What are we doing in the garden 2025

Our front lawn is in a dreadful state because of the summer drought. Lots of it has not come back. I have raked it and got a lot of dead material out. It's rather bare. So I put grass seed on top of the patches and covered with multi purpose compost to stop the birds. I am very pleased with Wickes multi purpose compost, 3 for £15. It's quite fine and not lumpy. Best peat free so far. Hopefully some grass with sprout. We are due a fair bit of rain this week.

Next I have to collect the runner bean pods, which have been left hanging to go brown. There should be enough seeds for next year.

Still picking the tumbling tomatoes that are in the greenhouse. The plants are looking sad now, but still producing.

Gave up collecting the pears as there were too many. But the birds are enjoying them. I did give lots to the neighbours.

 

We did the lawn the same a week or so ago @cactus_girl but there's no sign of germination yet.
I'm trying to keep an eye on the wood pigeons round here......

 

@cactus_girl we have noticed that the fallen pears in our orchard have all gone (but we have picked what we could when we could). Having a trail cam we couldn't decide whether it was the foxes or badgers eating the fallen fruit. They at the moment are leaving the fallen apples alone. Pears more to their liking?

 

I know what you mean @Retired , re battery powered mowers, although I have no experience of them. I'm not sure I'd trust them though! I don't mind long cables, but it totally depends what you're happy with. We used a combination of petrol mower, and a lightweight Flymo with an extension cable for the grass at the last house, and one area was largely left to the gorse and broom and the foxes etc, as we were next to a farm. Fortunately, this garden is small.
I gave that small 'lawn' a light going over yesterday as the mild weather has meant it's grown since the previous cut. Very rare to be needing done by this time of year here. I should really scarify etc, but life's too short for all that, and my arms are knackered ebnough as it is. Other than that, I finished the shelf on the potting bench/table and even used it to pot up some daffs and move some muscari from a larger pot into two small ones for the back steps. Didn't get as far as doing the s. william cuttings, but I can do them inside if necessary.
I'd fixed up the hose for feeding into the pond over winter, and that's all working nicely too. I filled it a bit with the hose to make sure the connectors were all fine, rather than waiting for the rain today, in case there was a problem.
@Plantminded - I know what you mean about pots - they do seem to breed easily! My daughter brought some back for me from her work, but they're a good size for potting on. I sometimes take excess ones to B&Q as they have a recycling bit there. Might be worth checking out if you have one nearby?
Nothing happening outside today, but the garden's largely set for over winter now, so I might have to resort to housewik...housewark...house....what's that word again?

 

@On the Levels I have noticed that the crows have learnt to bounce up and down on the pear tree and some will fall off. Then the magpies will have a nibble. Our fox is not bothered.

 

Hi,

Thanks @Allotment Boy What you suggest makes a lot of sense. The side section of garden is now almost clear of couch grass but it's taken at least three years of rotavating and then physically pulling out the couch grass as it started to regrow; rotavating really has helped to clear this section making pulling out the couch grass much easier because of rotavating it brings out the shortened rhizones with it whereas just pulling it out always broke of the rhizones making it an endless battle.

When the new shrubs and plants arrive next month from Parkers I can confidently plant this section knowing the couch grass if it appears can now be under my control.

The wildflower meadow areas though are still riddled with couch grass; I went over with weedkiller which is supposed to kill the couch grass completely and having left the weedkiller a week or so I rotavated but it was unsuccessful on the top meadow where the soil was wet; rotavating just brought the couch grass up in small clumps; I rotavated a few days ago and decided to leave the clumps on the surface to dry out hopefully allowing them to be raked removing most of the soil before taking to the tip.

I'm not in a hurry to plant in the meadow sections and can wait whilst I get control of the couch grass; going over with weedkiller is easier than rotavating twice yearly. Once I'm happy I'm in control of the couch grass on the middle meadow I'll plant this with shrubs and decent plants but I'll not use ground cover plants; I've had lots of success with "Snow in summer" Cerastium which definitely grows and spreads looking lovely but not with couch grass growing through it; the couch grass has to go as do the grass pathways which are mostly couch grass; I don't mind a bit of weeding but not on an industrial scale; I also have another persistent weed which I need to identify that enjoys making my life busy; as @NigelJ correctly says in a previous post better to work with nature than fight it; nature can take over when I'm no longer here but in the meantime I'm waging war. For years I've been hunting cleavers on a daily basis during growing season; it was rampant but I'm now on top of it removing the seedlings as soon as seen; there's no let up regarding constant weeding.

