Garden 2013 no 9

Garden 2013 no 9

The harvest is completely finished and I seem to have spent the last month or so re-painting my blue gates, fences, doors and garden edging. 

I’ve not done the outside painting for a couple of years and the blue was looking quite worn. I figured if I do it this year and give every thing a couple of coats, maybe it will last another two, or at a push, even three years.

I painted the fence my daughter made a couple of years ago and I painted the new gate that her partner made earlier this year. The old one blew away one stormy day. 

This one has gaps between the wood so the wind blows right through it instead of blowing it off its hinges. It also has a wide strip of rubber nailed to the bottom that touches the ground; this stops the rabbits from coming under the gate into my garden.

I still have all the white walls to paint and retouch, but I’m having a bit of a break from garden painting for a while, I’ll go back and repaint the white later. This hansom couple were loitering in the fence, I didn't see them at first. Glad I noticed them before painting them. They even posed or a photo before diving for cover.
 

I’ve been so busy since retirement I’ve realised I have to prioritise on my activities. The two things I really want to spend my time doing is travel and painting, and I don’t mean painting garden fences either, I mean painting canvases. Therefore the plan is to cut down on the gardening for the next year or so. I want to dig the little vegetable garden and turn the whole thing back into lawn. Actually I’m quite looking forward to it. My lawn never was the pristine golf course sort of lawn, it always was a bit lumpy and bumpy and then I dug up most of it and turned it into a vegetable plot.

So if I carefully dig and level the whole thing and seed it, sometime next summer I should have a pristine lawn that needs a gentle mow every couple of weeks. Or at least that’s the plan. I’ve even bought this little machine to help me.

Before starting the painting I cut back the Tayberries.

I read up on this and found out that you have to cut back in the autumn after the fruit has finished.  All old wood has to go and the strong new canes have to be tied up and trained ready for the fruit they will produce the following year. I know I’ve done mine a bit early but I’ve already had quite a lot of fruit from it. There was some fruit left but it had something wrong with it. The fruit that was left was small, green and hard, and instead of ripening it was going moldy and rotting on the cane. I’m not sure  why this happened, maybe because I didn’t cut it back as I was supposed to last year; but I hope by cutting it back and training it along the fence, the same thing will not happen again next year.  Anyway………..if I had left it until all those little green fruits had gone mouldy and fallen off, I wouldn’t have been able to paint that bit of the fence. I’ve also been dead heading the buddleia, I know this has to be pruned back in the spring not the autumn, but I hate all the old, dead, brown flowers so I cut them off as they appear. I think this actually makes the flowers last longer, as soon as I cut the dead ones off, new ones appear. But, I’m sure I’ve seen the last of them for this year. I’ve cut the bush back a little, just enough to get rid of all the dead flowers and next year, I’m going to prune it quite hard to make sure it doesn’t grow too big and get too out of control.

The other thing I’ve been doing is using the harvest in the kitchen.

I have made loads and loads of rhubarb chutney ( with added red wine),

more jars of pickled onions than I can possibly eat and a whole batch of carrot and coriander soup for the freezer.

I’ve also made more herb oil. The herbs, onions and garlic all came from my garden and the red chillies came from my daughters greenhouse. I can’t grow chillies because I don’t have a greenhouse.

I tried to grow them in the windows last year but even that didn’t work, they really need the warmth of a greenhouse to grow properly here. I have a freezer full of fruit and only half a pot of jam left which means the next big kitchen venture is going to be a mammoth jam making session.
So; that’s my garden almost ready for winter. I still have the white painting to do, and I would like to get the lawn sorted out before winter, but apart from that, the garden is definitely winding down for winter.

Oct 16, 2011, Garden no 14

I’ve not posted a garden update since July, before I went to France. I didn’t realise it was so long and much has happened since then. I’ve had a period when I was unable to work in the garden due to the arthritis, which put a holt to the gardening for a while. But that wasn’t the only problem. For a start, I faced total disaster when I came back from France in July. Something awful had happened to my pond. I left it with plants, tadpoles and baby frogs, when I came back the pond was putrid and almost dead. There were some dead baby frogs in the pond and I guess the others had managed to jump out and get away. I’ve no idea what caused this, it looked like pollution, and all I could think was that someone had tipped something noxious in the pond while I was away. The smell coming off the water was unimaginable. I had no choice but to empty it out and refill it. I took as many plants out I could out and rinsed them off under the tap before replacing them, some had already died and were slimy and smelly. I managed to get hold of a handful of duckweed, which I know spreads rapidly and has a purifying effect on the water. After a couple of weeks I could see a visible improvement in the pond plants, the water was clear and there was no smell. On the down side, the pond had improved sufficiently to be full of mosquito larvae, and as I had no frogs left I had to buy a couple of goldfish to keep the larvae under control. I’ve not seen the goldfish since I put them in but the larvae is under control so I’m guessing they are still in there somewhere. I didn’t want goldfish, I’m back with the same old problem I had last year of trying to find them and get them out before the freezing temperatures hit and they freeze to death. Even if they are lucky enough to survive the winter in the pond, they will have to be removed in the spring before I put new frog spawn in and try (yet again) to establish a wild life pond. All that happened at the end of July, and today is my first full day in the garden for ages, there is  no sign of the goldfish, but no larvae either, the water is clear, the plants are thriving, the birds are coming down to drink and bath and the pond is looking good.
The garden was a bit overgrown, but I made a good start on it today and if I can get out tomorrow I think I can really get back on top of things.
One of the first things I did was to paint my new gate and touch up all the blue doors. If you remember my garden gate was blown off its hinges in the storms a few months ago. The old wooden gate was beyond repair but my son-in-law very kindly welded, drilled and generally fixed an old iron gate, that had been laying about the garden for years, onto the wall and now……….its perfect. No amount of wind will blow this one away.
I have cut the grass, re-cut the grass and re-cut the grass again, it was so overgrown it needed a lot of work.
I weeded my vegetable garden and even managed to salvage quite a few of the carrots.

