What did you do in your garden today?

[Heirloom farmer1969]

Still holding off from planting a lot here.
They're saying we aren't done with the frosty weather yet, although this amazing weather we are having right now is making it awfully tempting.
Going to be spending most of the day potting up about 150 little tomatoes into bigger pots.

 

[gary350]

Our garden is dry as desert already it was 86°f today with more 30 mph gusty wind and last frost is April 20. We had last frost very early this year. Grass and weeds do not grow in the desert with no rain. I have irrigation ponds around all the, tomatoes, peppers, melons, celery. I mulched the, corn, beans, & Zinnias. If I don't water corn & beans 3 times a day germination will be 40% or less. Water usually gives me 99% germination. It is starting to look like a garden.

 

[Sean Regan]

Just a check around this morning, feed the birds and collect the camera cards. I've my Covid jab in a bit. The chemists in our village does them on Sundays. Then household chores, but I may mow the lawn this afternoon.

My new turf is darkening down and is growing faster than the rest of the lawn!

These two wisterias are more or less fully out. As are more of the azaleas.

The blue of these three are out.

But the white isn't yet.

So far, with the one on the side of the house, none of these blooms have fallen as they did last year.
But it will be a week before they are out, they should open progressively along the length. Although it did rain overnight, I did chuck three gallons of water around the root last night. Just in case.

This acer is starting to recover after I'd "hacked it into a smaller ball shape" a week ago.

This is our camellia, with one lone red flower, (the others are on a rhodo in front of it).
This is because I always prune it right back. I like it for its variegated, glossy leaves.

I keep it to this size for a reason.

Twenty years ago, it was one of three here. They were beginning to dominate the garden.

I binned two and cut this one down to about 18", dug it out and replanted it where it is now.

I think the centre of the garden has looked better like this since then.

 

[gary350]

Wife wanted me to put up these spinner wind mill flowers they look cute. I think they scare the bird. Birds are the reason my garden has no bugs.

 

[Tundra20]

Wife wanted me to put up these spinner wind mill flowers they look cute. I think they scare the bird. Birds are the reason my garden has no bugs.

View attachment 108248

ur right all my tomatos that wer out last yr nver had any hornworms due to the birds i keep feeders around the garden it wrks

tomatos that wer in hoophouse got hit hard withem so yes ur correct birds do help

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Wife wanted me to put up these spinner wind mill flowers they look cute. I think they scare the bird. Birds are the reason my garden has no bugs.

View attachment 108248

As my Aussie mate used to say, "Women! Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em."

 

[blenor]

Wife wanted me to put up these spinner wind mill flowers they look cute. I think they scare the bird. Birds are the reason my garden has no bugs.

View attachment 108248

Those big ol' roosters will sure scare off any slugs!

 

[DiggersJo]

Nothing today as rain and more rain, but at least the beans planted out yesterday are looking good for the free water.

 

[gary350]

ur right all my tomatos that wer out last yr nver had any hornworms due to the birds i keep feeders around the garden it wrks

tomatos that wer in hoophouse got hit hard withem so yes ur correct birds do help

Birds must have extremely good eye sight they set on the roosters all day and look down at the soil. When birds see something they want they fly down to get it then fly up on the rooster to look down at the ground again. If I look down at the ground bugs are too small for me to see. It might be beneficial for the birds if I put bird perches several places in the garden for birds to set on.

Ants find bug eggs on plants and very tiny bugs to eat. I learned from experimenting to plant a squash seed next to an ant hill. Squash are bug magnets they attract lots of bugs and the ants find the eggs and eat them before they hatch and become bugs. Squash & cucumbers both attract bugs to my garden I learned not to grow them it keep bugs out of my garden.

 

[Sean Regan]

Didn't do much today, just videoed the wisterias. Usually I do this in May, but they are early this year and they will start to fade at the end of the week, before the rhodos and azaleas are out. It was raining, so it's a bit hurried. I might re-do it in a couple of days.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

It might be beneficial for the birds if I put bird perches several places in the garden for birds to land on.

I had a fruit cage, birds used to sit on the beam at the edge and shit blackberry seeds, there were always brambles growing.

