It has been a pretty wet year in 2024 and not all the plants enjoyed it. Towards the end of the year it was also very wet and it has been a struggle to keep my potted plants happy. I have to hide them from the worst of the weather under the table on the patio and bench, or bring them indoors for a short spell. My health hasn’t been great for the last few months so I haven’t been able to enjoy gardening much. Sjogren’s, arthritis and Raynaud’s do not appreciate the cold damp weather and on top of that I have been having bowel pain issues so have been resting up. We did get a short cold snap but it has actually been a very mild December. The tulips are coming up along-side the snowdrops – which I don’t think I have seen before.
Tulips appear among the snowdrops
The crocuses outside in pots are coming through but not quite in bud, and the ones indoors are a mixed bag. I have one about to open and others are through but not open, and others that are only just visible. Only one small narcissus Julia Jane is in flower but the rest just have leaves. My amaryllis from last year is only leaves and no buds so I will have to wait till next year. The indoor cyclamen are looking great.
Single Julia JaneSingle crocus FireflyConservatory table with cyclamen (bit of a jaunty angle)
There are still pretty things to see in the garden with lots of different evergreens, catkins, witch-hazel flowers, viburnum flowers, and some hellebores popping their flower buds up.
Corkscrew hazel catkinsWitch-hazel flowers
Even though we have had a very windy and dreich end to 2024 (even the Edinburgh Hogmanay Celebrations have been cancelled) we have had a few lovely sunrises so I will leave you with this sunrise from December 2024 and wish you all the very best for 2025.
It has been a bit wet and windy and loads of fireworks going off (despite the ban in this area) but now things are starting to turn colder and sunnier. We did manage to get the harling fixed on the patio walls and a few other patches here and there. The harler also put some extra cement at the top of my ramp as the ramp itself had sunk an inch or so from the flat slabs at the top. I now don’t have to bunny-hop over the edge of the slabs with tools or plants on my knee.
New harling on the patio wall.
A lot of leaves have fallen now but there are still some falling into the pond so I have to keep on top of that. There are a few flowers out still but I will be concentrating on house plants just now. I have had to move some of the more delicate ones from the cold conservatory so I now have plants in almost every room. There are still loads of plants in the conservatory that can handle the cold and I try to keep it above 5 °C.
Back in June I chopped the head off the aeonium ‘Voodoo’ to see if I could get the head to root and the cuttings to root and branch. There was mixed success: the head did root but some of the new leaves were a very strange shape, but these have now fallen off and it is looking good. The larger of the cuttings rooted and started branching, the smaller cutting just rotted, and the bit that already had roots that the head came from has done nothing. I have been spraying the stem where the buds should branch from but nothing so far.
Aeonium ‘Voodoo’ rooted head plus rooted stem with tiny branches.Aeonium ‘Voodoo’ cutting with branches.
The crocus are now coming up, just slightly ahead of the ones outside on the patio. In the background is the pot with the Oxalis palmifrons which I am glad to say are coming on well. Although I am sure they were in flower this time last year.
Crocus popping up.
On the lefthand side of the conservatory is a collection of plants. Beaucarnea recurvata (ponytail plant or elephant’s foot) which really aught to be re-potted but I don’t have a big enough pot and I know it will be a real struggle to do so I haven’t done anything about it. Davallia canariensis (hare’s foot fern) which in hindsight is in the wrong kind of pot: it is clay and I have to spray the plant regularly as the fern likes moisture but the the clay pot is now disintegrating. I do love the hairy rhizomes of the fern and I have another one else where in the conservatory. The only streptocarpus I have left is the small succulent leaved one called Streptocarpus saxorum and it still has loads of flowers. I gave it quite a ‘hair cut’ a few months ago and it is looking better now. The Selaginella Kraussiana is a type of clubmoss and although it is looking ok just now I did take a few cuttings and potted one up in a small pot and and put the others in a bottle. It was looking rather bedraggled before. The mice have been having a good chew at the bottle cork!
Left corner of conservatory.Davallia canariensis furry rhizomes.Selaginella Kraussiana (clubmoss).
I still have sempervivums and a few echivera hybrids and cacti in the conservatory along with a couple of herbs and cuttings I am trying to root. The cyclamen have buds ready to open.
Left hand side of the conservatory table. Sempervivums
There is also a large tree fern and a few other miscellaneous plants in the conservatory.
