WHAT JOBS ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2019

Discussion in 'General Gardening Discussion' started by Phil A, Dec 31, 2018.

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  1. Snorky85

    Snorky85 Total Gardener

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    Finally got outside this afternoon, transferring plants from the front into the back ready for planting hedging. Still got a few more bits to do.

    Was wonder about what to do with these pentemon...should i dig them up and put them in a cold frame or greenhouse for now? Cut them back at all?

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  2. Perki

    Perki Total Gardener

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    I would leave the penstemon for now @Snorky85 . Do you know what variety it is ? Judging on how broad the leaves are I would say its not one of the hardest varieties. Don't cut it back yet , the top growth will help protect the crown from the coming frosts. I would move it early spring
     
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    • Verdun

      Verdun Passionate gardener

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      No, none of those options snorky....leave well alone. Do nothing. Cut back in spring, use the cuttings for, well cuttings :).
      In future take cuttings in spring/summer for replacement plants :)

      I have a source of well rotted compost cheap. £1 per bag but my bags are huge. Steaming and looking good so I got a few bags today and will pick up a few bags every week.
       
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      • Verdun

        Verdun Passionate gardener

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        We crossed there perki ....similar thinking though :)
         
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        • Perki

          Perki Total Gardener

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          Good find Verdun on the compost , you can never have to much compost.

          Got my dad to empty one side of the compost bins today, he just needs to do the other side now :snorky:
           
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          • Snorky85

            Snorky85 Total Gardener

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            Thanks both! :) i need to move it as the hedge is going in so will put it in a plant pot and leave it be.

            Not sure what type they are-I grew them from cuttings from one already in the garden two years ago. They were actually my first ever successful cuttings!
             
          • shiney

            shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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            I've been getting a reasonable amount done in the garden but doing it slowly. I'm still clearing leaves from the beds and making new lawn edges, the winter cutting back is a big job and is gradually getting done.

            Making the new edges has hit a stumbling block as the ground is so dry in places that I can't get the spade into it. So we will have to wait for rain as we've had virtually none this winter.

            This looks a mess after removing a thick layer of willow leaves. It has the snowdrops and lillies just coming through now but I couldn't work on the edges.

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            On the up side - we have got this area of the veggie garden dug over and composted. The wire rabbit fence had to be removed, the weed suppressant plastic lifted and cleaned (very easy), compost spread and dug over and then plastic back down and fence replaced. Takes time but not difficult apart from the bending needed.

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            I have another area to do the same with.

            We've started cutting down the grasses and still have about a dozen to go and near most of them we have large patches of crocosmia that have drooped all over the place. The crocosmia have been cut back here with some of the grasses still to be done. They have surprisingly tough stems
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            One of the bigger jobs we have done with the cutting back is cutting one of our Viburnum tinus. We've let it get out of hand :doh: This was it eight years ago (only photo I could find) and although we've kept it pruned it still spread.
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            It grows so quickly that we decided to keep it as a low shrub. So the cutting back has been drastic. It was 14ft long, 6ft wide and 8ft high :rolleyespink:

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            We've now got to dig out the ivy that had grown underneath. :phew:
             
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            • wiseowl

              wiseowl FRIENDLY ADMIN Staff Member

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              Good morning to day I have 30 wallflowers to pot on in the greenhouse they are a variety named Wizard:smile:

              WAL012W_310.jpg
               
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              • Verdun

                Verdun Passionate gardener

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                Really warm day. :)
                Got loads more compost and thickly mulched more beds. Looks good, rich and black and will prevent weeds :).
                 
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                • Doghouse Riley

                  Doghouse Riley Head Gardener

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                  Busy day today...Well... Busy three hours around mid-day.

                  Had to sort out this end bed, lots of dead bamboo leaves to clear, hard to get them out between the canes.

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                  It's pretty much a hands and knees job with a stick to get some out. I had to be careful as the bulbs are beginning to come through, but it's looking better.

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                  Same with the long side border, I blow the fallen leaves to the back of the border in the Autumn to let them rot down. But they needed removing now as the new growth is starting to appear and so were a few weeds. Not only was it a hands and knees job dragging the leaves through any new growth but I had to duck down under the rhodos and azaleas. But it's done now.

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                  The first of our three quinces is flowering

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                  Mowed the lawn. Got half a box-full of grass off it.
                  Despite all the fallen bamboo leaves it's still its normal bushy and green self.
                  I managed to squeeze in all the bulbs we got from T&M. May move some at the end of the summer if they aren't an appealing sight.

