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

Cherryfudge

Those are heartening photos, @KajiKita! The sort of thing to look at in about January to encourage you that there really is colour and growth in the world. Well done on the aubergine. I've never grown one but it's a great colour.

My garden had been sadly neglected recently and the lawn is very tufty, with ground elder poking through, alas. However, I had about an hour of weeding and pruning and I'm pleased with the results: a semi-tidied tub and quite a lot of straggly twigs removed from various bits of hedges and the biggest achievement, a pruned damson. I know this is the wrong time of year for it but it was such a mess and I wanted to neaten it up before the frosts come.

greenbee

As the greenhouse was still warm over the weekend I'm leaving the tomatoes a bit longer (I also need to clear up the kitchen to make space for them if they're going to ripen indoors. I have masses of what I think are San Marzano (could be Super Roma, as I didn't label them) which are starting to turn and I'm hoping that they will so I can freeze them for use over the winter. Courgettes and squash are still producing. Beans are pretty much over but I need to collect seed (also from sweet peas). Late broad beans need staking. More cavalo nero and fennel need sowing as the slugs ate the seedlings. 

Once the tomatoes are done and my single aubergine (pinstripe) has been picked, I'll clean out the greenhouse and think about what to grow in there over the winter. I do have some insulation, so might put that up (at least on the north side) before I do too much else. 

EssexHebridean

How fab on the aubergine KK - and that sunflower too! 

Cherryfudge - "tufty" is a good description of our lawn too - although our tufts are mostly hawkweed! I was hoping to be able to strim this weekend but nothing has really dried enough to make it viable, so realistically I will probably wait until the courgette triffids...sorry, plants...are done now as under those is definitely going to need doing! 

SO much clearing and tidying done in our little plot this weekend!
- Tomato plants stripped of fruit, pulled up and thrown in garden waste bin
- a couple of toms where there is tiny fruit that *might* still swell left standing but moved to the sunnier end of the garden.
- Compost from tomato pots and grow-bags has been piled onto our new growing area out the back
- Cucumber grow-bag emptied into a compost bag ready for use elsewhere
- Potato sack dug out and the crop set to dry before being popped in the sack with the others, ready to use. The sack is staying in the shed where it is both cool and dark. 
- Nursery visit to get additional plants to fill some gaps in the front garden and add some winter colour front and back. Just over £11 spent which was a bargain. 
- New plants all now in - front looking very cheerful, and some weeding and deadheading done there too.
- Some pots with annuals which have died back sorted, and some stuff which is actually weedy but MrEH was in favour of keeping "because they might look nice" now sorted out.
- Went to clear the pot with the fuchsia we brought from the flat but didn't survive - only to discover that all of a sudden it is putting new growth out from the base - hurrah! That has now been re-potted with some new compost - fingers crossed it continues to do OK. It as one we originally had from the lovely traditional fuchsia from MrEH's family home down in Devon so we will both be pleased if it does live!
- Some of the old compost from pots etc now used to re-seat some of the loose-laid slabs - one in particular was rocking about where the ants have been active under it. 
- Bronze fennel is now held upright using a framework of canes and twine to stop it drooping all over the garden. I need to keep an eye on that ready to retrieve its seeds as well.
- All plant ties and decent lengths of twine that were removed from tomato plants etc have been salvaged and stored away ready for use next year.
- emptied pots and saucers are stacked on the framework for the mini-greenhouse where hopefully the rain (of which we are currently getting plenty!) will give them a nice wash ready for storage!
- Small plastic pots sorted ready for use at transplanting time next year. 

Phew - not bad, no wonder I was knackered by yesterday evening! 

Cherryfudge

EssexHebridean said:

- Went to clear the pot with the fuchsia we brought from the flat but didn't survive - only to discover that all of a sudden it is putting new growth out from the base - hurrah! That has now been re-potted with some new compost - fingers crossed it continues to do OK. It as one we originally had from the lovely traditional fuchsia from MrEH's family home down in Devon so we will both be pleased if it does live!