The sitting room isn’t all that warm but some plants don’t mind too much. The Pilea peperomoides does well so I have taken a few cuttings to sell at the plants sale. The Sansevieria trifasciata (snake plant) likes it there and I have another couple of cuttings of it elsewhere around the house. The Rhipsalideae gaertneri (Easter cactus) is still quite small but has a few new leaves on it. I have a large Crassula ovata here and a cutting in the craft room. The other plant that does well in here is the Spathiphyllium (peace lily). There are a few of theses dotted around the house as they appear to do do well just about anywhere.
Pilea peperomioidesSansevieria trifasciata and Rhipsalideae gaertneri.Spathiphyllum (peace lily).
The craft room doesn’t always have room for plants but I have squeezed a few in.
Schlumbergera.
There is a pink flowered Schlumbergera (Christmas cactus) with a Sansevieria trifasciata cutting, Crassula ovata cutting, and a Chlorophytum comosum (spider plant) in the background.
In the room with very low light levels I have large dark green foliage plants that can deal with the light levels. I like to keep the room fairly humid by spraying them every day.
Unknown palm, Dracaena fragrans ‘Janet Craig’ and variegated Monstera deliciosa.
The palms tend to take up a lot of space as the foliage ‘fountain’ out and droop down so I think they are better on a small table. I adore my Dypsis lutescens (Areca palm) and I am eyeing up a few other types to add to my collection.
Dypsisi lutescens (Areca palm) on a small table).
The Areca palm has never flowered but the unknown palm, left to me by a friend who has sadly passed, has produced very strange looking flowers. I think they are male but not quite sure.
Flowers of the unknown palm.
The pinky/purple colour on the wall behind is the grow light for my air plants. I have not managed to get them to flower but at least they have survived. Maybe next year. The Stephanotis doesn’t like the cold or draughts so I had to bring it in from the conservatory but it didn’t like it much and a lot of it’s leaves have gone pale, some have gone yellow and dropped., so I am hoping I can keep it alive until the spring when I can put it back in the warm sunny conservatory. Orchids are not plants that I would ever buy for myself as I tend to kill them but I do have a couple kindly given to me which I have kept alive so far – a white one and a purple one which are in the dinning room. Another plant just moved into the dinning room is the Amaryllis which was one bulb when I potted it up this year but I have two distinct sprouting areas each with 2 leaves. I just left it so shall see what happens. As I have loads of houseplants I am always afraid to get ill as they all have different watering and feeding requirements. Some you have to spray/mist regularly and others that should not get water on their leaves and although it is great to have friends and a husband who can help out it would take forever to tell them which ones get what treatment. It also takes a some time each day to check each plant and tend to their needs. So long may I stay well enough to look after all my green pals.
Late September and the beginning of October signifies the start of the autumnal, foliage colour changes that I adore. The weather is chilly and damp with a few sporadic sunny spells. This is when some of the greens of summer change into gorgeous russets, bright reds and oranges, deep purples and buttery yellows. Last month the enkianthus foliage went from green to bronzy purple, but this month they have gone bright red just before they fall.
Enkianthus bright red foliage
The golden foliage of the Acer shirasawanum aureum take on red tinges especially if the leave are in the sunshine. In autumn the develop red stems and veins before they go brown and fall.
Acer shirasawanum aureum in the sunshine.Acer shirasawanum aureum red veins, stems and tips.
Another tree/shrub that gets red stems is the viburnum and the darkish green leaves take on a purply colour. It sporadically flowers all year round.
Red stems and leaf colour of Viburnum X Bodnantense Dawn
The fuchsia is still flowering away and there are still a few flowers appearing on the honey suckle nearby. Once the flowers go on the honeysuckle they develop bright red berries much loved by the birds. The leaves on the honeysuckle in the raised bed are still green whereas the leaves on the honeysuckle on the patio have taken on purple tones. It looks good next to the purple flowered hellebore (the only one flowering at the moment) and the bright yellowy green of the Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ grass.
The dainty red and purple flowers of the fuchsia growing across the pathway.White honeysuckle flowers.Bright red honeysuckle berries next to red unopen flowers of the fuchsia.Honey suckle with purple leaves next to a hellebore with purple flowers.
Soon the purple leaves on this acer will change to a bright red red colour but for now it goes well with the purple of the sempervivum ‘chocolate kiss’
Sempervivum ‘chocolate kiss’ in front of Acer palmatum dissectum ‘garnet’
On the patio, in a half barrel, is a small cherry tree, Prunus Shirota Mount Fuji that has lovely green leaves during summer until they take on a peachy yellow colouration before turning bright orange just before drop.
