What have you done today in the Garden?

Still Daniël, I appreciate your work there. You are always getting up to interesting things.
What colour is your Tigridia?

 

Did a bit of cleaning and a pal dropped by for tea ‘n bikkies. We also lent him our CO2 measurer so he could see if his dwelling had sufficient ventilation. I will be curious to see what sorts he gets.

Walking to our lottie I saw this. How not to mulch with leaves and cardboard.


And this— the water in the canals was becoming too much so it had to be pumped higher. Our pump has a sort of flotation device that kicks the pump on when the level in our little canals rises to a certain point. Can you make out the difference on the pic?

 

Interesting information on the canals.

A couple of fairways on our golf course are next to the River Mersey.
Streams, that are to the side of many fairways, feed into one that flows into the river through sluice gates. Sometimes, the river gets higher than the streams, then the pressure of the river water closes the sluice gates, so the level in our lateral streams rises, but not as high as they would if there were no closed sluice gates.
If the river starts to get particularly high, there's an arrangement between the Rivers Authority and a golf course further up the river, to flood a couple of their fairways this can absorb millions of gallons of water. This action can prevent flooding of residential areas close to the lower areas of the river..

Once the level of the river goes down, the pressure from the built up water in our streams, forces the sluice gates open and the level falls very quickly, it can drop more than a foot overnight.

 

Not getting any joy from Garden Plants on Line with the mimosa.



They believe it will recover if I planted it out.



So I've done this and sent them a copy of this photo. It's looking worse. We'll have to wait and see how it goes. If it doesn't recover, I'll be back at them,



My de Jager scented pink and white bare root lily of the valley have arrived. They are really tiny but had a lot of root on them.

The "deal" was for nine over two varieties, but I received ten. At £25 they weren't cheap, they were my wife's selection from one of her TV shopping channels, "I'll have to take her TV remote away."

I potted them up in 4" pots as recommended and put them on the window sill of the shed. I'll eventually plant them out in the narrow border next to the garage.

Tidied up some more clematis. At least two will need replacing as they are definitely dead, which isn't as bad as I thought it might be.


My trail cameras are picking up three cats that visit our garden during the night. As well as a black and white cat, these other two are showing an interest in the back of our summerhouse. although I haven't put any food under it for the hedgehog (if he's there), for a few days. There is some dry food in the feeder on the main patio, but it's "cat proof."

 

Would the cats hurt 'Arry?

 

There'd be no bother to him, other than try to pinch his food.

They couldn't get into his house or his feeder on the patio.
But I wouldn't like them to get under the tea-house, (if he's under there) as they may disturb him.
I'd rather not have anything that would attract them to our garden and use it as a toilet.

 

Today is potting up peppers, as well as one Echinacea. . I couldn't find just the right step up in pot size for the peppers before they go into one or two gallon pots. Some yogurt containers will work fine I think after some holes are drilled.

I have one Echinacea that is smaller - almost a bit stunted, but it appears to be catching up. I'm not sure how it will do. The parlsley, basil and Oriental Poppies are hanging out together.



After potting up, I planted some Delphinium and Celery. The Cupid's Dart are beginning to sprout, so that is exciting. I'm not familiar with them.





Yesterday I set up lights in my middle daughters room for the flowers. This is housing Pansies, Gazanias, Sea Holly, and some Thyme, Oregano and Sweet Margjoram.



Then I looked out her side window overlooking the main roof and porch roof. YUCK.
I'm happy to have my little inside garden

 

Chapeau Mel. Your work there is looking good and in its own way, a glimpse of your coming Spring.
All those little plants are coming along so well. I’ll bet you can hardly wait for the season change.

 

Not doing anything in the garden today, my wife has talked me out of getting into the rockery as she says it's too cold.
I've still my golf trolley and golf shoes to clean ready for Monday. (I don't want it to show up the new golf bag I bought from the pro shop on Friday, do I?). A zip on the old one had gone. They can't be repaired, as they are fitted during manufacture. He will always match prices on eBay.





But I can watch the athletics on TV.

I've checked on the lily of the valley and they seem to have grown a bit overnight!

You can see three of the dozen re-cycled primroses in the border.




Nothing escapes my trail cams.

No cats but, "Intruder alert!" heading under the summerhouse.




The local garden centre has had a delivery of the green glazed Apta Cambridge pots, of which I want two, but "they haven't been unpacked yet, try next week."
So much for the "They'll be in on Friday," I was told on Tuesday.

The water heater I bought to replace the ancient one in the garage has packed up. On inspection, I found there was a pinhole leak in the tank. I could contact the supplier and I would be expected to pack it up and return it and then wait for them to decide whether they would repair it, replace it, or give me a refund.

But at my age, I can't be bothered. For what it cost, I've ordered another make from a different supplier and it'll be here on Monday. It'll be a half hour job installing it in the afternoon when I come home from golf. Being without hot water outside, I find very inconvenient.

 

Look at that wee mouse with his big Googly eyes! I've actually been following your hot water source with interest DHR. We have an ancient propane fired hot water tank that needs replacing. Here, we call the on demand replacement a "gieser"?? It's a big deal. We've been mulling it over for a while. It will require a gas fitter and a plummer. But I think worth it in the end. Funny how you are so much further advanced in this stuff than we are.

 

These sort of electric water heaters have been around in the UK for the best part of a hundred years. My original one was second hand when I obtained it in 1976. It was a Santon with a copper inner cylinder. It held about a couple of gallons. It only failed I think because an internal copper pipe split in the "big freeze" in February.
I only need it for hand washing, before coming in after gardening or to fill a bucket to wash the car or my golf clubs or wash down the walls of the summer house. There's just one connection required for the water supply and an electrical supply from a double pole switch.
The heater has a dedicated supply from a mini-breaker in the consumer unit in the garage. I fitted this new consumer unit a couple of years ago. This I considered necessary as over the years I'd added all sorts of stuff in the garage, shed, summerhouse and the garden lighting.




This is the new water heater. It's only 2kw with a 1 gallon capacity, which is adequate for what I need.

 

Nothing today it's too cold and we might get some snow during the week, but not a lot.

 

I got into the rockery this afternoon and removed a lot of grass and moss amongst the phlox. It's a case of trying "not to throw the baby out with the bathwater." I then gave it a good sprinkling of compost and a watering with a bit of plant food.
Earlier I drove up to Bents Garden Centre and bought this white lilac. It'll give us an alternative to the sambucas in the circular bed in the middle of the garden. I've put it in a big pot with some fertilizer pellets. But not as big a pot as that of the sambucas. That's a real pain to lift and in and out of that bed, having to avoid the azaleas around it.

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This is the variety,






a syringa-vulgaris

 

Fingers crossed for you and that lovely Syring. Those things smell so nice.
When will you plant it?

 

Thanks for that,
It's planted now, in a big tub. The instructions say you can plant it out or have it in a patio pot.