mowing the grass area with leaves , I section off the leaves on the lawn in small piles , then I just mow over the leaves from deciduous trees, I have mulcher blades on the mower and chew the leaves into tiny pieces and fertilize the grass and they disappear….

 

The problem with this tiny front garden is that the lawn under the azaleas, as they grow out each year, tends to get a bit mossy. I'll be pruning the azaleas back later. Same with the azaleas, rhodo and viburnum at the front of this garden, they start to grow out over the wall next to the pavement every year. So I take the garden shears to them and prune them as you would a hedge.

 

Nice azelias… what a nice way to bring in the spring season… another gardener with excellent design and skills. Adore your garden..

 

Thanks for that.
This azalea my wife found in a reduced to clear box on the stall of a local nursery (which is now a housing estate) in Altrincham Market, about 30 years ago. It was in a 4" pot. I think she paid either 50p or a pound for it, no more. She brought it home on the bus with the rest of her shopping, but managed to split the stem. I rescued it by putting some Sellotape round it to support it. However, it thrived, I planted it out in the front garden next to the brick pillar in the photo. Over the years I layered it and planted out the new growth, progressively around the lawn. There are two different azaleas at the right-hand end, that flower later.




I also put two layered branches in the back garden.

This is one.



This is the other.



I took a copy of this photo back to the nursery, to see if they could identify the variety, but they couldn't. I've not seen an example in any other garden centre since.

 

I often describe our back garden as "low maintenance," quite unjustifiably so, early in the year. But for a few weeks around now, before the leaves fall in earnest, it is.
Nothing's been done in it for well over a week now.





Apart from a few roses, the only colours other than green, are the acers and the berries on our sorbus, the most we've ever seen.
They'll start to fall within the next two weeks, as will the leaves on the acers, if we get a frost.












We're still getting nightly visits from the black and white cat, on mouse patrol. But it's the only thing being picked up by the trail cameras. No sightings of "Marcel." This maybe because I put mouse bait in the garage, as it's impossible to stop a mouse getting in although, there's nowhere for them to nest and I don't keep pet food in there. So if he met his demise by getting in there and eating the bait, "it's his own fault."
The grey cat, which was always trying to get at the hedgehog's dinner, hasn't been around for a couple of weeks. "He may have gone on his holidays."

The front garden today looks as if I'd not collected any leaves, but I won't clear any more until Sunday, weather permitting.

 

Monday and Tuesday i weeded a border and planted some hellebores and polyanthus. Couldn't do anything yesterday because my leg ached so much and today it's raining.