Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

Woke up to dense grey and more rain and wind. They say ' mild' but down south 7c isn't 'mild' but I'm aclimatising somewhat.

Thank you for the fresh breath advice Imp and Dusty.

I don't like Parsley but we'll see if the garlic works first then I'll go for the Parsley if it does.

I notice no signs of gardening on here as we enter our 5th storm in 3 weeks    I've determined if fit enough to get out there the first dry day clothed in umpteen layers and boiler suit to thin out the climbing roses.

The compacting the lawn I'm going to have to deal with - again!

But they reckon Feb and March will be the same and you know the sun will burst forth and the leaves and it will all be too late to deal with.

As said, I'm getting too fanciful ideas while sitting here and browsing. Need some reality.

And congrats to those of you who got washing dry. Mines still wet and in the machine which is not good.

A turnip from a carrot? If anyone could do it Farway could

wort

Aww 2p hope you get a nice day soon. 

Dusty have to say I would have been a toddler then, but have heard it many times as I have older sisters and brother. I love a good quiz especially if I know them straight off. 😜 I have been known to pause the tv when watching only connect to think of the answer, as my brain is lacking speed.

Today is quite mild fairly bright and occasionally a burst of sun. I’ve had a massage (Xmas gift) early then been on a couple of errands ,back home to get some indoor jobs sorted. I’m going to change now and have a look at the front garden. It is on an estate that has no fences or walls so as the dog walkers go by they let their dogs wee on the very front which not only kills things off but absolutely stinks when you are gardening there. The scillia are poking through there backed by a couple of evergreens, hebe, a low feathery conifer thing,and a hypericum. I’m wondering wether to move all the low growers and let the evergreens to push forward , I usually cut them back. Any thoughts? 

pink_poppy

Thanks, Dusty. Yesterday was tough, as was Sunday, made worse by certain extended family members… ☹️

We love quizzes here too, my DH is particularly good at them. He got the music clue in seconds, but he knows a lot about music. Please could you PM me your finished quiz questions, Dusty, whenever you have time, I think DH would enjoy answering them.

Farway, I’ve got a red amaryllis growing for my late MiL. We bought it for her for Christmas but it never got opened. I’ve got another two from previous years growing too, but it looks like just leaves coming. Good job I like the leaves.
I did laugh at your wee innuendo, btw 😂

twopenny, are you feeling better??

I’ve got the same problem as you, wort, with dogs weeing. We also get the odd number two deposit 😡 I’m not sure what the answer is?? 

Our storage heater didn’t come on this morning, so it was a balmy 10.5 degrees when I got up 🥶 We think it’s to do with the power being off due to Storm Eowyn.

It’s cold and sunny here today.

wort

Oh PP that’s chilly 🥶 I hope it gets sorted quickly.

Ive just done an hour and half tidying the garden, edging 2 sides of the lawn and clearing the smelly bit, I need to think about moving the bulbs but maybe wait till they’ve flowered now. Thin wet rain stopped play outside, so time for a brew.

Farway

wort said:

 It is on an estate that has no fences or walls so as the dog walkers go by they let their dogs wee on the very front which not only kills things off but absolutely stinks when you are gardening there. The scillia are poking through there backed by a couple of evergreens, hebe, a low feathery conifer thing,and a hypericum. I’m wondering wether to move all the low growers and let the evergreens to push forward , I usually cut them back. Any thoughts? 

I think I would, they will make a natural, but reasonably low, natural boundary for you, which would at least help deter the dogs, and all are tough, and I'd think wee proof resistant

You may get crisp packets, sweet wrappers etc in there over time but that depends on who is walking by, kids on school run or walking back from Tesco Local perhaps

twopenny

This would work - possibily Wort.

But if you sink under the turf not sure how you mow the lawn. Raise the cut?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CLD1VV8B/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?pd_rd_i=B0CLD1VV8B&pd_rd_w=HmEPM&content-id=amzn1.sym.46187d6a-4306-4bc6-830c-7b2085e0e39f&pf_rd_p=46187d6a-4306-4bc6-830c-7b2085e0e39f&pf_rd_r=P95ZT37GX4BXBCS7AAM4&pd_rd_wg=l9wEK&pd_rd_r=ca5528c6-f2cf-4b54-8942-3d7f4d2d299f&s=outdoors&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWw&th=1

It does come cheaper and from other sites.

Doesn't hurt them but they don't like walking on it.

I got some square bits from Poundland that had plastic box leaves on and pulled the leaves off to deal with neighbours cats.

Thanks Poppy, still feeling nauseous and a big giddy but I wonder how much is relaxing. Life just threw too much at me at once and the never ending gloomy, wet weather.  On the other hand I'm limping better

And now I'm watching DIY SOS where half the men were in tears so that's probably not helping but I love that programme.

Hugs to you and your problems with family and even more the heating - mines working for the first time in a year and it does help you relax. Just need a barracade around the house to stop people interfering in the relaxation

Working_Mum

Good morning everyone,
Big hugs to those feeling under the weather or dealing with challenging life things at the moment. I think this time of year makes me much less resilient than during the lighter months. 

I haven't been able to do much at all in my garden this past weekend - the weather was just wet and awful here. BUT the mornings are definitely getting lighter wooohoooo - I was able to throw Rome0's ball for him whilst out on our morning walk and he was very grateful! There were signs of a lovely sunrise but alas it was a bit of a damp squib. Gutted as I was ready with my phone to take a pic to share on here!

I attended a talk last night which was really interesting:-

Gardens Locations of Danger or Delight?

