LL's Gardening Diary

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lancashire lass
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3rd June 2018

Post by lancashire lass »

Cheshire Chick wrote:Great post and beautiful photo's LL. )like(


thank you Cheshire Chick. The pond is definitely becoming more interesting (but also at times frustrating LOL)

lancashire lass wrote:I'd fitted the UV lamp last week but the filter box started to overfill and water started to spill over. The capacity for the box is 6000 L per hour and the pump is only 4000 L per hour, so there must have been a blockage presumably in the filter. Time to give it a check over ... yes, some muck in the bottom after I'd drained it but hardly enough to impede the flow. I gave the filters a good clean and refitted them .... and the box still overfilled. I tried levelling the box as best I could with pieces of wood underneath but it was clear the incoming water exceeded the overflow – it had never done that before and fitting the UV lamp in the intake line couldn’t have anything to do with the problem so I’m no wiser


An update: I'm a plonker {rofwl} I did manage to stop the filter box overflowing at one point by adjusting the outgoing hose and it seemed to work so I put it down to a blockage (maybe trapped air caused by turbulence causing water to back up the hose?) but it seems I was wrong. Today was the weekly pond clean - oiking (netting) out as much debris that I could (blanket weed seems to be mostly gone now) and thinning out the duckweed (I am using the excess duckweed as mulch on the potted plants especially the raspberries - they'll readily compost down and provide nutrients for the plants) I also gave the filters in the filter box a good clean, and decided to also clean the big pump (took the front grille off and cleaned out the trapped debris and sludge) At the same time I also pulled the grille off the smaller pump and cleaned out the sludge) As soon as I turned both pumps back on .... disaster.

If we go back earlier in the week, I had applied some treatments. The blanket weed treatment (pink crystals) applied last weekend had worked a treat but was one of the reasons why I had to twice daily clear the front grilles of both pumps as the loose bits floated off and were trapped in the grille, slowing down the flow rate of water through the pumps. The other treatments I had bought from Amazon included a "sludge buster" solution (basically it clumped the single celled algae that gave the pond water a murky appearance - most algae just pass through the filter media but when they clump together, they get trapped in the filters) which I applied. I also bought a tub of bacteria in gelatine balls which I popped into the biofilter - they would breakdown the debris trapped in the filter and help to clean the water. Well, the sludge buster did 2 things - it turned the pond brown and it quickly clogged both filter systems up.

Hence, I had to give everything a good clean this morning. So imagine my dismay when the filter box immediately started to overfill and spill water out from the top. After a couple of hours emptying the filter box yet again (filters were still clean, no sludge in the bottom), numerous attempts to level the box, readjust the outgoing hose - I was ready to give up in defeat. However, I was not happy - water spilling over the top was also going down the outgoing hose bypassing the filters so in effect, was not being filtered. Once more I took the filters out of the box ... and noticed something. Doh, hence the plonker. It would seem that the sponge filters are mounted on a frame which are slotted into the box. I noticed one side of the frame was blanked off, the other open - on the slots were matching holes in the box for both the incoming water and outgoing compartments. I slotted the coarse filter so that incoming water from the first compartment would pass through the filter into the filtration compartment, and then slotted the finer sponge filter so that the water could then pass into the outgoing compartment. It was a miracle - the box immediately stopped overfilling :oops: Well, I learned something there and won't forget that one again! (maybe I should have read the instruction manual when I got it but it was just a simple plumb in and switch on which worked first time LOL)

As for the biofilter, I think this is just a temporary problem when I have both pumps running - the turbulence caused by water from the filter box hose is disturbing the sludge and causing the filters in the biofilter to clog up a little and the water level is raised and pouring out of the overflow (the second hose in case the first hose becomes blocked). I have cleaned the filters but when the bigger pump is switched off (at night), the biofilter seems to right itself. I think I need to re-site the smaller pump so that it is just pulling off water rather than sludge. At least I know the overflow works:

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Anyway, some news. I had Tuesday off work (universities traditionally have about 6 closure days spread through the year - usually tagged on to the Christmas/New Year public holidays so that we have a week off (also the university shuts down to save money on heating), the rest on the Tuesday after Easter and the other on one of the other bank holidays (some tag on to the August bank holiday, where I work on the Spring bank holiday) I had been planning to get some more goldfish for the pond once I'd set the tank up in the house to quarantine them (to avoid spreading White Spot from infecting the others in the pond - White Spot is a parasite which is easily transferred from fish bought in shops) My plan was to use the pond water to fill the tank as I was happy with the water chemistry and made sense for the fish to acclimatize to the pond water while in the tank.

