What have you done today in the Garden?

6am start before the wind starts. I sprayed the pastures for tansey ragwort and poison hemlock , and weeds weeds galore. Sprayed the entire perimeter for blackberries and posion oak. took 4 , 12 gallon containers to spray the entire area.



Grass pasture is really dry . No rain in weeks.



Treated all front driveway trees for Gypsy Moth. Use pellets to sprinkled around the base of the
trees, then water in well.


Replaced the pump on the pond waterfall.


Found another ground bee nest … ughh..

 

The plan today was to do some wisteria pruning and then give the rails of the rose patio balustrade a second coat of paint.

But I was greeted with this view from our French windows, this morning and it's still raining!







I'm pleased with the annual growth of the azaleas in the bed next to the main patio.
It's far too thick for wood pigeons to try to "flop" through them to get at the small bird feeder below the canopy.






I'll just have to content myself with watching cricket, golf and later tennis on TV.

 

Looking fabulous Pac despite the dryness of the
grass pasture it still holds such beauty..
Reading up on ground bees ( in general) it's reports that some types of ground bees are quite docile...fingers crossed that's what yours are .
I also read of how and why some bees die after using their sting....pretty gruesome death and sadly Honey Bees are such poor victims.

https://www.livescience.com/do-bees-die-after-stinging.


Well after a morning of hw / laundry I finally made it out into the garden yesterday afternoon....by which time the muggy heat had really built up !!

Attempted to tidy up the nursery area but due to it's position of remaining a sun trap for most of the day the idea had to be abandoned unfortunately.

I did manage to salvage a good harvest of nice leaves from the remaining bolted lettuces before composting them. Planted out some more mixed variety ones that have been nurtured away from the drying sun/ heat. They are looking good and should see us through for another couple of months.

Harvested a few more cucumbers and picked enough blackberries to see us through the weekend.
Hubs began the attack on the sprouting weeds on the paths but after a hour ..and without shade I managed to persuade him to stop....oh the powers of an Ice Cream!!

Early evening we did the rounds with the watering cans . what a tiring chore!!

Today so far just worked my way around the garden deadheading...why oh why do Petunias get so sticky!! I recently read somewhere that there is no detrimental effect on the plants if not deadheaded. A study was done and they just happily continued blooming away!!
Unlike, it seems, most flowers who are actively encouraged into survival mode and throw out more blooms when fading ones are removed. Only issue is fading Petunia blooms look awful....so needs must.

Not sure what to do as the new supply of Wallflowers have obviously loved our weather and have romped away. Could really do with getting their roots into the ground as they are so big but need to hold off for at least a couple more months. Might try and see if they can be block lifted and sunk into deeper troughs.

 

Nothing much today, picked all of the red and white currants, just got the blackberries and do some watering later.

 

Someone mention Honeybees?

I have this in one of my jukeboxes.
One of so many short-lived girl groups from the sixties, however, unlike many contemporary girl groups, they could all sing.



A combination of singers from two groups The Crystals (Barbara Alston, Mary Thomas) and the Cookies (Dorothy Jones and Earl-Jean McCrea).

 

....What year was it released @Doghouse Riley ???

 

Collected up some more seeds this afternoon and now they are all drying out in there individually named containers..

 

I had to go on Disgogs to find the information as it's not on the record.
I did know it was written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin.
It says it was released in 1964.

 

Oreti thank you for your encouraging words. Really helps when others post about what other gardeners here are struggling with or other garden related projects. I really enjoy reading about your garden activities.
And sounds like you had a nice harvest and lovely flowers still abounds around your beautiful garden. Your staying very much into garden tasks like a buzzy bee..

Speaking of bees your narration about some ground bees that are not stingers while others are docile is so true. The first ground bee hive was full of seriously active stinger carpenter bees. The second and third ground bee hives were quite docile and didn’t require wearing a ton of protection to eliminate them located in the dogs area. Tonite will approach another hive and this one is the stinger aggressor bees. So I will make sure they are all in the hive at dusk before approaching them and will wear a ton of protection and try not to get stuck in the suit this time with the gloves duct taped to the sleeves again.

