HeritageHorticulture

Gardener: Garden Maintenance and Improvement; Lawns - Weeding - Pruning; One-off Improvements - Regular Maintenance; RHS Level 2 Certificate in Horticulture

[HeritageHorticulture @HHorticulture]

Only an absolute downpour stops play. Although some tasks cannot be done in heavy rain, picking the timing and work within a job means I have got a lot done despite the odd deluge. And at the end of the visit, I care less about being soaked through.

[HeritageHorticulture @HHorticulture]

Spring has sprung after weeks of very wet and persistently cold conditions. We are starting to see buds forming on shrubs, grass greening up, shoots on herbaceous perennials and inevitably weeds are showing. Also time to tackle jobs that are left over from the end of last year!

[HeritageHorticulture @HHorticulture]

This season just never stopped. From the start of spring, work has been continuous. The constant heat has not been good for plants, lawns or me. Even the weeds began to struggle in cracked, hard ground. The weather has suddenly indicated autumn, so the clear - up begins.

[HeritageHorticulture @HHorticulture]

Similarly to my previous post, all lawns needed mowing at every visit instead of having weeks of slow growth in the summer. A few hedges requiring second trims to keep tidy. Still, most gardens are put to bed for the winter now.

[HeritageHorticulture @HHorticulture]

An incredibly busy season with the warm and wet weather resulting in extra vegetative growth compared to lots of seeding that came from the dry of last year. It also brought on weeds, the wet scuppering the treatment.

[HeritageHorticulture @HHorticulture]

Today I scarified moss out of a lawn, the latest in the year I have ever done it. With the rainy and mostly cooler weather, moss accumulates more but it has also meant decent conditions to treat and remove it. One rake before treatment, then another today a couple of weeks on.

[HeritageHorticulture @HHorticulture]

And another view before and after...

[HeritageHorticulture @HHorticulture]

Lawn repairs today, this time of year while the soil is moist and it is cool weather gives it a chance to recover. There was a nine inch hump from a vehicle pushing some turf aside and crushing some below wheels. Before and after...

[HeritageHorticulture @HHorticulture]

I know you can buy a similar new one for less than £100 now, but the job was under a couple of hours' work and I expect she will appreciate it.

[HeritageHorticulture @HHorticulture]

Last week I went round to a neighbour's to find the bird table lying on its side on the lawn. All the damp weather from the last few years had rotted the entire structure at the base. There was nothing wrong with the top half apart from flaking paint.

So a project was born.

[HeritageHorticulture @HHorticulture]

I had offcuts of timber, plenty of nails and some leftover stain. So, having sawn off only a couple of inches of rotted wood out of the height, I remade the base like-for-like and treated it to get a uniform look.

[HeritageHorticulture @HHorticulture]

With the new season upon us, I have made use of a short window of clement weather to start some winter jobs for a few clients, where careful pruning in some larger settings needs hours of labour. But frost, ice and snow are forecast next. Other ideas have come to the fore.

[HeritageHorticulture @HHorticulture]

Don't forget! If you live in Cheshire East and would like your garden waste (plus food waste) collection to continue next year, you will need to subscribe to the £56p.a. service through the council website. https://t.co/PGnJ9uKxsz

[HeritageHorticulture @HHorticulture]

It has been a bitterly cold day, -1C still even once the fog cleared. I spent two hours on some fruit trees, this Malus 'Bramley's Seedling' being the biggest. Previous tidying up formed a good shape, so I mostly made cuts for improved cropping. 1C by the time I finished.

[HeritageHorticulture @HHorticulture]

The old girl shines up well, #SexyAndIMowIt, but I am fed up with particles getting into the carburettor. The last one had an inline fuel filter, so I bought a can of carb-cleaner and some filters. I will have to see if it is cured, probably next time the tank is nearly empty.

[HeritageHorticulture @HHorticulture]

A couple of clients have asked about putting tender plants out. In Cheshire, we are never guaranteed to have the last of the frosts just yet. The RHS says 22nd May, but as long as overnight temperatures repeatedly exceed 6C, bedding plants, etc., can be risked.

[Alan Jenney @AlanJenney]

The Atco' engine suddenly started hunting and surging last week. Checked some of the usual suspects: air filter, spark plug or muck in the fuel. After checking by a workshop, it was a cracked carburettor, replaced with a refurbished part along with the air filter housing.

[Alan Jenney @AlanJenney]

Repair to some @HHorticulture equipment. A scarifier cartridge that fits my old Acto petrol mower. Pranged it last week, shearing the lugs on the plastic cross-shaped rotors that interlock to form the helical rake. Also twisted some of the spring tines that fit in the tips.

[HeritageHorticulture @HHorticulture]

With great sorrow for the loss of HM Queen Elizabeth II, a Bank Holiday has been approved for the day of the state funeral. The date has not yet been set, but out of respect for the occasion, I intend not to be working that day. Long Live the King.