Tank filled, off I went. I called in at The Japanese Water Gardens first for some plants and just had to have a look at their koi tanks. Beautiful fish - some are just unbelievably large. They still had some 4-5 inch koi and I took a fancy to 2 of them - one was silver with little black specks/bars (google Shira Utsuri to see examples) and another was mainly red with like black scalloped (scale) markings along its back (google Shusui koi) You guessed it ... at £8 each, I decided to get them. However, when I got them home I wasn't happy with putting them in the tank and instead put them straight into the pond. Unfortunately they are so shy, I've barely seen them much since then but I am keeping an eye on all the fish and all seems well at the moment.

However, I forgot to get the plants I wanted while at the shop so I called in yesterday. My new purchases include:

Dutch Rush (Equisetum hyemale)
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Musk Sedge (aka Palm Sedge - Carex Muskingumensis)

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The planter with the new acquisitions:

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And for the pond, 3 Water Lettuce (Pistia Stratiosis):

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The roots look like they would be good at filtering water and absorbing excess ammonia / nitrates from the water:

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So what started off as a bit of a disaster has now been sorted!
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lancashire lass
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First strawberry ripening ...

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Well, the strawberries plants didn't quite made it to the hanging baskets (one was broken and beyond repair) but they seem alright (just a little scorched when temperatures were up and pots got a little dry) The Gariguette strawberries are starting to ripen and there seem to have loads more fruit developing. Harvested the 2 most ripened fruits for the lunch box - mmmmm, yum yum and sweet.

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lancashire lass
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

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lancashire lass wrote:The other treatments I had bought from Amazon included a "sludge buster" solution (basically it clumped the single celled algae that gave the pond water a murky appearance - most algae just pass through the filter media but when they clump together, they get trapped in the filters) which I applied. I also bought a tub of bacteria in gelatine balls which I popped into the biofilter - they would breakdown the debris trapped in the filter and help to clean the water.


)app( it's working! I suspect the combination of UV lamp and the "sludge buster" are working together - the water clarity is much improved.

lancashire lass wrote:causing the filters in the biofilter to clog up a little and the water level is raised and pouring out of the overflow (the second hose in case the first hose becomes blocked). I have cleaned the filters but when the bigger pump is switched off (at night), the biofilter seems to right itself.

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Actually, I don't think it is the filters clogging up (I checked in case they needed cleaning) but is simply the angle of the primary hose so that the water level inside the water butt is raised before it starts to trickle out. This takes it close to the overflow level. When I pushed the end of the first hose down, the overflow almost instantly stopped pouring water. I'm not quite sure why this is only becoming apparent now because when I first set it up it worked fine. Unfortunately with the silicone sealant to stop it leaking, it's more or less a permanent position now and there's not a lot I can do to try and bend it down unless anyone has any suggestions? The length of the hose is critical so that it doesn't dribble on the pond wall (and splash out)

As for the fish .... well, the 2 new additions have been so skittish they have spooked the goldfish when I have been out to feed them. Just when the goldfish were gradually getting back into the feeding regime since the slow spring start and coming to the surface in anticipation, the koi have been darting in and out and unsettled the others. So not only have I barely seen them, getting photos has not been easy. I did manage to catch a glimpse of the silver/black from a distance so this photo is not the best and really doesn't do its' colours any justice:

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Last night I didn't bother trying to take any photos but instead just stood a couple of feet from the pond so they could see me but not looming over them. The more they see and associate me with "food", they should start to come out from under the duckweed. Still a little spooked, they did seem a little more confident and I managed to get a couple of glimpses of the red/black koi and I think he'll hopefully grow up to be a spectacular fish - the markings are so distinct. This morning they were all waiting for "breakfast" feed and again, not so coy but still a little skittish though not enough to spook the others.

So overall I'm happy with the pond now. Next stage is to start tidying up the hoses and countdown to the gazebo build (fingers crossed for good weather when I'm off work that week .... we've had it so dry in recent weeks, I just know it is bound to change when I'm on my holiday break LOL)
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Pond & Garden update

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I've been so busy both at work and home that it's hard to believe a whole month has slipped by since my last Pond & Garden update. I'll post photos another day, but here's what I've been up to (it's a bit of an essay I'm afraid but you should know me by now)

I realise that this past 12 months my posts have been very much pond orientated since giving up my allotment plot a year ago. I'm pleased to say that the pond seems to be settling down nicely and I think earlier issues were typical spring wobbles as both bacteria and algae responded to warmer conditions and increased light levels and the two between them messed up the water chemistry a little. Aside from blanket weed treatment (touch wood, seems to be gone for now so will keep an eye on it), the "sludge buster" treatment has only been used twice but since the UV light and filter box has been in full operation, the water clarity has much improved. And I was worried the 2 koi would make it worse .... (I suppose they've still got time)

Duckweed is currently an issue in this hot weather and strong sunshine - on the one hand it completely covers the surface so you can't see the fish but at the same time it does a fantastic job of "shading" the pond water of strong sunlight which usually encourages algae (murky water) to grow, as well as help in some way to keep the water cool (presumably the shade bit) in this recent heatwave, and helps to oxygenate the water.

