What's happening in your garden today?

It's true that acers prefer being in the ground, but we haven't a place for it.
I believe the hedgehogs were not too happy about all the renovations going on in the house and garden next door. So maybe went elsewhere.
Lets hope they return in spring when they wake up. They will be hungry then.
 
Not a lot got done today as it was too wet. But there's lots of leaves that need clearing.


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Most are from next door's silver birches, though there are a few from the wisterias.


If it's dry tomorrow, I'll get my Grizzley garden vac out to clear them.

I'll also strip these, down the side of the house, as they are mostly yellow now,



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There's a lot of wisteria leaves still to come down.


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This is the azalea I put here in mid summer in its plastic pot, which was originally on the patio. I took it out of the pot and planted in the earth.


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I checked the second and third hedgehog houses, there were no occupants, the one that was near the back fence was a bit damp inside, although it doesn't leak. As it's permanently in the shade, I wasn't surprised. I cleaned them both out and they are now in a corner of the 8ft x 8ft "freezer room," in the back of the garage, where they will both dry out. It's a bit crowed in there with two freezers, four garden chairs two loungers, two spare golf bags, a spare golf trolley a spare set of clubs and a kitchen high chair. Plus the acer palmatum Taylor and from today, the lilac in its tub. It has a lot of nice fat buds on it. It survived last winter on the patio, but I'm not taking a chance this year.

I've turned off the water supply to the garage and garden. Last time I didn't I had two burst pipes under the basin and the fifty-year old water heater burst an internal pipe. The heater I have now has a "frost stat." I can turn the water on as and when I require it during the cold months.


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For the jukeboxes in the tea-house, I've taken their heaters off the timers and they are now on 24/7. They are only 60w greenhouse heaters, so don't use much electricity. But they, with the insulated covers will stop them getting damp. I "turned them both over" this afternoon, gave their mechanisms some use by playing a few records. They both worked fine.

I took the new to me Leak 3400 tuner/amp up to Bolton this morning for the guy to check out the few faults it has. He is retired now, but still does these sort of repairs.
He has a wealth of experience of vintage audio and "can use a soldering iron." He works from his small end terraced house, so there's no big overheads, so it won't cost as much as it would taking to a high street retailer that "does repairs."
 
What happened in my garden today was: I found a dead snake while cutting the grass. I didn't run him over, he was sticking out from under a loropetalum shrub. This is his underside. IMG_1445.webp
When I picked him up and turned him over, he was biting on a leaf. 😲 I thought the leaf was just stuck to him but nope, he had it in his mouth and I couldn't free it.
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I think he's a baby water mocassin. We have swamp only 1/4 mile away and I've had one of these, but a3 footer in the yard before. This one is only about 16" long.
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Cat probably got him last night.
 
Blimey Annie, don't see many of those. We do have a few here but we hardly see them.

@Sean Regan Have you got a pressure washer as well? We lost ours to the frost a few years ago, there's a bit inside them that freezes and splits the pipe.
I've always kept ours in the shed, but I'll put it the freezer room.
It could be an idea to run it for a couple of seconds with the water turned off, to empty it, although it might not work if there's no water pressure.
We keep the new one inside in the winter now.
 
I've always kept ours in the shed, but I'll put it the freezer room.
It could be an idea to run it for a couple of seconds with the water turned off, to empty it, although it might not work if there's no water pressure.

Might work but there's no way of telling without it bursting. It's a tiny part with a seam that pops. Wrecks the whole machine but they want that so you'll buy a new one :cautious:
 
Busy day (again) I seem to have less time than when I was working.
Snow on the ground first thing, but it soon cleared.

This morning I had to go for "bloods" at the local clinic. This is done a couple of times a year when you're diabetic. Then I had to go up to Bolton to collect my tuner/amp which had been repaired. Then it was shopping.
After lunch, I got into the garden, well.. our drive. I stripped the wisteria.




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It got a bit of a prune.


My Grizzly garden vac. helped my clear the leaves.

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The ground was too wet to tackle the back garden. It's supposed to be sunny tomorrow, so I might clear those leaves in the afternoon when I come home after golf.



I've got the new to me, tuner/amp up and running. The total outlay on this including the service was less than £100.

The old one I've put in my office.

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ROWS? Why do you plant them in rows? I have always grown them to dot about in the flower garden, but don't know of anyone growing them in huge quantities. It rather sounds as if I have something to learn now :unsure: You don't eat them do you?
No its a poison salad for root knot nematodes. So literally the garden will be a field of them and I will turn them under after they upset the rkn.
 
We stood on the first tee this morning at 9.00am with the temperature at -1C.
There was frost on the fairway, but further round the sun had melted it, though it lingered where the course was in the shade of trees. It had warmed up by the time we were on the back nine and it was a pleasant sunny day.

I had intended to clear leaves this afternoon, but my garden vac packed up after a couple of minutes. The motor burned itself out. Maybe I was asking too much of it, yesterday. They aren't worth repairing, so I've binned it. I've ordered a Flymo 3000w from Homebase, reduced to £63 from £85. I'll pick it tomorrow morning when I do the shopping. The leaves can wait until tomorrow afternoon.
 
We stood on the first tee this morning at 9.00am with the temperature at -1C.
There was frost on the fairway, but further round the sun had melted it, though it lingered where the course was in the shade of trees. It had warmed up by the time we were on the back nine and it was a pleasant sunny day.

I had intended to clear leaves this afternoon, but my garden vac packed up after a couple of minutes. The motor burned itself out. Maybe I was asking too much of it, yesterday. They aren't worth repairing, so I've binned it. I've ordered a Flymo 3000w from Homebase, reduced to £63 from £85. I'll pick it tomorrow morning when I do the shopping. The leaves can wait until tomorrow afternoon.
Oh dear, haven't you got a broom and dustpan at your house then? ;) It's a story as I tell about my dishwasher - I said for years I didn't need one of those, I'll use my sink. Now I have the dishwasher, I wouldn't want to be without it :oops:
 
Oh dear, haven't you got a broom and dustpan at your house then? ;) It's a story as I tell about my dishwasher - I said for years I didn't need one of those, I'll use my sink. Now I have the dishwasher, I wouldn't want to be without it :oops:
This is so true.
Our three kids were brought up in our home, which had a dishwasher. When they all eventually bought homes of their own, they bought a dishwasher before a washing machine. They'd rather go down to the launderette than wash up!

Once you've had one, the thought of having to rinse stuff off and dry it with a tea towel......

Our youngest son when he was living on his own, put all the dirty crockery and cutlery in the sink until there was enough to fill his dishwasher. Once they'd been washed he took stuff out as and when he needed it and then after use, they went back in the sink!

We don't have a dustpan and brush in the house, but we have six vacuum cleaners
 
Oh dear, haven't you got a broom and dustpan at your house then? ;) It's a story as I tell about my dishwasher - I said for years I didn't need one of those, I'll use my sink. Now I have the dishwasher, I wouldn't want to be without it :oops:
I had a dishwasher installed when I bought this house, for resale value only since most people want one.

No thanks !! I use less water and no electric by doing them by hand. It's also quicker and they get put away, as does the drying rack so I don't have to look at the clutter.

I know, I'm just a little odd. 😋
 
I had a dishwasher installed when I bought this house, for resale value only since most people want one.

No thanks !! I use less water and no electric by doing them by hand. It's also quicker and they get put away, as does the drying rack so I don't have to look at the clutter.

I know, I'm just a little odd. 😋

You still have to heat ther water.

You might be surprised at how little water modern dishwashers use, same goes for washing machines now.
 
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