What have you done today in the Garden?

Mr Gumby is BRILLIANT!

 

So....my daughter bought me two "hardy" wisterias. I'm very cautiously excited - I do not know if they will make it but it was a lovely thought and I'm very touched. I'm going to give them every ounce of loving I can - they are sadly already struggling though. I told her all about yours DHR and she searched until she found some. They are planted along the fence in the full sun pasture. Any advice I'd be grateful for. Right now they are quite whispy, and not enjoying the cool spring. If they show some spunk I will send a pic. Right now I'm just watering them regularly and have fertilized once. Fingers crossed.

They each have about four vines that are about two to three feet long, but he ends of those vines are not happy.

 

This is the new strawberry bed that will have the braided top. The new squash bed is in the background. It houses a Banana Squash, Golden Hubbard, Blue Hubbard, Buttercup and a Trombocino. Having these up here by the house should give me up to an extra month of no frost, so hopefully they can grow into early September. Everything is very late right now with the cool weather.



The greenhouse is next to the strawberries. I still need the heat lamps at night as we are below 10 C. The tomatoes have some leaf curl from the fluctuation in temps and cool nights, but they should rebound.



I went for a search after seeing Sjoerd's post about tomatoes.

Big League Hybrid



Roma VH ( first time)



Amish paste



Bush Beef.



And aruba peppers

 

Your Toms are doing well @Melody Mc. ,ours are still on the small side!

 

Thank you Oreti.

 

I'm finally up to date with both gardens.












I sorted out the "bamboo forest." It has three retaining wires between three feet and six feet across it's length to stop it flopping so it's tight to the fence. Several times during the summer, I have to untie one end in turn, so I can gather in new growth that's outside the wires. It's very bushy at the top. I'm not fond of the white trunking along the bottom of the fence panels, which carries the low voltage supply to the two lanterns and the spotlight behind the pagoda. It's necessary to stop it getting chewed by visiting animals. I'd preferred it to have been black, but it wasn't available.
The black wire is the low voltage supply to one of the trail cams.
There were a lot of dead bamboo leaves to clear today from the border,



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Not so many roses in bloom at the moment. i'm sick of pruning off leaves with blackspot. Despite several sprays of Sulphur Rose, many of them get it every year.






I was concerned that this acer Palmatum Taylor might be dying a couple of months back, but it has recovered. I put it in the shed over winter. Two we'd had before died when left on the patio.






Front garden got the treatment. Dead-headed the two rhodos, always a pain and pruned the azaleas, with garden shears.





United Utilities are coming on Friday to replace this water meter which was fitted incorrectly five years ago, resulting in us get reduced water pressure. They are going to connect it to my new 25mm Alkathene pipe, which joins 18" of old 15mm copper pipe just to the right of the pillar, which is presently connected to the meter. The new pipe that cost me £1060, did not improve the pressure significantly.

If the water meter hadn't been fitted incorrectly, I'd have to have paid £1800, for the pipe to be connected with more 25mm pipe, as they have to dig up the footpath.
I'll be home while they do it, I'll supply the tea, whilst I check that the old 18" of copper pipe goes.

 

What i did today…The same thing I do every day to keep the gopher mole invasion down …mow…mow…mow. It’s gotten so severe that mowing is literally like riding a bucking bronco. 2 and 1/2 hours of maneuvering thru the fields. Also…No deer either. Every morning and night.

It’s not the most pleasant job mowing uneven dirt mounds everywhere. Sore neck, seems to be the worst side effect from constant bouncing. Good thing I have a seat belt, there have been a few times a mound would knock me outta the seat. Slowly but surely the moles /gophers have left the premises. Caught the last mole in a trap I checked this morning I set last week. Still have 3 traps set , but no new movements.

Below are pics of the pastures looking like swiss cheese . Showing circled leveled dirt mounds every foot to foot and half, now I know where the game “Wack a mole “ originated.




Connect the dots. You win a mole.



Moles eat worms and gophers eat plants. Have both of them is spades. However no new sightings….

 

DHR your garden is very lush and well maintained. Like how you have placed plants, shrubs and trees to show their very best blooms throughout the season. You got skills. It’s always a nice reward when every plant has matched the gardeners vision. And a lovely colorful precise vision it is.

 

My eye is some better already, thank you.

I am going to see what I can do with my pictures.

 

What a beautifully grown garden. So much TLC and talent and hard work.

Your marigolds look like my variety. I don't know what it is. They started as a volunteer in the vegetable garden about ten years ago. I save seeds for it each year. Yours are way ahead of mine, I started them late.

 

That's a very clever approach to the problem Pac. Well done!

 

Thanks Buddy. You're very kind. The marigolds are a Dwarf Janie. I hope to keep some seeds this year. They're a good size for the greenhouse.

 

I could live in your garden photos DHR. and your lights are on They are so lovely. You will be glad to get that water pressure fixed - your garden shows the care and water that it gets. I'm sure you will keep a watchful experienced eye on the new water system installation.

 

Today was a big day of thinning and weeding the carrots ( 6 x 25 foot rows), thinning and weeding the beets, weeding the onions, and almost completed weeding the broccoli. I managed to weed part of the mares tail out of the asparagus. I also weeded Dez's memory garden which houses all of the flowers I started from seed. I sprayed an ornamental cherry bush, a sour cherry juvenile tree, and some rhubarb and dill for aphids. A cool wet year is a harsh aphid year.

Then it was time to run the pump and water the greenhouse, strawberries, squash and beans. And now my hands are tired and I'm tired, so dinner and a shower will be welcome.

 

@Pacnorwest, According to an old episode of Adam 12 (remember that?), road flares got rid of their moles/gophers... it might be more fun than all that mowing. That has got to cost a lot of gasoline for your rider.. I never tried it and don't know. That is what they claimed in the show. I have not seen road flares in stores for years. Do they still make them?

I have moles and ground hogs here, but the cats take care of the moles and sometimes rabbits. Mostly the deer hang in the woods. I don't know if moles eat the worms or not, but I have plenty of earthworms. Coyotes eat a lot of rabbits, and we do have them.

It took me over an hour to get the pictures from FB to my computer. I will try to share some tomorrow. I need some sleep.