GreenFly - A 'flylady style' gardening thread with weekly tasks to tame your garden

RosaBernicia

De-lurking to declare that although the garden here is still a tip, I finally have a vision of what I want to do with it, which is a big step forward.  Most of it is going to have to wait til spring now but at least I can be taking steps in the right direction.  It's basically very messy but I now have things functional with a small shed, the whirligig in a sensible place on the patio, a lawn area, and a swing seat area which now also has the table & chairs nearby. 

Ordered 4 very scented roses on a discount code (presumably because the container ones are coming to the end of their season).  Two shrubs which I already have pots for, two climbers which can go in a huge existing bathtub thing - am going to need compost and soil delivery.  Finally used a garden gift voucher I had forgotten about and only remembered on the day before its expiry so that was a win - dashed to a little local garden centre as the nearest option and bought a pot as didn't have time to think anything else through.  Pleased to find that place though as it's only 10 mins drive and their plants look much healthier than the big chains locally - will be going back.  (Also highly amused that as I staggered across the car park with the pot, someone leaving wound down the car window and asked if I worked there.  I had to disappoint them and try not to giggle as I drove home thinking how marvellous it is to WFH and run out at lunchtime in my jeans and dog walking wellies.  I would not have been asked that question in a previous incarnation wearing LKB and heels.) 

Strimmed part of the lawn yesterday and proved yet again that this causes a major asthma attack even with a face mask and antihistamines.  The remaining 1/3 will have to wait for another dry evening. 

So current plans are:

Re-educate dogs again to use artificial potty area.  There is probably no hope for the lawn otherwise. 

Pick up grass seed and lawn fertiliser as it is going to need all the help it can get anyhow. 

Strim the last of the lawn so that it can be mowed in future (which will hopefully be faster and less messy, so less allergies). 

Continue pulling grass out of paving cracks.

Continue moving piles of old paving etc out of garden and onto drive for eventual collection. 

Only crops here are elderberries and wild strawberries    but hopefully there will be more next year. 

Brie

skipping forward not reading a lot of posts due to being on jolly hols.  Friend obliged by stopping by and watering and reported being rewarded with 16 tomatoes in 10 days!!!  She must have put the voodoo on them as they are still flowering fruiting, ripening and I'll get to have some myself over the coming days!!!  First time having a crop in almost forever!!  Courgettes haven't decided yet but are still flowering....

KajiKita

Got myself out into the garden for an hour this afternoon 😊
Dead headed roses, geums and osteospermums. Tied in a lot of the roses to the pergola and chopped back great swathes of extending-itself-everywhere Berberis! The path under the pergola is much clearer now, visually (I can see down to the pond from the house again), but still needs clearing at ground level. 
Sadly one of my Tithonia has keeled over - snapped at the base. Think the wind we had at the end of the week collapsed it. My own fault for not getting it in the ground sooner this spring, so it got leggy and never became the solid plant they usually are. 

Feel better for having done SOMETHING! and my shoulder isn’t feeling too bad 😊

KK

Cherryfudge

A few more plant pots have been washed out and added to the two big bags full, and DH and I just tried to stack the small ones by size. There's obviously no standard: yes in theory, no in practice. I think we got eleven matching pots in the tallest stack and there are now 130 against the hall wall waiting to go. I've claimed seventeen which is more small ones than I'll use at one time but it gives me some choice and some give-aways.

A few more terracotta pots have emerged, not always in one piece. Question: if I can get the pieces clean enough, would a glued-together pot work, or would it just come to bits again? Most are in too many pieces but one or two are simple breaks.

The small broken bits are saved for crocks in future pots of course. 

KajiKita

@Cherryfudge, the plastic pots debacle …. it is so frustrating that there is no common sizing or even shapes! I was really struggling in my potting shed last autumn and had a massive stacking session. Anything that I had 3 or less of I got rid of. It was amazing actually, how much space that freed up! 

Re the old terracotta pots and gluing them together again - I think you might get away with it for summer plantings but not winter or all year round, as I think the tension between the glued and unglued bits might not react well in cold temperatures. But I would be interested to see what others think. 😊

KK

Cherryfudge

KajiKita said:

 Anything that I had 3 or less of I got rid of. It was amazing actually, how much space that freed up! 

It really is, isn’t it. I’m surprised at how many pots were hiding under shrubbery, so perhaps there was an element of visual clutter as well as actual space taken.

This isn’t my potting shed, it’s under the staging in a glasshouse at the Helmsley Walled Garden the other day, but aren’t these gorgeous!

Cherryfudge

KajiKita said:

Re the old terracotta pots and gluing them together again - I think you might get away with it for summer plantings but not winter or all year round, as I think the tension between the glued and unglued bits might not react well in cold temperatures. But I would be interested to see what others think. 😊

KK

I might try them for houseplants? But then if they fall to bits, it will be compost everywhere...

RosaBernicia

I bought one of those net hammocks for storing toys etc and my empty plastic pots are now nicely out of the way near the roof of the tiny shed.  Saves a bit of shelf space for other things. 

KajiKita

Cherryfudge said:

KajiKita said:

Re the old terracotta pots and gluing them together again - I think you might get away with it for summer plantings but not winter or all year round, as I think the tension between the glued and unglued bits might not react well in cold temperatures. But I would be interested to see what others think. 😊

KK

I might try them for houseplants? But then if they fall to bits, it will be compost everywhere...

You could reinforce them with twisted copper wire? Could look quite effective.

KK

KajiKita

Just spent another hour in the garden channelling @Cherryfudge by clearing ‘dead’ pots. I lost count of how many but three small wheelbarrows worth! (I am ashamed to confess, some of these should have been cleared last year … ahem …) Found quite a few plants and bulbs (mainly lilies) worth rescuing, so I had a quite a lot of time in the shed, potting them up 😊

KK