Daydream thread continues.....

lostinrates

This dry cold has huge benefits, I don't mind it so much, Better for the dobbin's feet (I will do a thrush check later) and better for nipping out to the yard in non waterproofs, easier to keep house clean etc etc.


Its so beautiful this morning who can mind the cold?

Davesnave

Itismehonest wrote: »

Leucothoe Zeblid looks wonderful at this time in the year. We have several shrubberies & also evergreen shrub planted terraces & the Leucothoes really come into their own when the rest of nature is going to sleep for the winter.:)

Errr.....Sorry, acid soil needed for that one, and I don't think lir's would fit the bill.

I'm still not sure about so many plants I can grow here. All I'm sure about is what I couldn't contemplate growing at the last place! :rotfl:

Itismehonest

Davesnave wrote: »

Errr.....Sorry, acid soil needed for that one, and I don't think lir's would fit the bill.

I'm still not sure about so many plants I can grow here. All I'm sure about is what I couldn't contemplate growing at the last place! :rotfl:

We don't have acid soil here, Dave. It's neutral much to the surprise of all the qualified landscapers who have done the planting across the years. We have to plant heathers etc. in troughs of ericaceous compost. I have wondered whether it's centuries of using lime on the fields.
We can also grow the alkaline loving plants like Achillea, Verbena, Euphorbia. Bamboo goes beserk :rotfl:
I also have a fairly large olive tree. Go figure :rotfl:

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

Errr.....Sorry, acid soil needed for that one, and I don't think lir's would fit the bill.

I'm still not sure about so many plants I can grow here. All I'm sure about is what I couldn't contemplate growing at the last place! :rotfl:

I have to admit to beinG a very bad gardener...I still have not done soil tests...I know I should! But...looking at things I know are here and do well......lilac was here, and of what I have planted that is indicators buddliea has been mixed results, dog wood happy! Honey suckle was here, but thinking about it is struggling where the buddliea struggles. Clematis does well. Ithink my soil is alkaline with perhaps an acidic patch (coping on the patch are sweet Williams, cerinthe, a rose, any onthat indicators?)

I also had a lot of yellow leaves
At year trough out. I think the rain was 'washing the good ness out of the gorund' whoch doesn't sound very scientific. I did sprinkle with magnesium and a general fertiliser but of course it simply could be a pH issue.


I know I need to lime my fields, to further confuse.
Sheesh I better soil test soon.

Itismehonest

I have only dwarf lilacs that were in pot but eventually got planted out but there was a whole hedge of beautiful lilac growing down the lane until the charity massacred it. Buddleia is a bluddleia nuisance as it grows up everywhere.

We have both early & late forms of honeysuckle. They seem to do fine except for those once planted on the north sides of buildings. There are also both types of jasmine, several clematis (including montana which goes mad). Roses flower beautifully but the West Country is fairly prone to black spot (lousy weather doesn't help, either) so we tend to end up with masses of flowers but no leaves. The exception being a very old variety of climber that we got as a cutting from a very old plant down in the valley.

If you have an allsorts soil like us then it's really a case of bung it in & see. Often the things expected to thrive die & the things that shouldn't survive do. Contrariness of Nature.

Davesnave

I must admit I know little about the soil here, other than that most stuff seems to thrive. I suspect it's on the acidic side, but nothing seems to dislike it.

The fields are going acidic, judging by the creeping buttercup, but I doubt if we'll have money available to correct that any time soon. If Pete would go 50:50.....:o

Quite a few lame sheep this year, but at least they seem too large to be persistent head-stuck-in-the-fence offenders.

Think I might risk turning the water back on....

Itismehonest

It's not that it gets boring in Barnstaple but even the staff of one of the supermarkets found time to film their own Christmas epic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KJWthUKfXYg

Warning: It's THAT song again.

Itismehonest

Davesnave wrote: »

I must admit I know little about the soil here, other than that most stuff seems to thrive. I suspect it's on the acidic side, but nothing seems to dislike it.

The fields are going acidic, judging by the creeping buttercup, but I doubt if we'll have money available to correct that any time soon. If Pete would go 50:50.....:o

Quite a few lame sheep this year, but at least they seem too large to be persistent head-stuck-in-the-fence offenders.

Think I might risk turning the water back on....

The buttercup is usually more of a problem on damp soil than any particular acidity. For instance, it doesn't tend to grow much on top of the moors as far as I know. There's certainly none around this part other than in the water meadows.
This article may interest you if you have large amounts, Dave
http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/organicweeds/weed_information/weed.php?id=3

Davesnave

Itismehonest wrote: »

It's not that it gets boring in Barnstaple but even the staff of one of the supermarkets found time to film their own Christmas epic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KJWthUKfXYg

Warning: It's THAT song again.

Brilliant vid!:T Better than a lot of commercial stuff foisted on us.:j

I once worked for Tesco in Barnstaple (the one that's now Iceland) and I can tell you it was far from boring! [STRIKE]What Brenda Nutt and I got up to behind the stacks of Bulgarian gherkins... [/STRIKE] Censored!

oldtractor

love the maps.