Prunus Shirota Mount Fuji autumn colouration beginning.Prunus Shirota Mount Fuji foliage colours of orange, peach, yellow and green..The cherry tree foliage colours darken just before they fall.
The witch hazel (Hamamelis inter Diane) leaves also go from green through bright yellows and oranges and the bright reds.
Hamamelis inter Diane bright orangey red autumn foliage.
The persicarias are still flowering away, as are the astrantias, gaura and a few roses, even this little foxglove. It may look a bit odd but it is kind of resting on it’s shoulder.
Foxglove flowering in October.
As much as I am loving these autumnal colours I am already looking forward to the spring colours so I have been planting a few more bulbs. There will be some in the garden, some on the patio and a few in the conservatory. The recently revived indoor cyclamen have lovely fresh foliage and I expect to see flowers fairly soon.
Well it hasn’t been very warm this August and we have had quite a bit of rain. There is even more slug damage – the echinacea have all suffered. I just have little spikes instead of leaves, and any leaves that did manage to grow got snail damage! I caught the culprits in action so no question of who did what. I did think that the hairy leaves might just put the critters off eating them – oh how wrong I was. I tried them in the garden, then in pots on the patio, then in pots on the patio table.
There is still plenty of colour about, still in flower are: roses, Japanese anemones, verbena, selinum wallichinum, nepeta, erigeron, fuchsia, persicaria, gaura, astrantia, cyclamen, agastache, viburnum, water lilies, and even some foxgloves are still flowering. Going over now are the purple loosestrife, oregano and lavender. There are little carpets of purple flowers of cyclamen in various places in the garden.
Large white flowerheads of selinum wallichinum.Tall white persicaria.Tall red persicaria.Tall pink persicaria flowers.Pretty astrantia flowersDainty white, butterfly-like flowers of the Gaura.Cyclamen flowers.From the patio, end of August 2024
As autumn approaches (rather quickly) there is colour in the berries of the rowan, holly, enkianthus and honeysuckle. The foliage of the enkianthus is turning a lovely purply/bronze colour that looks great with the heuchera solar eclipse.
Bronze coloured foliage of enkianthus and it’s green berries.Heuchera solar eclipse bronze and lime green foliage.Fern with purple ribs and purple tinged frond ends.
The fern here has purple ribs and purple tinges on the frond ends that go well with the deep purple foliage of the heuchera next to it. There are still young bronze coloured fronds popping up in some ferns in the stumpery.
Bronze coloured fronds of the rosy buckler fern.
It is almost time to plant the narcissi and crocus so I did a quick check on the stored ones and found that some of the narcissi had some mold on them so they had to be chucked. The little oxalis palmifrons bulbs had very long shoots already and were becoming a bit soft so I chucked most of them out and planted the few best looking ones (ever hopeful). The cactus in the conservatory had another gorgeous flower on it just for one day – the fragrance was fabulous! Also in the conservatory I started to water the indoor cyclamen after their summer rest and the leaves are coming through now. There is moss growing at the base of the tree fern in the conservatory and as I was spraying the fern I thought the droplets looked good on the moss sporophytes.
Sprayed water droplets on the sporophytes.
I have made a few decisions about the ground cover plants in the stumpery: the sweet woodruff is rather rampant and is covering up other plants so that will be coming out (perhaps I can leave some behind a large log and just keep it in check), the violets are getting every where so some of them will just get ripped out, the same goes for the bugle. The lovely little creeping fern. Blechnum penna-marina, is becoming a bit of a thug and it’s rhizomes are intermingling with other plant roots so I will keep some in a large pot. It has got all tangled up in amongst the saxifrage and it has taken a while to untangle it all.
Blechnum penna-marina coming up through the saxifrage.
The dogwood that has been struggling in the damp corner beside the ramp has been moved to the stumpery where it should have more space. The large fern just kept flattening it where it was. The jobs for the weekend are putting some Blanket Answer in the pond as for the fist time ever we have blanket weed. Horrid stuff! Plus the usual cutting back, dead-heading and keeping up with the weeding. I suppose I ought to do some work in the front garden too.
We have had a mixed bag of weather over July – some rain, some sun and some overcast days but over all not too bad. I have found more plants decimated by Spanish slugs; two artemesias in separate troughs with not a bit of greenery left, one nepeta and they are still having a go at a mint plant in a pot (they are not supposed to like these plants according to the internet). I have put a clear plastic cloche over one artemesia to see if I can keep it alive at least. Slugs have never gone for these in the past! And talking about slugs (as I often do) I have been watching them by the pond and found them wandering around the water lily pads. One Spanish slug stretched itself from a pad over the moss covered stone half submerging itself in the process. A leopard slug spent the afternoon just lying around in a little puddle on a pad like it was at a spa. On the patio I have found the Spanish slugs like to drink from the birdbath. I haven’t found any other slug do that.
