Got into the garden in between storms yesterday to plant some asparagus. This is my third attempt; my first bed did not get enough sun, then the hens attacked when they went into lockdown, the second bed had more light and better soil but still lost 50% of the crowns, now added ten more with a good dressing of soil/manure.
Although some house work got done, this amuses me. It’s from 2 ladies and a hoe:
Severly pruned an old Lilac tree that had spread everywhere with a sabre saw and pruners.
Got some tomatoes in as well
My garden has got a bit wild/overgrown in recent years which is good for wildlife but a bit embarrassing as the neighbours probably snigger with their immaculate turfed lawns and little else.
I have very old sandpits/playpools which are an eyesore but frogs need somewhere to lay their spawn.
Equally have a large pile of old internal wood up against a wall which the builder didn’t remove (I think he thought I’d use it on the log burner, but it’s old and painted/treated with heaven knows what). I believe hedgehogs were living behind it up until recently so haven’t removed it - it may now be time as I’ve not seen them since last summer.
The weather has been appalling. Planted some runner/broad been seeds maybe a month ago and they have only germinated in the last week, tomato seedlings also only just appearing.
I planted a few tomato plants a few weeks ago which were starting to come on. Yesterday discovered one of the cherry tomato plants had disappeared - only stem below the soil remaining - suspect it was the storm Thu/Fri but possibly birds.
Typically I think a wiley slug had discovered the pots so moved them onto an old garden table last night. Heard some squawking earlier and looked out to see a family of magpies pecking away at the beans to get at the seed beans under the soil, probably because bird feeder is empty. Very annoying as lost maybe 20% of seedlings in minutes.
Prepared some soil for possible planting the other week, unfortunately local cats have discovered a new place to powder their noses. I wonder how well beans will work in containers.
Hoping to get into the garden to trim back a diseased cherry tree with some precarious branches today.
Hoping to try out my new reciprocating saw on some trees today.
Our garden is clay soil so very hard work, there’s an “academy” at the back who couldn’t give a damn about the neighbours, rain water run off from changes they made to the playground mean we have a bog in winter and concrete hard in summer so I lost heart and left it to nature. Odd and ends from woodturning mean I have a log pile and for the last three years I have been rewarded with stag beetles. I don’t prune my cherry to spoil the flight path for the local sparrowhawks, so I get rewarded with pictures like these
It’s all a balance isn’t it.
It’s the wrong time to prune cherry I believe but there are badly diseased branches hich could cause mischief if they come down. I think it may haved had it and need a professional to look at it.
There’s a bright yellow fungus on several otherwise healthy looking branches which I suspect is very bad news and my cackhanded pruning of years gone by has probably allowed disease in. There’s also heavy infestation with some wood boring grub which is frustrating. I’m trying to sort out thedead overhanging bits a bit today. Cherry is darned hard to saw, so the reciprocating saw is handy for things within reach. It’s a bit sad to cut back ‘perches’ the birds use, but they have plenty of others!
Balance changes as I get older, I do what I can and safety comes first, so whilst it is a bit early in the year to cut cherry, needs must. In general cherry trees are short lived and at 39 years we know that ours is declining.
Yes, it is hard to cut, I find a Japanese style blade that cuts on the pull stroke easier to manage.
Last year we had the opportunity to buy a plot of land adjacent to our garden. There was a chicken barn on it, which hadn’t been used to house chickens for ~50 years. The shed needed to be demolished as it was collapsing, exposing cracked asbestos roof panels and wall and roof linings. Planning consent (for demolition and change of use) was delayed, owing to coronavirus, taking five months in the end. Planning also specified the boundary types and I am now in the process of taking down the existing boundary wall. Unfortunately, it’s not a true drystone construction, having been filled with concrete between the skins. This is presenting a massive challenge as none of my existing tools (crow bar, bolsters, cold chisels, sledge hammer, pick axe) will touch it. It also means that many stones crack instead of lifting out easily and I hope to use these stones to build flower beds.
I learnt something about wood lice the other day: they recycle metals.
Hmmm, that’s a fair sized wall to shift manually. If I were you I think I would hire a breaker to speed things up a bit.
Interesting. What happens to the heavy metals they ingest, though? Presumably they take them away and either excrete them, return them to the soil elsewhere when they die, or move them up the food chain when they are eaten? Either way, I can’t help thinking that this would concentrate these contaminants, possibly to more dangerously increased levels, just in a different location?
I think you’d get a better result hiring an electric breaker and using a flat bit horizontally between the courses of stone. If the mortar mix isn’t too strong the vibrations alone should loosen the stonework.
Thanks, @ChrisSU and @JohnF. I’ll take your advice and get one. I do need to try not to break too many of the stones (which is easy to do, being cotswold stone) as I hope to use them to edge the beds in the formal area of the new garden. I’ll also seek the advice of our drystone wall builder (proper drystone, without concrete!) when I see him tomorrow.
Don’t worry your garden probably does far more for bio-diversity than a thousand well kept lawns .
The front garden will be cut, but I intend to go all Kate Bradbury at the back .
ouch
You may find it cheaper to buy a cheapish SDS drill rather than hire anything. Unless the mortar is a really strong mix, any old one will do as long as it has a chisel mode.
Thanks, Chris. Yes, I have been comparing hire costs with purchase costs and I guess it depends on how long it will take me. The mortar is an incredibly hard concrete mix. Even beating hell out of it with cold chisels and bolsters makes very little impression. I’ve only a mere 25m to take down!! I’ll discuss it with the drystone waller tomorrow as I’m sure he’ll be able to judge the best approach.
That’ll be a Silky saw?
You should find a fairly good spec SDS with hammer will progress quite rapidly, the only issue is that the powerful ones ie 6 Kg or more are fairly heavy.
