Daydream thread... without the rose-tinted specs

I_have_spoken

Some progress in the garden, used my new 5" auger hole borer (Ebay £14) to create deep holes into which I will concrete the steel post holders for the new pergola.

It's going to be unusually-wide (2.4m) to go above the steps leading from patio to lawn (bog at the moment!). Have already bought the fast growing evergreen clematis and honeysuckle to grow up and over.

I've also found the hole borer handy for planting out daffs grown in pots. Just a couple of twists, pull out the "plug" and there's a perfect circular hole into which to drop the bulbs after knocking them out the pot. I've got maybe 15 lilies growing in pots now, so once the ground has dried(!), I shall plant them.

Davesnave

The sheep left us this morning and Pete seemed well pleased with their growth over winter. They've behaved like kids throughout, often running up the field in a mad group and kicking their legs in the air, just for the hell of it. I must admit I'm sorry to have lost them!

With the sheep gone, Pete & I re-seeded the area he cleared with the digger in November. He apologised for not giving me a bill for that yet! :rotfl:

After lunch, we headed out to the front garden and cleared a triangular piece of ground we've been working on since moving in. We couldn't do anything with it when the huge puddle was here, but now that's gone, hundreds of litres of water aren't being thrown over that area every month. So, we sowed that with grass too.

Finally, we walked up the lane to our neighbour's house about 1/4 mile away to check on the greenhouse. It turned out to need a bit of repair, so I shall do that tomorrow. Of course, we had a look at the garden, which was splendid, with an incredible view I hadn't realised they could take advantage of.
Very jealous!

What kind of plants do you want, Rummer?

lostinrates

Where are these babies then? Hope everything is ok?


Sorry I have been quiet. Had a rough Friday and nothing progressed here and it made me feel a bit bleak and grumpy and not like the daydream was working out that well.

I laid down the law with a couple of clients on Friday who seemed to take it quite well, and will be doing more of the same this week with another one.

Things simply cannot go on with us doing their stuff for them, because its not leaving us free to make progress where we need to.

Rummer

Davesnave wrote: »

What kind of plants do you want, Rummer?

Sounds like a busy day Dave

I was thinking of something like this as I have roughly the same space, although I am not a fan of the grass so would want something else tall. At one end there will be a rhubarb plant and at the other end where there is a corner with a fence and a wall I was thinking of planting a buddleia as the colours would blend in nicely and it would attract lots of insect life.

While the plants are getting established I would plant flowers in-between. What do people think? It is a space that is 1m wide and 3-5m long which gets full sun all day.

Rummer

LIR Often people just need a gentle reminder of their responsibilities and although it is never pleasant hopefully it will make life easier for you in the long term. As for your plans is there something small that you can focus on in the interim to add a bit of inner sparkle? I am focussing on one bed atm as quite frankly the whole garden is overwhelming!

Davesnave

Rummer wrote: »

Sounds like a busy day Dave

I was thinking of something like this as I have roughly the same space, although I am not a fan of the grass so would want something else tall. At one end there will be a rhubarb plant and at the other end where there is a corner with a fence and a wall I was thinking of planting a buddleia as the colours would blend in nicely and it would attract lots of insect life.

While the plants are getting established I would plant flowers in-between. What do people think? It is a space that is 1m wide and 3-5m long which gets full sun all day.

The lavender will appreciate the sun, but will it cope with your clay? (I think you said you're on clay, or heavy soil.) I might use small centaureas too there, or anthemis tinctoria cupaniana spilling out over the edge.

Verbena bonariensis may not be hardy where you are, but you will know better than me!

Oh dear, I'm now messing with the plan. I'm no good at sticking to any plans.....

No real recommendations for on-line stuff, though I have always been pleased with Buckingham Nurseries who do mainly trees & shrubs. The cotoneasters they just sent me were half price, as I split each one in two on receipt:rotfl:and they weren't pricey to start with!

Better_Days

Morning all :hello:

Sunny here this morning :j:j

But chilly :(

Should warm up soon though - it is April after all.

Any pattering of trotters yet????

That border looks lovely Rummer. Never tried alliums but have always liked them. And you can't go wrong with lavender - looks good all year round, scent is divine and the bees love them.

Trip to the plumb place yesterday didn't go that well as their sales person was on holiday - so we just went away with half a ton of brochures.

Also went to have a look at kitchens, got someone coming out to quote on Thursday - it will hopefully give us some ideas and a ballpark figure so we can budget. Mr BD and I nearly fell out over what level of quality to go for - and I ended up telling him that I don't specify the roofing felt for the shed or the posts for the chicken run or the wood for this or that - so he should let me get on with deciding what is best for the kitchen. Truce declared for the time being :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Davesnave

Better_Days wrote: »

Also went to have a look at kitchens, got someone coming out to quote on Thursday - it will hopefully give us some ideas and a ballpark figure so we can budget. Mr BD and I nearly fell out over what level of quality to go for - and I ended up telling him that I don't specify the roofing felt for the shed or the posts for the chicken run or the wood for this or that - so he should let me get on with deciding what is best for the kitchen. Truce declared for the time being :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

We've been on kitchens for a loooong time now, but finally DW seems to be moving in the direction I wanted her to go in originally, which is to use her brother's company to buy the whole thing at trade price, thus saving many ££££.

Now you might think that would be an obvious place to start, but no, we have visited kitchen showrooms throughout the county and sat through probably half a dozen full design sessions, lasting a couple of hours each! Some have been really good, and others dire, like the one in a DIY shed where they'd just loaded new software and we were the guinea pigs. Two and a bit hours later they still couldn't print anything....:mad:

And they still have the gall to ring periodically and ask if we've made our minds up!

Yup, we have, on them at any rate.

Rummer

Hmmm back to the drawing board then. The soil in this area is not clay it is a purpose built bed so mainly compost topped up yearly. I am taken by the lavender and aliums however the others I am happy to reconsider. It is the colours I like.

lostinrates

Grass cut, front and back, before nine.

Why cannot I get the same enthusiasm about vacuuming, huh?