What are we doing in the garden 2025

Thanks @Retired
I hope that you do well with your meadows.
I have trouble with couch grass i have a small garden, it's in isolated areas and i pull it up, it grows back but not so much, I'm slowly winning.

 

@Retired you may well have hit upon the perfect plan for your large spaces in letting nature take over and you just keeping it trimmed as and when you need to. Much less back breaking work for you although you like to keep to busy.

OH bought some white viola’s today They’ve joined the other planters in the front garden in an attempt to break the great swathe of gravel we now have. ( got rid of lawn this year).

We have also lifted all the cotswold cream gravel from around the base of the holly bush and have put down bark instead. Holly bush wasn’t looking great and other posters have been really helpful in suggesting it could be the limestone creating a more alkaline soil, which the holly bush doesn’t like. We’ve given it a drench, too, of sequestered iron, so fingers crossed it will start putting on some new growth in the spring.

 

I've all but finished the pruning of the shrubs. Just one last area of Ilex that I can't reach, so Mr S is up the ladder tomorrow to finish off for me. @fairygirl the gloves didn't help much, my forearms look like I've been tackling one of the neighbours cats.

The restoration of the shed (10x8ft) has come to a halt. My 'man that does' has put a new roof on it and was going to paint it, but for some reason the previous owner put gloss paint on the front which is now peeling. Added to that he put some sort of coating on the rest and the new preservative won't hold, so the whole lot has to be sanded down first.

Having finished the pruning, below is my next job, the restoration of this piece of ground. I've recently sold a shed that stood there. I've already levered up and dragged those five lintels out of the ground. They're 4ft long and blimey, do they weigh! They were partially concreted in too.

 

@shiney Would you have time to start a new thread to share your greenhouse demolition and beautiful new Rosette replacement so I/We can enjoy your exciting project?

I very much appreciate that @Loofah kept us in the loop throughout the Wallapini resurrection which I found very interesting and a lot of fun.

Will you please consider creating the GC Shiney Rosette play by play "channel" ? Pretty pretty please?

 

Yes - I should have said stout gloves - plus a pair of gaiters for the arms @Sheal
Now you have a great area for 'planning'. Look forward to seeing what you do.
I can't remember what I did yesterday, apart from getting on with the bench/table. If I can get the rest of the pallet taken apart, I might get the bottom shelf started/done. The new castors are great, so I'm now wondering what I can attach the other two to....
I also pulled up a length of hose I'd buried under the gravel [for using with a water scarecrow] and I was hoping it would reach from the water butt to the pond, so that I can let the excess run in there over autumn/winter, rather than into the back corner of the garden. I think it's the usual problem - it's about 6 inches too short. Curses! I'll take a look at it properly today.
I was hoping to pot on a few things yesterday but didn't get round to it. It stayed dry, although misty/damp all day, and today's to be the same, but it's ideal for that as I can do it in the shed...or maybe on my new potting bench! I've got plants that need put in under the front window, so that's another possibility.

 

Nothing's ever simple is it @shiney ? Hope you can get the skip in place soon. You don't want delays due to winter weather once the new build gets underway. Hope it goes smoothly for you.

 

Back to hitting recalcitrant bits of metal with a blunt hammer and trying not to fall off the step ladder.

 

Hi,

What are you going to treat the shed with after sanding @Sheal I made two new garden huts (No windows) years ago using treated sawn 6" x 1" timber and became fed up with modern fence/shed treatment that washed off with the next shower. It must be over six years ago I painted both; they are 6' x 5' due to the steep slope needing lots of digging to gain a level site.

I used Benjamin Moore exterior Aura satin; the paint cost £300 but still looks new.


The bottom hut with new paint.

New hut up the garden; please note how steep the garden is hence two smal huts.

The new bottom hut. I tried lots of weather proofing ending up painting; I can forget treating them now. Note hinged wooden cover I made to cover the padlock.

Good luck with yours @Sheal it's a big job but not as heavy as removing the lintels; you don't half graft and put many modern guys to shame; well done.

Nice bonfire @shiney did you put some taties in?

I'm having an easy day for a change at the moment finally caught up after 38 years of grafting.

Kind regards, Col.

 

Those are very smart sheds @Retired, both before and after painting .