Slug going from lily pad to moss covered stoneLeopard slug on water lily padSpanish slug having a drink from bird’s water dish.
We were so pleased when we got a large jar and did a spot of pond dipping and found a tiny eft (baby newt). Great news so we know that we at least have a male and female about and that eggs were produced and hatched.
Eft (baby newt)
On the wall of the raised bed I found a very pretty pinkish-brown snail. Probably a Cepaea nemoralis and they are plymorphic so you can see different colours of these.
Pinkish-brown grove snail Cepaea nemoralis)
In the conservatory I came across a pretty little daisy miner fly, and a frog-hopper on the basil. The fly had gorgeous green eyes. My photos don’t do any of the creatures justice.
Daisy miner fly (Tripeta Zoe).Common frog-hopper
I have noticed this summer that there are not as many butterflies around. I have spotted a few holy blues, meadow browns and orange tips but not many others. Lots of small bumble bees around but fewer big bumble bees. There are also fewer wasps and flies around. Some of the plants are taking ages to get going and some are just not reaching their full potential. Even the stephanotis in the conservatory hasn’t flowered yet – not even a bud so far. The purple loose-strife by the pond edge is not looking quite as dense as it used to and the rogersia hasn’t flowered this year. However there is still plenty floral colour about. In flower now: hardy geraniums – especially Rozanne, some roses, Japanese anemones just coming into flower now, heuchera, various persicarias, geums, golden spirea, fuchsia, some meadowsweet, oregano, erigeron, cyclamen, honey-suckle, purple loose-strife, pickerelweed, water lilies, astrantia, achilea, potentilla, lavender, woolly rock jasmine and gaura.
Hardy geranium RozzaneView from the patio
In the conservatory the only things in flower right now are the basil and a couple of sempervivums. The sempervivums usually have clusters of flowers but this one has had them in a V shape.
Recently I wanted to be able to cut back my hardy geraniums which I usually used my secateurs and scissors for. This year I decided to get myself some shears that I could use single handedly as I don’t have core muscles and tend to fall over trying to use the heavier, doubled handed shears with both hands. The Darlac swivel shears, as the name suggests, can rotate. The small version’s blades can rotate 360° with 12 cutting angles. I am right handed but tried using my left hand and found it just as good with my left hand. They really worked cutting back my hardy geraniums in the raised bed. For growth that was not the soft green growth I still had to use the secateurs as the blades just couldn’t handle it. The long handled version’s blades can not only rotate 360° but you can also adjust the angle of the cutting head so you can use it as edging shears for grass. I managed to cut the hardy geraniums in the flower beds well enough but the stems were a bit too tough for them. They are great for leafy growth and are light weight but they are not suitable for tougher growth. The long ones have a small front support which I initially thought I wouldn’t make use off, but actually once I got the hang of it I found it quite useful. So I a glad I bought them and I will also be able to edge the small bit of grass we have and cut back leafy vegetation with them but need to remember they are not sturdy enough for anything other than lightweight annual growth. They both have a locking mechanisms to keep the blades together for safety.
Finally the Generous Gardener rose is in full bloom over the arch at the back of the garden. It looks great along side the dark foliage and the pink flower heads of the Sambucus nigra f. porphyrophylla ‘Eva’ (PBR.) There is perfume everywhere from the various roses, honey suckles and philadelphus. However, the philadelphus flowers are now going over and there are white petals all over the ground beneath it.
Generous gardener with sambucus nigrapretty white flowers all over the philadelpus
The astrantias are flowering their socks off but the slugs have decimated the foliage of the white one which is in the garden. The pink and red astrantias are in copper pots that the slugs dislike so they have been spared. And speaking of damage: the hellebores are in a bit of a state, as are the brunnera Jack frost. Slugs and snails are not meant to like astrantias, hellebores and brunneras but nobody told the ones in my garden! To be fair I think most of the damage to the brunneras has been caused by the wood pigeons tearing bits from the foliage. They have been pecking away at the honey suckle too.
Slug damaged astrantia foliage. (I took that photo a day or so ago and when I went out on slug patrol today there are NO leaves left and I found 6 slugs on it!)Damaged brunnera Jack frosthellebore damage
And here are some of the culprits:
Tub of Spanish slugs
If I don’t do a slug patrol daily then these ones would grow to this kind of size or even bigger!
