My gardening diary, ( amongst other things)

ani_26

Piquant wrote:

Lavender's always lovely too.

The mystery plant i have rescued and resuscitated from the snow, are lavender seeds which i planted last year. Well, it smells suspiciously like lavender, although i thought the leaves looked like anemone? can you get a lavender scented anemone? :rotfl:

ani_26

Well, the 'living room' is like a proverbial hothouse, and the seeds, ( now plants,) seem to have grown each time you look at them, ( by that, i mean two minute intervals.) :rotfl: Dya know what? I could make a fortune, growing plants? :rotfl::D (JOKE)


The only trouble is, they are likely to spend at least another two months indoors? I want my living room floor back.


Some of the seedlings are almost ready to be repotted, since i can't plant them outside. Looks like i'll have to handpick the poached egg plant? Not a chance. Lily and loo have grown tenfold, and guess what? pineapple lily has made a guest appearance. :cool::D The pepper plants from last year now have five peppers, and i have another two plants growing off one of the plants. Do i repot the whole plant, or just the new plants? I also planted the remaining pepper seeds before the expiry date, although i don't need any more pepper plants. Free to a good / caring home? Peeeeeeequant.............................


Still no signs of life on the petunia and sunflower front. Give it time?


Big decisions now, as i can't afford to keep the heating on for the whole of april, although now this place has reached and is maintaining a constant temperature, it's costing less to heat, relatively. They always say it costs more to let the temperature fall, and reheat, and it certainly looking that way. The temperature in this place has been 14 degrees for most of the winter, which is definitely too cold to be comfortable. Now, the temperature is a constant 20 degrees C, (which in actual fact is way too much on the warm side,) but i only have the thermostat set at 15 degrees C. It cost £2.72 for the gas used, yesterday, which i guess, to most people, is relatively cheap? However, how many people know how much energy they are using / or the cost, on a daily basis? Yes, i have to monitor my daily spend on gas, but the smart meter system has proved fantastic / invaluable, to me, at any rate. £3 a day on gas? £100 a month. £300 this quarter on gas? Yowch. At worst, i'm expecting my combined gas and electricity bill to cost £400 for this horrendous, quarter. I know it's alot less than other people spend on utilities, but it's all relative to income? Even though i'm not supposed to save, ( how stupid,) i need to start an utility putting away pot, (lets not call it savings.) Only a fool isn't going to budget for their utility bill?

Luckystepho

You've got me thinking Ani... I tend to switch off my heating and only switch it on when it's really cold, but I wonder if I would be better setting in to a minimum temperature, say 10 degrees, so that it maintains this constantly rather than having to reheat from freezing?

I went out for a walk yesterday in the Charnwood hills area of Leicestershire and ended up ploughing through 6 ft snow drifts! I hope your garden has defrosted a little- surely this cold weather won't last all of April... will it?? :eek:

ani_26

Luckystepho wrote: »

You've got me thinking Ani... I tend to switch off my heating and only switch it on when it's really cold, but I wonder if I would be better setting in to a minimum temperature, say 10 degrees, so that it maintains this constantly rather than having to reheat from freezing?

Hi Luckystepho :hello:

Maybe it is? They always say it's as cost effective to keep your heating on with the thermostat set to a low temperature, and i'm beginnig to think, maybe there's some truth in this. At any any rate, it's stopping the pipes from freezing, as i've had problems with the pipes freezing and water running back into the cupboard which houses the boiler.


Obviously, it's costing me slightly more overall, but on the other hand at the moment, i have the heating on 24/7 rather than an hour in the morning and an hour at nightime, when the system is working overtime?


22 hours for an additional 50p per day? Hmmmm


I'm waiting to see if i have another cwp triggered, later today.

I went out for a walk yesterday in the Charnwood hills area of Leicestershire and ended up ploughing through 6 ft snow drifts! I hope your garden has defrosted a little- surely this cold weather won't last all of April... will it?? :eek:

It's amazing when you go out, to see how high the snowdrifts are, at the side of the main roads, although many other routes are still closed.


