I tackled my quince finally. It is half the tree it was! I still need to go back for a final clear-up and to check for anything I missed. I discovered some small quince fruit, not many, 5 or 6, and new leaves beginning to form. I will give it some farmyard manure in the Spring, to avoid promoting it into unseasonal early growth. There are tiny green shoots in the rows of veg. I sowed last week. The dwarf beans I sowed are growing very quickly so will have to plant out or pot up in another few day's time. Now that most of them have leaves I have moved them outside, the mice lose interest in them once they have begun to sprout but the slugs and snails then take over so plenty of slug pellet protection. I gave my fan-trained pear tree, in a container, a good drink yesterday, had forgotten about it so the leaves have turned yellow, ready to fall.
I'm halfway through cutting the privet hedge and I've come in for a break and a cuppa. Grass needs the mower running over it too, just to trim off the few patches of coarse weedy grasses that are growing and to pick up the fallen leaves from the trees that seem to think it's autumn already (probably just a reaction to the ridiculously hot weather two weeks ago).
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Made 5lb of tomatoes into sauce, and cooked a third batch of beetroot. These went into jars of vinegar to keep ( not much hope of that as hubby is eating them as fast as I can cook them 😆) Actually had rain today , for about two hours!
I tried to go in out in the garden but gave up, too muggy. I ended up making some blackcurrant curd for the first time. It is delicious! I am going to grow on my late sowing of dwarf beans in containers so have to prepare the pots as the beans are growing very quickly. Another "little job to do". It is mizzling heavily at the moment but it isn't doing much good to the garden.
At last the temp. has dropped and we have had some showers. I have picked as many as I could see of my wasp eaten apples. It is so depressing to see the tree laden with lovely fruit only to find most have large areas of damage where wasps have eaten them. I removed the damage, peeled and quartered them and put them in the freezer, around 2 kilos. I wouldn't mind but the apples are not quite ripe yet. They have a strong perfume which is what attracts the wasps.
I have finally done a job I have been wanting to do for several years. I knew 2 boulders had rolled into my very small pond, 6' diameter, 4'deep, as well as smaller stones and gravel. I have wanted to remove them but chickened out at how I would manage it, not being as agile as when younger. With the temperature evaporating the water at a rate of knots, I decided now was time. Having spent an inordinate amount of time working out how to do it safely, dressed in an antiquated swimsuit and putting my remote GPS alarm close by, I ventured into the water. I found 3 large pieces of stone, a lot of small stones, gravel and a lot of oxygenating plants, all of which I removed. Having read it is not a good idea to clean a pond completely I removed some of the silt and found 2 Golden Orfe before refilling the pond. Approx. 1/2 the volume of water. I am now anxiously waiting to see if I have punctured the liner and for the silt to settle. I was surprised at how little silt had built up as I have never cleaned the pond since putting it in, about 12 years. I have used pond treatments so perhaps they have actually worked. The volume of space taken up by the stones etc. was quite substantial so now I can rest easy and think about replacing the fish the heron took. Although I did promise myself I would not buy any more heron breakfasts. A job well done and I can rest on my laurels, for the time being.
My neighbour has a clematis Montana which grows up their side go my garage, I like it as it grows over my garage roof and I get to see most of the flowers. However, it blocks access to the gutters on their side so today I got permission to cut it back on their side so I can access and clean my gutters.
This is a photo taken from my neighbours side of my garage before I started cutting..
And after..
It will need cutting back each year if I'm being honest, and if ever they talk of removing the clematis I would vote in favour, despite it looking lovely in flower as it's a bit of a thug.
Planted a couple of Prunus subhirtella autumnalis - been looking (indecisively) for suitable trees for a long while it's good to have these guys planted at last. I feel the one nearest the house needs to move a bit further away from the fence but we'll see.
"What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour".
I am recovering slowly from my exploits in my pond. I am going to dose it with Organic Mud Buster to settle the silt and Organic Blanket Weed Remover to keep the pond clear of this unwanted plant. I also have to dispose of the surplus pond weed I removed, onto the compost heap, as well as the 4 now totally black boulders which had fallen into the water, along with sundry stones and gravel. I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of stinky smell. Yes, it smelt but not nearly as bad as I was expecting.
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There are tiny green shoots in the rows of veg. I sowed last week. The dwarf beans I sowed are growing very quickly so will have to plant out or pot up in another few day's time. Now that most of them have leaves I have moved them outside, the mice lose interest in them once they have begun to sprout but the slugs and snails then take over so plenty of slug pellet protection.
I gave my fan-trained pear tree, in a container, a good drink yesterday, had forgotten about it so the leaves have turned yellow, ready to fall.
Actually had rain today , for about two hours!
I ended up making some blackcurrant curd for the first time. It is delicious!
I am going to grow on my late sowing of dwarf beans in containers so have to prepare the pots as the beans are growing very quickly. Another "little job to do".
It is mizzling heavily at the moment but it isn't doing much good to the garden.
I have picked as many as I could see of my wasp eaten apples. It is so depressing to see the tree laden with lovely fruit only to find most have large areas of damage where wasps have eaten them. I removed the damage, peeled and quartered them and put them in the freezer, around 2 kilos. I wouldn't mind but the apples are not quite ripe yet. They have a strong perfume which is what attracts the wasps.
I have finally done a job I have been wanting to do for several years. I knew 2 boulders had rolled into my very small pond, 6' diameter, 4'deep, as well as smaller stones and gravel. I have wanted to remove them but chickened out at how I would manage it, not being as agile as when younger. With the temperature evaporating the water at a rate of knots, I decided now was time. Having spent an inordinate amount of time working out how to do it safely, dressed in an antiquated swimsuit and putting my remote GPS alarm close by, I ventured into the water.
I found 3 large pieces of stone, a lot of small stones, gravel and a lot of oxygenating plants, all of which I removed. Having read it is not a good idea to clean a pond completely I removed some of the silt and found 2 Golden Orfe before refilling the pond. Approx. 1/2 the volume of water. I am now anxiously waiting to see if I have punctured the liner and for the silt to settle. I was surprised at how little silt had built up as I have never cleaned the pond since putting it in, about 12 years. I have used pond treatments so perhaps they have actually worked.
The volume of space taken up by the stones etc. was quite substantial so now I can rest easy and think about replacing the fish the heron took. Although I did promise myself I would not buy any more heron breakfasts.
A job well done and I can rest on my laurels, for the time being.
This is a photo taken from my neighbours side of my garage before I started cutting..
And after..
It will need cutting back each year if I'm being honest, and if ever they talk of removing the clematis I would vote in favour, despite it looking lovely in flower as it's a bit of a thug.
I am going to dose it with Organic Mud Buster to settle the silt and Organic Blanket Weed Remover to keep the pond clear of this unwanted plant. I also have to dispose of the surplus pond weed I removed, onto the compost heap, as well as the 4 now totally black boulders which had fallen into the water, along with sundry stones and gravel.
I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of stinky smell. Yes, it smelt but not nearly as bad as I was expecting.