What did you do in your garden today?

[Esther Knapicius]

What are hellebores?
I managed to complete the last raised bed frame (#6), added 50/50 native dirt and Dyno Lite compost. This will be my watermelon bed. Planted the last of my starts from seed plants in bed # 5. Now to relax a little.

Probably easier if you google for a picture. and then a full description will come up also.

 

[Don Perry]

Have you heard of the lenton rose or the Christmas rose?

It's a type of flower ! Never heard of it!
I did plant 6 Double knock out rose bushes today . Wore me out! I need to save my energy for deer hunting or such.

 

[Sean Regan]

Not a lot today.
I started on the re-pointing of the small patio behind the shed.
It's been a pain for years. The roots of next door's trees which are close to the fence, spread under it looking for water as they don't water their garden. Over the years they've caused, "heave," not a lot but enough ,to raise the patio a bit which will disturb the mortar.
I had to dig out any cracked mortar before attempting to re-point it. It's another pain mixing mortar in a bucket, I have to add some yellow dye and plasticiser. I didn't get very far today, just a couple of square yards as I ran out of plasticiser. I thought I had more left after doing the main patio than I had. So I had to go to Sainsbury's Homebase for some. They sell cement, but not plasticiser. Useless store!
I went to Tool Station. The young man behind the counter looked blank, but searched his computer and found that they had it.
Anyway, it was gone 3.00pm, so I called it a day...well an afternoon, as I didn't start until after lunch.

If it doesn't rain, I'll carry on tomorrow.

I'm watching the sport on TV.

 

[Logan]

Nothing today i went to see my friend Marion and her partner Barry for the afternoon.

 

[Don Perry]

Not a lot today.
I started on the re-pointing of the small patio behind the shed.
It's been a pain for years. The roots of next door's trees which are close to the fence, spread under it looking for water as they don't water their garden. Over the years they've caused, "heave," not a lot but enough ,to raise the patio a bit which will disturb the mortar.
I had to dig out any cracked mortar before attempting to re-point it. It's another pain mixing mortar in a bucket, I have to add some yellow dye and plasticiser. I didn't get very far today, just a couple of square yards as I ran out of plasticiser. I thought I had more left after doing the main patio than I had. So I had to go to Sainsbury's Homebase for some. They sell cement, but not plasticiser. Useless store!
I went to Tool Station. The young man behind the counter looked blank, but searched his computer and found that they had it.
Anyway, it was gone 3.00pm, so I called it a day...well an afternoon, as I didn't start until after lunch.

If it doesn't rain, I'll carry on tomorrow.

I'm watching the sport on TV.

There are products that will remove those root and they won't come back. I have in my shop a product called "Remedy:" It will kill the root that is causing you problems. You mix it with diesel and apply it around the edge of the patio area. Careful with it though, Only takes a little.

 

[Don Perry]

My dog digs! I don't mind except when she digs up the rose bushes or garden. I put a fence around the garden and cut a bull panel to fit the rose bed. I cut holes and turned the spines down to anchor and buried it about 3 " deep. What is your remedy for a digging dog?

 

[Sean Regan]

Can't do any more patio re-pointing as it is starting to rain, so I'm watching the London Marathon on TV. There's golf, road cycling, football, cricket and tennis, from which to choose later.

I did have a check round.
It's going to be a bumper year for wisteria blooms.
The worst performer has always been the pink one under the kitchen rear window that I trained to grow over the fence and along the side of the house. It is really only this bit that gets a reasonable amount of sun. It took eight years before we got any blooms.
This was it in 2005, it had only reached as far as the kitchen side window. This up to now, has been its best performance.

I continued to let it grow until it reached the front corner of the house, then pinched it out a couple of years ago. So it's been "bulking itself up" instead.

There were no blooms last year.


My patience has been rewarded, it has produced a lot of blooms this year.

These are over the kitchen side window.

I can't tell if there will be many at the far end as due to the fact that they must be fifty feet away from the roots so the blooms or foliage is only starting to appear.


No problems with the others.

 

[Logan]

What is your remedy for a digging dog?