Big Spanish slugBig Spanish slug
I have resorted to putting some copper mesh around some plants but I have found slug trails over that too so now I will have to make copper hats to cover some plants until they get a little higher and tougher. I had no problem at all with slug damage on the Gypsophila paniculata ‘Compacta Plena’ but this year it just can’t get started without being chomped.
Copper mesh with slug trails on it.
The rhododendron and duetzia have gone over now but the sambucus, spireas, hardy geraniums, thalictrums, astrantia, lavender, cirsium, verbascums, verbena, alchemilla, gaura, erigeron, fuchsia, geums, cowslips and roses have now taken over. There are still a few foxgloves hanging on and one clematis; Clematis warszawski has a few flowers on.
Generous gardener rose (excuse the barbed wire of the fence in the background)Mini pink patio roseDamp cornerTall Thalictrum flavium Glaucum yellow
It is back to being cold and wet today so we are still waiting for summer to appear.
After a couple of lovely sunny days the garden is becoming lush. The weeds have shot up along with everything else. The wet weather has been good for some plants like the candelabra primulas, the roses and the rhododendron. I tried moving three of the primulas over from the pond overflow area to the damp corner by the ramp. Only one survived, two were completely destroyed by slugs. A bit like the Achillea millefolium ‘Lilac Beauty’ I have been trying to establish near the pond last year. The slugs got one so I potted up the surviving two and put one pot in a different area of the garden and the other pot on the patio table. The one in the garden only just survived overnight whilst the one on the table is still great. The patio table is becoming a nursery for sick plants. I have now put the damaged one on the patio to see how it does there.
Achillea millefolium ‘Lilac Beauty’ before the slugsAchillea millefolium ‘Lilac Beauty’ overnight slug damage
Some primula get ravaged by slugs but some are spared and I don’t know why. The white primula snowflake don’t get much damage at all and they spread freely but my primula apple blossom gets some damage but doesn’t spread freely. The primula denticulata, veris and vulgaris just get the odd nibble, vialii have disappeared.
Primula Apple blossom
Another area which has loved the rain is the raised garden. We pruned the viburnum and syringia last year (and a bit the previous year) so sacrificed some flowers this year but they are looking better. I might take out the Zepharin drouhin rose entirely as it is always a bit hit and miss there. The beautiful acer is now swamping the blue hardy geranium so I may have to find a new spot in the garden for the geranium.
Shady side of the raised bedRhododendron Gomer Waterer loving the rain
Along the back wall the pink hardy geranium is looking good next to the dark leaves and pink flowers of the Sambucus nigra f. porphyrophylla ‘Eva’ . The Generous gardener rose growing over the arch has been teasing us for a few weeks with all the lovely buds but yet to open.
Generous gardener buds yet to openPink geranium beside the dark elder
In the pond the number of tadpoles appears to be depleted. I thought maybe the newts had eaten them all but some folk have said that they may just have found better hiding places since there are more predators about. I still haven’t found a good flat headed flowering plant to go beside the pond – they all just get eaten by the Spanish slugs. The little iris versicolour Gerald Derby that hasn’t flowered for a couple of years has just started to flower again – yeah! I had been thinking of pulling it out. It isn’t all that showy but it is pretty and dainty.
blue iris versicolour Gerald Derby
In the conservatory my lithops are splitting. Sometime lithops split into two and sometimes into four. Mine are splitting into four new leaves.
Lithops splitting.Lithop splitting – 4 new leaves
I took the very scary decision to chop my aeonium. I didn’t want it to get too tall as the head is very large and also they look better when viewed from above. I really hope it survives the chop and I potted up bits of the stalk too so you never know, I may get a few if I am lucky.
Aeonium Voodoo chopped
The furry Kalanchoe tomentosa ‘Dorothy Brown’ flowered this year but I kept waiting for the flowers to open up more before I took a photograph not realising that they didn’t open any wider so now I will have to wait till next year to get a photo of the furry flowers.
As I said in a previous post my Nepeta Junior walker drowned in the very wet autumn/winter/spring that we had so I ordered three new ones form Crocus. They have never let me down before but this time they did. They sent one lovely looking plant, one not so good, and one diabolical plant. Who thought it was ok to package these and send them out? I complained and was offered either a refund or a replacement. I asked for a replacement (big mistake). The replacement plant didn’t have a single leaf. To be fair – the rest of my order was ok (although they could have been in better condition). I am now going to try and buy plants in person whenever possible. I do still have a few good nurseries mail order to buy from.
