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| Mr. Robin in full voice! |
Having done the pond, we then moved to all the Michaelmas daisies (Asters) and Golden Rod (Solidago) which all needed dividing up and moving. I had this idea that an avenue of Michaelmas daisies either side of the path to Kay's arbour might look rather nice. These are a good (but unknown) variety with a good strong colour which never flop or succumb to the dreaded rust. Chris thought so too but pointed out that an Acer Shirasawanum was in the wrong place. He was, of course right.
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| Moving the Shirasawanum |
It was there when we put in the path and was just too close. I had been sneakily pruning branches that encroached too far across the path or in front of the arbour in the belief that it couldn't be moved as its roots would have grown underneath the path itself and, in any case, was just too big. Chris however had other ideas and started digging, and digging, and digging and...... digging! Eventually he freed the root ball which was big and, with wet soil, weighed an absolute ton! It now sits on the opposing side and a sensible distance from the path and the arbour. When moving the Golden Rod, we found that it had been invaded by bindweed in a BIG way. Rather than risk further contamination of such an invasive and pernicious weed, we ditched the lot for burning. With all the digging and removals going on, the path got very muddy and will need a better clean up and additional gravel adding at some point. Throughout all this activity, we were joined by a robin who sat just a few feet away in the Wild Service Tree (Sorbus Torminalis) singing at the top of his voice! Maybe I should just add that all this work was planned for the autumn but the world's wettest weather postponed such plans!
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| (Muddy) Michaelmas Daisy Avenue! |
A fine warm day and time to finish tidying the pond. Last week, Chris donned on waders, scooped out the rubbish from the bottom and we left it on the side for any newts etc to creep back into the water. This week, it was cleaning out the filtration system and the pump as well as remove silt from the lights. Rather than wading in (which would have stirred everything up again) Chris decided to do the ladder and plank trick and keep his feet dry! In the meantime, I washed out all the bits inside the filter and then Chris washed out all the pipes to and from the filter, pond and culvert. I rescued as many pebbles as I could and dragged them back up the beach. The trouble is; they all slide into the water when anyone walks on them! Having put everything back together again, we left things to settle before switching on the pump and went off to plant the remaining plants which had been laid in the veg patch and then Chris dug the whole lot and then raked it all level. 
