Preparedness for when

pollyanna_26

I leave the beans to Bob
Need to go and try to divert my thoughts . A quick watering of the outdoor pots should do it .
polly

GreyQueen

If people around these here parts want rocks, they have to buy them at the garden centre. Seriously. Rocks are a bit prestigious as outdoor landscaping as it's not like you can just pick them up anywhere.

If I do find some of the larger flints (baking potato caliber) I tend to reserve them for backfilling the post holes when I put up the fenceposts. In addition to, rather than instead of, the soil.

Dad and I dug nine post holes on Weds morning and on one of them we hit the electical cable strata (about 18 inches down). Couldn't find the end of it so worked around it. It must be rubbish as this site was farmland prior to being allotments just before WW2. I'd also exhausted the big flintstone supply by the time we'd done a couple of the posts.

I still maintain the funniest thing I ever dug up on my allotment was the plastic pretend cut glass three-footed sugar basin (with one foot missing). How the blue blazes did that get up there?:rotfl:

nuatha

pollyanna_26 wrote: »

GQ I somehow envy people on chalk all the little fossils etc . If it's good enough for Tiffany your in good company . Was Terrys birthday recently I always picture him striding through DW with hat , sword and every cat he ever owned or in some cases owned him .

Thank you for that.

Nuatha Just noticed your comment re the spade . My " best " spade and garden fork are S&J from the time they started the stainless steel ranges , they were still the owners back then and sold durable good quality . Many of my best Victor Meldrew rants feature the death of real British manufacturing and reliabiliy and the rise of short life rubbish .
polly

My best fork is that brand, from the late 60s early 70s. I did have the matching spade until a neighbour did a moonlight flit and failed to return it. My preferred spade came from an steam show in Cambridgeshire, hand made in Britain, it will outlive me (and probably my heir). One of my brothers got my Dad's which were handed down to him from a family friend - unfortunately longevity like that isn't good for repeat business, and people tend to buy on adverts and price these days.

NewShadow

GreyQueen wrote: »

If people around these here parts want rocks, they have to buy them at the garden centre. Seriously. Rocks are a bit prestigious as outdoor landscaping as it's not like you can just pick them up anywhere.

When we moved to west wales, I was amazed to see ferns everywhere - where I was from (in Cheshire) someone would pay £50 for a decent sized fern in the garden centre (not me, but some).

I think my mother made a bit of cash shipping them 'up north' for a while

GreyQueen

The Phantom Fern Rustler Rides Again.

We haven't got ferns. Bracken, but no one'd pay good money for that bliddy stuff. Howsomever, if you like rubus fruticosis, I have a few I could spare you; £50 per plant, P & P free to mainland UK addresses.

Dad got a set of S & J garden tools for his 21st birthday from his parents, so they're over 50 years old. I have expressed covetous intent, particularly of the mucking fork. My fave garden tool is the digging fork I got for a fiver from a bootsale from an old boy who buys job lots of tools from the auction sales, re-hafts them if necessary, and sells them on.

He does rather admire the wickedly sharp small-headed swan-necked hoe I got for £1 at a booter and reckons you could shave with it - I sharpen it with a carborundum stone after each use because clanking into the flint stones takes the edge off things in a hurry.

As I have said before, I am a big fan of Cold Steel (they don't like it up 'em). Got two snails and a whopping great slug yesterday - big mistake them being about 6 inches from a row of seedlings.

jk0

I bet there's not many 21 year old lads that would be pleased to get a set of garden tools for their birthday nowadays.

GreyQueen

jk0 wrote: »

I bet there's not many 21 year old lads that would be pleased to get a set of garden tools for their birthday nowadays.

Dad had been out at work since aged 15 and didn't consider himself a child in his mid-teens, unlike modern people who are lads until early middle age, at least. At 20 he met Mum and at 21 he was engaged and they were house-hunting. In the first year of marriage they made a pretty good garden (and me ).

In our decidedly-peasant family, it was unimaginable that you wouldn't have a veggie garden. He's still no fan of flower gardening, tho. I'm OK with flowers, as long as they don't get in the way of the veggies too much.

NewShadow

GreyQueen wrote: »

I'm OK with flowers, as long as they don't get in the way of the veggies too much.

And are tasty?

http://theedibleflowershop.co.uk/shop/ - A-Z of edible flowers

mardatha

Catching up after 4 pages - I don't understand how you dont have rocks GQ, what have you got instead? Just dirt? And I don't understand what Nuatha says about beaches without sand - what the hell have you got instead? Apart from one day in York (too crowded) and one day in Blackpool (too dirty) I haven't ever been to furrin parts south of the border. You lot are a mystery to me - apart from the fact you get a hell of a lot better weather!! I'm still waiting for a single sunny day up here, we've had a week of pewter grey skies, mist and 8C.

jk0

I've just been watching the fires in Alberta on Sky news. Absolutely devastating for the people there. If anyone has a few spare pounds, you can donate here:

https://donate.redcross.ca/ea-action/action?&ea.client.id=1951&ea.campaign.id=50639

BTW, Canadian dollars are worth about 55p. The Canadian government will match your donation.