Nice people thread 2 - now even nicer

tomterm8

I like cosmos but then so do the rabits... still, at least I'm not so badly off as the people in my local allotment; they have to put up deer fences.

lemonjelly

lostinrates wrote: »

I feel MUCH better. So after feeling stupid for ''breaking'' yesterday I now feel a bit stupid for worrying so much about it. :o

Mortgage...bloddy nightmare. But things are really interesting...frustrating on the one hand, but very positive on the other. che sera sera...:D

I'm going to admonish you for the bit in bold

I think our health & happiness & friendships are the most important & valuable things we have. As someone who looks after a couple of older uns with health issues, I appreciate how a bad day can have a big impact on your perception of your world at that time. All the restrictions that could come into play depending on health, they're massive.

What I'm trying to say (badly), is please don't feel stupid about it. It is a reasonable & natural thing to do. I'm sure the nice people understand & empathize with you. & will continue to support you & wish you the best.:)

lostinrates

misskool wrote: »

it's ok. I have dandelions and field buttercups on my front borders. No idea what annuals to stick in there yet. Probably just throw some hollyhocks or some cosmos or some sweetpeas up a mini trellis.

we have daffs, a legacy of a previous gardener here. I hate daffs in borders. I also let the forgetmenot run a little wild, I love it. Its only a weed if you don't want i there...weeds and I coexist often. I tend to do is remove a weed to put a plant in. We have self seeded hollyhocks, which I love but my mum hates, loads of columbine, and loads of sweet peas, up and about half out already. My annuals yet to do, and just get thrown on soil, are things like cornflowers, night scented stocks....that sort of thing.

I'm also trying som of those shorter sweetpeas this year, a pretty one called cupid, a little too contrived I think, but with the mixed borders will look better. The ''help for heros'' sweet peas are really pretty, but are I think, just other varieties with a ''help for heros'' sticker over the original name...replaced with a forces sounding thing....air water and land. Funnily enough the elemental forces euphemisms missed out ''Fire''. That had DH and I sniggering for ages at the garden centre...though I apologise for my bad taste here.:o

lemonjelly

lostinrates wrote: »

OK I'll hold off this week. A neighbour had good success with nematdes a few years ago, and something HAS to be done. we have toads and frogs and a huge bird population...the song thrushes here are remarkable but we also have lots, and lots of slugs. Its either defeat or give up gardening ATM.

Thanks for the other planting ideas. I'll have a think on it. Far too much bare soil this year. Annuals haven't been sown yet though, but still, its all looking ''gappy''.:(

Regarding all the garden chat, I only really focus on growing stuff I can eat. I won't be planting anything outside yet for 4 weeks or more - but a lot of my stuff is greenhouse-y stuff anyway.

I bought a box of wildflower seeds, & made a bed to put them in (for colour, & to attract bees etc). I planted the seeds 2 weeks ago, & can see nothing at all yet. I'm wondering if some birds had a field day instead? I have grown some flowery things (I don't know what again they're for colour/hanging baskets//bees). Someone else will arrange those, as I'm no good at it.

In a couple of weeks I'll be moving stuff from seed trays into individual pots & the like. Fingers crossed for a decent crop! After last year, I cannot stand shop bought tomatoes, they are so lacking in flavour, texture & taste!

tomterm8 wrote: »

I like cosmos but then so do the rabits... still, at least I'm not so badly off as the people in my local allotment; they have to put up deer fences.

:eek:

lemonjelly

lostinrates wrote: »

we have daffs, a legacy of a previous gardener here. I hate daffs in borders. I also let the forgetmenot run a little wild, I love it. Its only a weed if you don't want i there...weeds and I coexist often. I tend to do is remove a weed to put a plant in. We have self seeded hollyhocks, which I love but my mum hates, loads of columbine, and loads of sweet peas, up and about half out already. My annuals yet to do, and just get thrown on soil, are things like cornflowers, night scented stocks....that sort of thing.

I'm also trying som of those shorter sweetpeas this year, a pretty one called cupid, a little too contrived I think, but with the mixed borders will look better. The ''help for heros'' sweet peas are really pretty, but are I think, just other varieties with a ''help for heros'' sticker over the original name...replaced with a forces sounding thing....air water and land. Funnily enough the elemental forces euphemisms missed out ''Fire''. That had DH and I sniggering for ages at the garden centre...though I apologise for my bad taste here.:o

I planted loads of daffs, mainly around a cherry blossom tree I planted in the front garden. I just thought they'd look nice surrounding the trunk of the tree, especially as it grows. To be honest, I've liked how it has looked.

I did also put some daffs along the path leading to the front door. Seems to be very popular with kids as they approach to knock the door - must be the vibrant colour.

I think my cherry blossom is still too young to blossom this year, so I'll have to wait another 12 months now.

Oh, & by the way, that is one hilarious anecdote!:D Had me sniggering into my tea.

