What did you do in your garden today?

[Sean Regan]

Hi Sean,
Hope your well and enjoying the juke box music, (Ive got Tina Turner on just now "whats love"

The reason i asked "if you had a garden seat " Is because something Allan titch Marsh said in one of his books ive got and its very true,

A lot of us work away all day and then put the tools away and end up indoors as the evening darkness arrives,

He said we all should have a bench or seat that stays like a perennial flower "in the same spot to be sat on and enjoyed by only a gardening person can, He who can be perfectly happy after a days gardening to sit there and plan "Yet" more of the same again Next time.

The coori's playing "Will YE go Lassi Go,

Well..

Don't think I could beat this do you?

The thing is, when I'm gardening there's other interests "piling up."

So when I finish I go in and get on with them.

"So much to do, so little time."

 

[Sean Regan]

I'm pretty much up to date with the garden.
But I did drill a couple of holes in the side wall of the house for this branch of the wisteria which is under the kitchen window at the corner of our house and is trained over the big fence between the house and the garage. I'm gong to let it carry on growing as far as the other corner of the house.

I gave our Japanese tea-house a good clean inside and out. I do it three times a year. In the spring, about now and again in October.
With this clean I decide if it needs any remedial work or painting. I'm checking for rot, which you could expect in a building you constructed of softwood after 33 yrs. But it's fine, it needed nothing doing to it.

 

[Peace perfect peace]

Hi Sean,
I did our Wisteria supporting via four eye wire holders spread across the complete wall area,
The eye "Bolt" is secured via a holes made to take the complete bolt section ,
Now this is all one piece, ie the bolt has its own metal case that acts like a raw plug, once the hole is drilled the complete bolt and case are put into the hole and a tube of rapid setting concrete is queezed into the hole and allowed to set and once set the eye section of the bolt is tightend up, the a securing wire is fixed to the eye socket via a wire secure clamp and the wire fed through all the eyes until it 's at the end eye and again secured via the wire securing clamp,
The wisteria is secured as it grows along the wire,

"Now" sean i should point out this house is build of rock and the walls are all lime mortored (no cement used when the built these old farm houses, And the hod carrier in those days was off some local boat called the Ark

 

[Sean Regan]

Hi Sean,
I did our Wisteria supporting via four eye wire holders spread across the complete wall area,
The eye "Bolt" is secured via a holes made to take the complete bolt section ,
Now this is all one piece, ie the bolt has its own metal case that acts like a raw plug, once the hole is drilled the complete bolt and case are put into the hole and a tube of rapid setting concrete is queezed into the hole and allowed to set and once set the eye section of the bolt is tightend up, the a securing wire is fixed to the eye socket via a wire secure clamp and the wire fed through all the eyes until it 's at the end eye and again secured via the wire securing clamp,
The wisteria is secured as it grows along the wire,

"Now" sean i should point out this house is build of rock and the walls are all lime mortored (no cement used when the built these old farm houses, And the hod carrier in those days was off some local boat called the Ark

Mine's more simple.
A hole drilled into the mortar between the bricks, a plastic plug inserted, then a screw and the wisteria tied on with a bit of garden wire.

 

[Sean Regan]

It was supposed to be a golf day but the alll singin' and dancin' Weather Show! on the BBC said rain.
There was a bit of drizzle around 1.00pm. But that's all. So I could have gone.
These "weather shows" with their sophisticated graphics and numerous weather presenters, seem a waste of money to me and the BBC say they are hard up.
The forecasts are no more accurate than when the newsreaders read them at the end of bulletins, with just two maps with those magnetic isobars.
Just had a tidy. I was going to give the patio a go with Wet n' Forget, but I'll do that tomorrow. I caught up on some of the films i've recorded over the last week ago.

 

[Peace perfect peace]

Hi Sean,
I went back out into the garden and carried on with the long border,
ie Giving the soil a good forking over and then putting a few wheel barrow loads of my own compost on top and then i used the Mantis to get a really nice mix, I actualy Mantised the ground again after putting a few cups of the epson salts in, and tomorrow im going to plant more border plants,

The Mantis
I think i should explain is a little tiller machine, (Not a rotovator) The idea of this machine is to get a fine tilth to the soil making it ready for planting, Its only a small machine (two tines) and thats it,
If anyone wants to get a good tilth i would buy one of these,
Well it's a bank holiday here in france tomorrow and because of all the verious Lock downs Ive not heard of any Brocants (these are like car boot sales)
And in france they're a very big day out for the complete family, We like them and i must say i head (like most men) for the rusty counter's

Those stall counters that have all the old tools etc , (I love those counters and you can get some good bargains)

Well its bed time for me so i"ll say good night to one and all

 

[Sean Regan]

Achieved quite a bit in not a lot of time.
Sprayed the two patios with "Wet & Forget." the new patio really only needed spraying between the joints of the loose-laid flags.