My daughter has agreed to come back next week and enlarge the vegetable plot and today I managed to cut a small trench in the grass outlining the new boundary.
I also did some herb maintenance; I weeded and trimmed all the herbs growing in containers. I also harvested seeds to save ready for next year.
As soon as my fence was finished and painted earlier this year, I emptied a couple of packets of wild flower seeds around the inside of the fence, and this is the result.
Not bad considering the fence was only finished a couple of months ago. Some of these flowers don’t exactly look like ‘wild’ flowers, but they are pretty and colourful.

The biggest problem I have right now is finding space for all the compostable garden waste. I have mounds of grass cuttings, weeds, herb cuttings, turf dug out from the vegetable patch and used compost. Both of my compost bins are full to overflowing, one should actually be ready by the spring but the other one I’ve only just finished filling so it will longer. I refuse to throw this organic matter away and so for now it is piled into unused containers and covered, guess I’ll decide how to use it next year by which time it should have composted down a bit.
If the weather stays this nice tomorrow, and if I’m still feeling ok, I’m going to try to prune the fruit canes and generally finish of out there ready for the winter.

Tags: garden, garden2011, plants, pond

Prev: Opposition to Trump is growing
Next: Garden 2011 no 15

reply edit delete

13 Comments

Add a Comment

delete reply mitchylr wrote on Oct 17, '11 Sorry about the pond disaster, but glad to hear it's doing well again now. The rst of it is looking pretty good now you've had a bit of time on it. I like those wildflowers.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Oct 17, '11 brendainmad said I was thinking just the other day that you hadn't posted a garden update for a while. So sorry to hear about your pond. oh its looking good now, it's half nine here and I'm just going to grab a coffee and then get out there again, will take more photos this time...........loving being back outside again .

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Oct 17, '11 I was thinking just the other day that you hadn't posted a garden update for a while. So sorry to hear about your pond.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Oct 17, '11 djdx said I took cuttings of anthemis and potted up some geraniums exactly what I am going to do this morning................bring my geraniums in and sort them out for the winter

delete reply djdx wrote on Oct 17, '11 Yesterday I was taking care of a couple of things that would suffer when frost hits as it has been getting a bit nippy in the mornings. I took cuttings of anthemis and potted up some geraniums and a plant I bought which I found out later is not truly hardy (a South African aster called felicia). So the greenhouse is rather full. I like your blue paint.

Comment deleted at the request of the author.

delete reply poshpause wrote on Oct 17, '11 Goodness me! We could do with your gardening know-how in our garden. We're just beginners to the whole idea of gardening and it's rather a hit and miss affair with us! What a shame about your pond. Seems very odd for it to have just upped and died like that. It must have been an awful job to have sorted it out!

delete reply artprevails wrote on Oct 17, '11 I am wild about the blue fencing...it really sets off the lovely colors of your gardens and potted plants. I hope the pond works out.

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Oct 16, '11 The Force was with you. ; )

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Oct 16, '11 that is good news :)

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Oct 16, '11 thank you .............:-), its been good to get out there again after so long. I've had my daughter ill, I've not been up to gardening myself and the weather wasn't always good enough to get out. BUT... today it all came together, the weather was great, daughter(s) all ok and my achy joints not too bad. Had a really great day today.

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Oct 16, '11 bummer about the pond but everything else looks real good i love the blue fence :)

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Oct 16, '11 Loretta, i am so very sorry about your pond and the froggies! : * ( the new gate is just beautiful. Kudos to SIL for a job well done. your 'wild'flower garden looks really pretty. glad you were able to harvest plenty of carrots. try to do some gentle stretches throughout the rest of your evening. the new garden is really coming together, i love it! thanks for the update. ; )