I'm selling my rotavator; now I'm 78 living on my own I need to exercise a bit of common sense; Bron is no longer here to help if I suffer an accident and the heavy petrol rotavator is highly dangerous on the steep slope; rotavating uphill it powers it's way up but has to be free wheeled back down and I'm increasingly concerned in case it gets away from me; I think explaining in an ambulance I've been run over by a garden rotavator could be rather embarrassing for me. I like owning and using this old rotavator but as they say; all good things come to an end. I could also downsize from my 3 bedroomed detached bungalow but I won't; the bungalow maintenance as well as garden maintenance and household chores keep me young and very active; what would I have to occupy my time in a much smaller home than wait to die; not for me.


I completed the painting yesterday; another job ticked off and it's now OK for a few years to come.

I've just replaced Bron's beautiful silk flower arrangements; ornaments and a selection of woodturned items; note the two little wooden mice I turned for Bron; we are cat lovers so a couple of mice fit in nicely. It's Yorkshire so the pictures are dark; using the camera flash washes them out. Not on topic again but what I do when I'm not in the garden.

Thanks @fairygirl I've never liked battery powered items even from being a child when my cycle lamp consumed lots of them and when I needed a torch a box of matches were more reliable. I'm uneasy when an EV is parked nearby. Mains powered tools are always better if they can be used; I do have Makita cordless tools sharing a single 18V battery but whilst the battery is on charge I never leave it alone; I don't trust it; I wouldn't be without my Makita cordless drill though so I'm not totally against batteries but I'm aware of the dangers.

You sure keep busy @fairygirl you seem to multi task so easily; I'm just a guy who can only do one task at a time; good on you.

Heavy rain forecast this afternoon so I'm sure the met office will get todays forecast right? I feel a violin practice coming on with a mug of tea and a scone.

Kind regards, Col.

 

only done some gardening today, as been too busy. So now have 3 out of 18 of the greenhouse containers done. Planted one of these with the metor dwarf winter peas and inbetwen the containers put a few small pots of parsley and mint . Will see if survive over winter for a few cooking leaves. Planted out s tray of field beans we had germinated..never grown them before but the one l trial planted out seems to be growing well and slugs left alone. Still have to secure the arch veg trellies for Winter as hubby busy fixing the second large water butt leak.Seems to be holding up as just checked as raining and its filling up nicely. Rain all nk week so we will try and finish rest of greenhouse containers..iv got too many artic king lettuce seedling but l will find somewhere to plant them. Found what looks like about 15 self seeded kale seedling in garden, will transplan them in raised bed to see if grow over Winter. Must remember to order my winter seeds as running out of time to sow them in greenhouse. So much to do, so little time :(

 

not sure what we do other than sow them in coir soil.l do keep my seeds in a cool area in draw containers thats just for my seeds..as lv got loads and always muddled up..job to do over winter..again lol. just checked some old homegrown saved beetroot seeds in greenhouse and about 5 are up. Found another pot of artic kings seedlings under garden swing outside that are germinated ..now have far too many but wont waste them. l love little gems lettuces..couldnt find the pk tha autumn..not sure if they can be sown in autumn anyway..hopefully find them for nk spring. if l find old pks of seeds l wont thrwo them out, l just sow them and see what happens..l do notice old seeds do take longer to germinate of any possible viable, and maybe only a few will come up , so l just leave them in sheltered spot for a few weeks/months and check them everynow and again

 

@fairygirl The word you are looking for is "housbernation"; the winter resting state of a gardener; where the gardener retreats to a warm safe place until springtime, although emerging from time to time to do the essentials. During this time they look through seed catalogues, nursery catalogues placing the occasional order and working out where things are going. They also make plans for the next year, read gardening books and watch gardening programmes that went out over the spring and summer.

