Garden Work In Progress

-taff

So the concrete path is gone, two of the bits that branched off were just set on dirt so very easy to remove. The greenhouse frame is up, awaiting decision on painting black [ so far the hammerite is rubbish after testing, so potentially psraying it instead or not, depends...] The wood at an angle is where there will be gravel in front of the double doors, the straight one on it's own is the level the gravel has to get to to be level with the side, so I've used some of the concrete to fill in. The concrete looking bit on the left in front of the angled wood is concrete blocks in the dirt, so I'll remove those myself and use elsewhere...probably to the left side of the shed to level the ground there.

There was a bit of actual stone in the footings so I've kept back some of that to add to walls. OH is potentially on board with a gabion or two after I explained about planks across the top to sit on...[insert exasperated smiley ]

And the new fence panels at the back x 3 are in. 

Working_Mum

Ooooh it's taking shape -taff Looking so sunny down there I bet you can't wait to get it all sorted.

I sprayed my greenhouse black last year - it would have ben easier to do it whilst it was still in pieces on the floor but I did it whilst in situ - I know I wasted a lot because I didn't hold the can close enough to the metal frame and a lot was lost to the wind! I wore rubber gloves over an old long sleeved t shirt (guess how I worked this out!) and held a piece of card behind where I was spraying and that helped focus my spraying efforts!

Are you going to filling the first bit (up to the angled wood) with gravel? Looks like you've got a bit of levelling to do - it's back breaking work isn't it

I'm a gabion fan so well done on getting Mr -taff on board.

Are you going to keep your existing greenhouse? 

kimwp

Farway said:

kimwp said:

I've been told to proactively go in before the June drop and take off about half of the little apples so you can choose which ones (bigger, unblemished probably) to keep growing.

Sounds wise, but what if the among the ones you leave then June Drop?

Guess no right or wrong way, as in most garden things, do which ever way suits you & your requirements

Oops sorry, I didn't bookmark this thread.

My understanding is that the tree will basically drop half of its apples in the June drop and by picking them off, you are deciding which ones it keeps, presumably it only "wants" to put energy into half, so it puts out twice as many flowers, then gets them through into little apples before dropping half, in case only half survived through those flowering/little fruit development stages?

Sapindus

I love the angle.  Gives it more movement.  Not so sure about painting the greenhouse frame black - won't it absorb heat and do more stretching and shrinking?

-taff

I spent a good portion the day a few days ago cleaning the greenhouse glass with soapy water and a scrubber, along with a staney blade to scrape off the old moss. The greenhouse has mostly been painted, the paint cost 35 quid ish for twelve cans of matt black car stuff, OH has been doing it luckily. I have no idea about stretching and twisting, I would have though aluminium less prone to that but we'll see when the glass goes in. 

The smaller greenhouse will be going, I can't justify keeping it but as always, you never have a big enough greenhouse/polytunnel  

I am updating because things take time, so never worry if you're doing your own garden and it's going glacially...I would like to bish bash bosh it but realistically I'm not physically capable. After spending four hhours at the allotment yesterday my ankle is shot again so todays jobs were just painitng the wood the greenhouse is sat on, the tops of the fences and I also painted the conrete posts. It will fade but it does fade slowly. 2p, that's the little garden stool thing I have in red and blue [ I think it was you who asked about something to sit on? might not have been though, got a memory like a sieve....]

 

Working_Mum

Absolutely everything takes so much time -taff - the DIY / reno programmes have got a lot to answer for! I watched an Alan Titchmarsh one yesterday and he counted 54 people working on the project for one day - that's 54 man days which is a HUGE project in any book. 

If you could just click your fingers and the garden was done I feel sure it wouldn't have the same feeling for you. Although maybe being able to do the work without the aching body afterwards might be worth clicking my fingers for! 

The black greenhouse looks amazing - taff - really modern and classy in my view. Black greenhouses start from £400 so a few quid on spray paint makes it a right bargain.

((WM))

twopenny

I'm surprised, I really like the black greenhouse - 
Can a greenhouse be black? Shouldn't it be green? But they're mostly white........

YoungBlueEyes

Ditto twopenny. I'd never have thought I'd like black, but that does look well taff

moneysaver1978

Looks great and what a start! I too am following this thread with a keen interest!

-taff

I didn't realise I'd done so much to be honest. Working at my pace I tend to forget that i have already done something so seeing that picture up there has given me a thrill...

Current garden view

So in a month I have finished the greenhouse, filled it with stuff. My father used to put his tomatoes in trays with gravel and water the trays, the roots would eventually grow through the bottom of the pot and take on water as and when, and he would feed from the top. I saw no reason to change that, it's a great system so that's what I do too now. I am thinking about going to see an engineering firm if they can make me trays that fit better this year or next though. There has been no twisting or stretching yet because of the colour. 

And this is going to sound maybe silly but I didn't realise the hydraulic window opener worked on how hot it was in general, not how hot it was in the greenhouse if that makes sense, because it was open when there was no glass in the roof. 

I have also put the guttering on the shed for the water butts [ not joined up yet though, need to get some splitter diverters or whatever they're called, and some tubing to join them because I can't reach all the taps as they're quite close to the greenhouse. And I have painted the bits exposed black. Sorry YBE...I only realised after you probably liked the colour because it was the same colour as Handsome You can see how badly it's warped already. That's an advert not to skimp on quality. 

I have also moved all of my potting on stuff to the side of the shed from the side of the original greenhouse. It was going to to go to the right of the new greenhouse but then I realised that's in superstrength sun all day which is no good for seedlings, so I laid a rubbishy floor with the bricks one of the waterbutts used to sit on [ I have acquired another stand from somewhere] and levelled them with the spoil from the old path. Very rough and ready. 

I've also filled the raised bed I moved after a fashion and stuf Princess Jasmin[oides] in there to see if she'll bounce back. If she does, I'll make a prettier thing for her to climb up, and the rest of it will be herbs.