Apologies to my readers. I should be getting back to normal with blog posts about dykes, greenhouses and lawns again very soon.
Needless to say, with the aid of a very very long extension lead, I've managed to completely mow one side of the dyke down to about a foot of the water surface using our trusty electric steel bladed mower. It was back breaking work to say the least. Now I need to do the other side, but that will have to take a back burner for a week or so as my annual reunion with my friends will be coming up soon. A little late for a housewarming, I should have quite a good turn out this year with friends coming from as far away as Letterkenny in Ireland (Hi Paddy!). It will give me a chance to show off my handy work in the garden over the last 2-3 months.
Greenhouse update: I hate catepillars!!! Lots of foliage devestated by those hungry little blighters, yet I'm determined to have organic vegetables so every evening I or a delegate have been removing our green and stripey friends to the bottom of the garden where thay may either enjoy a diet of nettles or be themselves a diet for our winged visitors. My seedlings are coming up well but they've been put outside as the greenhouse was drying them up too quickly between watering.
Another ground spreading conifer planted. This time down beside the rhododendron near the greenhouse as the border was looking a little sparse in this area. Speaking of rhododendrons, we have a plan to convert the front raised border into a haven for acid loving plants. It's easy to maintain pH different to that of the environment in a raised bed so, thanks to my Mother-in-Law weeding/howing it on a daily basis for the last few weeks, it's now a nice clean slate in which to establish the ericacious beauties.
No posts for a few days as I'm planning to take our boat out again. Soon I will have a boating blog. I'll post the link here when it's up and running.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Week Out
I went back to Ireland for a few days to see relatives for a week. As you can see, the blog has been pretty thin on the ground recently. Don't worry, I will sort out the picture of the garden since the JCB has been in another post.
While I was away, my mother-in-law and her partner kept things ticking over nicely as well as doing other things over and above what I'd been expecting. The lawns were mowed, the beds were hoed, the greenhouse watered etc, but they also did loads more weeding that I'd expected and sorted out the raised bed. Before I left, I had planted some fruit trees (2 raspberry and 1 gooseberry). I dug an 18" trench and filled it with rotted grass... however as this was still stinking and had not completely rotted, my Mother-In-Law removed some of it and added some bonemeal and blood so that the trees would have a chance...... see I'm a total novice at some things!
Planted a few conifers the day before I left, in the spaces left by the removal of old ones. A tall one beside the greenhouse and the groundspreader near the shed. My wife helped with these discovering first hand that Junipers, whether dead or alive, can give you a nasty rash.
I recon I'm back up to speed now on the garden since my time away so things will start to be done again.
While I was away, my mother-in-law and her partner kept things ticking over nicely as well as doing other things over and above what I'd been expecting. The lawns were mowed, the beds were hoed, the greenhouse watered etc, but they also did loads more weeding that I'd expected and sorted out the raised bed. Before I left, I had planted some fruit trees (2 raspberry and 1 gooseberry). I dug an 18" trench and filled it with rotted grass... however as this was still stinking and had not completely rotted, my Mother-In-Law removed some of it and added some bonemeal and blood so that the trees would have a chance...... see I'm a total novice at some things!
Planted a few conifers the day before I left, in the spaces left by the removal of old ones. A tall one beside the greenhouse and the groundspreader near the shed. My wife helped with these discovering first hand that Junipers, whether dead or alive, can give you a nasty rash.
I recon I'm back up to speed now on the garden since my time away so things will start to be done again.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Strimmed about 80% of the top of the dyke nearest to the house today. There seems to be a slight issue with bank subsidence. I'll speak to someone who may know about it tomorrow and if it IS really an issue and it cannot be fixed, then it could be a drainage board issue.
Bought loads of biennial seeds and seed trays today. Shops seem to be selling seeds at half price now for obvious reasons so bargains can be had for seeds to be planted for next year flowers.
Cleared stones from a large area of the dykeside lawn project today. All stones should be removed by next weekend (fingers crossed) and selective weedkiller will then be sprayed... with the hope of raking and seeding the following week. Watch this space.
Weather still not stable enough to get JCB in. Hot sunny morning, thunderstorm in afternoon, hot and sunny again in the evening to dry up the torrents. Tomorrow should be good for the lawn mowing, but out for most of the day... typical!!
Bought loads of biennial seeds and seed trays today. Shops seem to be selling seeds at half price now for obvious reasons so bargains can be had for seeds to be planted for next year flowers.
Cleared stones from a large area of the dykeside lawn project today. All stones should be removed by next weekend (fingers crossed) and selective weedkiller will then be sprayed... with the hope of raking and seeding the following week. Watch this space.
Weather still not stable enough to get JCB in. Hot sunny morning, thunderstorm in afternoon, hot and sunny again in the evening to dry up the torrents. Tomorrow should be good for the lawn mowing, but out for most of the day... typical!!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Rained today. Watered greenhouse. Got an email from the drainage board with information about dyke distance restrictions. Will talk more about this at a later date. Spent a couple of hours yesterday clearing the rough dead thatch from the other side of the dyke to give grass a better chance of taking. Only covered about 20 metres before the strimmer ran out of fuel, then I had to go somewhere. Decided that I'm going to attempt to attack the tougher reeds at the bottom of the dyke with a manual sickle as the strimmer probably won't work well under water and I'd require a brushcutter to get through them anyway. As a result of my efforts yesterday, I had a bit of a bad back today... mainly because I used muscles that I haven't used in years! Good exercise, but I do think that the drainage board should take better care of it since they're the one's making all the rules. On the Fens, the drainage board is God as if it weren't for them, we'd all be under water. Just like the original God in the bible, they write a complicated antiquated book of rules, expect you to follow it and expect dire consequences if it is not obeyed - and then abandon you. As you can tell, my faith in the Fen God is starting to falter, however I await the coming of the messianic digger with an open mind.
Removed old dead ground spreading conifer yesterday (Juniper Horizontalis) and all the grass and weeds that had grown up around it. Heavy job. Used the rotavator to get some of the stubborn weeds, howed around it, got rid of stubborn thistles growing through neighbouring plants and then re-planted a "Blue Carpet" Juniper in it's place. It's a little plant not more than 4 inches across, but should spread in no time.
Rearranged greenhouse yesterday also, to make the spa-bath users feel that they are not sitting in a working greenhouse - even though they are. All worked out for the best for all parties involved.
Removed old dead ground spreading conifer yesterday (Juniper Horizontalis) and all the grass and weeds that had grown up around it. Heavy job. Used the rotavator to get some of the stubborn weeds, howed around it, got rid of stubborn thistles growing through neighbouring plants and then re-planted a "Blue Carpet" Juniper in it's place. It's a little plant not more than 4 inches across, but should spread in no time.
Rearranged greenhouse yesterday also, to make the spa-bath users feel that they are not sitting in a working greenhouse - even though they are. All worked out for the best for all parties involved.
Strawberries
We have two strawberry patches here, one in the greenhouse and one in the raised bed by the dyke. Not sure what variety they are but the one's near the dyke were flowering and producing fruit when we moved here (mid to late June). Birds were eating the ones near the dyke so we netted them but since then there have been loads of runners but no flowers or fruit. I understand that to increase the yield runners need to be detached from the plants, but now we've left it so long I'm not sure which are the offspring and which are the parent plants. I guess I'll need to look a little closer. They may just be a Junebearing variety but I could be wrong. I remember when I was a kid that they used to produce bumper harvests from early summer through to the first frosts. I'm going to consult my horticulture guru, my Aunt, for some more information on this as the web and my gardening books seem to be thin on information of this kind.
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