popular What have you done today in the Garden?

Watering the gardens now. Doing laundry, as well.I finally have a day that doesn't look like it's going to rain. So I'm hoping to finish all of it. I have one more load after the one that's in the washer is out. Usually I just hang it on the racks, in the basement that I use in the winter. But my dehumidifier is still getting more water than usual.
The bees are loving the butternut squash flowers. And I have 2 Mr Stripys that are yellow. One is starting to get its orange/red stripes. The purple tomatoes that I started with the kids last spring are finally getting yellow underneath the purple.. I might have enough to do something pretty soon.
And for some reason the dry beans love where I put them this year.

 

Looking good, Willow.

 

I meant to mention that I also do NOT like going on the roof. I have done it a few times, and even got stuck up there once and had to holler for help. I have an 8 ft ladder, and use it occasionally. I need to get some busted limbs out of several trees, but that requires using my ladder. Maybe I could reach them, maybe not. Maybe I should let the wind bring them down?

Also something has eaten my milkweed plants from @Willowisp0801 ... I have a few pieces in water to see if they will root? I made a cage with some leftover chicken wire. I hope that helps, and they come back in the spring. They had been over 3 feet tall and lots of leaves. Now they are about a foot tall and only a few leaves.

 

Thanks Sjoerd! Just turned the sprinkler off in the raspberries and blackberries. And I am done ! My granddaughter is going with her aunt for overnight in Green bay and I am going to the Mexican festival with my son, her uncle. Wow I came home and saw that I didn't post this.

 

I still go onto the flat roof of our lounge extension occasionally.
I put an extending ladder up through the pergola (which will easily take my weight) and drag another up onto the roof from there, I can put that one up against the back wall and clean the gutter.
I always put a board down on the roof for the ladder, as it has a felt surface with fire retardant chippings. I'm wary of damaging the felt with the feet of the ladder.



I could just push the second ladder onto it, then climb out the bedroom window.

I've got onto the actual roof many times, the last, probably ten years ago to change the TV aerial. The roof has thick concrete tiles with a rough finish, so with a pair of "proper" garden shoes it's not a problem. I have no fear of heights.

Forty years ago, I was up there one hot summer day, re-pointing the chimney and the ridge tiles. I was using a plastic bucket to carry up the mortar. I had to do this many times.
My wife and our eighteen year-old daughter were sitting in the lounge. As it was hot, they had the patio doors we had at the time fully open, but with the sun blinds down.

I was up and down several times over a couple of hours. When I'd finished I just chucked the mortar encrusted bucket down onto the patio as it was destined for the bin.
When I came in, I was told that when she heard the bucket hit the patio, our daughter said "Dad's fallen off the roof!"
My wife's reaction? "Don't look!"

There's not much to do in the garden today. But I may do a bit of leaf collection.

 

Everything in the gardens got canal water today except the toms, courgettes and paprikas. It took quite a while.
The last of the beetroot was lifted.
We also harvested a few things.

 

Here, a couple of harvest shots:

Onions, toms and sweetcorn.


Then a handful of toms:

 

My son came over and we harvested 5 bags of potatoes. Wild purple, Amarosa (the first planting), and a mixture of leftover seed potatoes. We've had a very wet and cool season and I think the potatoes loved it. This was the most we've ever gotten. My son left with 2 plastic grocery bags and I got 2 as well. We still have the 2 bags of huckleberry gold and the second planting of amarosa, but they aren't ready. I forgot to take pictures.
Great harvest Sjoerd!

 

Thanks Sjoerd, yes it's healing well just got to take it easy for a while, got a booklet with exercises to do but it doesn't say how many times a day or how many repeats to do. It feels like I've strained the muscles and it hurts a bit to use my hand and twist my wrist, but that will get better in time. The booklet says that it could take a year to get back to normal.

 

I cleared both gardens of fallen leaves. But one of my vacs, I just used for collecting, a Flymo 3000 has developed a hole in the bag. A replacement is more than half the price of a new machine. I can well afford a new bag, but because I think it's a rip off, I was thinking of patching it, but after repairing it, another hole could appear.

My second thought was, "Haven't you got enough to do?"
So I've ordered one.

 

Riley— mate! Ohms word, I re-read your roof-work-bucket story again. Then I read it to my Bride. We both laughed so hard. You know you have a talent for humour, don’t you.

There is a bit of typicalness isn’t there. My Gran was the same when it comes to remarks at times like that. She could laugh at herself….after incidents proved not to be as bad as first thought.

So, the story brought back memories from wonderful days gone-by when I was farmed-out to my Grandparents for the summer. They lived on. Small holding and so there were always accidents and “situations”, especially with a bairn knocking about. Cor, those were the days.

A big thanks to you for this posting.

 

In 1986, when I was digging out my koi pool, my wife came out when evening, stood at the edge and said.
"When are you going to stop messing about down there and come in for your dinner?"

 

I've just been out and watered the pots, then put the lawn sprinklers on for a bit.

Whilst doing this, I played a few records on one of the jukeboxes.
I really need to give the records a clean. They sit unprotected in the carousel all the time, exposed to dust. Although the machines are closed, the heat generated means that dust still gets attracted. They aren't in a relatively "airtight" mostly dust-free room in a house, but more or less out in the garden.



There is a little brush the stylus passes over to and from the record, but that's all the machine does.
So I decided to buy an ultrasonic record cleaner, which will clean five records of 7" 10" or 12" at the same time. They aren't cheap, but nothing is these days.
I've 130 records between the two boxes to clean and I'll also start on my albums.
I don't play these much, but it will be comforting to know they'll be in the best condition if I do.






It has a little basket. When I told my wife I'd ordered it and I said it could also clean her jewellery, she was all for it.

 

Riley— my sides are splitting.

 

This reminds me of my good husband who is now deceased. He would come out to the barn with a flash light ( torch to you Brits) and ask if I was coming in soon or should he set me up a cot.

Usually this was in Spring when all the horses were shedding and needed multiple brushings per day, AND my goats were all with kid. If I didn't keep an eye on those Nannies I could lose some kidd, and if I didn't keep up with the shedding blade on the horses, I'd be riding and eating hair all day.