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Started planting next door
Sep. 14th, 2006 07:18 pmNo toothache today! No idea why, but I'm not complaining.
Took advantage of feeling normal to cycle down to the local garden centre and buy various perennials and some bulbs. (Iris, lavender, crocuses, lamb's ears, aubretia and campanula)
Planted them all up and then the rain watered them in for me. Looks good and I'll have some more to add in a day or two when plants I mail-ordered arrive. I'm putting in a fair number of British native plants like Jacob's Ladder, Monkshood and flax. And bluebells, of course. English, NOT Spanish.
Feeling happy!
Took advantage of feeling normal to cycle down to the local garden centre and buy various perennials and some bulbs. (Iris, lavender, crocuses, lamb's ears, aubretia and campanula)
Planted them all up and then the rain watered them in for me. Looks good and I'll have some more to add in a day or two when plants I mail-ordered arrive. I'm putting in a fair number of British native plants like Jacob's Ladder, Monkshood and flax. And bluebells, of course. English, NOT Spanish.
Feeling happy!
Garden design
Aug. 29th, 2006 05:53 pmI love my neighbours!
Not only are they paying me to mow, weed and trim their garden, but they've just given me a plant-buying budget to play with. There's a general request for blues/lilacs/soft colours and a natural look to it. Beyond that, they trust me to pick something that will work.
This is so exciting! My mind is playing with ideas. I'd already thought that some silvery foliage might work well and that would fit in very well with blues as there's several plants with a silvery tint to the leaves that have blue flowers.
I'm toying with a globe thistle http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plant_finder/plant_pages/7607.shtml as a centrepiece. Catmint, lavender, bluebells, iris, what else would people suggest?
Anyone fancy making a fork and trowel icon for me?
Not only are they paying me to mow, weed and trim their garden, but they've just given me a plant-buying budget to play with. There's a general request for blues/lilacs/soft colours and a natural look to it. Beyond that, they trust me to pick something that will work.
This is so exciting! My mind is playing with ideas. I'd already thought that some silvery foliage might work well and that would fit in very well with blues as there's several plants with a silvery tint to the leaves that have blue flowers.
I'm toying with a globe thistle http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plant_finder/plant_pages/7607.shtml as a centrepiece. Catmint, lavender, bluebells, iris, what else would people suggest?
Anyone fancy making a fork and trowel icon for me?
It has finally got cool enough to be able to do some decent work in the garden without collapsing from heat stroke. And, oh boy, is there lots to be done. Fortunately, I like gardening - I find it relaxing (and I've been pretty stressed this last week, so relaxation is good).
I've been lawnmowing and weed pulling and trimming stuff here and there and pulling out more weeds. I'm just giving my back a quick rest before I return to cutting the grass away from the flagstones in the back lawn.
It's lovely to see the blackbirds visiting their nest in the wisteria. They're so habituated to my presence that they'll visit the nest even when I'm pottering around in the garden. We've also got a juvenile robin (spotty brown breast instead of the adult red) who is remarkably bold and comes to watch when I'm cutting out the old raspberry canes.
The summer fruiting raspberries (the new growth at least) recovered to a decent green colour with a multi-mineral feed and lots of water. However, the same treatment has had no impact on the autumn fruiting raspberries, which look as sad and yellow as they did before.
I've been lawnmowing and weed pulling and trimming stuff here and there and pulling out more weeds. I'm just giving my back a quick rest before I return to cutting the grass away from the flagstones in the back lawn.
It's lovely to see the blackbirds visiting their nest in the wisteria. They're so habituated to my presence that they'll visit the nest even when I'm pottering around in the garden. We've also got a juvenile robin (spotty brown breast instead of the adult red) who is remarkably bold and comes to watch when I'm cutting out the old raspberry canes.
The summer fruiting raspberries (the new growth at least) recovered to a decent green colour with a multi-mineral feed and lots of water. However, the same treatment has had no impact on the autumn fruiting raspberries, which look as sad and yellow as they did before.