 

I've only been turning off the water to one outlet and disconnecting the low flow irrigation system on that side of the house. Then opening all of the valves outside to drain anything left in them. And drained the hosepipe for that side too and covered it with the custom cover I made for it. It isn't hard freeze time yet but I like to shut down unneeded lines before it gets to hand chilling time.

Now I get to go down to the cellar and pull the back off the clothes washer. I think I need to replace the water pump...

Water water everywhere...

 

@fairygirl , do you have one of those pound shops or similar near. Maybe you can pick up a cheap connecter and just add a bit of hose to reach rather than changing the whole thing.

That was quite a fire @shiney I'm only jealous because we are not allowed fires on our Allotments till November, but by then it's often too wet, in spite of trying to keep the heap covered.

 

Hi,

Thanks for your kind comments @Plantminded both huts were built from scratch and aren't sectional; 2" stainless steel screws were used for the boards which are a full 1" thick unlike the huts bought from garden centers; they are heavy and solid; I think at the time of making they cost £400 each for materials but I also enjoyed actually making them; the floors too are 6" x 1" boards sitting on horizontal 3" x 3" treated fence posts; by making things myself I've saved a fortune over the years. I do have a well equipped workshop.

I can believe that @shiney; you could have ended up with a sunburn. As kids we had bonfires on 5th November when it was always cold and often wet; standing in front of the flames was nice and warm but a cold back wasn't as pleasant.

Being undecided now as to what to do for the best with my steep couch grass infested wildflower meadows I've stepped back. My "Kaizen" training has kicked in; take it right back to the start? I'm overwhelming myself trying to do the whole lot at once. I've a large area to look after on my own and I'll not pay for outside help unless I'm desperate; the only paid help I have is the yearly central heating boiler service; as to other jobs like electrics I do the lot and enjoy it.

The couch grass is my biggest headache so I'll resolve this first; it's no good carrying on doing the same thing with the wildflowers each year only for the couch grass to take over still growing when the wildflowers have died back. This the prolonged drought ruined the wildflowers but the couch grass thrived.

The left side of the garden was suffering from couch grass so as I've posted before a few years ago I started to rotavate churning it over breaking up the lattice of rhizomes; this helped a great deal because the next growing couch grass was a great deal easier to pull out from soft soil bringing the now shorter rhizomes with it. This side of the garden is now virtually clear of the couch grass and is now the area I want to start planting; not with wildflowers but turning it into an English country garden; I've just been browsing YouTube for plant ideas; the garden is very steep and fully exposed here on the valley side to extremes of weather. Plants like Hollyhocks wouldn't survive even if the very fast draining soil would support their growth; the strong winds would soon knock them over so I need low growing tough plants like Sedums that are tolerant of dry soil.

I intended to broadcast lots of Yellow Rattle seeds over the meadows but many thanks to you @Allotment Boy for explaining the Yellow Rattle won't fully eradicate the couch grass I need to rethink this problem.

I'll concentrate on the side area and let the meadows do their own thing; having just rotavated the meadows it won't be long before the couch grass is laughing at me again; I've bought 2l of weedkiller so will go over with the weedkiller knowing it's getting a bit late in the season but then go over again next springtime to kill the lot including the grass pathways; the grass pathways are also full of couch grass; I'll check if my weedkiller is powerful enough to also kill roots/rhizomes.

I've had more than enough of this twice yearly hard work rotavating only to stand still. I'm sure I'll be much better taking it all back to basics but having already previously dug this garden over twice using a spade I don't want to do this over and over again trying to remove all the couch grass. This at the moment is my plan unless any forum member can suggest a better plan; I'm always willing to learn from anyone more knowledgable than I am. I won't broadcast wildflower seeds next springtime; I'm taking control.

Thanks @Logan I'm pleased you can control your couch grass and are winning the fight; I wish I could control my couch grass but it's a real pain and it gangs up on me.

I'm having an easy day today and another easy day tomorrow whilst I research a bit more as to plants or even low growing bushes I can buy to suit my troublesome garden; I like a challenge and I'll have another easy day tomorrow; I'll start baking once again with a batch of scones;



I use half the stated ingredients and as I'm dairy intolerant use Morrison's "Pure" margarine and Soya milk. I'm keeping busy because I've no intention of sinking into deep depression.

Time now for another violin practice and to play it through my new toy the POG2 making it sound like a church organ.

In two weeks time we'll be plunged into a black hole for many months when the clocks go back in time.

Kind regards, Col.