Daydream fund challenge part 4

Davesnave

Hi Fay. No worries, it's always good to welcome back a prodigal Dreamer! It will be good to see a few photos; one of the only good things about the new-look forum is that pictures may be loaded directly and don't require hosting. So far as I remember, you were having a patio done and choosing a greenhouse.....or was the latter greenbee????

If you think you're busy now with mental health services, just wait until this thing is over......I really feel for those stuck in flats without gardens and similar situations. Personally, I think the Swedes may have been more rational, but time will tell.

There certainly have been some benefits to the restrictions; I looked on Flightradar the other morning and there wasn't single jet plane over the West Country, but our reduction in pollution must be as nothing compared with that experienced in large cities.

MSE tell me my lack of notifications is due to Yahoo, blocking them.  I didn't think Yahoo were that fussy, considering they've been running scam 'get rich quick' adverts for bitcoin for months. I notice the Richard Branson one isn't  appearing now!  

I only use Yahoo 'cos the interface is easy and clear, but we'll see how it goes. I like to keep my MSE separate from all my other interweb nonsense. 

Edit: My seeds arrived yesterday, Ted. Took about 10 days. Not my usual one for veg, but it made me try a few 'interesting' things!

Ted_Head

Goodness - 10 days to deliver seeds - or just them getting through a backlog of orders probably. 
I have a daisy-like flowered plant with aromatic leaves - parsnip type tap root. Is this feverfew? It's popping up everywhere.
Duller earlier today but starting to heat up a bit now. Fantastic spell of weather.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I've been decanted mystery seeds into pots - some packets were found that had been left under a seed tray (I don't think I did that) and get sodden, so the outer packaging had become illegible (and a bit stinky), but the inner foils were fine.

I might have sown carrot, lettuce, radishes, definitely tomatoes and a curcubit of some kind (maybe cucumber or gherkin? They're white and not as broad as marrow seed, but I really have no idea). The jury is out on whether any of them will germinate, but the compost is good, the sun has been kind and the inner glass from an old oven is providing some shelter for the latter two.

Unfortunately, I'm too far out of London to get London area deliveries, but not far enough out by a quarter of a mile for any garden centres or nurseries to deliver. Maybe I'll have to grit my teeth and get plug plants.

Himself has taken two days so far to cut three planks to make a shelf for the bathroom. I'm not sure I can deal with the dramatics over something so simple, but he's been quite annoying whilst I've been hanging around on the laptop waiting for some work to do and grumbling about the performance emailing and frankly hysterical panics that some members of staff are getting involved in.

Davesnave

Grand view Ted; can't really compete with that!

I think your daisy flower could be feverfew. Our golden one seeds around without ever becoming a nuisance and we've another from a walled garden we failed to purchase, which has a more double flower.

The goldfinches have hatched, and so far as we can tell, there are 4....

Meanwhile, we've spotted another goldfinch nest in an eleagnus bush by the chicken run. The place is alive with birds at present, but sadly, very few swallows among them.

lucielle

Hi disappointed I wasn't on the missed list but I'm back.. Got logged out and couldn't get back in for ages.  Business is closed for servicing and repairs but internet sales have gone ballistic.  We're all knackered working 14 hour days, this is the first day off since 29th March.  Gin the puppy is growing fast, had to give her second injection myself otherwise it would mean having to start it all again.

Fabulous pics.  Deffo missing not going up north but need to stay safe
L

Ted_Head

JoJo - Is there anything about your OH that you like? Just something that he does that is sweet and nice? I'm sure there is.
I found some really old seed packets in the caravan so being a tight wad I'll scatter them about once I've cleared some more ground.
It's been typically April today - heavy showers, cold breeze and sunshine with lurid rainbows. Very Colin Baxter.
Great to hear your news Lucielle - glad you're busy with work. Many are just having to hold fire. So good that you can do it safely.
The North is fed up with people arriving at their holiday homes and the police are trying to turn folks back as they are generally coming from the South where the infection rates are much much higher and our NHS is so under pressure and under resourced up here. The local hotel has had all her staff arrive from abroad - I don't know how they got here but as most of them came from Spain people are a bit anxious about that. I think they expect for the lock down to be lifted soon but I think that would be madness. Many people grumbling as they do rely on the Tourists so I can understand their impatience.
Dave - Yes, I think it is feverfew - it seems very prolific. Lovely with the nest and hatchlings - you are so much earlier than us especially re the swallows - we won't see them for a while yet although last year they were here early & away quickly.
My backs been aching today so done little digging other than trying to get some variegated pond grass out that is threatening to swamp the rhubarb and the Kilmarnock willow.

Rummer

Great photos Dave. Good to see people back posting again!

My tomatoes seem to have blight. So annoyed, I have never ever managed to grow a tomato to eat, usually it is blossom end rot that they fall with or insects but this year the leaves are all developing brown patches and dying off. I used new seed compost and the pots were brand new as well, the plants have been indoors on a window ledge so I am not sure what else I could do to protect them? Different types of tomatoes all grown from newly opened packets too. Maybe I am just not meant to have home grown tomatoes!

The_Warned

lucielle said:

Hi disappointed I wasn't on the missed list but I'm back.. Got logged out and couldn't get back in for ages.
L

No one missed me either, but I think I was 'gone' longer than you. Indeed, some people might argue I was never here in the first place, but time is a relative concept. Somewhere, the Big Bang is still going on, the dinosaurs are roaming the steaming river valleys of Somerset and The Warning are at No1, having just displaced Band Maid......Oh, hang on,one of those hasn't happened  yet!

Davesnave

Rummer, I don't think your toms have blight as it's too early for that and they're indoors. It's more likely to be growing conditions affecting them in some way.  I have noticed a big deterioration in compost quality over the years as manufacturers have reduced sphagnum peat and stuffed- in ever greater amounts of composted waste. We are now at a point where may composts feel 'greasy' and, long-term, turn to sludge on the nursery stand out area.

Over the last 2 years I've lost loads of toms to stem rots through inadvertent over-watering, so this year I've been very sparing with the H2O and losses have been minimal. However, we've also had few frost or close-to-frost nights and that's helped too.

Latest goldfinch nest in eleagnus bush with indication of size:

Ted_Head

Lovely photo Dave - how dinky an abode.
Sun coming out and that chilly wind has dropped. A cuckoo started calling a couple of days ago. We did used to get loads of them but now few and far between. Got OH to put up a blind that's been gather dust under the sideboard for three years so things are progressing;-)