What are we doing in the garden 2025

I dribble creocote/creosote down small holes to deter the moles. They are very quiet at the moment as the lawn is like a piece of hard rock.

 

Thanks @NigelJ - I have creocote which is pretty smelly!

 

Every morning I check the forecast and it shows rain in the next three days, by the evening it's disappeared into drizzle maybe.
Just watered things in the veg area.
Before that dead heading and weeding. Also tidied up the Aralia foliosa because something had landed in it or shinned up it as there were a number of broken leaves, whatever it was it's best described as foolhardy as I ended up removing spikes and bleeding.
My Zanthoxylum laetum was planted last year and was 18 inches tall it is now rapidly approaching 5 foot.

 

Yes I've been seeing the same with the forecast. It generally comes in from the south west and by the time it reaches me it has already dumped its rain over the high ground, or it splits up and goes around me. I thought you were getting more of it down in Devon though.

Did get some decent and much appreciated rain yesterday, and still have hopes for the weekend. Maybe that block they're forecasting to dump a month's worth over the south east will venture a bit further west ...

 

@NigelJ Creosote? How? Thought that you can't buy this any more.

 

I dug out a couple of plants yesterday that I want to move and replace with other things. Took a while, as one involved clearing some planting beside the pond, and the ground there is unamended, sticky clay, but I'll try and get the new plants in situ in time for the rain coming later on. That'll save watering in! If I get time, I want to hack back the white Weigela, which is a fairly uninspiring shrub anyway, so I might move it.
I also got the slabs etc collected from my neighbour across the footpath, so I'll need to move them from the front path. Potted on a few things, but had to take daughter to work due to yet more disruption of buses...sigh...and still had to divert because there was a serious fire at a block of flats a mile up the road. 6 fire engines needed.

 

I have some from my father dating back to the times when creosote was not creocote and Jeyes fluid was a lot more potent.
Interestingly real creosote can still be used by manufacturers for things like telegraph poles, hazmat suits obligatory.

 

Actually had a splash of rain overnight.

 

This is the weather forecast right now:



Having said that, sometimes they mark it as rain and it's just 3 droplets, so hopefully I will still be able to do a few bits.

Besides the usual deadheading & watering, I have decided to get rid of a rose. It's a climbing David Austin rose ("Bathsheba") that I never warmed up to, despite it being a strong performer. Just personal taste. And after going backwards and forwards several times, I decided that it's not worth keeping a plant I don't enjoy, considering I am running out of space for new plants.

 

Yes. I bought creosoted posts for my pony grazing area - otherwise around here ordinary tantalised posts rot in only a couple of years. Apparently you can still buy the liquid but only in 200l barrels.

 

It's quite normal to see a new telegraph pole oozing creosote with a paper label stuck to it, never been able to read what the label says as its usually absorbed so much of the stuff.
I assume it's warning you not to lean on the pole or get it on your hands.

 

You can still buy creosote 100% coal tar in 25l containers. It's about £60 + del. They say for professional use - who determines what a professional is? I have 40 years experience!

I thought those telegraph poles were treated with thick coal tar. Lasts for years. You can probably still buy that.

Now Armillatox was something I used, but the firm gave up due to regulation, but I did see it for sale recently for £80 for 5l.

 

Probably got details of the pole on it. These are still produced in my home town, essentially they are run into a chamber which is evacuated to draw the air out of the poles before the chamber is filled with hot creosote and returned to atmospheric pressure, drained and the poles allowed to cool.
Never recalled them being treated with coal tar although they would still have resin in them that would come out. These poles last for 60+ years barring accidents.
The railway sleepers made at Hall Hills for GNR were probably treated with coal tar as were other railway sleepers, these days for railway use they are creosoted, for garden use creosoting is banned so hardwood is used or a different timber treatment s used on softwood sleepers.

 

@pete Perhaps the reason you cant read what the label says is because its written in badger-speak.