WHAT JOBS ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2017

I should have taken a pic of all the cherry trees. The other 7 are upright trees and all have been scorched. They look worse than the weeping cherry.

 

Prob look much worse than they are lucius.
Here, although damage was expected, tall dahlias and the like were fine.
Feel for you lucius but I have a feeling you will feel a whole lot better when new growth emerges in spring

 

Just had a spell at digging out sumach roots.




It's sort of like @shiney double digging technique. Because the plot is square I can't just dump the soil at one end and backfill as I go along. My only option is to remove all the soil, sift it and put it back. I had about half an hour of it this morning and it's wearing me out. I'm not as fit as I was. If the rain keeps off I will have another go at it after lunch.

When the site was clear I was planning on doing my you usual fresh(ish - it's been in plastic sacks for a few weeks now) horse manure and bark chippings top coat. I was wondering whether there was any benefit to adding the poo and bark before I put the screened soil back in. That way it should mix in quicker and hopefully kill off any life that's still lurking in there. Just a thought.



G.

 

Grabbing a quick lager.......feeling pretty warm out there and I have cleared out another border......trimming back, transplanting and planting out large wallflowers in groups of 3 in one colour

Gary, perfect how you are going about digging and clearing that area.
When I do that.....i.e. clearing a new area .....I seize the chance to get compost, manure etc into the top 30 or 40 cm so, yes, into the bottom layer (mixed a bit) and then throughout the returning soil. When the site is cleared I lay compost, manure etc on the top as well. When I then plant into it I chop it up so no manure etc., is in a lumpy state near it. If that makes sense?

Did exactly this last autumn when I removed a massive juniper; left with 20 - 30 sq metres which was then treated as I suggest you do. It has been a productive area with agastaches, salvias, dahlias, grasses, the odd phormium and shrubs responding brilliantly. Well worth getting "worn out" for Gary when you see your border next spring n summer

 

@Verdun I was interested to see that you'd removed a juniper - I have three large trees and was wondering if they can be topped or whether to have them cut down. They are creating too much shade but I feel reluctant to have them taken out completely. Do they survive being topped?

 

Hello alana

My conifer was a juniper stricta......some 20' high and across despite annual shaping. I actually loved it.....lovely blue foliage, imposing conical shape etc., but it was attached by phytophthora so had to go.

Anyway, yes if we are talking about junipers, they can be "topped" and respond well to it. As long as you dont cut too deeply into old wood, i.e. Cut to green shoots and stems will be fine.
The only conifer I know of that can be cut hard back into old wood is taxus, yew.

Can you remove, say one, that may be causing too much shade? Then perhaps trimming back the others?

We forget how quickly some trees, shrubs and conifers grow don't we?

I must say I am happy to have removed that juniper completely ......think of your new blank canvass that will be available to you?

 

Round 2 is going much better. I got a good hours work done before I was called in for coffee. It's easier to dig once you get a trench started. I found the same when I dug the footings for the slabs. All you have to do instead of fresh digging is break off another foot or so of soil into the trench and shovel it out. Simples. Sort of.

It's very unlikely that I will have enough space to dump all of the soil. What I will try to do is to clear just over half way. That way I can put most of the soil back in and leave a non contaminated buffer zone. Then go through the process again with the rest of the plot.

My wellies came out of retirement today. I noticed the other day that the shops don't call them wellies anymore. Is this some stupid copywrite thing? What's the world coming to.

Anyway. I had better get on.



G.

 

Thanks @Verdun - I'm unsure of the variety of juniper they are. I bought them 30 years ago when they were about 3 ft high and now they are about 20+ ft. They are lovely trees but I may let one go and just get the other two topped.
A tree surgeon is coming tomorrow to look at our weeping willow which needs a good prune so I'll get him to have a look at them.

 

After my wonderful walk on the beach I didn't want to spoil it by looking at my scorched front garden, so I sat on the patio and watched/listened to the birdies. Tried not to look at scorched plants on the patio.

 

@luciusmaximus Awww bless you

 

Yes lucius, but the beach puts it all into perspective.
As I said though, I think damage LOOKS worse than it actually is.

 

I've made a start outside and lopped the lower branches off the horrible Sycamore in my back garden. I need a tree surgeon to trim back the higher ones but those will have to wait until I call someone in to remove three may be four trees in the front garden. They are all over 30ft in height. For the chop is an old Rowan that looks to be dying, a huge Sycamore that is blocking out all light and a fifty foot blue pine that is leaning badly.

There are six other pines the same height in the garden another large Sycamore and what I think is a Beech.

 

I think you are right but I still have to look at it. This is the first year since we moved in that I have more of later/longer flowering plants, like the Asters, the Geraniums. Just a bit sad to see butterflies flitting around and nothing left for them to feed on. Not everything was burned though as my smaller pots I moved, but they don't have flowers.

 

Off work today, so of course it is pouring with rain. Might tackle a job I've been putting off for a few weeks and re-write my plant labels - most have faded over the summer, frustratingly. Can anyone recommend a good garden pen? I've been using a white sharpie on black plastic labels but it's not really working. Tried a garden "paint pen" but it runs and blobs and looks generally untidy!

 

Awww that is upsetting for you Lucius ...a kind heart comes at a personal cost ...i can fully empathize with you bless you, i too find it very difficult when i see any potential suffering ..... the good thing is like myself you live surrounded by countryside so they will hopefully forage elsewhere for the time being and you will find a few BARgain replacement plants like your recent fabulous Scabious garage finds - such as Michaelmas daisies which are still flowering but being sold off
Gardening in a windy area I have tried to buffer the wind with Dry stone walls, Arches, and Pergolas as features in the garden - but sometimes we have to accept that Mother Nature will outwit us ...hard as it is to stomach - I have come to accept its all a learning curve and a greater understanding of our own garden challenges ....also some new planting schemes have turned out so pleasing ....many of which im sure may never have happened had it not been for these unfortunate occurrences - so like my garden plants I've learnt to

As always at trying times HUGgZzz from me Bee