As I ponder what social distancing might look like in the coming months, I'm hoping that it means I get lots of my home gardening projects done. Today, I started by preparing the soil in my veggie boxes which I have neglected all summer long.
What are you planning on doing in the garden with your extra time at home?
Home gardening projects
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I’m having similar thoughts, Sarah. Building a low stone wall is now top of my list (having been on the list for 12 months). Also some general tidying up – the weeds are starting to win. What other garden jobs are you planning?
Not only the veggie garden but I am proceeding to attack a large bed of mint. I was unwell last spring and couldn’t garden so the covers an area of about 3m sq. I left it over summer enjoying the bees enjoying the flowers. the time has come for action!
Mine is planted into pure clay overlaid with gravel, in a spot that gets no water. The conditions certainly curb its enthusiasm
Pondering if and how to make my chook run more attractive. Keeping anything alive with my hens is impossible. They even knock over or fly over fencing.
Check out what Brenton Roberts did with his, using a few sticks. You’ll just have to scroll back through his insta feed @brentonrobertsgardendesign
I have grown hops in the chook run. It grows up to give shade and make things a little more attractive over summer then dies down thus allowing sun in winter. I planted it next to a central pole and protected with a pot that had the bottom cut out. This is the first year and it got to the top and over the roof so expect big things next year.
It’s time to espalier. I’ve been dreaming of doing it for a long time, I just need to work out which fruits, I have room for 3 trees, approx. 3 metres apart along a fence. Any suggestions? It’s as much about aesthetics as it is fruit production.
You might as well grow what you like to eat Ash, it’s a good incentive when things go a bit awry (as they can sometimes). Not all trees espalier well, but I’ve had good success with apples, plums, quince, pear, peach, nectarine, citrus, cherry. Some like horizontal training, others need to be trained as a fan shape due to their branching structure. Look for trees grafted onto dwarfing rootstock as this will contain their growth and minimise your workload. Good luck and have fun!
There’s time to really look at the garden and the general condition of the plants. I’m finally getting around to pulling out ancient Euphorbia wulfenii- knarled, woody and leggy. There’s no shortage of replacement stock! Yuccas and Phormiums that have lost their lovely structural value through neglect are also getting the attention of the spade (and the axe). Meanwhile, my socially isolated partner is making great progress on a substantial stone wall project, aka the Corona Project.
I had planted several types of seed for our winter crops but am now having to quickly pivot to deal with whatever blighter is eating my new seedlings. I suspect the rats that come over/through the neighbours fence every night 😡
So many projects and so much time! I’ve spent the last couple of days just sitting in the garden trying to work out where to start. Then, yesterday afternoon, I started pulling out some weeds in a brick paved area and realised a whole section needs to be pulled up and re-layed due to roots. I guess I now know where to start…
Yeh it’s lovely to just sit still and look at the garden and get fresh visions for new additons or changes to the garden. Stillness is special.
Stillness is greatly underrated these days. Trouble is, it doesn’t do anything for the economy, so who’s going to promote it?
Gardening is such a positive way to spend all this extra time we have at home. My husband and I are enjoying working on establishing our new backyard garden. I planted about 30 garlic bulbs last week and they’re already sprouting! It’s amazing how much you can grow in a small yard. Our yard measures 4 x 14 metres and we have 3 allocates veggie beds and around the perimeter we have 7 espaliered fruit trees plus a passion fruit vine. By the way, what would be causing the leaves on it to have a raised “bubbled” surface on them? Any ideas, you experts out there?