What are we doing in the garden 2025

We started battling with the wisteria roots and stump today - we won! but only after a combined effort, a pickaxe, crowbar, small axe and sundry saws. OH is my hero as he did most of the heavy stuff. I was relegated to the under-gardener faffing about with hand trowel and fork shifting the soil out of the way. One f the biggest stumps we've dug out in this garden but the roots surprisingly unlike any others, quite pliable and soft so sawing was comparatively easy.

We did find other narrow roots which didn't belong to the wisteria coming from the direction of the lawn - and from under the terrace wall which was rather concerning. Can only deduce that they were feeder roots emanating from the Council's large Norwegian Maple on the outside verge.

I chucked on a half bag of manure which was all I had left so supplemented this with a bagful of our own compost and will also chuck in a couple of bags of leafmould . Tomorrow's job is to dig it all in before the new roses arrive, hopefully next week.

 

No gardening today as we had a friend who trained as a plumber around to do a "small job". Couldn't get anybody else to respond after hours on the phone/emails. The "small job" as usual is a "big job" and he will have to come back to do the rest. We are so grateful for him for helping us as he does have a very busy life.

 

Well, the beans were sown and the Douce de Provence peas but OH hadn't cleared the weeds in the bed I wanted to sow the Kelveden Wonder so they've ended up in a 60cm wide, 15cm deep pot and will be grown for pea shoots for salads. I can sow more in the ground once OH does his stuff.

Didn't get any quarrying done as, after the SPANCing, OH went off to prune stems form a tree stump that refuses to die so I ended up playing with seedlings and then taking cuttings of a Belle de Nantes sage. No OH at all tomorrow so more cuttings and some sewing in store for me as it's set to be damp outside.

 

I know what you mean @NigelJ - all jobs are things that need done, but sometimes our plans don't quite happen the way we expect or intend!
Those 'small jobs' eh @On the Levels - they always turn out to be more complicated don't they? Hope it all gets done soon for you.
Yesterday I finished a little job I'd been considering for a while, which was resiting a nest box. I'd finally opted for a corner of the pergola, and set it up on Wednesday, and although it means I won't be able to sit there during spring, it isn't a big deal as I have plenty of other spots to sit, and other seats. I looked out the bedroom window yesterday, watching the birds, just in time to see a great tit fly across to the fence, and then duck through the battens and up to the box, having a right good poke around. Really pleased, and I just did a couple of little tweaks to give a slightly better angle etc.
Other than that, I sat and enjoyed the ridiculously high temps and watery sun with my lunch outside. Better than many summer days we get! A few other bits and bobs, including filling those feeders, but not the clem. support/green roof thing, so I'll hopefully do that today.

 

Hi,

What a beautiful garden you and your wife have @shiney; it looks very well established. Well done.

I'm resuming couch grass hostilities today but I can't spend all day on this because working on the steep slope is very tiring so needs doing in lots of sessions. I did a bit of YouTube browsing regarding couch grass and found couch grass is toxic to all around it including soil.

Yes, couch grass can be poisonous to animals and also has toxic effects on other plants
. It can accumulate cyanide, or prussic acid, under certain conditions, which can be fatal to livestock. Its roots also release chemicals that inhibit the growth of other plants, a property known as allelopathy.

I'm wearing gloves for safety.

Kind regards, Col.

 

@fairygirl Fortunately most gardening jobs are not exactly urgent and so long as they get done that at some point that's fine for me.
Yesterday ended up in the greenhouse rearranging various pots, a bit of watering. some tidying up of the seed grown dahlias, moved a number of large pots into the greenhouse. Brought a couple of very soggy pots of tulip bulbs into the greenhouse tipped everything out and replanted the bulbs into a drier, better draining mix; yes I know should have done a proper job last winter, but I'd just been given a bag of two different species sorted them as best I could by size and shape and planted them into what was at hand and as they were then left in the greenhouse until after flowering it wasn't a problem, over the summer they were dry and hot, but yesterday I noticed they were sprouting and were sat in pudding mix.
The other jobs on the TTD list await.

