It's quick and east, you can use alcohol, methylated spirits or alternatively I prefer to use Tea Tree oil. A few drops of the essential oil on cotton wool and rub over the blade after you have finished pruning the plant you are working on.
I have never given much thought to cleaning my tools after use, but I guess it makes sense! If I prune one apple tree with canker and then prune a health apple tree, I am spreading the infection.
It's quick and east, you can use alcohol, methylated spirits or alternatively I prefer to use Tea Tree oil. A few drops of the essential oil on cotton wool and rub over the blade after you have finished pruning the plant you are working on. Out of 2 pumpkin plants planted in the compost heap this was the only one that grew. The plant was about 20ft long in total and had lots of flowers. Next year I won't let the plant grow quite as big and hope for a BIGGER pumpkin.
Our front hedge is Viburnum tinus and the first shrub is Viburnum tinus 'Gwellian" which is variegated version. The hedge has been left to grow over the past few years and is out of shape so David and I tackled it this weekend. It will have to be done of the next year, but we stared by taking about 2ft off the height and then just lightly trimmed the sides and it looks good. Today I have just tidied up the borders, they are covered in Ground Elder (Aegopodium podagraria) which I have been digging out when I see it, hopefully next year it will be less invasive and I can start filling the borders with flowers. A year on, and where has the time gone. Well I only have to look back at the blog to see how much we have accomplished. It's October and we still have a glut of tomatoes on the vine in the greenhouse, there are brussels sprouts, swede, celeriac and carrots still in the ground, not to mention the rhubarb that will be perfect next year.
In September I dug up all the strawberry plants and have potted on, ready to grow next year in raised beds to hopefully increase the strawberry yeald. September has also been an exciting time for me as I enrolled at Lackham college, where I am studying Horticulture and professional garden design and I LOVE IT!!! It does mean gardening has slowed down slightly but I also think this is due to the time of year. Today I have emptied the greenhouse and cleaned it out, sorted old empty pots and brought in the geraniums in for the winter. I have also pinched out the sweetpeas that I accidentally grew last month. After being invited a few weeks back to "the girls gin night". The gin playing no part in me voluntering to host this years "Studley Corner BBQ",today was the day everyone turned up. They came prepared with food, drink, chairs and good humour.
The kids all entertained themselves without the need for alcohol and I have to say I was impressed with those who also abstained from vast alcohol consumption Today was a sad day, I let the chickens out in the morning as usual, but later in the day when I looked out at them, our Black Chicken wasn't moving and I knew she'd died: She had been broody for about 3 weeks and I had been removing the eggs as soon as the other two had laid and shunting her off the nest, but she wasn't eating properly and I think she must have just given up. It's funny, I emptied a bag of growing potatoes today, they were being grown in "stuff" compost from the garden, and I got a large punnet of spuds out of it. Enough for about 3 family meals. I was thinking about the monetary value and about the effort if takes to chit them, earth them up, water them and then wait to harvest them. The answer is simple........the effort is priceless when you have a meal in front of you that you grew yourself. David has been having great fun practicing his hangman's noose knot. I bit of a challenge when you tie one end of the rope to the tree and then have to tie the other knot, upside down and work it that when it is pulled tight, it's the right length for the chair. Not to mention that he had to balance of a rickety ladder, on a hill, with ME holding it..... The kids love it and it means I have taken down the rope swing because I have planted out the area underneath it.
I am so happy with the willow dome, it is a little bit of a relaxing haven, hidden away from the world. A place to sit and contemplate, or read a book, or even have a sneaky glass of wine. Today was the hottest 1st July ever recorded. So having a place to sit that offers a little shade from the sun is blissful. Note to self:
-do not grown broad beans AGAIN, they take up a lot of space, nobody likes them and they get covered in black fly: have pulled them all up and added to the compost bin. (should have fed them to the chickens, hindsight). - have planted 4 squashes in their place. - have weeded around the carrots and pulled a few for dinner. -radishes: don't grow again as they were not eaten, even left them out for passer-by with a FREE sign and they were left! - have transplanted swede where the onions and garlic were. -The leeks in the tray are still too small to plant out. -iceberg lettuce planted next to the sweet corn as there is a small space left. Planted this border out at the end of April. it's looking good. A bit of a country garden feel about it. Whilst not the loveliest hammock, because I couldn't find the one I had had for years but never used, I purchased a new one online. However I have found the perfect spot between two trees, in the shade, looking out across the garden. The garden pump is also there and David has said he will pave and put a walkway/bridge across.
I spent the morning at a friends house, she has a fabulous cottage garden that she has had redesigned so she has lots of plants with no homes, so today I went over to see what she had.
Lots of aquilegia, alchemical mollies, Astrantia and Allium nectoscorium, all of which I have planted under the shade of the beech trees and the left of the garden, I have also added some hostas. During my wet, wonder round the garden this morning. I spotted this white spider on the flower of the Broad Beans. Apparently it is a crab spider, they are able to change their body colour to match their background, this can take a few days and they can appear white, yellow or green. They sits on flowers waiting for insects to land close by, and then pounce on them - trapping them between their crab-like front legs. With a glut of plants I decided to set up stall.
Left 18 plants out with an honesty box, 10 plants gone and £7 in the jar including two empty pots returned. I'm happy with that... |
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AuthorThe Drock, meaning Water Course: |