Planted into the border an ailing azalea that came in a pot that I bought from our local buying and selling group. It was a lovely stone pot but I think perhaps a relative selling on behalf of someone else (house was empty) so they hadn't emptied the pot. The azalea just lifted straight out, roots swirled around eachother (and around the crocks that they had originally been planted with) and dusty from lack of water. Gave it a good soak and have now planted it and given it a good feed. Fingers crossed. It was obviously loved at one point.
On another note however I am generally quite grumpy today. All my seedlings are so tiny. I'm so bored of cosseting them. If they had read the textbooks they would know that they are mostly supposed to be in flower next month but at this rate they are likely to only just be big enough to be planted out. Compounded the grump by ducking out to the plant section at Homebase and marvelling over how bushy and advanced all their plants are.
@Camelliad , I think most plants / seeds aren’t growing much , very late this year , had another frost this morning Hopefully weather will pick up over weekend
Unfortunately the weather is going to pick up but in the wrong direction. We're forecast heavy rain and strong winds again on Saturday but tomorrow looks good so must get out there and complete my to do list. This afternoon I potted on more trays of perennials for pollinators but am fast running out of the right size pots. I'm bored with cosseting them as well, don't think I'll buy any more small plugs next year. Pleased to see though that a large buttercup plant is blooming in the wild bit in our 'orchard' and I'm very hopeful that a cowslip will self seed nearby.
@Camelliad , I think most plants / seeds aren’t growing much , very late this year , had another frost this morning Hopefully weather will pick up over weekend
Thank you @GWRS it's good to know it's not just me. You're right, it's all so late. I sowed early this year because last year I felt left behind! And alas tomorrow is our only pleasant day for a while.
@Lizzie27 I am also fed up of the tiny plug purchase, but I this year I bought them much earlier than last year so thought that it wouldn't be too onerous. I just feel as though I'm constantly potting on.
Planted out some Lavenders, potted-on ‘Green Bush’ courgettes and Verbena Bonariensis. Had a re-think of my veg ‘a-pot-ment’ and have squeezed in a net for sweetpeas and two cane wigwams for peas (if they come...being slow to germinate so might need to try again) and something else. The area will be mainly pots of veg but it is next to some perennials and I am thinking of adding a herb area so it can more of a kitchen garden/potager.
Potted on 3 aubergine plants, 25 marmade tomatoes, 8 sungold tomatoes, 18 gardeners delight tomatoes all into 2lt pots. Mrs wilderbeast is quite unhappy with there presence in the kitchen 😂. Also potted on 2 Echium which are looking very good. Watered the potatoes, cannas and salvias which in the big greenhouse. The salvias have spent the day outside starting to harden off. Sowed caster oil seeds today it's my 2nd batch after the 1st just seemed to die on me.
Gave the shed a bit of a clearout, and decided that the electric mower that I haven't used for years needs to go, to free up some space. It still works fine so I don't really want to take it to the tip, but it's old and scruffy so I'm not sure if I'll be able to give it away . Maybe I'll leave it outside with a "please look after this mower" sign.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Sounds a good idea @JennyJ. I actually sowed my runner beans, dwarf French beans and peas in loo rolls at last. They are now sitting on the dining room table near the radiator. Also sowed 4 rows of Carrot Nante.
Attacked the beast again Friday and today (Sunday). The beast is the stump of a rather modest conifer we cut down after someone cut back the pavement side of it to almost the trunk because it overhung a little. Well the house was the estate of a late elderly gentleman who died over a year before we bought the house. During that time someone had had at it with loppers then thrown the branches into the front garden. Great neighbour basically ruined the tree so we cut it down month and a half ago. The weekend before i broke my arm and couldn't work on it for a few weeks.
As my arm got better we did exploratory digging around it. Followed by axe, mattock, saw and wrecking bar action. Not easy one handed but but today I felt today we were getting somewhere? Then we dug deeper and realised those roots we b thought weren't much were was big as the trunk of the tree.
