What have you done today in the Garden?

Thank you Pacnorwest

Did a bit of watering of what i could manage, i was going to pot on the polyanthus but they will have to wait.

 

Been out all day, but had to water the Lettuces and Wallflowers which had begun to dry out a bit from not being watered over the weekend, thankfully everything else was fine and still damp enough. There's a chance that we might get some rain tomorrow so will hold off watering tonight.

 

You're most welcomed Clay, hope it might prove useful to you.
You do need a lot of patience as you wait and wait for signs of new life.
I kept them by the window in our utility room ,no additional heating in there but the freezer and fridge motors seem to keep it at a decent temperature in there, even during the Winter.

 

At least it's not as bad as Irn Bru

It sounds nice Annie but it used to drive my Daughter manic when we lived North of Watford Gap

Just perspective Mr Regan I used a level, honest

 

I guessed that, but I couldn't resist, some of my photos lean too.

 

Mowed the grass paths, watered all the test toms and cleaned another section of the flower garden.

 

You all have been busy on here. I did not realize I was so far behind. (3 pages)

DS was here over the weekend, and we worked more on the ditch work sunday, and got another piece of pipe put in. He mostly worked on digging out around the roots in that bushy area. There are a few more tree and bush roots to get out of there before the pipe can go all the way through. My shoulder won't let me do that. Next time he is home again (probably mid August) he hopes to finish that up. I tried to do some mowing today, but rains moved in and put a stop to mowing. I did have a bag full of clippings for Horsey. Later when there was a lull, I worked on raking the dirt back into the ditch some. I did get a bunch of that done. And then we got a huge dump of rain here.

It is hot and steamy, so I did not do much else. This evening, I tidied up my tomato plants some.

Sorry to be hogging all of the rain. I would share it with dry areas if I knew how.

 

Yesterday evening, my laptop said the rain would stop. It hadn't even started! It's 10.20am and it's raining, but not heavily. The forecast says rain all day. But sunny (for golf) tomorrow! So the garden won't get any attention until the end of the week.

 

We got a good clump of rain today @AAnightowl & @Doghouse Riley

Got one side of cladding on the woodshed but not enough left to do the other side so will have to improvise

 

I started at 5AM Before temps heated up to 90F.
Most of the midmorning was out power washing the barn and shed and roofs. A lot of moss , dust and debris as usual on everything.
Also reclaimed the edging around the front and side gardens using my version of a power washer (no vibration) , and blowing up a few ground squirrels and mole mounds.

Mowed the pasture a bit and piled the dried black branches I killed down an area 42’x20’ in small piles to handle later. Until I hit a bee hive in the ground . Stopped and left the area before I was attacked again.

Question If anyone has a tried and true technique to eliminate the bee ground hive please let me know. For now I added a couple solar bug zappers.

I noticed a lot of those face flies are everywhere all of a sudden. I need to get a bee face net . To keep the face flies at bay. For today I used ‘Green Lipped Mussel Cream - repurposed . As it is developed for sore muscles… it’s also the best way to keep mosquitoes at bay. My secret formula…

 

@Pacnorwest What we did on the farm for an absolutely enormous yellow jacket nest in the ground was to dump a bucket full of dirt over the nest with the Big, very big, Fordson Super Major tractor I had. It sucessfully burried the nest. You need to do it after dark while they are all in there, though.

 

@Anniekay… I would like to give that a try. Don’t have dirt sitting round unless I dig it up. The clay soil is like concrete this time of year around the pastures. The bucket on the maintenance tractor can’t scoop it out. Thank you for the suggestion.

 

Had to do a massive watering job last night as everything if seriously wilting and in some cases dying.
Despite keeping up with it the moisture evaporates so very quickly. Can't use hosepipes ( and don't normally) but traipsing back and forth carrying watering cans is just proving too much.
Twisted my healing knee badly on Monday doing so..couldn't weightbear for 24 hours. Gently does it today as I have a fair bit of walking to do.

 

At night... pour dawn dish detergent in the hole, then put the hose on

 

TO
Dish detergent ? Ok could try it tonight. Thank you for your help. The nest is to far away to use water , it’s in the pasture by the road. I should have mentioned the bee nest has no access to the water hose. Or as our British friends say, “Water Pipe”.

I ordered a can of spray spectrecide for yellow bees . Special foaming formula to kill bees and reach all the under ground tunnels.at night . The spray can has a long extension to attach to the spray nozzle to reach inside the opening on the ground. I also ordered a hazmat suit and planning on covering up pretty good. Not taking any more chances or swelling up like the Pillsbury Dough Boy from aggressive yellow bee stings. Thank goodness they are not those giant killer bees.

3 years ago I was stung over 50 x’s by yellow bees after mowing over them. They swarmed and chased me on my riding mower to the house. Thank goodness they don’t leave a stinger behind as other bees do. From that incident I have developed an allergic reaction to bee stings. Safety and protection is my first concern. YIKES…