And it also mops up ammonia and nitrates from the fish waste (basically it is a fertiliser to plants) When I do a weekly skim, the duckweed can be put on compost heaps or more recently, I've been using it as a mulch round potted plants on the patio (it'll eventually rot down and feed the soil) so it has many uses. Then I discovered something else about duckweed.

A few weeks back I decided to set up the fish tank in the house for fancy goldfish, and treated myself to 3 lovely little fish - all with twin tails but different (one with black fins and tail, one mainly orange but with markings, one like a Shubunkin but with short body and long tail fin) There was a problem with raised nitrates in the water which I could not get down so put lots of plants in the tank including .... duckweed (I also added something you can buy which mops up nitrates) As it happens, the source of the nitrate levels was in fact tap water which is rather worrying. As for the duckweed, the goldfish seem to think it is an all you eat buffet and I have had to replenish it from the pond!

I was puzzled why the tank goldfish ate the duckweed but not the pond fish - but it would appear they do too and only the rapid growth of the duckweed stops it from being eaten to oblivion. The tell-tale signs are the pump grilles clogged with the roots (I might have presumed it was blanketweed in the past but it is currently clear) Well, at least we know they are eating fresh greens and won't go hungry if I miss a feed. Both koi and goldfish have taken a liking to the koi pellet/flake (suitable for all fish actually) and wait in anticipation for their breakfast (but then go and hide if I hang about the pond to watch, sigh. At least I do get to see them at some point of the day)

Garden-wise: well, that is a project and half. More like a garden rescue. I had booked a week off work and made a start - at about the same time that temperatures seriously started to rise. Being off work I could make an early start (from about 5 am with "quiet" jobs) and avoid the midday broil. The goal was to reach the bottom fence of my garden ... yes, I'm afraid that bad :oops: Until recently, my garden access was to the polytunnels and greenhouse and that's because a couple of years ago I laid weed suppressant membrane down from the patio up to the greenhouse. It's done what it is meant to do and prevented weeds (especially bramble!) from taking over. The first part of the garden task was basically a tidy up and weed the full length fruit tree bed, removing mainly bramble but also a number of ash and hazel seedlings among others - but surprisingly little other weeds other than a bit of goose grass. I think the combination of dry weather (since mid-May), heatwave and the heavy mulching I have continually put down round the fruit trees from the soiled chicken bedding since late winter / early spring has really helped to keep weeds down very well (obviously the tree seedlings and rooted brambles just push through it) After pruning the fruit trees on the path side and a sweep, the difference was amazing.

Stage 2 was beyond the greenhouse .... Once I had assessed the problem, I just needed to clear the (wait for it) horsetail }hairout{ and trim back some of the branches of the apple and elders/overgrown privet to open up the space. The trimmings pile could fill 2 skips and that is just a small portion of the garden. I just pulled the horsetail tops off (I think the dry conditions have weakened them so I got it done rather quickly) and raked all the dead moss and leaves. I was hoping to (one day in the future) build an uber big pond in this area for when my koi start to outgrow their patio pond and need more space, so I'm quite happy to lay weed suppressant membrane down and leave it "sterile" until that day. To ensure the horsetail doesn't simply punch its way through the membrane, I will be laying down a plastic sheet first (like I did with the upper garden path to control the bramble) As it happens, my first polytunnel cover did not fare well over this last winter and completely ripped apart at one end - it would make an excellent plastic sheet layer which also solves the problem of its disposal.

Beyond the horsetail is Stage 3 .... when I bought the house, there was (still is!) a pergola right at the bottom of the garden before the back fence. It is a substantial pergola and had potential of a good sitting area but as I looked towards the house, all the houses on my street also had a good view of it as well (not that I was doing anything untoward but it lacked privacy) So I built a little trellis fence wall and planted Winter Jasmine just in front of the pergola, as well as plant proper Jasmine and Virginian Creeper to grow up the pergola, and finally all the various fruit trees and hazel along the length of the garden by the (4 foot high) fence (a privet hedge already well established on the other side). No sooner had I done that, my neighbour decided to site a children's climbing frame at the bottom of the garden, right next to the pergola - which the children loved to use and pester me (in a nutshell, I really don't like kids) At this point I abandoned the idea of ever using the pergola and then I got into growing fruit & veg on the allotment and thereafter I didn't have time for my own garden after that.