They say this cold weather COULD last all april, (especially around here.)


Some small areas of the garden have thawed, slightly.


I have the majority of my primroses and primula stashed in crates outside, and in my wisdom, i tried to clear a foot of err, ice, off the top of one of the crates, yesterday, which also resulted in me removing the flowers, (encased in the ice,) off the tops of the plants.


Needless to say, i left the other crate to it's own devices, and will wait for the sun to thaw the ice?

ani_26

I can hardly contain my excitement.

We have lift off.


I HAVE SUNFLOWERS IN ELEPHANT POO.


Just in case anyone missed that?


I HAVE SUNFLOWERS IN ELEPHANT POO. :rotfl::D :T



Well, seedlings, you understand. About 20 of them. I had them on a cool shady windy sill, as per the instructions, but i decided to move them to a warm, sunny window sill, a couple of days ago, (makes more sense to me?) I only had elephant poo, then. A carer has just visited, and was admiring, ( wow, admiring, all my plants.) It does make you feel good, to have someone admire what you have achieved, ( albeit, in the most eccentric of ways.) I opened the bag, well, i didn't need to open the bag, to see there's a whole host of sunflower plantlets. I now have another person to add to my list of potential new parents for my sunflowers, ( all free of charge, of course. ) They are also highly interested in pineapple lil. :rotfl:



Tasks for today. I shall definitely have to repot the sunflowers, (not in elephant poo. ) Anyone got any elephant poo going begging? I'm going to have to do something with the sweet peas, ( they're now over a foot high,) and the poached egg plants? I think i'll just look at those a while longer, and contemplate. I seriously don't want to repot each individually. it's going to be difficult enough with the sunflowers? They told me to be very careful. Who? Me? I want to plant the poached egg plants straight into the ground? In your dreams.......:rotfl:


In the meantime, lily and loo? Well, what can i say? But i can't live like this for 9 months of the year?

NorthernLas

Ani - The poached egg plants are hardy monsters. I would have thought that using a teaspoon / desertspoon, you can scoop a dollop of them out and re-plant into bigger pots (just put damp compost in and make a divit (sp?) with the spoon so that the plants you take out will just slot into the new pot.

If you keep the sunflowers (and sweetpeas) somewhere light, they should not stretch too much. The sunflowers need to have hairy stems before you put them outside near THEM.

Enjoy the sunshine

NL x

if_at_first...

Wow - there are some great pics on here of flowers. Lovely. :T

I will be subscribing to this thread. I do not have a garden but I am moving to a new flat in a couple of months with a large but empty patio. Maybe with a bit of inspiration from you guys I can bring some life to it. :j:j:j

NorthernLas

Found some gardening videos and how to guides

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/video-library

WARNING: Step away from the constant sales and free p&p ... far too easy to buy stuff

I have looked at my seed stash and have enough to keep me going so no garden centre trips for me this weekend.

ani_26

if_at_first... wrote: »

Wow - there are some great pics on here of flowers. Lovely. :T

I will be subscribing to this thread. I do not have a garden but I am moving to a new flat in a couple of months with a large but empty patio. Maybe with a bit of inspiration from you guys I can bring some life to it. :j:j:j

Hi and welcome, if at first :hello:


You can provide the beer and the chocolate? :rotfl: :beer: :EasterBun



I'm sure you can do anything you want with your patio, ( well obviously, maybe not plant an oak tree,) it's all about gardening on a budget here and making the most of what you haven't got. :rotfl:

ani_26

NorthernLas wrote: »

Found some gardening videos and how to guides

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/video-library

WARNING: Step away from the constant sales and free p&p ... far too easy to buy stuff

I have looked at my seed stash and have enough to keep me going so no garden centre trips for me this weekend.

I wouldn't dream of buying from t - m. Far too expensive for me :rotfl::D


Luverly sunshine again, although it did start snowing again, at teatime yesterday.



Fancy meeting up?