What have you done today in the Garden?

Got a bit done today.

Gave the trough its second coat, "first thing" well.......9.30am.
Then went to the garden centre, arrived at 10.25 am. It wasn't open! Apparently, it doesn't open until 10.30am.
There was already a queue of about half a dozen cars, driven mostly by women.(sorry!)
I needed some pots with a diameter of no more than 11" as the ones I'd put the plants in were too big for the trough, (the trough was an afterthought). Found some 10" black ones and a couple of saucers. Repotted them.

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"Done and dusted." Second coats of this paint dry really quickly, especially in this weather.





Pruned more wisterias, did a bit of weeding, then started mowing...mower packed up. I checked it out, it wasn't the switch. I can't be assed messing with it. I ordered a replacement from Argos, I can pick it up on my way home from golf tomorrow. It would have been cheaper on eBay, but sod's law says it might arrive when I was playing golf and my wife with her MS would have difficulty receiving it, so it isn't worth the bother.

 

It all looks very smart, Riley. The new trough goes with the rest, doesn’t it.

 

Potted on some more polyanthus done 120 so far, got another 24 to do.
Later some more watering, it's 31c today but tomorrow down to 19c but no rain.

 

It’s Sunday I’m takin the day off..

 

Hot day today spent the morning fixing the breaches in my fence where either a woodchuck or rabbit got in and ate my green bean and beet leaves this week. Not even a week with my great hunter gone and they are trying to move in.

 

Today is the first day of a very big clean up from severe thunder and hail storms. It will take some time, but luckily most plants were not in bloom yet. So some TLC, fertilizer and fingers crossed that the set back in time for regrowth will not impact veggie production too much. Photos to follow when I have the heart to do it....it will all look better in a few days then I does now. So I will wait until then to take care of things.

 

Watered the tomato plants and picked some fruit.

 

This is the time of summer for a break rest and garden chores are now few and far between. Waiting for dahlia and lily blooms.the mimosa trees are finally showing a few leaf buds . It usually doesn’t do much til July. Then it blooms profusely attracts hummers from all over the urban country side. I’ll see Rufus, Anna’s and black chinned…sometimes even Costa’s. Also the mimosa in my region are not invasive in many other zones can be very invasive.

 

Collected the new mower from Argos this afternoon after golf.
I bought it on-line and declined to add insurance to the purchase.
Got an e-mail before I went to get it, telling me it was ready for collection and did I want to insure it?
Binned the e-mail. Arrived at Argos, guess what? "Did I want to insure it?"
They're only doing their job, but it is annoying.
So got the lawn mowed
Had a swop around.
The heathers in the troughs on the patio aren't doing much, so I took for of them down to the bottom of the garden and put them in the two troughs either side of the tea-house steps. The pots are really too big for these planters, but I'm not bothered, I just put some packing under them.




Brought back the four hebes, two are now either side of the remaining heathers.





They are beginning to flower, so it'd be a waste leaving them at the bottom of the garden and wouldn't be seen from the French windows.





Unlikely to do much tomorrow as it looks like rain.
I could check out the old mower it's probably just the switch, which I could bypass to test it. If it is, they're about £6, but I can't be bothered. The new one is much lighter to use, does a good enough job and you can use it like a scythe, where you couldn't with the old one it was too heavy. The new one seems to have more "glide."

 

Riley I think your Heather are showing the bright lime green color to lighten up the contrast between the dark wood and the shows a perfect pop of lime green.

 

I've been off line a bit but things are still going on.

Some animal ate one of the young pullets. I'm speculating, weasel. Now the other two are in the main chicken house - better security. Meanwhile the ducks get the rose garden to themselves now. The new pullets were chasing and harassing the ducks, which is a role reversal.

Huey, Dewey, and Louie like having the rose garden to themselves.



The milkweed I grew from seed a decade ago has completely taken over the front flower bed. It will need pulling out but for now the fragrance is delightful.



Also, honeybees like it.



A young doe in the orchard.



My drip lines stopped working. It took a day of troubleshooting - rust / sediment had clogged the timer filter. I think the timing mechanism is bad for the same reason. I cleaned the filter as a temporary fix. The drip lines work. A new timer is ordered.

 

Wow you have been busy Daniel. Your whole garden has doubled in growth since the last time you posted. You were missed. Hope all is well..Good to see you back.

Oh as far as the water hose trouble shooting OMG been on my hands and knees crawling under sticker holly trees to fix a few leaks. Fixed three thought ok that’s it.. it wasn’t … sooo tomorrow’s another day. UGH….

My garden tractor is having issues so even after it was in the shop.. not working so I ordered a new one today… it’s a long frustrating story .it will be easier for me to change the oil on the new one.

Oh yes the deer are trolling again…I put down blood meal it’s keeps the deer away. They eat the pears, apples, lilies, hydrangeas.. etc…I use a product called Plantskyyd it’s a granular I only put it down once when the plants start to bud… it works great. I’ve seen blooms I haven’t seen in years… I’m sure you have your garden protected from those deer trollers..

 

Good to see you back, Daniel. I second what Pac said, that you have been missed.
Your fotos are lovely to see. Those shots of the Asclepias look very good. I have one, single plant that I got from my bee mentor. I hope that the blooms will form this year.

I can’t say that they are the most lovely of blooms, but they are certainly attractive to pollinators. You have quite a stand of them.

How are your veg coming along?

So Pac— how’d that day off go then?

 

Did nothing today other than give the top of the new trough a bit of a rub down and a further coat of paint (did it in the garage as it is trying to rain). Checked out the old mower. It was the switch as I suspected. Ordered a new one for £6.
Seemed a shame to chuck it out although I prefer the new one, it's not such a chore to carry round to the front garden. So I'll keep it.

Switching between watching the Wimbledon "qualies " at Roehampton and the tournament at Eastbourne.
Wimbledon is such a massive tournament, in the qualifiers there are three rounds, 128 men and the same number of women, compete for the sixteen places in the main draw in each section.
Losers in the first round of qualifying will take home £12,500. If they make it to the main draw, first round losers get £55,000. Compare that to the ATP 125 Challenger Tour where the winner only gets £21,600.
It's the same for all the grand slam events.
Whatever is the future for Emma Raducanu, no one I believe will ever match her achievement at the US Open.
She won ten consecutive matches, from the first round to the final without dropping a set.