Sixteen years later and I can't even see my own house from the bottom of the garden, never mind anybody else's house so I'd say I've definitely accomplished the privacy bit that I craved {rofwl} The neighbour's children are now grown up and the family have moved away, the young (well, 30s) couple who bought their house rarely venture beyond their decked patio near the house. The pergola is in need of repair but still standing and rescuable. The jasmine can't be seen from ground level because all the growth is on top of the pergola, along with branches from the hazel, willow, snowberry, rowan and even roses with over 12-15 feet tall stems and the foliage/flowers forming one amazing living ceiling / tree canopy. I tidied up the scruffy twiggy stuff for now but in some ways I'm a bit loathe to cut back what others might think of it as a big mess - it is anything but a mess (unless you compare it to the stark neat beds and lawns of the neighbours) and feels like being in a "secret garden" in a woodland. It feels quite peaceful and magical and I'm really glad to find this little treasure is at the bottom of my garden. So neglect is good!

Finally (I had a VERY busy week off!) - the patio rescue. I think spending time in my garden and actually enjoying it for the first time in ages, I looked at my patio and realised just how "functional" it was (that's another word for dumping ground especially all the clutter from the allotment) I looked at the awning I built when I moved to the house and it looked sad and in dire need of repair. The roofing felt was tatty and exposed the wood underneath - I pulled the awning apart and replaced the felt with a remnant from the pond liner (at least I'll know it's waterproof now!) Next I tried to clean the door frame of what I thought were sooty scuff marks from the beaded curtain only to find the marks were actually the bare wood where paint had been scraped off. At this point I suddenly realised that I had never ever painted the back door ... so I got some gloss paint and tarted it all up. There was still the issue of the broken cat flap (age brittle and past dog abuse) and the pond electrics threaded through.

So I replaced the cat flap and got an outdoor box for the electrics and used an existing drill hole in the door frame to thread the cable into the house. Then it all started to need a few tweaks to finish it off so how about some hanging baskets and some bedding plants .... Half the patio looks good, the other half still a dump until I finish off the other jobs but I have been very pleased with the progress. And even had time to sit on my patio and relax (when the sun had moved behind the neighbour's tree and shaded the area first of course) If I'd still had the allotment, I doubt very much I would have accomplished a fraction done so far, nor would I feel so inspired like I do now, so I'm very pleased.

Photos of progress to follow but I still have to upload them to a photo-share site (there's a lot)

EDIT: the planned gazebo building project on hold .... simply it would cost more than I could afford at the moment.
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As promised - the Before & After Pics

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Keep in mind the garden went rapidly downhill when I started to struggle with the allotment in 2015/2016 and 2017 was dedicated to the pond build ...

Facing the garden past the chicken runs off the patio:

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including brambles growing in and around the fruit trees:

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random hazel seedlings growing in the fruit tree bed:

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Overgrown privet (next task on my list to conquer):

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Path blocked by fruit trees:

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Polytunnel beyond repair:

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What lies beyond the greenhouse and known civilization (might be wild tigers and other dangers in there):

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Horsetail meadow:

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The pergola (the twiggy stuff is jasmine but is very much alive on top of the pergola):

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and on the other side, a willow tree branch has grown horizontally and pushed the struts along:

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inside the pergola, the snowberry has grown out of control (appears dead and twiggy but all the green growth like the jasmine was above the pergola forming a leafy ceiling):

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The awning over the back door in dire need of repair (this past winter had done most of the damage):

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And after:

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the old grass cutting compost bin worse for wear (don't know if you can see tall straight stems to the left - these unbelievably are rose branches reaching up and the foliage is in the tree canopy. Strangely, the barbs are spaced wide apart (by about a foot apart) unlike normal rose thorny branches):

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Standing by the compost bin facing the house, with a huge trimmings pile after cutting back the elders and privet and opening up the space (old pallets in position ready to be put together to tidy it up a bit):

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Repaired the awning and painted the back door (new hanging baskets and chimney pot planters positioned just to see how it looks):

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Now with complete make-over with new cat flap and pond electrics tidied up:

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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by Mo »

)like( . Keeps you busy, doesn't it.
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

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Mo wrote: )like( . Keeps you busy, doesn't it.


Thank you Mo, yes it is a lot of work - at the moment it's more a rescue than a garden project, but once I've got the rest of the weed suppressant down on the bare ground, it should help to keep a tighter control on weeds (horsetail!) giving me more time to spend on improvements and actually spending time in the garden to enjoy it rather than see it as ongoing and never ending (definitely aiming for low maintenance as much as possible if I can!)
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

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Having a huge garden myself, I can apreciate what a lot of hard work has gone into that LL. And also having an allotment, it does take up a ton of time and it can be difficult to give both garden and allotment the attention they need. I've also got a lot of outstanding work to do on our garden - this is fantastic what you've done in yours. There's nothing like that feeling of satisfaction when you tame parts of a garden. The back door area looks lovely now. And you can get out in it while we still have some sun!
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

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KarenE wrote:Having a huge garden myself, I can apreciate what a lot of hard work has gone into that LL. And also having an allotment, it does take up a ton of time and it can be difficult to give both garden and allotment the attention they need. I've also got a lot of outstanding work to do on our garden - this is fantastic what you've done in yours. There's nothing like that feeling of satisfaction when you tame parts of a garden. The back door area looks lovely now. And you can get out in it while we still have some sun!


