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

EssexHebridean

4 of the large trays intended for shoes and boots to sit in arrived yesterday, so the pots that were in saucers are now reorganised. Usefully even a couple of troughs have fitted into one of them too. Saucers freed up for a few things that needed them. 

MrEH is of the view that the remaining “Roma” tomato - which is still in a module but is a remarkably robust looking little thing - should be potted up, so that’s a job for later. We also need to gather together everything to go to the tip tomorrow. I’ve chopped the tops off the hawkweed that has finished flowering this morning - too late to stop the seeds spreading but makes the place look generally tidier. Pulled up a clump of it as well to at least reduce it a touch! Also cut back the campanula where it’s finished flowering although ai could probably give it another go over yet.  As we have bags for the tip I’ll have a general sweep of the path and patio later too and the sweepings can get shoved in a bag. 

Need to search for a couple of decently priced but nice ceramic pots for a couple of bits needing repotting from plastics. 

SuzeQStan

Building a compost bin today out of fr@@gle sourced pallets & a large amount of pressure treated wood I got off Ol!o.  All for free.  

If this works out we will let the council green waste collection lapse saving us £45 per year - and keeping the excess goodness in our garden instead of paying someone to take it away.

Cheery_Daff

I've been neglecting this garden thread as my veg patch has been especially disspiriting this year 😬 Killed off a lot of my seedlings so had to start again. Plug plants that I bought mostly got eaten by slugs, except for the beans, which were eaten last week by some escapee sheep. I've still got a few things in the greenhouse - torn between letting them frazzle in there or bringing them out to the mercy of the local wildlife! 😂

However, big project has been putting up a hurdle fence round the back of the house. This has the dual advantage of blocking our view of the neighbouring house, which is now a building site, and also gives us a little sheltered, private space - the only bit of our garden not visible from a public footpath 😊 

Will take some pictures, they're not pretty just yet but hopefully you'll get the idea...

Cheery_Daff

Here we are. The end of this space (on the left) has a most excellent view (not included here as it's quite distinctive if you know the area)



Inside the fence doesn't look like much at the minute, but you can see the sun is still shining through the hurdles, and the end won't be fenced so it won't feel shut in. I'll likely grow something nice up the fence (suggestions welcome!)  and we'll have a seating area as it gets the last of the evening sunshine, which the rest of the garden doesn't.



Turning what might have been a negative (new neighbours and a building site after many years of almost solitude) into a nice positive new space 😊

greenbee

Grow hollyhocks and foxgloves in front of the fence Cheery! You don't want anything that will climb up/through them as it'll end up pulling them apart, so things that will look pretty in front of them (and show off the nice hurdles!) are probably your best bet. 

It can't have been fun digging holes for fence posts in this weather!

Cheery_Daff

We went with post spikes, rather than digging holes, but no, I'd not describe any of it as fun 😂😂  And as it turned out, the spikes were a menace. Sold for 75x75cm timber, which is what we used, but they were quite spacious and required a LOT of packing. We were keen to get it finished so didn't bother sending back, but it's been a lot of effort - especially because, as you can see, they're not resting on the ground.

Anyway, done now! Just need to rearrange the garage to get everything back in. Garage sorting might have to go on the list for my month off 😬

redofromstart

oh that is a pretty fence, I do like those hurdles.  I agree on the plant in front logic, there are lots of lovely tall things that could work and would benefit from the shelter you have.  I bought quite a few 'garden ready' sized fox gloves for my garden this year and hope they will happily self seed once they are established and flower next year.

KajiKita

@Cheery_Daff, my artist friend bought a single fence panel and attached to the back of a large trough and planted a whole line of verbena bonariensis in front of the fence this year - looks stunning, really sculptural 😊 Might be a useful filler between your other other options? 😊

KK

Cherryfudge

I like the fence Cheery - nice to have some light coming through but it will give you privacy. I hope the new neighbours turn out to be kindred spirits, but even so, you need your own space.

And chez Cherry (not to be confused with Cheery ) - Watering took a while today as we now have a hose pipe ban. DH remembered the sun lounger and it shows up nicely against the pale brown of the lawn. Yes, really...

I spent another hour on the ground elder as recent rain has given it renewed vigour. Lots of leaves removed, with as much stem as possible as it appears to be able to use stems to sustain itself. I also rediscovered the old line of stones along the edge of the original path across the front of the house. They could have been there nearly ninety years. The line isn't straight any more but I'll reinstate it. It creates a tiny flower bed space between the door and the bay window so eventually I'd like to put something nice there but at present it's the potatoes in their bags. Once I've got rid of the ground elder that's evidently still in there, I'll mulch it and put the potato bags back on top till the edge of the clearance has moved further away. It would be nice eventually to put something there - I envisage a trellis against the house and a golden rose, but it's east-facing so there may not be enough sun.

Farway

The fence is a big improvement, is it treated? Because I've seen those sorts of wattle fences decrepit after a few years of weathering.

To help soften it, and also give some nice blossom & fruit. Fix wires between the posts and train some cane fruits of your choice horizontally along the wires.

I suggest a thornless blackberry, maybe Merton Thornless, which has lovely flavour and large pink flowers or Loganberry, or both, one at each end