🐌Just Weeding again 🌿🤗🌿🐌

 Not a lot to show you today . ☀️While the sun shone yesterday I gave the labyrinth it's third cut of the year and already it is looking much better .  

Today the weather is on the turn yet again . Very damp and mizzley .🌧️🌧️

I am tired after all the gardening I did yesterday . 

 I try to do a little bit everyday .

 I covered the Dahlia bed with some earth , mixing in some chicken pellets to give them a bit of a boost . Some of the tubers had become exposed after all the torrential rain . I should have given them a much thicker mulch back in the Autumn .....but that was when I had my spine injury  and I had no choice but to let go .

 Then I started to try and rake out the weeds growing through this Aloe . 

You may remember I did work on this bed back in the Summer .

Using this rake tool was useless , I ended up on my hands and knees  , to pull out miles and miles of Ivy and the occasional ouch... bramble .

 I don't wear gloves ....but I may have to go back in with gloves and actually  I think I will have to go back in and prize the bramble roots out with my big garden fork .

Annoyingly the brambles have chosen to grow right on the edge where the bed meets the lawn !

 I'll sort that out tomorrow . 

                    Ivy so hard to get to ! 

Big heap of weeds , which I have left on the lawn  to wilt . 

 I'll pick them up tomorrow .

I pulled off a couple of pieces that were beginning to walk across the lawn .

Just look at those gorgeous roots !  

 Gorgeous !  🤩

I will probably plant this somewhere else in the garden .

I got several pieces that I can make cuttings from to give away . 💚 They have lovely flowers in the Summer which butterflies and the bees love   🦋🐝🐝🐝

Meanwhile in the woodshed .......

......everything looks a little sad to say the least .  The Musa ensete maurellii is beginning to wake up after I gave them a little water the other day .

They wont be planted out until May , but can start into growth again now undercover .

This too looking very sad , I will start giving these a drink and some plant food soon .

This is/was a Peony ...... 😱........

....... but look !   There is a beautiful new shoot coming up in there !  🤩

More Agave americana variegata  . They have been kept dry over Winter , no water at all . I will repot these with fresh compost and later on I'll show you how they soon plump up and double in size .

So there we are , no pretty pictures to show you today I'm afraid .

The weather update - so now ,  🌧️it is forecast to rain and be mizzly forever ! 🌧️ For the next two weeks anyway .  🌧️🌧️🌧️🌧️

                       Great !!   Easier to pull the weeds out !  🤗🌿🐌🐌

                                 Peace and Love  🩷

🌿Various jobs in the garden today 🌿🐒

 

Pittosporum , Crocosmia "Lucifer" also known as Montbretia -seed pod sprays , Cotinus coggygria "Royal Purple" , one little Dahlia flower, Agapanthus -seed pod spray .

  Aha ! Found the Grape-vine snips !  🍇🌿

                                Decided to leave out the Dahlia flower .

        I like the simplicity of just the seed pod sprays .

Flowers for the table done , got on and thinned out the grapes .

...and while I was there , I made a very tiny start on clearing around my little Monkey Puzzle Tree .

It's doing well . Seems to be developing two leader shoots . Should I remove one of these ? 

I need to have a think about that 🤔🐒 Anyone got any ideas on this ? 

Then I made a start on clearing these brambles, which are blocking my pathway .

It has to be clear so that I can get up there ,and yes , it is on a slope , and do maintenance work , pruning and such like on all the shrubs and trees .

 There are no bird's nesting in these brambles and I'm not pruning any bushes just yet .

I decided to clear about two feet of brambles into this thicket .

I told my brother that if he hasn't heard from me in a couple of days , to let people know I'm somewhere under the Bramble thicket .

I achieved clearing two feet of the horrid spikey things .

I could have cleared a bit more but I'd filled the wheelbarrow and it was time for elevenses .

I put everything away and maybe I'll do a bit more this afternoon .

             Maybe 

                Maybe not 

                                            🌧️🌦️🌧️🌧️🌧️

Yesterday evening 's walk along the cliffs . 

    Darkening sky with rain coming in....the fields looking so dry . 

I hope that some of this rain will head up north to put out the fires on the beautiful North York Moors .

                         Thinking of you -  love Debbie  x

Brambles !

 

So the next big task is to cut down just about everything you can see in the above picture .The reason being , while I wasn't well for a couple of years ,the brambles had grown up through all the shrubs  . I just wasn't able to climb in there and do it . Well I have news for you Brambles ..... I,m back !

The other thing that I have to attend to is the Amelanchier tree . It just isn't earning it's space . 

You cant even see it in this picture , but it's there , just a boring green leaved tree . It does have white blossom on it for a very short time in the Spring . The tips of the leaves are lovely in the Autumn if you go and look close up to it . Mine has never been all that spectacular . 

I cant understand why so many gardening shows and magazines recommend this tree for small gardens when there are so many far better trees you could choose . 

Maybe there are better varieties of Amelanchier tree that you can get now .

I took off a branch .

The closer you look the more beautiful it is .

I think I might like it better if I cut it down and continue to let it grow as a bush .

So back to work !

There is a beautiful red leaved Acer that I planted a few years ago and I think that when I ve cleared all the "waste of space "bushes , it will be able to spread out it's branches and look so much better .

So , I'm in there somewhere ! 

Somewhere in the darkness , armed with shears and loppers , beneath a great heavy weight canopy of Brambles .

I took the camera in with me too . There are three or four clumps of Hydrangeas  which I have now cut down . I have to be careful or I might never be seen again ! I think this is the best way to do it , but not totally sure . At the moment the bushes are all cut at the bottom but still standing and the bramble canopy is above my head . 

I need to go and have a cup of tea and have a little ponder on this .

Even in here , there is much beauty to be found  .

More Autumn treasures .

            Gone for a tea break !