What I’ve been up to this week

This week has been a normal one for my new worksite. I have my jobs to do, as long as I work steadily and don’t try to act the hero then everything is hunky dory. That’s the way I like it-I have no need of drama. Where I am is refreshing really.

I came across this little guy on Monday. Don’t know what he is, but he quite liked my weed bin.

This week, I have had a lot of watering to do. Some annuals were planted last week-anything that has been newly planted needs watering frequently to help them to become established. You can’t just set and forget. One thing that I have noticed is that the soil isn’t the best it could be-although it is far from the worst I have seen-the other people that work here do actually care and are good at what they do, they just don’t have enough time, which is why I’m here, as the random contractor!

What is the problem with the soil? The water should soak in easily, rather than sit on top of the soil and start flowing down any sort slope. This isn’t great, as I want the water to soak into the soil where I put it. I have been using a hose on a sprinkler setting, so all the water coming out of the hose is spread out over a fairly wide area, more like rain than how water comes out of your tap. Thankfully, the soil isn’t hydrophobic, where no water soaks into the soil, it’s just a little compacted.

What would I like to do to rectify the situation? As there are salvias in this particular garden bed so I can’t dig it or fork it through to decompact it, or use a rotavator. I wouldn’t advise this anyway as you will get so many more weeds and you do more damage to soil structure than is beneficial. Instead, I would add a layer of compost and then mulch on top. The worms and bacteria, and other soil life, will mix the compost through the soil and break it down more. This will improve the drainage through the soil, enhance water holding capacity (so plants have more access to water for longer) and allows more access to nutrients for plants too. This only needs to be done once or twice a year and will help immensely.

A little water runoff (it did soak in eventually)

Other garden beds could do with the same treatment

These salvias are a fabulous colour. I love the deep blue/purple colour of flowers, just fabulous!

As well as a lot of watering, I’ve been doing weeding. Not exactly fun, but where I’ve been weeding, it is either around plants that are wanted or spraying wouldn’t be as effective as some would claim.

While the weeding has been a chore, I have seen lots of fabulous flowers.