Canalhopper's Garden

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This blog will just be some random jottings and pictures of our garden, and a way of sending photos to friends on GOY, because there seems to be no way I can send photos in private messages.

Monday, 14th August, 2017
This picture is for owdboggy. We were talking about a plant he has in his garden, and I thought I had the same one. Now I shall find out!

Today has been a good day, I have at last finished weeding this border.

Last year, we went to visit a garden near Bodfari, called Clwydfryn, open under the NGS, and the owner had used Strulch, as a means of combatting weeds. I’m going to give it a go. I don’t have the time or energy to keep weeding!

https://www.strulch.co.uk

Below are some pictures of the next job—a border to weed at least twice the size of the one I’ve just finished…..

A couple of hours a day, easy does it!

Here are a couple of pictures of our pond:

The pond is my husband’s province, he had it dug out, and maintains it, though I do have a say! We have to net it, as the heron thinks it’s a self service cafeteria….

Below is a general view of our garden:

Wednesday, 16th August
We had a good day today. We visited Llyn Brenig, never been there before. We went to the visitors’ centre for lunch and had a walk around the area. The scenery is stunning and the heather is out in all its glory. Came home via Denbigh and Ruthin. Wonderful views of the Clwyddian range.

When we got home, there was a delivery of Strulch. I’ve put it on the border I’ve just weeded, and it really looks OK. I had wondered if it would look too artificial. There’s no doubt that soil looks better, but weeds look worse. It was too dark when I’d finished to take a picture, but I’ll do that soon so you can see how it looks.

Thursday, 17th August
Below are two pictures of the border with the Strulch in place. Not too awful and, if it stops the weeds growing, worth the surface appearance.

The next picture is of the table all set under the gazebo, ready for friends to come for lunch.

Friday, 25th August

Below is a picture of the start of my auricula theatre. Yes, the theatre is only a couple of Gardman stands, but great oaks from little acorns grow. I was very lucky, in that I mentioned on GOY that I was thinking of making an Auricula theatre and was offered a lot of auriculas by a friend. It was a great boost to my new hobby!

Tuesday, 3rd October

We’ve just spent three and a half weeks in Alsace with the caravan. The garden looks a wreck! Once I’ve finished the piles of laundry, cleared and cleaned the van, then I shall be spending every waking hour in the garden. Maybe I’ll post some pictures tomorrow, to give an idea of what needs doing.

Wednesday, 21st February, 2018
Well, a long gap between posts, I’m afraid, but I’ve just started in the garden again after a long, cold, wet and dark winter here in North Wales.

The Auriculas have mostly made it through the winter, only a few have died.

Now I need Trev to build me a proper Auricula Theatre…..

The snowdrops are coming to an end, but the Snowflake plant I bought last year is just coming into bloom.

Two years ago we put water in a barrel and put in some plants taken from the main pond. Some weeks later, we saw tiny fish in there. There must have been some eggs on the plants we moved. Now there are at least twenty tiny fish in the barrel.

The hebe is coming in to flower.

The Winter Beauty clematis on the pergola has been flowering for a while.

This heron is the only sort allowed to look at the pond! Isn’t it beautiful? Friends gave it to me for my birthday.

The fish are swimming round optimistically, hoping for food.

We’ve lifted the sides of the anti-heron netting all round the pond, ready for the annual invasion of frogs. I was at a quiz the other week, and one question was, “what is the collective name for a group of frogs?” Apparently it is “an army”. I didn’t know that.

Saturday, 3rd March

Well, I really thought we were on the way to Spring, with the couple of fine days we had, then, wham, eight inches of snow with drifts up to two feet in the garden, and below freezing for days.

Even the river in town is frozen.

No doubt almost everyone else on here is in a similar situation. It will certainly slow down any outdoor work for a while.

Saturday, 29th April
At last a day without rain! Trev gave the lawn its first cut with the new mower. We’ve bought a petrol mower from Aldi, and it seems to be very efficient. It has a Briggs and Stratton engine, and did a lovely job.
I’ve sown lots of seeds in the potting shed, and also planted peas in the vegetable bed.
The auriculas are doing really well, I’m so pleased with them. There is such a variety of colours and forms, they’re lovely. Thank you so much to their generous owner who gave them to me.

• 14 Aug, 2017
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