popular What have you done today in the Garden?

Today is mulching the Saskatoons, Haskaps and Northern Blueberries for winter. This will drain the last of the rain barrell which will be tucked away for winter. The stand will be taken down and moved to the back of the barn so that it is not crushed by snow coming off of the stable roof.

 

About two months ago I started to dig another patch over (with my trusty little lady fork) out on the field with a view to letting grass regrow, and sow lots of seed of flowers especially for bees and butterflies. I'm collecting a variety of seed all the time including field poppies which will only grow after the soil is turned. There will be some yellow rattle in with the seed mix to fight the grass back a bit (hopefully)
It took ages to dig, especially as I started when the ground was still so dry from the drought, and with a touch of farmers lung to contend with and a crumbling left hip. Being a stubborn sod though I persevered, and today it was finished. I'll see about some photos tomorrow if I find time so you can have a look. The whole venture is an experiment, so fingers crossed !!

 

Sounds great Tetters, it will look good.

 

More patch mulching done today.

In the late afternoon we made hamburgers, had potato salad and blueberry cheesecake.

 

Logan, I hope so - when it's an experiment it's a bit of a gamble, and I'm a novice when it comes to creating the space I'm aiming for. All I can do is hope for the best, expect the worst and take what comes

 

As you can see the area needs raking over a bit but I've already planted a few of the new small hybrid buddleias for the butterfly brigade. The last photo shows a teasel I left for the birds which seeded itself already - they are a brilliant wildlife support with their little cups all the way up the stems which always hold moisture for any little bug that's thirsty.
I'm planning where to sow the seeds by laying down fleece mats temporarily to indicate the areas so that I can plant a few things in between. With the necessary help from the Almighty I hope it all works - fingers crossed.

 

That sounds great Tetters, i watch this guy on YouTube. He goes on a bit but he's good.

 

@Tetters - that is a lot of work. I'm excited to see how it looks when your plants are blooming. It looks lovely!

 

Today is a final garden wind down day. All garden ornaments will go into storage, the greenhouse will be emptied and heated soil cables removed and the last of the mulch for winter placed on the berry bushes. Hopefully some time at the end of the day for leaf raking and collection.

 

“A final garden wind-down day”— it sounds so….well…final.
From over here, it sounded like you had a productive season. Were you chuffed with your results?

 

Usually here it is a time of gearing up rather than winding down. There are umpteen hedges to be pruned back and some trees need their canopies lifting, loads more weeding and clearing to do and mulching if there are sufficient hours in the day..... and we don't have much leaf fall just yet, so no leaf mould started at all. The grass is growing at an alarming rate too, you can almost see and hear it grow. Tut, no peace for the wicked ..oh yes, and I forgot there is much to plant too while the soil is wet and still warm...

 

Finished planting this border with wallflowers, tulips, foxgloves and polyanthus

 

I am liking the looks of that, Loggie.

 

Thank you Sjoerd, for next year I'm hoping that the foxgloves will flower the same time as the cosmos for a while, the colours should complement each other.

 

Fingers crossed for you. Your timing idea sounds good.