 

[Tundra20]

planted a yeller lilly today love these

 

[Sean Regan]

Just a bit of weeding today, mostly between the phlox on the rockery.
The first pink blossom on the wisteria on the side of the house is out!

More hopefully to follow.

I'm pleased with the condition of the twelve roses on their patio, no sign of any black spot! By this time last year, nearly every one was affected.

There's still traces of the powder residue from the Sulphur Rose, with which a gave them a good spray a month ago. So I can highly recommend it.
Already the odd petal has fallen off the wisteria blooms.

In the ceanothus on the fence, I put a woven "robin's nest" a few years ago. It gets used every year.

The azaleas to the side of the main patio are starting to come out, they've taken their time!

The two tree azaleas are nearly out too. You might see the wires I use to try to keep them spreading out too far.

This acer seems to making daily progress as it tries to fill the gaps I made by reducing its size.

These three azaleas have almost got their act together. There are wires that help keep them close to the sambucas's tub and also clear of my mower.
The lawn to the left still looks "dog rough" but it's slowly recovering.

My only concern is this acer palmatum Taylor, which looks a bit wimpy. But it went like this last year, so hopefully, it will recover.

I'm might go to the new B&Q when I go shopping this afternoon, it took over from Homebase. I need a bit of trellis to repair a couple of bits on the top of this fence between the patio and the drive.

 

[Sean Regan]

I went to B&Q, but wasn't impressed.

I was hoping to find some trellis, like this on the fence, that I could cannibalise, to replace the broken bits. But no such luck, I had to settle for what they had and replace the original.

Even that wasn't easy, as the bottom rail of the first frame had rotted and parts of the next one and I had to replace them.

`
I didn't have enough trellis for the end short panel, so I may just repair it with some bits of the old trellis or get some more of the new stuff.

It needs a couple of coats of mahogany woodstain, to darken it down and before the clematis below it goes rampant.
Forty years ago, I made a fence and door out of 3" x 2" and trellis, but that eventually started rotting away and I replaced it with this. What prompted me to do it, is that I found the "arched door" in Bents garden centre twenty years ago and built the fence around it.
Due to the length, it had to be substantial.
The featherboarding is secured at the top to a length of 3"x2"and another length of 3"x2" is screwed to the top of that. There's another 3"2" beam at the top of the trellis.

Five years ago, the door started to rot, so I replaced it with a more substantial one.

Of course, I couldn't get one with a rounded top in the middle of Covid and had to settle for this one.

It needed a bit of fettling.

I used a bit alkathene pipe to draw around to make the cutting line for my jigsaw.

The door has lasted well, considering the number of times it's open and closed, just in a day.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I went to B&Q, but wasn't impressed.

I was hoping to find some trellis, like this on the fence, that I could cannibalise, to replace the broken bits. But no such luck, I had to settle for what they had and replace the original.

View attachment 108290

Even that wasn't easy, as the bottom rail of the first frame had rotted and parts of the next one and I had to replace them.

View attachment 108291
`
I didn't have enough trellis for the end short panel, so I may just repair it with some bits of the old trellis or get some more of the new stuff.

It needs a couple of coats of mahogany woodstain, to darken it down and before the clematis below it goes rampant.
Forty years ago, I made a fence and door out of 3" x 2" and trellis, but that eventually started rotting away and I replaced it with this. What prompted me to do it, is that I found the "arched door" in Bents garden centre twenty years ago and built the fence around it.
Due to the length, it had to be substantial.
The featherboarding is secured at the top to a length of 3"x2"and another length of 3"x2" is screwed to the top of that. There's another 3"2" beam at the top of the trellis.

Five years ago, the door started to rot, so I replaced it with a more substantial one.

Of course, I couldn't get one with a rounded top in the middle of Covid and had to settle for this one.

View attachment 108292

It needed a bit of fettling.

View attachment 108293

I used a bit alkathene pipe to draw around to make the cutting line for my jigsaw.


View attachment 108294

The door has lasted well, considering the number of times it's open and closed, just in a day.

It's good having everything ship shape and Bristol fashion, but I did read a while ago that the sort of unpleasant people who climb other people's fences are put off by trellis, especially if it is a bit rickety.
Nice job.