 

Hi,

After a two hour session on my hands and knees using a hand fork removing couch grass this morning; I've now got a pain in my side telling me to back off; as @NigelJ just mentioned to @fairygirl most gardening jobs aren't urgent so tomorrow is another day but I want to try a different approach; this job is going to take forever just on the middle meadow and unaided by the steep slope.

It's getting darker outside as I type.

Kind regards, Col.

 

Wednesday was volunteer day at Capel. Did some pruning on an old evergreen viburnum that looked as though it might die a couple of years ago but somehow we have revived it.
Only cleared a few keaved yesterday in between the showers.
Nothing today as we have erreands to run including a check up for mh wife post her cateract op a month ago.

 

This week I ate the last 3 yellow raspberries, so first task for this morning was to cut down all the raspberry canes. I then removed all the sunflowers; the flower heads had been sodden for days and were now covered in grey mould. That gives me space to get in and remove the goji berry, which I hope to do tomorrow.
Finally I replaced the length of trellis wire on the fence that I accidentally cut when removing the thornless blackberry. Just in time as the new clematis and passion flower vines I planted earlier in the year have suddenly taken off and reached the top of the fence and then started trailing around aimlessly.

It started raining heavily before lunch and is still raining so I managed to make the most of the best part of the day. Tomorrow will hopefully be drier.

 

More work on the ex wisteria bed, chucking on various bags of manure, our own compost and leaf mould and finally a bag of Westlands Rose and Shrub compost. The soil needed beefing up after playing host to the wisteria for about 15 years. I realised, in the middle of the night as you do, that I hadn't seen any worms at all in that bed when we were digging the wisteria out. Not sure why but it faces south with a 6ft high stone wall behind it so perhaps the long hot dry summer killed all the worms? Hopefully the manure/leafmould mix will encourage them back.

My three new DA Gertrude roses are on their way, sooner than I had anticipated - I would have liked more time for the soil to settle first so may heel them in perhaps.

 

My gardening jobs at this time of year are certainly rarely important or urgent, but weather's often against us here as well as light, so if I can get things done, I try to complete them. The weather's been very favourable this year for many things, but there are no guarantees.
I faffed around yesterday [no change there!] and got a start on the other green roof, but I need to do the trim for round the edge of it. Should be ok today for doing that outside. Mulch to put down on the hedge along the back, and not much else. I removed the marigolds and replaced them with the wee violas I got the other day, and topped with grit. That should keep that pot going until the crocus come through -if the slugs don't get them!
At least this weird mild weather has meant the dahlias are still doing their thing, especially the one that was very late. Would still rather have frost and some clear skies for a while....

 

Just been out in the sunshine doing a bit of gardening by walking around. The nasturtiums are still flowering well so they can stay, the Dahlia excelsa is flowering and just behind it D campanulata is about to flower; this has grown like a triffid since being put into the ground early July. The Impatiens tinctoria is still flowering. I need to take some cuttings of Cotoneaster microphylla, also the blessed badgers have been digging around another cotoneaster.

 

Hi,

I've just spent two more hours removing couch grass; it's therapeutic but also hard work on the exposed steep slope; I feel frozen even though I was wearing my heavy "Site" coat and baseball cap; the breeze was perishing; it feels mild at the rear of the bungalow but high up the garden it's totally different weather. I'm making steady headway and can see where I've been.

I worked differently this morning by using a spade to dig out 9" square sods turning them over; I did a row of these then tackled each sod in turn using a hand fork whilst on my knees; it's slow tedious work but I'm doing my best to get as much couch grass as I can out rather than keep going over.

I found three pieces of a smokers clay pipe which I'll wash and keep; it's nice to know someone has been up there many years ago.

Kind regards, Col.

 

The Goji is OUT. Next stop the green bin. It doesn't look like much, but each of those branches sent out miles-long shoots that sprawled all over the garden. And it's never produced any fruit worth eating, and isn't exactly a pretty plant to look at. I did try stir-frying some of the green shoots in the spring - they were OK. Removing it also gave me access to dig out a big bramble stool.

I'm thinking of putting in a compact apricot to replace it. The space is against a south-facing fence, in a part of the garden that gets the best sun, and with good deep fertile soil.