Got into our three quinces. It's a never ending job. I took between six inches and about a foot off the tops and the same again off the front.
I went round to the empty house next door and pruned off the overhang abobe the top of the fence.
I don't like them growing too tall as the create shade which incourages moss on that side of the lawn. They are always fighting the azaleas for space and would win if I let them.

Tied up a few of these giant lilies that had developed a lean.

Some I'm going to relocate in the winter as they are being crowded by other plants.

 

[Sean Regan]

Spent about three hours, mowing, pruning and generally tidying up.

Had to take a ladder round to the empty house next door to lean over the fence and pull this clematis off the azaleas, it's gone a bit mad.
Removed some more bindweed. I can't lean over the eight feet of the azaleas this side to reach the fence.

Made some extensions for these two solar lights, they were getting swamped by the azaleas. I have pruned back some of the "bolting" branches to make them a bit more even.

The hebe in the narrow six inch deep trough formed from rocks on the collar of the old koi pool has gone a bit mad too. Bottom right hand corner.

The Wet n' Forget I applierd with a 5L hand pump sprayer a few days ago has taken effect despite there being some rain in the meantime. All trace of algae has gone. Beats using the jet-wash.

This little acer never fails to impress, it got a bit of a haircut today.


.

Last of the lilies are coming out. As are the fuchsias, which will still be mostly hidden.

Here's our grass-free Phlox, somewhere under there is a fairly substantial rockery. I'll get round to exposing the rocks more later in the year.

I'm pleased with the way these wisterias are shaping up. I'm encouraging some branches to train over the side of the pergola. The idea is that there will be rows of blue, then white then blue trailing blooms, next year.

 

[David from Dothan]

Got my Sweetheart 's herb bed set up, today. Filled the box with pre-sifted topsoil, amended with a bag of potting mix and 1/2# of shrimp shell meal. It's placed below our bedroom wndows where it will get plenty of morning sun and will be shaded during the INTENSE afternoon sun. Added pine straw mulch to conserve moisture and keep the soil from getting blistering hot.........

and she's good to go.

 

[Peace perfect peace]

What a happy looking couple,
Nice to see two happy faces,
Oh and the herbs look like you've made a nice home for them, good on yer,

 

[David from Dothan]

What a happy looking couple,
Nice to see two happy faces,
Oh and the herbs look like you've made a nice home for them, good on yer,

Thank you.......The herbs made it though there 1st morning sunshine with flying colors.....NO wilt down.....WOOHOO

 

[Sean Regan]

Didn't do anything today apart from feed the birds.
I was doing a bit of "housekeeping," in the tea-house, just cleaning my jukeboxes and applying a bit of oil to the mechanisms, where necessary, when it chucked it down.

Even in the rain, it's quite a pleasant outlook.

I can lean on the veranda rails without any fear of getting wet, due to the overhang of the roof.

Only the bottom step gets wet.

 

[Amateur Gardener]

Cut the English Ivy vines and pulled out some dead plants.

 

[Sean Regan]

The lawn needed cutting again. It's getting heat, rain and sunshine in equal amounts so ideal growing weather.


Did a bit more pruning of the wisterias on the garage pergola.
They've moved on a bit from this in April.

To this today.

I want them to fill the canopy and cascade over the side to form a bit of an arch. Still a bit of a way to go.

Finished a bit of work in the tea-house.

There's not a lot of room in there, so all my jukebox stuff had to go in the narrow cupboard in the corner. There's a set of "spinners" they look like long handled screwdrivers but with a socket on the end instead of a blade needed with jukeboxe., My "dinker" and its table, that's a tool for removing the centres of 45rpm records, when necessary. Various spare parts, lamps fuses, etc., as well as cleaning and servicing stuff. It was always a pain to get at. You had to get down on your hands and knees to find anything.


So I made this shelf out of wood I found in the garage and a couple of spare brackets. So the stuff I use most will be easier to get at.

 

[Sean Regan]

Just a small job today.

We've a pair of wood pigeons which visit our garden, thery try to get some of the food that we put out for the smaller birds, but casn't get at it in my "patent" birdfeeder I made. They are unable to limbo under the mesh of the old fan cover.

So they perch (unseen by us unless we go up to the French windows) on the fence between the patio and our drive.
They stay there for some time waiting for an opportunity to pick up any food the small birds have taken out of the feeder and dropped on the patio. I can tell this by the amount of dodoo they drop on the refuse bins on the other side of the fence. I have had some carpet gripper rod on the top of the fence which has deteriorated over the years but this didn't deter them. I'll remove the remnants tomorrow.

So I decided to string a couple of strands of wire along the top. A case of looking in the garage for anything suitable. I was able to adapt some pegs used for securing net etc., that I had and with some garden wire got the job done.
doesn't appear so in this photo, but it's visible enough to prevent them flying into it.