)t' thanks Karen. I was sad to let the allotment go even though there was a sense of relief too. Now I'm glad I did so I can put more effort into the garden which it deserves. Sun? I prefer to be in the shade and temperatures no higher than 23oC at most ...

I booked today off with the intentions of getting the weed suppressant membrane down before the rain expected next week (the temperatures of average 27-28oC this weekend means I'd have probably not done much) I also wanted to clean & tidy up the front driveway, side of the house & patio (move some things down into the polytunnel)

All started off well - I had to rake up a lot of fallen leaves and fruit first (perhaps a combination of a late "June" drop plus ongoing hot conditions) as well as finish raking up the last of the stuff I'd trimmed earlier. I finally got round to erecting all the pallets round the trimmings pile at the bottom of the garden and tidied it up. Next, removing the old polytunnel cover to start laying it down over the area where the horsetail was growing (an extra barrier to prevent it punching through the weed suppressant membrane) It was while I was inside trying to drag it over the frame when I could hear rain .... no, no, no, not today! I had to break off so I could move my tools under cover.

It was only a light shower thank goodness and I finally moved the cover into place but I still needed some soil to fill the dips in the ground and level them off from when I had lifted the blueberries for the allotment (that was 10 years ago! My earlier fill-in had packed down) I noticed some old bags stacked against the compost bin which had soil in (maybe they had been grass sods?) and dragged them towards the area to be filled leaving a very happy robin swooping in to nab the woodlice that had been living underneath. At this point seemed a good idea to take a little break.

At 9.30 am, decided I'd take advantage of the quiet time (everyone at work or school so very little pedestrian traffic outside my house) and to get my two planters at the front of the house planted up with some bedding plants I'd bought last weekend. Of course, I spent more time emptying and filling the pots with fresh compost and endless sweeping up after, but finally I brought the plants out. All I did was place a lavender pot into place to see how it would look in place and ... did my back in }hairout{ I pushed myself to finish the task off but it was slow, awkward and painful but I'm happy they are done now.

I went back into the house to rest up and that was the end of my gardening session. I have a feeling I've strained a muscle in my back rather than skeletal - what with all the raking, pulling off a heavy cover from the polytunnel frame and dragging it into place, carrying a heavy bag of compost, bending over to empty & fill the pots and lots of sweeping, the action of simply bending down with a small potted plant in my hand seemed to be the last straw LOL.

It eased up when I laid down until there was a determined knock on my door which made me struggle to get up (he'd got the wrong address) but it's still niggly at the moment. Hopefully a good night's rest might be all it needs. I'll have to remind myself in future that I'm not a spring chicken anymore and not to try & do too many jobs at a time.
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by Mo »

Sounds as if you did a lot if all the work in the back was before 9.30.
Hope your back improves soon - I think the advice nowadays is to keep moving rather than too much rest. Though you've earned a rest too.
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Sunday 15th July 2018

Post by lancashire lass »

Mo wrote:Sounds as if you did a lot if all the work in the back was before 9.30.
Hope your back improves soon - I think the advice nowadays is to keep moving rather than too much rest. Though you've earned a rest too.


to be fair I have to be up before 5.00 am to feed the chickens otherwise I get a loud reminder (as do all my neighbours) - I have slowly worked out that my immediate neighbour lets his dogs out into the garden at 5.00 am so I think the noisiest girl hears/sees activity (she can see their conservatory door from her balcony in the chicken run) and lets me and everyone else know about it! (better than any guard dog LOL)

So my gardening tasks had started at about 6.00 am on Friday morning - first the quiet jobs like raking, sweeping, pulling the cover off the polytunnel, before moving on to the screwing the pallets together with the cordless drill. And there had been little rests in between so not working all the time.

Yes, my back is much better now thank you Mo - lying on my back eased the throbbing which was worse when sitting or standing, and not to mention the excruciating pain when trying to stand up or sit down! Yesterday (Saturday) I went out early (well, 7 am) to do my weekly supermarket shop and although only out for about an hour, I couldn't wait to get home but I got some ibuprofen (I'd already taken paracetamol when I got up earlier) and I think perhaps the painkillers and time / rest all day Saturday was all I needed. This morning I felt almost back to my usual aches & pains LOL.

