What have you done today in the Garden?

@Pacnorwest, He was not after trash, I don't think. My smelly trash is in a barrel with a closed lid and is picked up weekly. I have a pile of burnables, but that is mostly paper and brush and nothing anything would eat.

There many kinds of animals here. I saw a bear myself, and lots of others see bear more often than I have. I have seen a mountain lion 2xs; others have seen them many times. I saw a huge white wolf once, and 2 of my boys were with me and saw him also.

My kittens are loose so they can learn to use the litter boxes. They are 4 weeks old today. They are all calico, but 2 are boys. Their one grandpa is my neighbor's cat, and he is calico... That is supposed to be "rare."

I did do some mowing yesterday, and dug some plants for sharing with friends.

 

Today I planted the squash seedlings.

I didn't get all of the sheet mulch in place, or the fencing. Tomorrow.

The Darcy Bussell rose is the most prolific of the new container David Austin roses so far. The scent seems quite faint to me.



Here is the first Silas Marner blossom. Only one and again, faint scent so far.



Here's the rose bush that came with the place. One of the cuttings took, growing slowly. I have an air layer on this bush, also. Very thorny and difficult to get to in the rock border.



It's in a bad spot but blooms so well and very fragrant. If I get around tomit, I'll set up a second air layer.

Here is the crop of garlic scapes. They are crisp and tender and will make a good soup.



Tomorrow: Finish with the squash bed, black mulch, irrigation, and fencing. It's lot of work but when it's done, it's done.

 

@Sjoerd that's very kind of you to help your lotti neighbour like that.

@Daniel W lovely looking roses.

@AAnightowl I looked up the Calico cats, Here i've seen cats with those markings and I always thought that they were tortoiseshell cats, but no. Also they're usually female so yours are rare.

 

Stunning Roses @Daniel W .

 

Well as our weather has been so lovely today I decided to change my mind and get the rest of the planting out done....finally. Next chore now is to tidy up the the dumping ground...ummmm no.. I mean the greenhouse and cold frames!! And wash hundreds of pots too.

But that can all wait for now.

 

Kay—What Pac said about that Gnome house scene. It is voortreffelijk.

Loggie— my Verb. Binar. have bloom buds already; they usually bloom in mid-july or early august here. It is crazy.

Daniel— marvellous roses there, mate. Those scapes look yummy.

AA— That was so nice of you to share plants. I know they will appreciate them so much.

 

From today’s walk about showing captures of butterflies , bees, and a mantis.

Monarch butterfly on Hebe flowers.


Bumblebee on Weigela .


Honey bee on blackberry .


Mantis on rose shrub.

 

I love all the photos everyone.

And those David Austin roses!

Plants that do well for me make more babies than I can use, so I try to share them. I already have 50-60 flower beds, maybe more? I cannot keep track of them, and doing all that weeding is a LOT. Plus I have my veggie garden and loads of containers and pots... The reason I have so many flower beds is because I hate to toss the babies in the compost. However, the rose of Sharon babies are in the thousands, so I have to toss many of those. My rose of Sharons are the old fashioned tree rose of Sharons that can get 12 feet tall and make thousands of seeds yearly. They can make a tight hedge if you leave them grow so close. I did find out that they are EDIBLE. You can eat the flowers and the leaves. I have never tried them, but good to know for emergencies. I guess they qualify as a FOOD FOREST which so many are into nowadays.

My lovely rhubarb is ailing. I am trying to help it out before it dies on me. There are gnats pestering it. I will get gnat traps Tuesday when I get a ride to town for errands. I did plant some garlic cloves in there as a friend suggested, and am making some garlic solution to spray on it. I need to ask how long to soak the garlic bulbs? I thought I had had some made up, but cannot find it now. I saw someplace AFTER I had planted it that it does not like too much sun??? I rigged up an umbrella (I have a picture when the internet will cooperate) on a post into the barrel with some zip ties Friday afternoon. However, we had storms overnight and ruined the umbrella. Last night we had more storms and 6 inches of rain here.


I finally got FB to cooperate so I could save the picture on my computer. Guess the umbrella idea is useless.

It rained almost the whole day, so I did not get much done out there.

Friends gave me some seed for bush beans and the yard long beans. I am trying to decide where to plant them. I need to make a trellis or teepee for those yard long beans. I have never grown those before. I am not sure what variety of bush beans they gave me, but they are not Blue Lake. Beans are good and healthy, and easy to dry for winter. My scarlet runner beans are fine, and the green hairy things are turning into leeks and onions.

A few watermelon seeds have sprouted, and maybe the third birdhouse gourd has sprouted? My cucumber seeds are sprouting back there at that A frame, and around the corn. The corn is back where that A frame is. You might be able to see a lot of my onions and garlics and potatoes. That wall of poison ivy and weeds is behind me where I took the rhubarb picture. Maybe I will take a before picture so the after picture might look better? I need to take more pictures.

The raspberries are nearly done. No blueberries yet, but the bushes are doing okay.

I need to transplant a lot of lettuce seedlings around my garden. I think there are some celery seedlings also, to transplant soon. The broccoli is going to seed, so it should grow for my fall garden?

No sign of bell peppers yet.

What will make my strawberries make more berries???


A large limb came down out back last night. Son can cut it up when he gets home. There is a lot of pruning waiting to be done...

 

Are we allowed to share a cute gardening cartoon that I did not draw? If so, I have a good one to share. @Frank

 

As every year, many of the leaves of our two dozen or so rose plants, are affected to a degree by black-spot. I've sprayed them regularly with Sulphur Rose, but it seems to make little difference. They flower well, but the leaves are unsightly. It's tiresome, pruning off the affected foliage.

 

Stunning wildlife foto’s Pac. I would like to suggest that the large yellow butterfly is a Tiger Swallowtail rather than a Monarch though. That camera of yours really is a good one.

AA—you have a lot going on there. It is a pleasure to read about.

 

I've had a bit of a love-hate relationship with this mimosa I planted up against the fence half-way down the garden.
At one time it looked a bit sickly but has since thrived.
It came attached with tape in several places to an unsubstantial thin support bamboo cane.








This cane snapped despite the plant being tethered to one of the lateral wires strung between the concrete fence posts. I made a temporary repair (four months ago) by lashing a bit of aluminium tubing to both parts of the cane.





But now it deserves something better. I didn't want an ugly thick bamboo cane as it would stick out like a sore thumb. So this morning I've bought an 8ft length of 1" thick strong dowel which I will paint with mahogany Dulux Woodsheen, to match the rest of the woodwork in the garden and attach them with two soft black plastic tree ties.

 

@Doghouse Riley i used to use a systemic rose spray for blackspot, it worked if sprayed every fortnight but it would leave a milky looking coating on the leaves, i gave up after a few years, got so many roses and they don't look too bad with the blackspot.

 

The black spot is a constant fight here too. I decided to only install other types of roses that don’t get black spot. With a 3 acre garden I don’t have time to deal with the constant rose issue. I miss the beautiful hybrid teas but keeping the dogs safe is a higher priority .

 

Finished potting up the cosmos and some of the snapdragons.
Sjoerd this is how far my Verb. Binar is.
I've got some bright green insect eggs on the one in the middle, i Googled it and it could be brown shield bugs.