Let me explain, just below and a little above the soil surface there was a massive lump of wood between the trunk and the roots. It's about 75cm X 50cm possibly bigger. Most under the soil level. As we dug we found more and more. Then the roots go out but there's also big ones down too. We've cut the smaller ones going out but struggling with the others.
After several weeks of spending one or two days a week attacking it in 2 to 4 hour long sessions our neighbour came for a look. It's hard work so we don't feel like doing more. Each session I need a few days for my recovering arm to n stop aching. Anyway our neighbour brought out a Stihl petrol chainsaw, a baby one and did more in 10 minutes than we did in several weeks. Later this week he's going to either sharpen the little one, the tree stump blunted it quickly, or his big one. He works outdoors using these things so no knows what he's doing. Our next attempt will probably include cutting down into the mass of the stump between the big roots.
Hopefully it'll be out by the weekend. If not I am going to take a break and work elsewhere that gives results you can see. Too disheartening to see hours of work getting you nowhere other than realising that sign of hope had no grounding as another huge root appears from the soil. The only reason we're spending so long on it is because it's right in the front of the front garden. Everyone stops to look and discuss it whether we're there or not. The soil we're digging up has taken over the border and into the lawn. We're at risk of losing the edge of the lawn as we're working there and covering the lawn up with soil. Nowhere to put it as is a retaining wall and any big pile of soil in the border will just fall onto the pavement the other side.
There's some jobs that are simply hard graft, but you can't avoid them? The stump is too big to cover. There's no making a feature of it so it has to go. And no suggesting dynamite isn't funny after 20 times being told that.
Posts
On another note however I am generally quite grumpy today. All my seedlings are so tiny. I'm so bored of cosseting them. If they had read the textbooks they would know that they are mostly supposed to be in flower next month but at this rate they are likely to only just be big enough to be planted out. Compounded the grump by ducking out to the plant section at Homebase and marvelling over how bushy and advanced all their plants are.
had another frost this morning
Hopefully weather will pick up over weekend
This afternoon I potted on more trays of perennials for pollinators but am fast running out of the right size pots. I'm bored with cosseting them as well, don't think I'll buy any more small plugs next year.
Pleased to see though that a large buttercup plant is blooming in the wild bit in our 'orchard' and I'm very hopeful that a cowslip will self seed nearby.
As my arm got better we did exploratory digging around it. Followed by axe, mattock, saw and wrecking bar action. Not easy one handed but but today I felt today we were getting somewhere? Then we dug deeper and realised those roots we b thought weren't much were was big as the trunk of the tree.
Let me explain, just below and a little above the soil surface there was a massive lump of wood between the trunk and the roots. It's about 75cm X 50cm possibly bigger. Most under the soil level. As we dug we found more and more. Then the roots go out but there's also big ones down too. We've cut the smaller ones going out but struggling with the others.
After several weeks of spending one or two days a week attacking it in 2 to 4 hour long sessions our neighbour came for a look. It's hard work so we don't feel like doing more. Each session I need a few days for my recovering arm to n stop aching. Anyway our neighbour brought out a Stihl petrol chainsaw, a baby one and did more in 10 minutes than we did in several weeks. Later this week he's going to either sharpen the little one, the tree stump blunted it quickly, or his big one. He works outdoors using these things so no knows what he's doing. Our next attempt will probably include cutting down into the mass of the stump between the big roots.
Hopefully it'll be out by the weekend. If not I am going to take a break and work elsewhere that gives results you can see. Too disheartening to see hours of work getting you nowhere other than realising that sign of hope had no grounding as another huge root appears from the soil. The only reason we're spending so long on it is because it's right in the front of the front garden. Everyone stops to look and discuss it whether we're there or not. The soil we're digging up has taken over the border and into the lawn. We're at risk of losing the edge of the lawn as we're working there and covering the lawn up with soil. Nowhere to put it as is a retaining wall and any big pile of soil in the border will just fall onto the pavement the other side.
There's some jobs that are simply hard graft, but you can't avoid them? The stump is too big to cover. There's no making a feature of it so it has to go. And no suggesting dynamite isn't funny after 20 times being told that.