The cats away and the mice have been playing. Sue gets back on Tuesday and I have a project on the go that needs to be finished and the mess tidied up before then or I’m in trouble. Most of what I’ve done in the garden proper this week is move things around, by which I don’t mean I’ve been digging things up, just playing musical chairs with pots and the detritus that accumulates in a garden shed over a decade or so.
My six, for a change, is not all plants.
One.
This was my Wednesday project. It seems longer ago and I have already become used to the new view. Sue doesn’t know about it yet, though I’d taken some lower branches off before she left. I’m wondering how long it will take her to notice. The top left picture is a year ago. There was small mishap which took out a Dahlia but on the whole I feel quite pleased with myself for getting it done without calling in the tree surgeons. 28 feet tall, roughly.
Two.
I wanted the tree done and dusted on Wednesday because my new greenhouse was arriving on Thursday. Needless to say, they didn’t say when on Thursday and it was around 4pm that it arrived. Friday morning I set about getting it up. It rained practically all day so it wasn’t a lot of fun, but good progress was made. Just vents, louvres, door, staging and glazing to go and I can start filling it up. The plan later is to get rid of the big area of decking at the back of the house and replace the paving it’s covering up with new, nicer paving; then to use the old paving to pave around this new glasshouse which is intended to replace the shed which stood where it now is and also the not pretty polytunnel up the other end of the garden, which will go up the allotment.
Three.
Talking of the allotment; it’s been a bit neglected of late, mainly I just nip up there for a bit of produce and tut about the weeds without doing anything about them. Sue having gone away in summer I’ve been trying hard to keep up with the corn, and back in the tunnel in the garden, with the tomatoes. I bought 25 ‘Albion’ Strawberries from Parkers at the beginning of the year, it’s an ever-bearing variety and this was today’s crop.
Four.
Sticking with produce, I have three apple trees in the garden. This is ‘Red Windsor’ on M9, the dwarfing rootstock used by virtually all commercial growers. I think it needs better growing conditions than it has. I get pretty good crops as you can see but there is almost no new growth; it’s the same size now as when it was planted.
Five.
Hakonechloa macra ‘Sun Flare’. I picked this up a couple of years ago and for want of a space to plant it, put it in a pot. It has a yellow leaf, not striped, not quite so bright as ‘All Gold’, but it’s not so floppy as ‘All Gold’ either, which I have in the garden. Perhaps I should swap them over.
Six.
Dahlia ‘Cheyenne’. One group of Dahlias in the garden came under sustained slug attack the moment they broke the soil surface this spring and in spite of all my efforts, they didn’t really get going until July. Three of them have started flowering this week, including ‘Cheyenne’, which is having to fight it’s way through Ricinus and much else.
It’s another of those weeks when I could do a six on Sunday too. Hopefully by the end of the weekend the glasshouse will be complete. I hate handling glass so the glazing is my least favourite bit. The weather is due to go down the toilet again on Monday, rain and quite windy too, so it needs to be done by then. Gotta get on. Links to the rest of the sixers at The Propagator as usual.
garden ruminations 
That apple is prolific for such a dinky tree. I do not know the rootstock. Is it ‘very’ dwarfing? To me, the fruit looks crowded; but it also seems to be of good quality, as if not too crowded.
LikeLike
Well you and SedumsDahliasandHayfever have made me laugh! Very impressive job with the tree. That is surely going to have a radical effect on the garden, let alone the change in view. My strawberries – which were inherited – are in their last summer. Three years of sporadic cropping means they are on their way out. Ever bearing ones sound interesting and they look wonderful.
LikeLike
The weird thing about the tree is how little the impact of it going is. It was very upright and because it was almost at the northern edge of the garden cast most of its shade next door.
There are a few ever bearing strawberries about, Kings Seeds have two in their catalogue including one, Finesse, that they claim to be the best on the market. It’s hard to get independent info on these things.
LikeLike
So no time for a rest for you…but I hope you got to enjoy those lovely strawberries.
LikeLike
Cheyenne is a lovely Dahlia. Sun flare looks fantastic as well. When you got the tree down did you sleep all night and work all day?
LikeLike
I don’t like where you’re going there, it’s not true that I put on women’s clothing and hang around in bars.
LikeLike
Very jealous, in a caring way, of your new greenhouse. Great canopy lifting – chainsaw? Love the dahlia, glad it made it through.
LikeLike
Canopy lifting? Bit more than that. A chainsaw was involved once I’d got it down far enough to work from the ground. Very handy knowing people who will lend me such “toys”. Dahlia ‘Karma Choc’ took a bit of a hit but it’ll be alright next year.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, you’ve really been putting your time in! My favorite this week is the “Sun Flare.” I just love that color!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This dahlia is flamboyant! I really like its color.
Your greenhouse looks a bit like mine( in smaller ) because there are stones / bricks around and the ground in the middle (pity that it isn’t for planting because you will pave the ground, isn’t it?) But you will be able to put more pots and shelves)
LikeLike
Sounds like you’re playing chinese puzzles there and new planting opportunities where the tree was. I’m impressed again by your strawberry Albion. I may have to consider some of those.
LikeLike
One big advantage of ever bearing strawberries is not having a glut. Enough for a decent picking every two or three days suits me very well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, I’d quite like a glut of strawberries!- I like to make my own jam. However, enough for a meal everynow and then throughout the summer is also good!
LikeLike
I’m quite breathless just reading about your tasks this week!! Very impressive. Enjoy your new greenhouse. The first thing I put in my first greenhouse was a chair because the view down our sloping garden was of the Derbyshire hills (well, one of them) so perfect on a sunny day with a cup of coffee! That’s a stunning dahlia to finish with.
LikeLike
A chair in a greenhouse is an alien concept, there’s never been room for one. No view from this one, it’s poked in down the side of house.
LikeLike
All right, Jim, in your case put the chair OUTSIDE the greenhouse and look at your lovely plants! Or, even better, outside Sue’s greenhouse!? I know, you don’t have time with all your constructions and tree felling.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Blimey, you’ve been/are busy. How the heck did you get shot of the tree? Are we talking careful planning and a ‘timberrrrr’ moment? The new green house is looking good.
LikeLike
The tree went to the council tip in about six carloads, plus two loads of logs for a wood burning friend. Careful planning and sectional felling, plants all round so timberrr moment no possible.
LikeLike