Cut back the hedge a little bit more (It didn't get trimmed enough last year, so it's got a bit too big and needs cutting back much harder this year). If I didn't have roses growing through it, I could just tackle it with a hedge trimmer. I'm doing it with secateurs, which is slow, but I'm in no great hurry and why complain when it's a sunny day and there's an emperor dragonfly over the pond, a robin is singing in the laurel and my hawkmoth caterpiller has moved to a much safer spot on an evening primrose.
I've transplanted a bit of orange hawkweed that Molly gave me into the front garden. It's been growing quite well round the back and it has pretty flowers. Let's see if it will grow in a less sunny spot near the front door. Apparantly orange hawkweed is a noxious weed in America - one of the many bad deeds to go over the Atlantic. It's quite well behaved over here, but then evening primrose is a native of America and is a noxious weed in my garden (seeds like wildfire and roots everywhere).
I only wish my hawkmoth caterpillar was actually eating the plant, but I think he's just resting there. Plants without their natural predators are a pain.
(e-mail backlog down to 50. I'm still gaining ground. The further I get, the harder the remaining ones are to reply to as they're the ones that have been put off because they require more work...)
I've transplanted a bit of orange hawkweed that Molly gave me into the front garden. It's been growing quite well round the back and it has pretty flowers. Let's see if it will grow in a less sunny spot near the front door. Apparantly orange hawkweed is a noxious weed in America - one of the many bad deeds to go over the Atlantic. It's quite well behaved over here, but then evening primrose is a native of America and is a noxious weed in my garden (seeds like wildfire and roots everywhere).
I only wish my hawkmoth caterpillar was actually eating the plant, but I think he's just resting there. Plants without their natural predators are a pain.
(e-mail backlog down to 50. I'm still gaining ground. The further I get, the harder the remaining ones are to reply to as they're the ones that have been put off because they require more work...)
Life without Henry
Oct. 2nd, 2005 10:21 pmI'm settling into new patterns now and starting to adapt.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
des res for caterpillar
Oct. 2nd, 2005 02:47 pmWhile gardening this afternoon, I came across two large and torpid caterpillars on the lip of the compost bin. As they look like something the cat left on the lawn, only with false eyes at one end, I rather assume they're hawk moth caterpillars of some kind.
I assume they're just about to turn into chrysallises, if not part of the way already. (One of them has anchored itself quite firmly to the bin.
Now, I'd leave them there to spend the winter (it's obviously a warm cosy spot with the heat from the rotting compose) but it simply isn't safe for them. I'm regularly adding more weeds and hedge clippings and putting the lid back on risks squashing them (I'm amazed I didn't kill them in the process of removing the lid in the first place).
What should I do with them? What is the ideal overwintering place for a caterpillar?
I assume they're just about to turn into chrysallises, if not part of the way already. (One of them has anchored itself quite firmly to the bin.
Now, I'd leave them there to spend the winter (it's obviously a warm cosy spot with the heat from the rotting compose) but it simply isn't safe for them. I'm regularly adding more weeds and hedge clippings and putting the lid back on risks squashing them (I'm amazed I didn't kill them in the process of removing the lid in the first place).
What should I do with them? What is the ideal overwintering place for a caterpillar?
Gardening in hot weather
Jul. 12th, 2005 04:56 pmI'm making some progress on the garden today, but I'm having to come inside every 15 mins or so to cool down. (I don't bother with sun lotion, I just move out the sun once I get hot - it's worked so far)
I've been clipping the hedge the last couple of days and tying down the climbing rose. I've been dead-heading and pruning the rose as I go and I think there'll be a really good second flush of flowers on it before long.
There's a bramble in the corner that needs cutting back, but that will have to wait for cooler weather. I'm not venturing in that corner without a long-sleeved shirt for protection. I've got enough scratches from the hedge as it it!
The back lawn beckons...
I've been clipping the hedge the last couple of days and tying down the climbing rose. I've been dead-heading and pruning the rose as I go and I think there'll be a really good second flush of flowers on it before long.
There's a bramble in the corner that needs cutting back, but that will have to wait for cooler weather. I'm not venturing in that corner without a long-sleeved shirt for protection. I've got enough scratches from the hedge as it it!
The back lawn beckons...