Out mowing at 6:30 am before the winds starts up. The perimeter needed checking for ground critters . No signs of any activity from above or below ground. But a couple of ground squirrels are now trying to dig around the foundation of the house again. Manage to descourage them all week. Traps are working and lots of good news the deer have left the area for higher ground . This time of year food becomes scarce and they head back up higher ground where food is readily available due to cooler climate.

We have been mapped in a wildfire zone by a new map for the State to address wildfire danger zones. August is a month we are very, very dry. I have maintained the garden and pastures as best as I can and hope for better conditions thru-out the PNW which has had a few very serious wildfires this season. Received a notice in the mail that the power company will be cutting off electricity if necessary due to wildfire and weather conditions . A preventative measure to protect property. For now as usual we are dry, safe , and have power. No wildfires nearby.

Trimmed a few 15’-20’ branches off the Vitex tree it was getting to tall and shading out plants around it. The tall branches will be moved later today. Plan on adding them to the deer fence I’m working on around the perimeter next to the forest.

Everyone have a nice day , time to rest this afternoon and enjoy what’s left of the weekend.
Happy Trails Buckaroos !

 

Thanks @doghouse, I was quite young but recalled hearing it being played by my parents.

 

Yeah, that's what we thought. She did throw me once, though. That same daughter was getting her ready for the first rodeo they were going to be in. She was doing skid stops with her. With my job I hadn't been over in a several weeks. I called and her mom she said it would be great if I came over because the daughter was visiting her grandparents so they could take her shopping for the rodeo clothes. I went over to their house and saddled her and rode her to a field fairly close. As we got closer to the field I could tell she was ready. We used that field for running and her walk always got faster the closer we got to it. We got to the field and she took off like we always did. Suddenly she did her skid stop and the next thing I knew I was on laying on the ground looking up at her and she was looking at me like "what are you doing down there"? when I got back to the house, I asked my friend; when did Buffy learned to skid stop. She told me, oh I forgot to tell you we've been working with her. I don't recall what she said you do to get her to do it, but I must have done it, because Buffy did it perfectly! I however, did not!

I haven't done much in the garden. Today is the first day that I needed to water. It's cooled down and we had rain. But I did get some dill pickles canned, 7 pints. I have filled two and a half of those paper yard waste bags with my yard/alley weed nemesis..... thistle and burdock. They both drive me crazy! One and a half I had filled before the rain. I just finished the second full bag today.

 

My potatoes are all in bags and I have to water them a lot.
I will pick some basil tomorrow after yoga and make pesto to freeze. I noticed it was getting big when I watered today but between laundry and tackling the weeds I didn't get to it.

 

Watered the polyanthus around the path and in the garden. Hubby's gone to get me some more compost and perhaps look at the spring bulbs if they're in yet.

 

@Willowisp0801 that's still not you getting thrown

Your getting thrown would be an intentional act on the horse's part. She couldn't help it that you weren't ready for the slide stop !! I had a horse, when I was training Standardbred race horses ( Standardbreds pull carts in races) he was a trotting colt and turned out he had Narcolepsy. He was a survivivg twin ( that never provides you with a "normal" colt) and you'd be jogging right along, nice as you please and he would suddenly just crumble to the ground...Sound Asleep !! Right there on the track, horses dodging left and right around him, knocked out cold and he would even start to snore. !! . Sudden unintentional dismount followed !!
That's what you suffered.

Back on topic. Too rainy to do much. I weeded the raised beds with an open umbrella over my head and picked two small tomatoes. That was it.

 

Oreti— sorry to respond late…but you know how it is at this time of year— long days and late nights makes me a tired boy.

I did want to tell you how much I enjoyed reading your piece up above the other night. It so personal and cosy. That style of writing is a real talent. I’ll bet others who read it felt the same way.

it was delightful reading how you dealt with all the the challenges of work, heat and mugginess.

The crowning bit was about you enticing your hub in out of the unhealthy heat….ice cream! An inspired technique that would always work. I am speaking from personal experience now.

Thanks again, nice lady for the great posting.