That is 2 lovely "people" images you've given me in 2 days lir - giggling like schoolchildren at a garden centre, and the 2 of you playing the flute together. It's wonderful to know that people can love each other so in this day & age.:)

harryhound

misskool wrote: »

Because it will be applied adhoc to all migrants.

Obviously, having spent the last 10 years living here and now teaching English students attempting to do Biology, I find it rather insulting. In fact, I'm certain some of my students could do with trying to do the same test.

I'd be less annoyed if it wasn't for the fact that the primary school that I volunteer in, you can get students moving to secondary school barely able to write and spell. If the government wants to ensure all migrants speak English, perhaps they can start with educating the entire population.

I'm not sure what the answer is,
The USA used to have favoured nation quotas, and those from the UK were rarely full.
The Australians used to pay for the young, healthy and fertile to migrate there.
As the world fills up, so the drawbridges are raised, using education, money and age as the parameters for selection.
If you have the misfortune to choose the wrong parents, not bother to make the best of your educational chances and finally get trapped in a country that "goes to the dogs", that is just life.

As a citizen of an off shore island, I cannot do much to help those in other "continents", all I can do is point out the reality and hope they will try to influence the governance of their own land and pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.

I think the first time this reality came home to me was in the late 60's - I found myself in Morocco, then sold by its lying tourist board as "The nearest of the far away places".
I don't know what the place is like now - I have not been back. But in the 1960's a British Passport allowed you to make you way to most places (though the Soviet Empire was a problem) however I met ordinary young people in Morocco who could not get a passport until they were 25. As half the population was under 25 they felt excluded, and grieved by such an arbitrary ruling. I doubt things have improved for their grandchildren.

Yes I've I have just checked with
http://www.breathingearth.net/
Morocco:
The birth/death ratio is 48 seconds plays 2.8 minutes and the population is 35+ million. (Up about 10 million in 15 years?)
(Does that include the chunk of the Sahara that the Moroccan army has annexed and colonised? It almost certainly excludes the displaced native populations living in tents.)

To get back onto lighter things that I can influence - We can get nasty sub zero frosts right the way through May even in the South.
Anyone know if the technique of spraying water onto fruit trees just blooming, if the night looks like a frost, really helps?

lostinrates

lemonjelly wrote: »

Oh, & by the way, that is one hilarious anecdote!:D Had me sniggering into my tea.

That is 2 lovely "people" images you've given me in 2 days lir - giggling like schoolchildren at a garden centre, and the 2 of you playing the flute together. It's wonderful to know that people can love each other so in this day & age.:)

I think daffs themselves are ok, and round trees is where I like them best, or in clumps on verges . Its just in borders I don't like them. We have them around a pond in the borders, and now some goldfish coloured tulips have come out too, the effect is like a cheap e number heavy bag of citrus sweets. The orange of course, is help by the goldfish swimming around in the middle of this retina burning citrus presse, and in itself would have been quite clever planting (that's down to my mother) had the daffs not been there.

Thanks for the other comment our parents, when talking to each other about us, when we ''eloped'' etc call us the babes in the woods. We are quite lucky to have found each other, because we are what the other needed, but I strongly believe more relationships can work better than they do.

tomterm8

Ech, the great thing about daffs is they can be moved once the leaves die down, very easily. Just dig em up:) Odds are, if they've been in the ground a few years, digging them up will make them flower better the next year.

lostinrates

tomterm8 wrote: »

Ech, the great thing about daffs is they can be moved once the leaves die down, very easily. Just dig em up:)

''easily'' might depend on numbers and the resultant amount of digging.....:o

I've thought each season ''I might not be here next year'' and someone else...like LJ, would be thrilled with them. Someone else will certainly know I wear sunglasses almost year round. Later in the year, may, june the garden is very, very conventionally pretty..aor usually, everything will be off with timing this year, then it fails a bit again till august. I've got to get better at the whole ''year round interest''thing. (a fault inherit from she of the orange tulips ). My mother's roses, which most of the garden centres round, make it delightful though....I'm getting excited about seeing hem soon. I love the names, and many of them hv been planted whre ever I've lived, so they are like grand old aunts or something. When I got married I carried roses I'd picked in the morning and known all my life.

lemonjelly

lostinrates wrote: »

Thanks for the other comment our parents, when talking to each other about us, when we ''eloped'' etc call us the babes in the woods. We are quite lucky to have found each other, because we are what the other needed, but I strongly believe more relationships can work better than they do.

This is something I really don't understand.
I see lots of people in relationships, & (from what I see and hear) they don't treat each other very well. Why? I don't get why they are/can be actually quite nasty, to people they are supposed to like/love? In a way, it appears that the minority of people I know are happy together & treat each other accordingly.

Which in a way, is why it is so good to have a nice people thread. I keep seeing nasty people out there. & I cannot for the life of me work out why they are so nasty, especially to each other & those close to them?

I agree with you 100% lir. I don't get why people don't treat each other better, understand a little more, & work at their relationships to make them better. You're right, more should work better than they do. & this would make lots of people happier.

Which would be a good thing