This morning after feeding the girls, cleaning the pond filter box, watering the potted plants, hanging baskets and raspberries (& remembered to do the ones at the front of the house ... one of the reasons why they don't survive is that I often forget until too late) and cleaning the chicken coops out, after breakfast I got on with finishing the task off from Friday. I had already put the polytunnel cover over the bit of ground on Friday but it still needed to be trimmed round the wood trimmings piles. There were still little pools of water on top of the cover from Friday evening .... hmmm, doing the job I wanted which is to keep the ground dry & weed free, but also looks like the cover will also form near permanent puddles of water where the ground dips when we get more persistent rain (I have visions of wading through water at the bottom of the garden) Just a slight downside to the idea but I don't think it will be too big a problem as I rarely go down to the bottom of the garden often - maybe I could lay some of the paving stones I still have from lifting up on the patio during the pond build as a temporary solution if it is worse than I can imagine.

One reason I never finished laying the weed suppressant membrane down were the dips in the ground where the blueberry bushes used to be - I used the bags of soil I'd found by the old compost bin which was hard and dry but crushed well when I heeled them into the dips. However, there have been a lot of apples dropping off the trees which was a hazard in itself when stepped on! As I stretched the cover into place, a frog decided to hop across it and went straight into the wood pile. I had a horrible thought some frogs might try to get under the cover and be accidentally stepped on so I did a quick check none were there before trimming the cover and finalizing the position. I quickly followed it with the weed suppressant membrane on top and pinned it down so hopefully preventing any mishaps. I laid several lengths of the membrane down with an extra long one all the way to the bed in front of the pergola (with the Jasmine) So the ground from where the previous weed suppressant membrane stopped at the greenhouse is now extended all the way to the "rose bed" and down one side to the pergola.

That should hopefully prevent the horsetail from coming up and in time gradually kill it off (a long time - I can remember plastic sheeting on the squash beds at the allotment were down 3-5 years and some of the roots were still viable albeit weakened after all that time) The goal at the moment is to reduce some of the general maintenance so I can spend time on other jobs in the garden.

One final task, to refill the bird bath with fresh water. Since finding it at the bottom of the garden (the bowl had been knocked over at some point) and having a couple of kamikaze birds die in my pond, I have resurrected it and been keeping it topped with water. I had tipped the dregs out onto the roses so I could move it out the way while I was laying the cover down, so I felt pretty bad when I returned with the watering can to find a robin desperately trying to drink the last drop of water from the bowl. No sooner had I topped it up, he was back again. I've seen quite a number of birds using the bird bath so it is obviously appreciated while the ongoing dry conditions persist. Hopefully next week's forecast rain (IF it arrives) will be a relief for all those less fortunate to have a ready source of water (though I'm sure many could fly to other known sources even though they might be some way off)
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lancashire lass
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Garden rescue update + fish piccies

Post by lancashire lass »

For me, July has been a busy garden rescue despite soaring temperatures & drought conditions. Unfortunately the latest work done has been the "small" stuff compared to the dramatic big changes seen in my earlier photos. And the small stuff take the longest to do .... and seem to show little change ...

At work I still had 5 days leave to take before the end of July so I booked the Thursday 19th to Tuesday 24th off, was back at work for Wednesday and Thursday, and booked last Friday the 27th July off. I started well as I continued to finished clearing the bottom of the garden. One task was to dismantle the old grass compost bin - despite the dilapidation, the wood on the doors, back and sides were in excellent condition and I decided to salvage them to re-use when I got round to boxing in the filters for the pond. The contents of the compost bin were solid lumps of soil - I recall that when I had decided to clear the lawn from around the then small fruit trees and make it one long bed, I had tipped the sods into the compost bin so that the grass would decompose and turn the clods into "soil". Well, it might have been the case a year after but perhaps 10 years was too long!

Next, I finished off erecting the pallets round the trimmings pile at the bottom of the garden and screwing them together to make a defined area so it was easier to walk round and also helped to build the pile up rather than sideways. As the drought started to affect the trees, there has been a lot of leaf and unripened fruit drop so raking it up has been an almost daily task. Unfortunately as I dumped them on the trimmings pile, much of it fell through the pallet fence .... light bulb idea, I got some of scaffold netting and stapled it to the pallets to contain the spillage.