May24 2011, Garden no 7

Garden 2011 no 7
After the Storm

Compared to the rest of the world, what we call storm damage is minimal. And; bearing this in mind, I thought I should take a closer look at the damage to my garden.
First thing you notice is that I’ve lost my side gate, It’s very warped and twisted and the hinges have been ripped out of the wall, I think it’s beyond repair so I guess I need a new gate as well as a fence.
The pallets that were piled up ready to be made into my fence were scattered around the garden. Some were smashed and broken but most are OK to use.
I hope my bird box was not actually in use, it has a nest inside and there have been chicks, I just hope they all flew away before the storm.
I think this little nest came from the apple tree, again I hope the birds had already flown.
The apple tree itself looks the way it does in autumn. It was full of blossom but now there is no blossom and hardly any leaves. I suppose this means there will be none of those bright red crab apples this year.
I used them last year in jam, looks like I’ll be buying my apples for jam this year.
Most of the blossom and leaves seems to have ended up in the pond.
I’m not at all sure what caused this. The leaves on two of my shrubs have gone black and died.
I’m pretty sure they were ok before the storm but I don’t know how the storm managed to do this to them.
And here is hope. Amidst all this debris is  a new flower. The little pink flower bloomed today after the storm……………..

Tags: garden, plants, pond, weather

Prev: is it a car? is it a tank? ...........It's THE OBAMAMOBILE
Next: Garden 2011 no 8

reply edit delete

17 Comments

Add a Comment

delete reply acousticeagle wrote on May 26, '11 Very disappointing for you after all your hard work. You had plenty of work to get on with, now there's more you didn't need with the clean up.

delete reply veroniquemariquita wrote on May 25, '11 Buddleia are pretty hard to kill so even if the foliage is dead now it may come back from the roots...send up new growth.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on May 25, '11 veroniquemariquita said I learned that excessive wind would do that. Thanks Vero................thats more or lass what i thought but its nice to have it confirmed. I have never experienced winds strong enough to do that before, that sort of damage is new to me. I think thats my budlia dead, and it was so pretty, a very deep dark purple, almost black. It was quite unusual, I bought it because the colour was so unusual. Maybe it will revive and flower again guess i'll have to wait and see.

delete reply veroniquemariquita wrote on May 25, '11 forgetmenot525 said it must have been the wind and the rain, When I first read about the black leaves, I had no idea but when I thought about "wind damage" something clicked. I once bought some flowering dogwoods for my mom and brought them them home in a pick-up truck. The leaves turn black and the young trees died within a couple of weeks. I learned that excessive wind would do that.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on May 25, '11 veryfrank said I'm watching TV right now with live coverage of three tornadoes on the ground in Oklahoma (State north of Texas) with wind funnel rotation of 200 miles per hour. I've ben watching this too, it must be terrifying for those poor people, I was scared and we had nothing near as bad as that.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on May 25, '11 greenwytch said i think the black leaves are due to too much water and wind from that storm Thanks for your advice Deb, I'm still a bit confused about this, I've never seen plants turn black and wither in a storm before but I guess you're right, it must have been the wind and the rain, it couldn't be any thing else.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on May 25, '11 veroniquemariquita said but I am starting to feel very uncomfortable when one is expected. Thats exactly how I feel now, I am the one who used to sit at the window and enjoy the thunder storms, but now it all seems so sinister, and it scares me. It scares me because once you're indoors on your own you just never know how bad things are going to get, but like I said, i feel almost like a fraud because there are others around the world who have lost every thing because of the storms, all I lost was a tidy garden. Thanks to every one for your concern, I'm lucky, every thing is ok here now

delete reply veroniquemariquita wrote on May 25, '11 I have been around "many a moon" and I have never really been scared of storms before, but I am starting to feel very uncomfortable when one is expected. Sorry so much of your hard work went down the drain, Loretta. It must feel frustrating.

delete reply brendainmad wrote on May 25, '11 I'm glad it's not a complete loss.

delete reply mitchylr wrote on May 25, '11 Wow, that is a mess. It shows how strong the winds were to blow those pallets around, they're not light!!

delete reply djdx wrote on May 25, '11 Sorry about the damage. I hope everything recuperates.

delete reply rabbitfriendhere wrote on May 24, '11 Sorry about your storm damage, Loretta. On the bright side your grass looks nice and green! I hope the birds are ok too and that they come back once you get everything back in order! Wishing no more storms come your way! :)

delete reply artprevails wrote on May 24, '11 I am sorry about the damage done but glad it wasn't worse♥

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on May 24, '11 wow! rough stuff :)

delete reply kathyinozarks wrote on May 24, '11 storms are just no fun-sorry about your gate and fence

delete reply veryfrank wrote on May 24, '11 So glad to hear that your damage is minimal compared to what it could have been. Storms all over the world are getting to be just awful experiences. I'm watching TV right now with live coverage of three tornadoes on the ground in Oklahoma (State north of Texas) with wind funnel rotation of 200 miles per hour. This follows the storms that hit that part of the country yesterday.

delete reply greenwytch wrote on May 24, '11 gosh, what a storm you've had! and how thankful you must be, it could have been far worse. i love the little sea thrift blossom.....and i am a bit tired right now, so i am don't know what the other is. interesting, you have started your garden make over.....perhaps the storm was helping you? i think the black leaves are due to too much water and wind from that storm. i have a crabapple tree, too. sorry your blossoms have all blown away. : * (