What Jobs Are We Doing In The Garden Today 2019

Discussion in 'General Gardening Discussion' started by Fat Controller, Feb 16, 2019.

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  1. Sian in Belgium

    Sian in Belgium Total Gardener

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    Back from a week in the UK looking after Mum...

    This morning I had a lovely wander around the garden. Checked the fruit trees (one of our plum trees is nearly in flower!!), and admired the snowdrops, crocuses, Iris , and the daff buds...

    This afternoon I stripped some turf off to extend the top bed, and planted a peony plantlet from Hereford. More clearing ready for the penstemon to plant tomorrow.
    I had a look at the herb bed, clearing the dead stems from the tarragon. Its got 2-3" shoots showing already!!
     
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    • Verdun

      Verdun Passionate gardener

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      Got Audi TT and then some garden jobs tended to. :)
      Overseeded top dressed lawn and put sprinkler on it. Fed large pots of strawberries after cleaning up crowns then a mulch of compost. Will add potash later and non seeding straw when fruit begins to form.:)
      Potted on a couple of decent size aeonium swarzcopf (always seem to forget spelling on this one) that seem to make a lot of growth at this time of year. Outside aeoniums are thriving....a tad hit n miss down here; they usually survive most winters but the odd heavier frost can catch them. If they survive they will make large impressive foliage plants in the summer :)
       
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      • Upsydaisy

        Upsydaisy Total Gardener

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        Found vine weevil in one of my strawberry pots :cry3:
         
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        • Marley Farley

          Marley Farley Affable Admin! Staff Member

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          Oh dear @Upsydaisy Get some Nematodes and water all your pots with them and also a vine weevil trap for the adults.. They are such bad news but I have had great success with the nematodes and the trap myself.. :thumbsup:
           
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          • Upsydaisy

            Upsydaisy Total Gardener

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            • CanadianLori

              CanadianLori Total Gardener

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              Managed to break uo some more of the ice.


              Still got a long way to go to get to the others..
              1550950382293597269650.jpg 15509504580871826627262.jpg
               
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              • JJ28

                JJ28 Gardener

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                Please, Verdun....what did you feed your large pots of strawberries with?
                 
              • Verdun

                Verdun Passionate gardener

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                Hiya JJ28 :)
                It was a fairly rich compost to start with ......John innes, mixed with dried manure/chicken pellets, some grit and mpc to lighten the JI.....
                but I used chicken pellets then mulched with compost that I can get locally. Any compost except mushroom compost (too alkaline) even mpc will do to cover pellets and form a mulch. I will add potash in spring....a liquid tomato feed though will do. :)
                Had a good harvest last year and expect even better this year
                Enjoy your strawberries JJ28:)

                I sowed few more seeds this morning as well as mixing composts for containers. Although beautifully warm and sunny I must resist the urge to do too much outside....surely a cold spell will occur:noidea:
                 
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                • JJ28

                  JJ28 Gardener

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                  Thank you for the advice Verdun. I can do chicken pellets :-) ....foxes would love digging in it if you'd said blood, fish, bone, which is a big problem. I will scatter this afternoon then cover with home made compost.
                   
                • Doghouse Riley

                  Doghouse Riley Head Gardener

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                  I wasn't going to do much today other than mix up a bit of soil and grass seed and apply it on a couple of small patches on the edge of the lawn.
                  As it was sunny, I thought I'd give the tea-house a bit of a wash down. But before I started I checked the bottoms of the "skirts" around the base of the building for any sign of rot. Unfortunately I found a bit where it was just starting to go. So I cut a 1/2" bit off part of the bottom with my jigsaw. As the bottom of the skirt is about three inches above the path it wan't difficult. Then I treated it with some Cuprinol and glued a new bit of wood in the gap I'd cut out.
                  It's jammed up hard against the skirt and wedged with "stuff" to keep it in place for a couple of days. I've also spread some wood filler over the join which would otherwise be noticeable, to be rubbed down on Tuesday. I also sanded the rest of the skirt, ready for a coat or two of Dulux Mahogany Woodsheen, when the repair is complete.

                  P1020340.JPG

                  I checked the other skirts, but they were fine. It's this one that is the "weather side" that was affected. But I gave the undersides of the others a coat of Cuprinol, as a precautionary measure.

