What have you done in the garden today? Part 2

[ThreeRingCircus]

A continuation of the last thread.

@Zebracat Did you have lids on your water butts?

@MereDintofPandiculation . I can’t remember, maybe one did, but on the other we couldnt make it work. There is so much practicality required in gardens , and I’m dont have it so… could well be that the setup was all wrong.

Just wondering, because all mine have lids, and we don’t get mozzie larvae for the simple reason that the mozzies don’t see the water to lay their eggs in

All mine have lids too, and I haven't so much as seen a Mozzie in the garden.
Plenty of horse flies though, which have previously managed to bite me through jeans.
Today I've just grazed the garden for raspberries to put in some yoghurt, I'll pick some more this evening for guests.

Both my waterbutts have lids, but I’ve noticed that the one with a vented lid currently has some type of larvae in it.

I've done very little today apart from to pop some Erigeron (fleabane) into a bed as it had self-seeded in a rose pot! It's one of my favourite flowers, crops up everywhere in this garden, especially between cracks in the pavement.

My father had open water bits and kept a few goldfish in them to eat the larvae. His butts were galvanised tanks.

Water butts Ffs!

Thanks for the suggestions about my stinky waterbutts

definitely taken on board to only use potable water to water edibles, that's a must.

i wonder if the stuff you put into fishtanks that is safe for fish but to reduce the green algae forming might be good to freshen up the insides of my butts - stop tittering at the back thank you.

I'm going to mark up a couple of my cans with red tape so I will only use them for them for the lettuce, chard, toms, rhubarb and radishes. The rest can have the stinky water, I think it's perked up my seedlings 😂

I’ve pulled up three trug-fuls of weeds (wood avens, Herb Robert, bindweed, Welsh poppies, and violets). Pruned another trug full of mock orange, and another of Lonicera henryii. Inadvertently ripped ff a branch of a climbing rose, so now have a pot full of Emily Gray cuttings as well.

Then went round to Argos to pick up a blender so we can start making mulberry smoothies.

Dead headed in the rose garden and weeded (but not enough). Cut back a moss rose that had become a thicket. 'Capitaine John Ingram'. My hands were coated it that sticky stuff that moss roses produce. Then deadheaded another moss - 'Henri Martin' - that one's still in full bloom.
Weeded a stone well headplanted with hidcote lavender. Worst was oxalis - the roots break off- little bastard stuff. The big petrol hedge cutter's been going all day which is brilliant as I love the garden when the hedges are all done. Put some garden centre ivy leafed geranium in the gaps between the posher geraniums that came from Fibrex earlier in the year. They haven't done as well as usual. They need Miracle-Gro perhaps. I seem to have been going all day without achieving much..

Not on Bideshi's scale, but measured how far I walked doing the watering front and back, and it was nearly a mile! And that's hoicking a 10l watering can up a hill each time. House is built into a hill so everything is a slope.

Interestingly, it's known on old maps as Gallows Hill. It's not where they had them- that's on the Heath just up the road- but I think we were the highest point where you could see down to them.
That or I'll come across some interesting finds at some point!

Now the bluebells have had their alloted time to die back, I'll turn the wild patch into a neater one. Already planning what I'll move where, and what will be planted out come Autumn

Thanks MereDint for news of the move.

Tonight, I watered my veg and picked peas already ripe for tomorrow's dinner.

Going to wait until tomorrow to feed tomatoes.

I weeded and deadheaded, but also didn't get very far. My plant supports came. They won’t work for the roses, but should sort out my flattened borders.

I’d like to have goldfish in the tin bath pond, but think it would be too cramped for them. And would frogs and goldfish cohabit peaceably?

Tomorrow I’m going to fit the mesh cover which came with the large water butt, having never bothered until now. Much juvenile vulgarity in this house about the state of my butt, does my butt look big in this, and the like. I also need to cut back the Akebia, which is making another bid for freedom.

would frogs and goldfish cohabit peaceably?

Frogs (of reasonable size) and goldfish, yes. Frogspawn/tadpoles and goldfish, not so much.

We never get frogspawn (as I have lamented before) so we’d be safe on that front, at least.

I seem to have been going all day without achieving much That’s one reason I like having my garden slightly overgrown. Everything I do has a transformative effect

@MereDintofPandiculation 😂😂😂

Went to put the green bin out and realised it had a load of silty sand from jet washing the paving, which the bin men won't take.
Thus, I was forced to deadhead enough stuff to cover up the contraband.
Cutting back my Hazel I noticed a lot of ladybird cocoons so kept those branches out of the bin until the ladybirds emerge.
Anyone wondering where the ladybirds are this year, apparently I have them all.

I have all the little blue ones. I am not sure what their caterpillars look like, or what they feed on but apparently I grow it.

I am going down to the end of the garden to take a picture of my double petal red poppies which look wonderful today. Then I am going to deal with the fox who is digging a hole under my apple tree. It’s my own fault, my soil is nurtured London clay and like velvet! No wonder they like digging in it.

Sorry, little blue butterflies, not blue ladybirds.

I keep having ladybird larvae land on me. I don’t mind, but I wish they wouldn’t bite.

I’m feeling the lack of ladybirds here, although at least the tits are munching their way through the aphids.

We seem to have a surfeit of little blue butterflies too @viques , those and red admirals.
Managed a brief pop out in the lunch break to do some deadheading of roses and dianthus, much more enjoyable when it's not 30 degrees plus