Awful weather - typical Brits talk

greenbee

Are you riddling by hand Dusty, or do you have a rotary sieve? I'm looking for a solution to deal with my home-made compost and the vast amounts of soil about to be dug up for the base under the IBCs, and it feels like a had sieve will be a lot of hard work, so I'm looking for (non-electric, reasonably priced) suggestions. 

pink_poppy

Another beautiful sunny day - forecast to be like this for the next few days   

Dusty, congratulations on the new Grandchild news - will this be number three?? Do they know what they're having?? I must admit I prefer to find out on the day, but these days a lot of happy couples seem to know well in advance, with obligatory gender reveal parties and baby showers. Sorry, I sound like an old f**t    

Love your old garden, twopenny, you must miss it.

Scary AI rat, Farway. Hope you enjoyed your pea shoots sarnie.

Busy on and off all day yesterday, but we went for a drive after dinner and it was lovely, so peaceful. I took some photos of the sunset but they're on my phone so will hopefully post later.

pink_poppy

Last night’s sunset, complete with smiley Cheshire Cat moon… 🌙  I was trying to be arty with the gorse in front of the second pic 😂

-taff

I'm seven pges behind answering or talking so this will be whislte stop [ not as bad a fifty odd behind the decluttering thread] 

Nice pic of you and your dog 2p...we did the twice yearly quiz last Saturday, and we were called Simple Minds...and came third, total shocker.. Might have to see about getting some phostrogen now, I'm intrigued never having used anything but tomorite.

I have to say snakebites were my go to when I was yougner before they banned them but then, I have always been a happy drunk, never made me nasty...And I was partial to mixing pale ale and manns too...

Great path Dusty and I too read it as sister in law...Went to a talk with Katherine Crouch the other day which was good and then saw her on a fb group I'm in and thought, oo, I know her!! She advised me about artichokes hopefully this year will see some growing on the allotment. Beautiful cat, you don't often see long haired ones like that...congrats on the party party too..your tree does look a bit like it's sticking its branches up your compost must have been very good if that's the dross..It can always go back in again if you fancied it anyway.

Thats a lovely wall on that garden too 2p, really country cottage vibes.

I like your sack truck idea Farway, hope it's still going for you..I was almost tempted a couple fo weeks ago even if it is for just up and down the landing strip at the side of the house. Beautiful magnolia and cherry blossom. I love the flower son amagnolia tree but find the rest of the year with it a bit meh...If I had space though. That's one scary looking rat too..

Lunatic, thats on very pretty lamb, love the colour. And some massive views..

ybe, ru in with the peas? Now that's my kind of follow on from aperitifs Half of my potatoes went under the hay on the 17th March, keeping the other half for next week or the week after in a vain attempt to stagger planting. That's a lovely tree with its big pants on. Congrats on selling your car with no backsies                                                          

PP love the chimney bird so true about the mosquitoes doing research too...

Greenbee, I've just watched the thing , is it on GW, where they made one out of bicyle rims and wire mesh? Woth a gogle or a youtube for a how to.

Been awol due to being busy [ and by busy, I mean one or two things a day for the most part because it takes me so long to get going and then recover from going] so I've made some cheapie arches into bean supports at the allotment, some weeding tc. However, I must report, I went a bit cray cray yesterday and shopped til I dropped at seeral establishments and bough a bird bath, a bench [ to be put together] and lots of plants, including a Floribunda Tequila Rose rose, some lovely peachy orange verbascum [ hoping to save the seeds from that] and done a lot of potting, sowing etc. Today is sow more flowers, pot on cabbage seedlings and tomato seedlings. Some really old wahaca chillies have germinated so some special coddling for them and I finally have an artichoke germinating, along with a few cardoons...I love this time of year even if it is a bit hectic. Oh and sown some peas so need to make a structure for them.

Farway

Bright, cold breeze & sunny. Warm in the sun though.

Early start, a compost run to Home Bargains, because the previous stuff I bought becomes brown concrete and I want some decent stuff for wall baskets

Lots of choices there, I went for the Levingtons, again, it's never let me down, so went with what I know, like Heinz Ketchup or Branston pickle

Plus more BF & Bone, cheapest around that I know of, and always space for some BFB

HB is a very mixed store here, but I think the ex Wilkinson plant person has moved in, trays of wilting violas, dead Norwegian fruit bush sticks, off set by drawn & lanky cane fruits

There were bare root fruit trees, £5.99 if any wants to chance it this late

And, ta ra, the maiden voyage of the sack truck, transporting compost from car to house

Jobs for later, nothing hard, cover the fresh lot of peas for shooting. They germinated in 48 hours, such a différance between fresh seed & the older stuff I had.