                  Despite it being built of softwood in 1987, it's still wearing well.

                  I'm always concerned about these plywood panels I made freehand with a jigsaw, as plywood out in the weather can start to delaminate, but these are fine.
                  The whole frame of the building is only screwed together, though the side panels are glued and screwed. There's 1" dowl plugs inserted over the recessed screws to give the appearance of wooden "pinjoints." Being only screwed together, allows for a bit of flexibilty, when there's changes in temperature. Although it's still "rock solid."

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                  The windows which are also on the weather side, are still perfect. They are just one sheet of opaque plastic (recycled suspended ceiling panels) with applied bits of hardwood. I risked cutting those to a more rectangular size with my jigsaw, the stuff's quite brittle and could have shattered. The "frames" are recycled hardwood slats from one of those self assembly garden benches which were popular at the time. There's a gutter and downpipe on the back of the roof to stop rainwater running off onto the back fence.

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                  I'm even more impressed with the doors made of "2 X 1" softwood. They are still in perfect condition. I got a woodyard to cut all the pieces to size. Sawing a groove down the inside of some bits and down both of others to take the plastic panels. Then all I had to do was make them up like a DIY kit. Fortunately three of the opaque plastic windows in a row in their frames, were near as dammit the correct width to fit the building without me having to cut them. More applied strips of hardwood to form the individual panes. I made small plywood panels for the bottom of each door. Windows that size would have looked silly.

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                  I made this opaque plastic window for the side of the verandah, just to stop cats that get into the garden, using the rail on that side to jump up onto and over the fence. I knew it wouldn't stop them completely, but I wasn't going to make it easy for them.

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                  The right-hand side of building is quite boring. No point putting matching windows in there as no one would see them and being so close to the fence wouldn't let much light in.

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                  The back of the building is even more boring.

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                  As there's no skirt there I had to make a wood and wire mesh frame to keep the foxes from getting back in the following year once they'd left home.

                  I always like to leave the doors open on hot summer days to stop my jukeboxes from "cooking." But I couldn't leave the doors open when the foxes were underneath, or they would be in.
                  Finally, I decided to put this fan in the roof, so I didn't need to open the doors. The foxes left a couple of weeks after I put it in!

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                  • Jack Sparrow

                    Jack Sparrow Total Gardener

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                    I mowed my lawn for the first time. It wasn't too bad but it seemed a good idea to keep it tidy.

                    20190224_150023.jpg
                    I've been redistributing bulbs that have been sitting idle in various pots. Over the past couple of weekends I have spread snowdrops and daffodils around the various bits of garden. Today I thought I would rehome my irises. They should fill in the gap nicely until the lithodora at the front comes into season.

                    G
                     
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                    • Fat Controller

                      Fat Controller 'Cuddly' Scottish Admin! Staff Member

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                      Nothing today - got to admit, yesterday broke me, especially not having my usual hard grafter pal (and that is not a slight against Mrs C, as she really grafted out there yesterday). Been out looking (and touching) sheds instead.....
                       
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                      • Scrungee

                        Scrungee Well known for it

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                        Blossom has been appearing on the local plums for a couple of days or so, hope the weather stays fine as we're due for a heavy crop this year.

                        plum blossom 2019.jpg
                         
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                        • Selleri

                          Selleri Koala

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                          Nematodes are great, but need the soil to warm up a bit or they'll die. Nemasys seems to do the job well, I have used it for about 5 years now. Google around a bit, this is not cheap stuff. :frown:


                          Did some weeding, raking and sweeping. Weeding in early spring is very satisfactory, even the thuggies pull out nicely and the soil feels so lovely and crumbly on my fingers and under my nails. :) Then spent 10 minutes trying to get the aforementioned lovely soil off my hands in preparation for the Sunday night transformation into office- proof Selleri alter ego :biggrin:
                           
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                          • JJ28

                            JJ28 Gardener

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                            Put chicken pellets and compost all round strawberries.....then got just a bit carried away with the chicken pellets so raspberries, gooseberries, blackcurrants all got dosed as well. Then started pulling weeds out of a vegetable bed. I find a good way to clean dirt off hands and from underneath fingernails is a pan scourer. The softer one for non-sticks...rather than brillo pad....
                             
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