The polycarbonate & glass greenhouses and the covered polytunnel were next on my list - abandoned after the 2015 chilli project, some of the pots of compost were still sitting in there. I had obviously made a start at some point at the end of that season and early in 2016 before I gave up (about the time I started to struggle juggling both allotment and garden and had concentrated on the allotment instead) Some of the old compost bags had already been filled with the compost from the pots so was just a case of dragging out and throwing onto the beds (the fruit trees, the old "rose" bed and the one bed I am keeping in front of the pergola. I carried on emptying all the other pots until both greenhouses were completely clear, and the polytunnel used to store all the racking and trays. It took a surprisingly long time to do (one of those jobs which doesn't really show that much difference in the grand scheme)

As I proceeded to carry on clearing the pergola, I began to notice that at one end my neighbour had at one time pushed his leylandii hedge trimmings onto my property :? The privet hedge that runs down the entire length of the garden stops about 6 feet from the boundary fence at the bottom - when I bought my house the pergola was full of brambles which I cleared and to my dismay only realized afterwards that the brambles had also been part of the "hedge". I tried to encourage the privets to grow across but it's a sizable gap so I put a temporary fence across so that if nothing else, it would stop my dog from wandering through. My neighbour dumped an old rabbit hutch there on his side of the fence and the problem sorted. My own fault for abandoning the bottom of the garden, unknowingly the temporary fence had long ago broken apart and the leylandii trimmings & other rubbish had got shoved onto my property )de: I decided to position the back panel of the dismantled compost bin across the gap (and returned his trimmings back on to his own property ....) Another "temporary" fence but I have a cunning plan ....

There was a "bonus" to the litter I had found - a large sheet of plastic from my neighbour had been pushed deliberately onto my side (it didn't get there by accident) However, I could use it to cover part of the cleared ground to prevent weeds coming up so it came in very handy. The area selected was on the other side of the pergola - again, back to when I first moved into the house, I had cleared and constructed 2 beds in front of the pergola where I had planted 2 Morello cherry trees in each. I'm unsure why both died and one was still very woody - after trying to pull it out, it broke leaving a 3 inch stump in the ground. I had to remove it as I was likely to trip over it knowing me - I tried sawing it as close to the ground as possible which was nearly impossible to do but I'd cut it just enough so that when I used a heavy hammer it knocked it apart.

After clearing the last of the mini log roll boundary away and raking all the weeds and twiggy stuff off, I used the plastic sheet to cover the area and weighted it down. Next, trimming the hazel branches that grew horizontally across the garden and hogged the apple tree growing next to it - more sawing but what a difference it made to the light levels while still retaining the upper cover that I particularly wanted to keep. I even trimmed the rose tree with the 10+ feet long stems. The trimmings pile grew another 2 feet higher ...

Most of the pergola clearance and tree trimming was done last Sunday - with a forecast of up to 30oC for the Monday, even I had decided that it would be too hot to do much work outdoors so I really pushed to get some of the big jobs done before then. I spent Monday indoors and enjoyed a tv catch up (normally my Saturday "day of rest" which I had decided to forego that weekend) as well as catch up on some of my (free) online coursework (FutureLearn - courses on climate change and one about soil which I thought would be useful to learn about)

One thing I started to notice was a very distinctive odour by the chicken runs .... and not chicken. The smell of rodent pee. Whether it was a result of the high temperatures I don't know, but the smell was particularly strong and couldn't be ignored. I hadn't seen any tell-tale signs of rats since the big effort to get rid of them back in May/June (the chicken drinkers and feeders would often get emptied much more quickly than what the chickens were using, not to mention their brazen appearance in broad daylight) but I did wonder if new lodgers had found their way in. One area was particularly bad where I had stored wood and other stuff by the shed door so Tuesday was spent clearing that area. Not only my stuff but also a lot of soil (where on earth has it all come from?) I took the soil right down to the bottom of the garden and emptied it round the hazel tree. In the mood, I also cleared the pile of soil outside the Spice Palace run (now this was the chickens fault - they'd scratch the dirt inside the run against the door which spilled out) then gave the garden steps, paving outside the shed and between the runs a good soaking with dilute Jeyes fluid. It soon dried in the heatwave and I finished off sweeping the area clean. What a difference it made to that area. Meanwhile, time to purchase some more rat poison just to make doubly sure of no new lodgers.

While clearing the pergola and inspecting the wear and tear to the structure, I noticed that although the struts across the top were weathered and rotting, the uprights were still in good condition and could be rescued. And this is part of the "cunning plan" I had in mind for the bottom of the garden and (finances and weather depending), a new project for September when I have my annual 3 weeks leave. I suspect I won't be able to complete the project in September but if I could make it weatherproof before winter, I am hoping to convert the pergola into a gazebo! And (!) extend the gazebo so that one wall becomes part of the fence where the gap in the hedge is. Well, in my head I can see it LOL.

