popular What have you done today in the Garden?

Supervising the tree removal. 8 trees need cutting down, 60’-80’ it’s a buzy day.

FIrst tree down due to beetle kill-chipped and cleaned up.

 

Pac— I love these fotos.

 

Well your in luck… there are 7 more trees to go, from beetle kill.

 

White pine tree and cherry tree down.
Scenes from a lumberjacks perspective.

 

Just a bit, as there was football and golf to watch on TV.

I collected a lot more leaves from which had fallen from the big acer in the front garden.
Still half as many again to come down. After that, I will be able to see where I need to give the tree its annual prune. I also got into the Mayleen on the trellis over the front door. Quite a bit of dead needed to be removed, but you have to be careful as a bit can be three foot long, which appears to be dead, but then you'll find some healthy leaves at the other end. But the thinning out and some untangling will help it cascade better next year.
Too early to swop the pots over, same with the wisteria, too early to start pruning.
Gave both lawns a winter feed.

 

Yesterday evening I walked around evaluating how well my plants are coping with the lack of rain. I found a few showing signs of some stress and gave them a big drink.

I have been verrrry, verrry lazy about the garden lately. I think I just need a break combined with the weather being hot and dry which would force me to up my water bill if I were to work in the garden because you can't successfully dig in bone dry earth. To do anything I would have to soak the ground first and I just feel that that is not worth the time, money or effort. Waiting for a good soaking is more frugal.

 

Pac, it must be costing you a small fortune to have 8 trees removed. At least here in Jersey it would be

 

Raining on and off today. All I did was feed the birds.
Everything is "hanging on," it's been that mild.
This wisteria is only just starting to "turn." As is the acer palmatum.



Some yellowing of the leaves on the wisteria over the French windows, but none yet on the one on the pergola next to the garage.



I filled half the green bin with the leaves which had fallen from this acer in the front garden yesterday. A bit of wind overnight has caused as many to fall again.
Most are behind the planting or on it, which are a pain to collect.
Still plenty more to come down.

 

Pac— such a sad thing. I must admit though, it is also interesting seeing how they work.

 

Those raspberry deserts look lovely @Doghouse Riley .

I did pick the rest of my pumpkins and brought them in. The one the rodents got went to my chickens. I picked a few more cucumbers and tomatoes. I worked at my church community center this morning and didn't get much else done.

 

It’s been a sad but rewarding experience to finally eliminate the diseased trees . I tried for years to save them by treating the cause black asian beetles. They slowly continued to die. It hit my area hard the past few years.

On the positive side. It was time to let them go. Now I have new spaces to plan for a new sunny garden and so much light in the house . Very nice change. I need to have a few more trees trimmed next year .

The tree trimmers will be back Monday to finish up 5 more trees. It took the crew of 5 all day Friday just to do 3 trees. That’s a lot of bark mulch- 3 dump truck loads. I passed on it , it’s a hassle really.

Maybe I should ask Santa for a cherry picker for X-mas.

 

So sad to see them all go.

 

My neighbor left a pile of tree leaves in my yard. Today I cleaned up the first big raised bed, and mulched thickly with that gift of leaves,

I raked up the first wagon load from the red maple and moved them to the garden.

I planted the first 25 gallon container with 5 garlic cloves. Last year I planted 8 per container but I think 5 is better. I covered that with maple leaves. Seven more containers to plant. Then the second big raised bed. Covered with a thick layer of leaves, they shouldn't have any weeds until I plant the veggies there. I think I'll keep them mulched with leaves, this time, instead of cardboard. The leaves seem to work better.

It rained a lot, so I was dodging raindrops the entire time.

 

Daniel. O boy can I leave a pile of leaves in your yard too? Well actually I’ll need a dump truck but they will all be mulched.

 

@Pacnorwest That will be a big change. I agree with that good feeling of new changes in the garden and more natural light. It's always sad to see the big trees go, but the changes are also nice to embrace, as you have. Will you still have your big shade trees at your house?

The power crews are doing all of the line maintenance this year and spent a day along our driveway delimbing and cleaning up any danger trees. Hubby took them some coffee and told them how pleased his wife would be if she could have the chips. ( that's my guy )The said they didn't have enough to dump from our driveway but when they had a full load they would be back.

A huge truck pulled in yesterday and left me a large pile next to my compost. JACKPOT!! I'm very excited for this and it is such a large pile it will last me many years. I primarily use them for mulch at the base of my berry plants. And I have enough to mix a little into the compost piles during the summer.

There is so much heat in the pile that the frost can't stick and it was hot to the touch. I was glad that it wasn't summer it was throwing so much heat. I'll let them age a bit before I use them.

Today I'm trying to start some Mountain Ash trees from seed. I have a bag of their ripe berries to crush and plant the seeds. They'll go into a pot that will be left out for the winter. With some luck I'll have some seedlings in the spring to pot up. They're my favourite tree, and the birds love the berries. Apparently they grow quickly, so I'm hoping it works. It's a fun experiment.

I'll turn over the compost piles one last time before they freeze. The deer have eaten their fill of the kale and swiss chard that were on top. I'll also be taking the netting down from the memory garden and cleaning it out. That way the fox can eat the voles in there. The fox broke through the netting to get one yesterday, so I'll make it easier (and safer) for him. I opened the gate to the lower garden. Hopefully he finds the voles in the asparagus patch also.