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                  The fish are being "all friendly," on the bottom of the pool, five feet down.

                  They sit here under the filter return. The pool is unheated, but some heat is generated by the filter pump, UV and air pump. Enough for them to notice. They don't feed in the Winter, sit where they are for most of the time, but occasionally have a bit of a mooch around.
                  Air rising from the airstones on the bottom of the pool under the filter return distorts the photo.

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                  Jobs still to do.
                  Treat the bits of moss on the lawn. You can do it at this time of the year. Our head greenkeeper at my golf club always does the greens and tees about now if any need the attention.

                  Tidy the rockery and drain and re-fill the little "frog pond," before they "get at it."
                   
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                  • Snorky85

                    Snorky85 Total Gardener

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                    Looks like everyone has been busy out today. I continued moving plants out the front borders ready for the hedging to go in. Also stapled a bit of plastic to the edges of the raised beds in the back so I can put the soil back and get planting again.

                    Also been planning where to move the last few shrubs from the front into the back.
                     
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                    • Verdun

                      Verdun Passionate gardener

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                      Planting is exciting though, isn't it Snorky? :)
                      Most of my own garden is pretty much in shape for now and into early spring but a whole bunch of plants growing on will then be planted out :)
                       
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                      • Snorky85

                        Snorky85 Total Gardener

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                        OOh it's the best bit. As is dividing plants and taking cuttings to get more free plants!
                         
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                        • Doghouse Riley

                          Doghouse Riley Head Gardener

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                          I tackled the frog pond today. It only took about an hour. It chucked it down in the morning, too wet for golf, but dried up in the afternoon. So as it wasn't cold I got on with it.

                          We've always had frogs in our garden, even from before we had either the small pool, or the koi pool,

                          Back then, I once found a pair of frogs in a stained plastic ice cream container, half full of rainwater I'd put down the side of the garage after doing an oil change on the car I had at the time,

                          Anyway, the koi pool is unsuitable for frogs to breed. So I gave them this. We used to have a nice water lily in it but over the years the shade from the acer palmum as it grew, meant we got fewer and fewer blooms, so I gave it to a neighbour with a goldfish pond, two years ago and it does very well.

                          So this is what I'm faced with at the beginning of the year. I try to empty and clean it out before the frogs get in it. They are "around" as we see one occasionally. They over-winter in the folds of the koi pool liner. They sometimes get into the koi pool pump sump and I have to get them out during the purging process.

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                          I've a problem with the roots of this thirty-odd year-old acer palmatum lifting a couple of the coping stones, but I say "it adds character," 'cos I can't be bothered to re-cement them. The pond is half covered by the leaves of the acer in the summer, so it almost disappears, but the frogs don't mind.


                          This is my "frog strainer," a riddle on top of an empty wheely bin, I use a bucket to empty much of the water, I then drag the three-quarter full bin down to the kerb and drop the water down the drain in the gutter, it takes half a dozen trips. I get the dregs out with my wet n'dry vac. There was a bucket-full of decaying leaves that went in the green bin.

                          Didn't find any frogs, too early for them yet.
                          Sometimes in the Spring the whole surface of the pool gets covered in spawn, of all different consistency, colours and size of eggs.

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                          You can see the lid of the koi pool pump sump. I made it from a 40 gallon big green plastic water butt, set in concrete. It connects to the pool's bottom drain via 4" pipe.

                          After a bit of a scrub out, I re-filled it.

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                          There's some rocks at one end that are to help the tiny frogs get out, also in case a hedgehog falls in. They can swim but wouldn't be able to get out if the rocks weren't there.


                          I use a length of conduit positioned under the coping as an overflow, which exits into the channel between the boder and the lawn.
                          It's best to have an overflow with any pool. The one for the koi pool is a 1.5" pipe that runs under the pool's concrete, collar, then the patio, to a house drain under the kitchen window.

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                          • Snorky85

                            Snorky85 Total Gardener

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                            You are braver than me @Doghouse Riley . I as going to empty my little pond too but the rain put me off. All I've done today garden wise is sweep up in the greenhouse and fill up the bird feeders. I'd given them all a good clean the other day. I also bought some seeds yesterday - wilko's courgettes (they were great last year) and some spring onion seeds.
                             
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