Friday's day off was a disaster. I had worked towards spending the long weekend painting the pergola, chicken runs and fence (the wood would be very dry after the drought conditions and be perfect) As Thursday was the hottest day of the year (I think we got to about 32+ oC here in Nottingham), the evening was unbearable and overnight the temperature was slow to drop. It made for an uncomfortable sleep so I was up early and decided to start painting the outside of the Spice Palace chicken run. I had managed to do 2/3rd of the run when I decided to take a break and tackle the other end by the apple tree later - and half an hour later the thunderstorm arrived. I think we only got the tail end of someone else's storm - a lot of rumbling thunder followed by 5 minutes downpour (enough for guttering unable to cope with the deluge) and more rumbles before it went away. Luckily the painting I'd done was already drying so the rain hadn't done too much damage but the weather forecast thereafter for the weekend was all downhill after that.

Pond update: apart from the usual filter clean & general maintenance, not a lot to report. The fancy goldfish in the fish tank are doing well and I made a discovery - they love to eat duckweed. So much so, I have had to replenish the plants from the pond. The pond duckweed on the other hand has had to be regularly cleared (which I use as mulch round the potted plants on the patio) and I started to wonder why the pond goldfish and koi didn't eat duckweed. But it would seem they do .... I probably hadn't noticed when I had to regularly clear the submerged pump grille of blanketweed and other rubbish, but now that the pond seems to be blanketweed free )c( , I still find myself having to do a daily clear of the grilles. And then I made the connection - just as the tank goldfish eat the tender leaves, the roots are trapped by the pump and this is what I've been clearing from the pond pumps too. It just shows how quickly duckweed grows if the fish are unable to keep on top of it!

And we have another pest to contend with .... what I thought were bees that had set up a nest in the pond featherboard surround are in fact, wasps.

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I have set up a wasp trap right outside the main entrance but so far only one was caught. I got some spray which you can apply after dark (when they are inside the nest and more vulnerable) but so far have not got round to it.

Meanwhile, my fish are definitely waiting for the breakfast in a morning so I have finally been able to take some photos especially of the 2 koi. Both have grown since I got them nearly 2 months ago but the silver/black is definitely much bigger. Both were about the same size as the largest Shubunkin goldfish shown in the picture below but she is starting to look distinctly smaller now. Enjoy the piccies:

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Cheshire Chick
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by Cheshire Chick »

Gosh you have been so busy LL. I am worn out reading about your garden "rescue". Your photo's are lovely, you have worked so very hard and it must be so satisfying to see your garden now. Back door area looks great. I must admit I am a tad bit jealous of your gorgeous large garden. Although it must be hard work to keep on top of, I would absolutely love it. Glad that the fish are doing well in your fabulous pond. )like(
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sandy
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by sandy »

Ditto CC! You work so hard LL and your descriptions and photos are of gardeners answers mag quality )like(
The Pink Ladies..Audrey,Ingrid-Bergman,Madeleline,Norma-Jean,Dora,Janice,Jo,Robyn,Chrissy and Joyce
The Peds…Mork,Mindy,Bell,Saphire &
Vorky ,Blueped,Ginger,Ninger &Linky

Sunny Clucker was ere July 12-21 2012
Sunny Clucker was ere July 6 2016 to Sept 9th 2017
Sunny Clucker is here , rehomed Aug 18th 2018/
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lancashire lass
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by lancashire lass »

Cheshire Chick wrote:Gosh you have been so busy LL. I am worn out reading about your garden "rescue". Your photo's are lovely, you have worked so very hard and it must be so satisfying to see your garden now. Back door area looks great. I must admit I am a tad bit jealous of your gorgeous large garden. Although it must be hard work to keep on top of, I would absolutely love it. Glad that the fish are doing well in your fabulous pond. )like(


)t' Thanks CC - I was lucky when I bought this house ... in my house search at the time I had listed my "desirable" features - preferably 1930s semi-detached (detached was well out of my price range), 3 bedrooms, living room with separate back room and kitchen, off road parking, a garden especially for the cat and dog, a bay window (was admittedly low on my list but was a deciding factor if there was a choice) However, 2002 was a housing boom time and house prices were going up £1000s on a daily increase and any property put on the market was already snapped up by the time I got to read about them, never mind arrange a visit! I was also under pressure as I had sold my house on a cash offer with the proviso it was completed within the month .... By coincidence, the sale of this house before I knew about it fell through on the day of signing contracts because the buyer couldn't get a mortgage and the seller of their new house was pressuring them. So the estate agents were keen to get another buyer in quickly when I turned up and strangely for the time, able to reduce the asking price to fit my budget. Very lucky.

sandy wrote:Ditto CC! You work so hard LL and your descriptions and photos are of gardeners answers mag quality )like(


Thank you sandy )t'

Here's this morning's piccie of the planter which did my back in the other week (now fully healed) The petunias are looking splendid and my front door step has never looked so colourful:

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