Oct 16, 2011, Garden no 14

I’ve not posted a garden update since July, before I went to France. I didn’t realise it was so long and much has happened since then. I’ve had a period when I was unable to work in the garden due to the arthritis, which put a holt to the gardening for a while. But that wasn’t the only problem. For a start, I faced total disaster when I came back from France in July. Something awful had happened to my pond. I left it with plants, tadpoles and baby frogs, when I came back the pond was putrid and almost dead. There were some dead baby frogs in the pond and I guess the others had managed to jump out and get away. I’ve no idea what caused this, it looked like pollution, and all I could think was that someone had tipped something noxious in the pond while I was away. The smell coming off the water was unimaginable. I had no choice but to empty it out and refill it. I took as many plants out I could out and rinsed them off under the tap before replacing them, some had already died and were slimy and smelly. I managed to get hold of a handful of duckweed, which I know spreads rapidly and has a purifying effect on the water. After a couple of weeks I could see a visible improvement in the pond plants, the water was clear and there was no smell. On the down side, the pond had improved sufficiently to be full of mosquito larvae, and as I had no frogs left I had to buy a couple of goldfish to keep the larvae under control. I’ve not seen the goldfish since I put them in but the larvae is under control so I’m guessing they are still in there somewhere. I didn’t want goldfish, I’m back with the same old problem I had last year of trying to find them and get them out before the freezing temperatures hit and they freeze to death. Even if they are lucky enough to survive the winter in the pond, they will have to be removed in the spring before I put new frog spawn in and try (yet again) to establish a wild life pond. All that happened at the end of July, and today is my first full day in the garden for ages, there is  no sign of the goldfish, but no larvae either, the water is clear, the plants are thriving, the birds are coming down to drink and bath and the pond is looking good.
The garden was a bit overgrown, but I made a good start on it today and if I can get out tomorrow I think I can really get back on top of things.
One of the first things I did was to paint my new gate and touch up all the blue doors. If you remember my garden gate was blown off its hinges in the storms a few months ago. The old wooden gate was beyond repair but my son-in-law very kindly welded, drilled and generally fixed an old iron gate, that had been laying about the garden for years, onto the wall and now……….its perfect. No amount of wind will blow this one away.
I have cut the grass, re-cut the grass and re-cut the grass again, it was so overgrown it needed a lot of work.
I weeded my vegetable garden and even managed to salvage quite a few of the carrots.

My daughter has agreed to come back next week and enlarge the vegetable plot and today I managed to cut a small trench in the grass outlining the new boundary.
I also did some herb maintenance; I weeded and trimmed all the herbs growing in containers. I also harvested seeds to save ready for next year.
As soon as my fence was finished and painted earlier this year, I emptied a couple of packets of wild flower seeds around the inside of the fence, and this is the result.
Not bad considering the fence was only finished a couple of months ago. Some of these flowers don’t exactly look like ‘wild’ flowers, but they are pretty and colourful.

The biggest problem I have right now is finding space for all the compostable garden waste. I have mounds of grass cuttings, weeds, herb cuttings, turf dug out from the vegetable patch and used compost. Both of my compost bins are full to overflowing, one should actually be ready by the spring but the other one I’ve only just finished filling so it will longer. I refuse to throw this organic matter away and so for now it is piled into unused containers and covered, guess I’ll decide how to use it next year by which time it should have composted down a bit.
If the weather stays this nice tomorrow, and if I’m still feeling ok, I’m going to try to prune the fruit canes and generally finish of out there ready for the winter.

Tags: garden, garden2011, plants, pond

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delete reply mitchylr wrote on Oct 17, '11 Sorry about the pond disaster, but glad to hear it's doing well again now. The rst of it is looking pretty good now you've had a bit of time on it. I like those wildflowers.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Oct 17, '11 brendainmad said I was thinking just the other day that you hadn't posted a garden update for a while. So sorry to hear about your pond. oh its looking good now, it's half nine here and I'm just going to grab a coffee and then get out there again, will take more photos this time...........loving being back outside again .

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Oct 17, '11 I was thinking just the other day that you hadn't posted a garden update for a while. So sorry to hear about your pond.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Oct 17, '11 djdx said I took cuttings of anthemis and potted up some geraniums exactly what I am going to do this morning................bring my geraniums in and sort them out for the winter

delete reply djdx wrote on Oct 17, '11 Yesterday I was taking care of a couple of things that would suffer when frost hits as it has been getting a bit nippy in the mornings. I took cuttings of anthemis and potted up some geraniums and a plant I bought which I found out later is not truly hardy (a South African aster called felicia). So the greenhouse is rather full. I like your blue paint.

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delete reply poshpause wrote on Oct 17, '11 Goodness me! We could do with your gardening know-how in our garden. We're just beginners to the whole idea of gardening and it's rather a hit and miss affair with us! What a shame about your pond. Seems very odd for it to have just upped and died like that. It must have been an awful job to have sorted it out!

delete reply artprevails wrote on Oct 17, '11 I am wild about the blue fencing...it really sets off the lovely colors of your gardens and potted plants. I hope the pond works out.

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Oct 16, '11 The Force was with you. ; )

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Oct 16, '11 that is good news :)

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Oct 16, '11 thank you .............:-), its been good to get out there again after so long. I've had my daughter ill, I've not been up to gardening myself and the weather wasn't always good enough to get out. BUT... today it all came together, the weather was great, daughter(s) all ok and my achy joints not too bad. Had a really great day today.

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Oct 16, '11 bummer about the pond but everything else looks real good i love the blue fence :)

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Oct 16, '11 Loretta, i am so very sorry about your pond and the froggies! : * ( the new gate is just beautiful. Kudos to SIL for a job well done. your 'wild'flower garden looks really pretty. glad you were able to harvest plenty of carrots. try to do some gentle stretches throughout the rest of your evening. the new garden is really coming together, i love it! thanks for the update. ; )