6th December 2013

Morning all its Saturday 16th November 2013
The weather is quite still today so I thought I would start by jet washing my patio as it’s the only place apart from dog walking were my dogs can relief them self’s . As I say it’s very clam and pleasant; just a little bit damp under foot. Now that the patio is clean it’s on to blowing the leaves of the lawn as I want to fertilize with autumn 2-1 later on today.

After I’ve blown and collected the leaves I think  it’s time to dig over my flower beds and add the bags of farm manure I keep tripping  over  also on my list of things to do this weekend is cut back a bush plus a rose tree  back once this is done I also intend to add farm manure. Farm manure was added to my Jasmin about two weeks ago however I did add toilet roll around the stem first just to stop the farm manure burning the plant. The same will be added to the base of my bush.

I have also to do on my list is pot up two wallflowers in to a heavy glazed terracotta pot along with two campanulas I bought a while ago. I going to stop writing about it a go and do some work I should return with photo’s see you later I spoke to soon went out to dig the flower beds, guess what IT’S RAINING CATS AND DOGS I did plant up my wall flowers and raked the lawn before the rain started O’well such is life.

So it’s now Monday but its raining again forecast for Tuesday is bright sun shine so we will just have to see.

I think I will sow some sweet peas at some point today however I have to repair the cold frame as the wind has knocked the stuffing out of it.

First I do wish to apologize for the slight delay in my blog; due to ill health I’ve not been in my garden for a two to three weeks


So what do I expect to do this week?

Well I did say I would sow my sweet peas, first I had to repair my cold frame as the high winds last month kicked it around my garden. The repair was quite easy as I just ran a bead of sealant along the rebate for the plastic, so now it’s screwed down on my decking just for the winter/spring.

Sweet peas I have bought are as follows

•   Lathyrus odoratus "Black Knight"
•   Orange Henry Eckford
•   White Dorothy Eckford

So after I ordered the wrong plastic bag growing pot/bags I was directed to a sweet pea web site.

Here http://www.eaglesweetpeas.co.uk/gallery.php?g=8  where they have advice, materials also how to do videos.

Little tip; use john innings SEED compost.

After I potted up my plastic pots/bags I watered and then added my seeds, No need to soak or cut the seeds as they will be just fine without this treatment.

I placed grit in the bottom of a seed tray and placed my pots/bags on top just to keep the air flowing around the pots/bags and then placed them in to my cold frame also as instructed I placed news paper on top with a mouse trap,  done !

I’m not expecting them to germinate for about 3 to 4 weeks but I shall be keeping my eye on them.

So what else have I been up to well I’ve started My compost bin, also started to clear the site where it’s going however while it’s still in my garage waiting to have the inside finished I’m going to seal it with fence paint inside and out after two to three coats of this I’m going to add the weed barrier stuff only to prolong the life of the wood. The Timber care fence paint is no smelling so after it’s dry it shouldn’t harm my compost material.

I've done some research on how best to start a compost bin off.
what does this mean well I don't want to waste any of my garden waste that I've been collecting since o'about august "what little I have" so starting the compost bin is a really important. Lets just take a look at what will turn garden waste in to organic matter well rotting involves bacteria and fungus but also the very common garden worm is needed to help to break down all that lovely garden waste. well believe it of not horse manure is teaming with it, SO OFF I GO in search of this wonder full stuff. I will keep you up dated of my travels in finding this manure. Next to the green matter we need air in the compost bin also to help break down the vegetation so we use a layer of brown this includes cardboard, news paper, BUT NOT GLOSSY MAGAZINES, and if like me you have hedges chipping from these also stems.

so I plan to add a layer of cardboard, horse muck and then my green waste and so on   

I’m keeping on top of the leaves on the lawn with raking every  four to five days  just into a pile at the bottom of the garden for the wild life I never get but hay that might be different this year as I’m keeping my dogs out of my garden to protect my lawn.

I’ve also started clearing the front garden of brambles and the odd conifer I even managed 5 hours on Saturday with the shredder which I can highly recommend it’s so quiet. filling, cutting and loading a shredder you need three hands so I glues a magnet to hang my pruners off. I'm very pleased with it as it works very well.

I also won a second shredder on Ebay last week for £1.75 this is a very noisy beast but I only bought it for shredding leaves I’ve collected without using my lawn mower.

The hopper on the second shredder is a bit bigger that my quiet machine.

Atco machine crushes the material while the lawn shredder machine cuts but has a U shape blade on top of the spinning cutting blade to stop it getting blocked, but at £1.75 the machine is worth it just for the cable and plug LOL

Sunday was a really nice day so I painted my shed with the echo’s of a pheasant shoot filtering into the garden I didn’t need the radio as memories of a childhood in the country came flooding back it was chilly but turned out to be a perfect day.

Today is Wednesday 4th December with plans to locate my compost bin and turn my currant compost over and add to the newly made compost bin.

Also today I hope to clear some more of my front garden.

while I'm still clearing the front garden I still have other jobs to do. I'm planning to finish my fence this week and also plant up my tulips so until next time keep on digging clueless but with direction

Comments left

KEF

Enjoying your blog

Verdun

Hiya James. First visit to your blog. Interesting and may become addictive!
Compost bin looks excellent. I have 2 ....the larger is homemade with brickwork and a hinged aluminum lid. The other is a largish plastic dalek type. Could use more bins.
Look forward to reading more


Heather

Great blog James. Hoping I'm one of the 100 visitors you want to achieve today x


Nutcutlet

Hi James
Keep up the good work. Nice record of progress.