 

I understand re the battery items @Retired. I don't like leaving anything charging if I leave the house, and wouldn't leave anything on overnight. I also have a cordless drill/driver, but I'd usually be inside when it's on, or if the spare is charging. There's been quite a few incidents of those e bikes bursting into flames - and many people have them indoors because they're in a flat and have no outside place for them. Very scary.
Ah - you know me so well already @NigelJ - although it was more the word 'work' after house that I was avoiding! I like that housebernation word though - not that I did any looking/buying of anything yesterday. Nope. No sirree. Nothing. Zilch....
Aye right.
Nothing else done outside anyway yesterday, although, annoyingly, there was a dry hour or so after I got a 'tad damp' on my walk, but I was busy showering/hanging up wet clothes etc. Hopefully today will allow me to get on with something as it's to be dry... or so they say. I might get those cuttings done.

 

Hi,

More and more cordless power tools & machines come onto the market each day; I don't trust their battery at all even though cordless is so convenient. At the moment there are on average 8 electric car fires each day in China. You exercise a lot of common sense @fairygirl but as you rightly say there are e-bikes bursting into flames inside buildings and they don't even need to be on charge; electric cars too can burst into flames without warning.

Home Bargains; M&S food store; Aldi and Morrisons I've visited this morning; it's another wet black hole; raining; overcast; dark and miserable so everything's back to normal after a rare spell of global warming causing a drought. I was born in Yorkshire and love it never wanting to leave; complaining about the usual dire weather is a wonderful conversation starter.

No gardening today but I know thousands of weed seedlings are awaiting my TLC when I can get into the garden without drowning. I can't help but notice over the last few years each year different weeds pop up covering large areas.



I'm gearing up for our usual prolonged winter buying kit for my small recording studio; yesterday I bought an Electro Harmonix B9 Organ machine as seen in the YouTube video; I've recently bought an Electro Harmonix POG2 Polyphonic Octave Generator and I've had a Merris ENZO synth for a while. These allow different sounds to be played on my violin's and Bron's guitars; playing my Yamaha YEV 104 electric violin with it sounding like an organ is truly amazing.

Not on topic again but we need other hobbies when the weather doesn't play fair; I've no intention of sitting around moaning in front of the TV during many winter months; I've got lots of interesting hobbies. I belive there's an hobby section on the forum so I'll move over there rather than being off topic here. My friend Alan lives for his football team and his allotment; during winter Alan spends hours browsing catalogues looking at veg seeds and potatoe types; he's in his early 80's and still fit; the allotment exercise is good for him as gardening exercise is for everyone who can manage it. We can't control the weather but we can work around it.

Kind regards, Col.

 

I am picking up some doronicum roots ftom a FB Marketplace seller. Then I'm going to dig up a small hydrangea and replace it with these.

That is when the rain stops!

 

When the heavy rain eased off for all of 5 minutes after lunch, we dashed outside to take a plant saucer out from underneath a heavy pot. Didn't want my potted rose to get waterlogged!

 

Today’s rain only lasted until mid morning so I made the most of the sunny afternoon potting up another dwarf pine (my last purchase, honestly ), Pinus mugo ‘Picobello’, a dense, dark green variety. I then planted a mixture of lily flowered tulip bulbs in the border at the bottom of my steps, removed the yellowed foliage from all my hostas and removed the saucers from under their pots. The lawn was still too wet to cut but it is still growing, with no bare patches to be seen. The MO Bacter lawn feed I used twice this year seems to have worked its magic .

 

We had some sun yesterday so it was very pleasant to have a cuppa after my walk, and in mid afternoon, while watching the birds. I got my cuttings done, so I'll see whether they manage to grow over winter. Fingers crossed. I potted on a crocosmia I got a while ago and put it back where it had been. I've not decided where it's going yet.
Other than that, I decided to tackle the side of the double tap fitting that always leaks. In the end I removed the plastic hose fitting which I think was the cause of the problem as it never screwed on properly, and I was always having to fiddle with it ,while trying not to wreck the thread. I'm hoping it was that and not the brass double tap itself. I'll need to get a new fitting, as I didn't have one in my bag of odds and sods. While I was there I also sorted the other one where it attaches to the case that holds the main hose. That fitting had cracked, so that's fine now. The bit that enters the case itself has never been great, despite plenty of plumbers' tape, but a bit of fiddling usually helps - plus a container underneath!
Wet today, so I'll maybe get that hose fitting. I'll try not to look at plants while I'm in there....