Dr Ruth Larsen

This talk explores the ways in which elite women wrote about the garden in the period 1600-1830, and how they negotiated the reputation of the garden as a location for male desires.

Who'd have thought that the spaces we associate with peace and joy were once seen as dens of iniquity! Fascinating and got me wondering how my little patch would have been interpreted in bygone times!

I loved your pics of the willow logs and all of the moss Dusty, I find moss and ferns endlessly fascinating. The right hand side of my garden is in the shade most of the year so I have ferns and hostas down there as they like the shade down there. I have edged my garden with foraged sticks that I've picked up over the last year or so and they often have moss or lichen on them. I think it's all "life" so bring them into my garden improves the micro-biomes etc of the area (could be totally wrong obvs).

My old gardener swore by hiding holly leaves just under the surface of ground you wanted cats to steer clear of Wort - I had a cat(s) which used to visit us in my old garden and leave their calling cards. He would throw soil over the leaves and leave them to decompose but it seemed to keep the cats away. I don't understand why dog owners allow them to go on what is obviously garden borders. Mind you I have met some very weird dog owners over the years 

In other news I have deleted Tw1tter and !nsta from my phone - my one woman campaign against idiot billionaires. I haven't missed them too much tbh but can't wait for the evenings to lighten so I can get into my garden and pootle around.

Wishing everyone a productive Wednesday!

((WM))

Dustyevsky

pink_poppy said:

Thanks, Dusty. Yesterday was tough, as was Sunday, made worse by certain extended family members… ☹️
 Please could you PM me your finished quiz questions, Dusty, whenever you have time, I think DH would enjoy answering them.

Hmmm.....extended family. We've learned just to smile and be vague and innocuous.   It'll be a couple of weeks, but I'll send over the quiz questions. I might even send the answers too! Most will be easier than the one I put on here, and generic internet, not made-up by yours truly.

Congrats to wort for being first out of the blocks with some proper gardening, after all the stormy nonsense. I admired some roofers yesterday, fixing battens on a neighbour's roof in the wind and rain. They broke off from the re-slating job on Friday, but there was obviously some ingress over the weekend, or on Monday. As the neighbour was one of those who unnecessarily held up our work for a year, that Karma word came to mind. She began the attempt to get her roof done way back in late summer, but 'things' I'm not party to happened, and there were several false starts...and stops.

Good to hear your heating's fixed 2p, and not so good about the recalcitrant storage heater, pp. Here, we continue to get through the logs, but at least the oil goes down slowly. About 75% of our heating is from 'primitive' flames and sunshine.

Not much sunshine about here today to go with the chilly NE wind. The boozers are saying we get a lighter shade of cloud later on, before that wind strengthens to give a cold night. Tomorrow and Friday look OK. Now we're approaching February, I might dust of the propagator.....   Farway will laugh. At the last possible moment, I succumbed to T&M's 89p seeds with free P&P.

No new photos, so here's one from the Rosemoor archive showing an Ilex crenata 'Convexed Gold' they had for sale. It's a Japanese Holly and looks good for places where you use box, were it not for the problems that has in some locations. Somewhat more expensive than box though! About £20.

twopenny

Lovely message WM

Feeling a tad better today at last but then I haven't done much!

Glad the pup got to play again today. At least one of us has

Dusty, I like that phrase, a lighter shade of cloud.

It has been a dire winter here, no clear nights with glittering stars at all, just murk day and night.

The garden really does look dreadful but the birds seem to like it which is a good thing. No one out there to disturb them, soft ground and worms and food stuff. So I'll have to be satisfied with that.

Even some buds on the tete a tete.

Farway

Dull, cold & grey still, but at least the rain has stopped

Thankfully my Christmas amaryllis presents, both this year & 2023, are providing much need optimism and some colour at just the right moment. Because there's s*d all in the garden that I can see, but I do need to get out & look if it ever warms up.

Thinking rhubarb and plum buds here.

twopenny said:

Thanks Poppy, still feeling nauseous and a big giddy but I wonder how much is relaxing. Life just threw too much at me at once and the never ending gloomy, wet weather.  On the other hand I'm limping better

And now I'm watching DIY SOS where half the men were in tears so that's probably not helping but I love that programme.

Hugs to you and your problems with family and even more the heating - mines working for the first time in a year and it does help you relax. Just need a barracade around the house to stop people interfering in the relaxation

Must be nice with working heating after so long without. Enjoy it, I was sipping the posh drinking choc yesterday under my heated throw, decided if I cannot get out in the garden I may as well enjoy the enforced idleness.

Just refreshed and now WM is here.

Working_Mum said:

I attended a talk last night which was really interesting:-

Gardens Locations of Danger or Delight?

Dr Ruth Larsen

This talk explores the ways in which elite women wrote about the garden in the period 1600-1830, and how they negotiated the reputation of the garden as a location for male desires.

Who'd have thought that the spaces we associate with peace and joy were once seen as dens of iniquity! Fascinating and got me wondering how my little patch would have been interpreted in bygone times!

I sometimes think we may be attaching modern thinking to older times, like todays penchant for decrying what was just normal back then

I was watching something yesterday about the post WW1 building boom and mock Tudor surburbs, seems we grow lawns & roses to show we are rich enough not to need to grow food in our gardens

Ha Ha, just seen Dusty update, very hard to resist cheep seeds & free P & P

A bit of sunshine by Proxy, DGS is flying to Greece, Athens on a school trip this lunchtime, from Heathrow. 

Times they are a changing, which is no bad thing, my one and only school trip was a day trip, by train, from Hayes to Portsmouth, the only similarity is Hayes is near Heathrow.!

Sunny & 60F in Athens