Nepeta: the good, the bad, and the crapNepeta replacement plant!
Let’s end on a good note: the bees and other pollinators are loving the rhododendron. the deutzia, saxifrages, chives, honey lilies and all of the hardy geraniums and primulas. Soon the Generous gardener will erupt in beautiful flowers. The other roses have started to bloom and smell gorgeous (although we didn’t get round to pruning this late winter so they look a bit more straggly than usual. The sun has just come out.
Hooray – the sun is finally shining and it is warm! The plants (and weeds) are romping away. There are lots of colourful flowers open now, the aquilegias with all their different pinks, purples and whites, and the foliage colours are just as amazing. I do love the bronze foliage of some of the younger leaves especially some of the ferns and the rodgersia.
Osmunda regalis ‘Purpurascens’Rodgersia podophylla
There are different green and purples in some other ferns and browns in the ones with ‘hairy’ fronds. I think the hairs are actually called scales although they don’t look like scales.
The tree heath Erica arborea is flowering it’s heart out and the bees love the tiny flowers the centre of which a purple. It has come back very well after it got big chop in 2021. The rowan was covered in blossom last year but this year is very disappointing. You can just about see a few clusters at the top of it in the left side of the next pic.
Erica arborea and Hebe ‘Pink paradise’.Erica arborea close up
The amazing purple (garnet) foliage of the Acer palmatum ‘Dissectum Garnet’ is looking gorgeous just now contrasting well with the bright greens around it. Although it looks very purple, the closer you get to it you can see a green tinge to it.
Acer palmatum ‘Dissectum Garnet’.
The stumpery has plenty of colour with the white primula Snowflake which has a pink tinge to it, blue ajugas mixed in with white galium odoratus, purple honesty, pale blue forget-me-nots, a few pulmonarias and the pale blue Veronica Gentionoides Blue streak and more dark purple foliage of the huecheras. We have borrowed the dark foliage of next doors tree. The lime green of the Acer shirasawanum aureum really shines.
The stumpery in mid May 2024.Ajuga reptans mixed with Galium odoratum.
A few beasties that I found this month were a Rosemary beetle (Chrysolina Americana) which looks absolutely beautiful. The RHS says just to live with them unless they become a problem.
Rosemary beetle (Chrysolina Americana).
A rather lovely white-legged snake millipede (Tachypodoiulus niger).
We are always told that slugs and snails don’t like moving over sharp objects but I have found slugs and snails going up the very sharp prickles of my moss roses. This slug doesn’t look bothered at all. I have found the tell-tale slime trails all over a very prickly cactus in the conservatory before too.
Slug on the very prickly moss rose stem.
And lastly for now the heather beetle (Lochmaea suturalis). Apparently it wasn’t just my garden they were swarming into but even on beaches elsewhere. It isn’t a great photo. They have been quite a problem in the moorlands so I am hoping they are not going to be a problem here too.
Heather beetle (Lochmaea suturalis).
I have seen plenty orange tip butterflies and holly blues and a few speckled wood butterflies so far. And the usual bees, wasps and flies are around, but so far, no more wasp nests in the raised bed. Our next-door neighbour had a lovely garden visitor the other day. Our gardens back onto a golf course where the is a small herd of deer, and one of them got through her broken gate. On the one hand, I would love to have them visit our garden, but on the other hand, they may cause a lot of damage. I have no idea what plants they would eat. It is back to chilly weather and overcast skies now. It was nice to see the sun while it lasted.
Scraping the weeds out from between the patio slabs has to be one of my least favourite gardening jobs. I have to be bent double over my stomach putting my neck into an awkward angle in order to see what I am doing and getting my tool at just the correct angle. I used to use a long handled scraping tool but it didn’t do a very good job. My Burgon & Ball Japanese Razor Hoe is the best tool for the job. It gets into the crevices and can scrape off moss and liverworts from the slab surface too.
Burgon & Ball Japanese Razor Hoe.
Once the scraping is all done I can tidy up using an upright dustpan and brush set. I position the dustpan bit into the space between my right foot rest and the right front castor so that I can sweep the rubbish into the dustpan easily without having to bend down. Then I lift the dustpan up and empty it into a trug to go out. The one I am using is from Lakeland (although I am using an old brush with it) and I like this one as is clicks into an upright position so I don’t have to hold onto it to keep it in place.
Upright dustpan locked in position.Upright dustpan and brush.