I don't let my 2 golden retrievers in the garden, they have a lot of walks instead.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

My dog digs! I don't mind except when she digs up the rose bushes or garden. I put a fence around the garden and cut a bull panel to fit the rose bed. I cut holes and turned the spines down to anchor and buried it about 3 " deep. What is your remedy for a digging dog?

We used to have GSD's one at a time. And I have several "flower/shrub/plant" beds. We taught our guys not to go into the garden beds. So we never had issues with digging, or running through garden beds. You would actually see them walking totally around the bed to get to the other side.
One time, the cutest thing, I was watching our guy Thompson from inside the house. He loved the sprinkler. So sometime I would set it up in the middle of the lawn and he'd run through it all happy. But in this story, I had put the sprinkler in the garden bed, about a foot from the edge of the bed, so the bed would get some water. There he was, standing looking at the sprinkler, and he on his own put his two paws just at the line of the bed, reached over to the sprinkler, picked it up and back it over to the lawn area and proceeded to play with it. Yep, he did it. I did not yell at him. The thought process for that was amazing. what a good boy he was. Miss my guy.

In general, we have 3 acres and boys know to not leave the property, So they have plenty of room to walk about etc. And when they are out we would be out.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

This is my boy Thompson, Miss him still. He was amazing.

 

[Logan]

@Esther Knapicius that's amazing what your Thompson did, can get one like that sometimes.

 

[Don Perry]

What a beautiful dog ! Anna Bella is a recue dog of undiscernible blood line. WE love her just like she was our child. She makes mistakes , sure, but then she is a little cuddle buddy.
Today is Sunday and I'm taking the day off. Haven't had much growth yet but It's still a long season ahead.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

@Esther Knapicius that's amazing what your Thompson did, can get one like that sometimes.

We worked with him daily, and many hours on weekends, he would travel in my car on most my errands going into stores etc. We got obedience trophies on him. Even a simple walk at heel was a training session. He would also help me with laundry, I played the accidental drop the sock, "help me pick it up" game, he just loved it. Got him to carry the newspaper down the drive for me. We did find it games. He knew the names of every toy, and could go get which one you asked him to get. Its all about keeping them in check and guiding them with positive reinforcement. He loved it. Stupid cancer got him at only 9 years old.

 

[Don Perry]

My Bear (black lab) died at 15 y o. Baby (yellow lab) died just 9 months later at 12. They were inseparable. Two of the greatest dogs I've ever had. I miss them so.
I pulled weeds in the garden. Tending to the humming bird feeders this morning. I have three set up and the birds just swarm all over them. I also have 6 rose bushes I recently planted that I need to cover with mulch.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

 

[Don Perry]

Cleaned all feeders today . Going to fill with the sugar/water now. I saw three doing the territorial thing at the feeders this morning. They seemed small with black throats. Not the ruby throated variety..

 

[Logan]

@Esther Knapicius I did similar obedience with my dogs and got trophies, it's keeping their minds active.

It's been raining today so nothing in the garden, but pricked out the cosmos seedlings and a bit of watering.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

@Esther Knapicius I did similar obedience with my dogs and got trophies, it's keeping their minds active.

It's been raining today so nothing in the garden, but pricked out the cosmos seedlings and a bit of watering.

Yes, a smart dog needs to be challenged. a waste if not. they can do so much.

 

[Meadowlark]

Spreading manure compost in the walkways of my garden is an annual chore that I partially completed today before rain chased me inside. I still have another 6 walkways to cover to complete the task. With this compost in place, there will be only minimal weeding and no tilling required for the remainder of this growing period and the next one as well.

I generally harvest two crops in each raised row followed by two cover crops (one in summer and one in winter) before starting again with a different rotation on crops and covers.

Together the compost and cover crops provide a soil bed with "No NPK required" completely organically. The cows that produce the compost generate a positive cash flow while my only costs are in seed for the crops and the cover crops. I save most of my crop seed but haven't yet figured out how to efficiently save cover crop seeds...but other than that my system is totally self-sustaining and organic.

I'm very happy with the state of my garden.

 

[YumYum]

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I use what you said. They actually seemed to prefer it over the store bought red stuff that contains corn syrup and it is a whole bunch cheaper too. I don't boil my water but it takes 15-20 minutes for the sugar to dissolve.