 I may sow another few cells of beetroot, using a different variety, Kestrel, on offer of course

And now I have decent compost I'll see about sowing the sempervivum & Kong coleus, also offer.

Bluebells on the way in my garden, just the furriners not English ones.

PS, just refreshed, good sunset pics and a very busy Taff, good on artichoke germinating, I've never had any success, one day maybe?

pink_poppy

Taff, you’ve been very busy (and spendy) What bench did you get?? I’ve been lusting after a Lutyens style bench for years - one of these days…

Farway, I found my BFB that I thought I must have used up when planting the tatties last year - it’s in the garage and solid as a rock 😂 I’ll try and rescue it somehow.

Another pic from earlier last night - a seaweed strewn gabion for W_M… 😉

-taff

Well done for picking a non awkward trolley sack truck Farway! Just the kind fo use I need one for now the wheelbarow is at the allotment, I shall give you advance warning I am going to Keep up with the Joneses with you Levintongs is my go to too, the red stuff with John Innes.

PP, didn't refesh and missed your skies, love the top one with the sign balancing the hills...Are you and Dusty trying to out gorse each other? and no, it was a bog standard wooden bench, but for the price it looked supremely sturdy which is exactly what a fat old biddy like me needs And they are some lovely looking gabions...the vista too

Farway, I had a very long conversation with the guy that runs the outdoor bit in one of the BMs yesterday, I was very impressed with him and his work. No dying plants, everything tidy and swept, everything watered. He was miffed because he'd been on holiday and his cover hadnt done half the stuff he usually does so he was scrabbling to catch up and tidy. I told him it looked tidy enough to me but I wasn't going to be seeing what he usually sees. I'll go back and get some plants from there because they are cheaper than some places and now I know they're looked after too

this bench, from bm

pink_poppy

I’m lusting after a sack truck too, taff 😂
Love the bench - it would be perfect for a spot in my back garden that gets the morning sun. When you say it was from BM do you mean B&M??

One more pic from me - getting all my ducks in a row this afternoon…

-taff

I did snort at your ducks

yep, B+M...do you think they'll give me freebies for promoting them? not pomoting them by the wy, I haven't put it together yet but I will also be using wood glue as appropriate....

Dustyevsky

greenbee said:

Are you riddling by hand Dusty, or do you have a rotary sieve? 

I just have three or four different gauge hand sieves, but if I'm just screening-out large stones, I have a homemade frame that sits over the wheelbarrow. It uses wider mesh. I wouldn't screen anything other than dryish compost with the 1/4" sieve, just for a seed sowing mix. I'd use 3/8" or 1cm for ordinary potting soil.

This is the sieve sitting on the sheep lick bucket that just fits it:

-taff said:

.Went to a talk with Katherine Crouch the other day which was good and then saw her on a fb group I'm in and thought, oo, I know her!! She advised me about artichokes hopefully this year will see some growing on the allotment. Beautiful cat, you don't often see long haired ones like that..                                                         

Ah, Katherine! We've had her for talks at the Club here a few times. Very entertaining speaker. Don't tell the cat she's beautiful; she thinks too highly of herself already! Artichokes....I have them in pots, but the veg garden is still in a state of flux, and they need permanence. Maybe next year?

pink_poppy said:

Dusty, congratulations on the new Grandchild news - will this be number three?? Do they know what they're having?? I must admit I prefer to find out on the day, but these days a lot of happy couples seem to know well in advance, with obligatory gender reveal parties and baby showers. Sorry, I sound like an old f**t    

Yes, No3, and no one knows the sex. Within the extended family, bets are being made on that, and on the exact shade of brown/pink!  No one's fussed, so long as he/she has a happy disposition and good health.

Loving your pictures, but how can I compete with those landscapes? You even get cooperative ducks! I've just called off a spring visit to Rosemoor, thanks to suddenly catching a cold, so I'll be scratching around for photos this coming week.

Farway said:

And, ta ra, the maiden voyage of the sack truck, transporting compost from car to house

Jobs for later, nothing hard, cover the fresh lot of peas for shooting. They germinated in 48 hours, such a différance between fresh seed & the older stuff I had.

Hurrah to the sack truck starting to earn its keep.   I can confirm what you've discovered about old peas. Like old men, they don't rise as easily as one might hope! So far, only one of my 50 or so has surfaced. I think that's the sum total, given the warmth in the polytunnel now.