How lovely that the fuchsia kept going! I have some that I brought from my parents' house a few years ago and which are thriving (on neglect). They were in a very sheltered spot last winter, which probably helped, and the year before I put the hanging basket in the shed which helped them overwinter. I've seen them come back from nothing, as did a hardy one that was at the house when we moved here. I have no idea how long they could live, but the hardy ones seem to last ages. Next year I might take cuttings and grow them on so one or two indoor ones might overwinter if the outdoor ones don't.

greenbee

Finally back in the garden with an almost-healed finger.

Yesterday I managed to get the stuff I cut back in the veg plot last weekend into the garden waste bins, mow the lawn and slap some more paint on the shed before it rained. Today I painted more of the shed, did some dead-heading, and filled up the garden waste by pruning the shrubs round the bins... before it started to rain.

No meetings until 3pm tomorrow, so if the weather is decent I'll try to get an hour in the garden to do more deadheading or weeding. There should be enough space in the bins if I squash stuff down to fit in the small amount of waste deadheading and weeding will generate. 

greenbee

Deadheading done today while waiting for someone to turn up and collect something. And then I took a chance and slapped another coat of paint on two sides of the shed. I find it hard to prioritise with so much to do, but I suspect that doing the back of the shed where the rainwater harvesting will be installed should probably be next on the list.

greenbee

Managed a bit more after work - rest of the deadheading and cutting back courgette leaves (lots more courgettes in there) and cutting down dwarf beans. Oh, and picking up billions of windfall apples. All in compost.

Cherryfudge

All the rain has softened up the ground nicely - weeds came up with very little effort yesterday. I had some time so I've trimmed back more twiggy bits and pulled out yet more ivy, and discovered another stash of plant pots.

Having taken 130 pots to the recycling at the garden centre in August, I need to renew my efforts. I wonder if there are another 100 that could be retrieved and got rid of by the end of the year?

Today is going to be very wet again so I doubt I'll be out there working on it.

EssexHebridean

Eek to so many pots Cherry! I went through ours at the weekend - we've made a habit of getting rid of anything really flimsy so will be keeping what we have for now as they will be really useful for potting things on next year I think.

We did decide to get rid of all the various module type pots we had as we found those were a sod to get anything out of last year. 

Having the other day watched Mr Squirrel climb onto the table where a couple of my herb troughs live and as bold as you like start digging up basil, I have decided that next years efforts need some sort of frame to go over the top. It needs some thought as it will have to be easy enough to move when needed, but still do the job, so I'll give consideration what might work, but I think it will be a winter task anyway. Cute he may be, but I am NOT sacrificing any more pesto ingredients to the little bug....blighter! 

Cheery_Daff

Oh dear EH, I'm now giggling at the thought of your squirrel sitting and tucking into a nice bowl of pasta and pesto 😂

I've not done anything in the garden all week except take the compost out. I did pop into the greenhouse the other day because I'd spotted a couple of panes were out - they were ones I'd bought replacement acrylic for, and both panes were inside the greenhouse, flat on a bench, so I came to the conclusion I may never have got round to installing them in the summer 😂 A job for the weekend I think. 

Do any of you collect water from your greenhouse roof? I have a water butt on one side - the water just runs off the gutter directly into it, and it's fine. 

On the other side I have a big IBC tank. It's quite tall, and the greenhouse has a sloping roof, there's not much height difference. I've now drilled a hole in the side for a hose, but I've still never found a satisfactory way of getting the water from the gutter into the hose. I have some stupid little things that slot in the gutter and then into the hose at the minute - they fill up with leaves then fall out. My IBC tank has barely any water in, which is ridiculous! 

So - any recommendations? The gutter is square edged, small, and there are no fancy holes or anything for attachments. I'm fine with a botched solution - as long as it works!