Awful weather - typical Brits talk

phoebe1989seb

 Exciting news about the grape, Farway!   
Your OH is going to be busy, MovingForwards!

Warm and sunny here too - a welcome change from the past few changeable days, although it's due to be showery again tomorrow 🙄 

I've been making the most of it, humping reclaimed paving stones about, placing them at intervals along the gravel paths which meant lots of shifting buckets of gravel too. DH picked up a couple more (!!!) David Austin roses on his way home. These are old stock so priced at only £22.99 😃 Got them planted up straight away.

Quite a few things showing signs of being close to flowering (peonies, astilbes, roses) plus there are loads of geums, alliums, centranthus, astrantias etc blooming and some of the roses planted in 2018 are really filling out....especially Alan Titchmarsh and Dame Judi Dench, lol!

twopenny

Was out looking for pots today. Found just what I was looking for and the price decent - but I couldn't lift them. The car would never have made it the 25miles home either. So onto plan C, whatever that is.

The plants in garden centres are a stunning price now but people keep on buying. Looking forward to peeps having something else to do with their time.

I did buy some tomato plants and a few runner beans as I have so much to do with the house that by the time seeds planted now come up it will be winter. But I will do my own as well so should get a sucession of flowers and veg.

The ailing new plum tree has a few fruits but it growing vigorously to the point it wil have to be pruned. The currents are swelling but still white. I can't remember if they are red or black. They were £1 each so either will do.

The little greengage has lost it's leaves in the gales on 4 branches but fruit still there. I had a little talk to it today to encourage it. The Clematis that have bloomed early have taken a battering but hopefully better later.

Bank Holiday and I live in a tourist area so I'll be home at the least all this weekend as the hoards decend. Planning on doing all the tying in and tidying up, mowing and feeding etc.

It's odd having such a new garden and realising that while it looks a bit like a fringe it will plump up and begin to look blooming marvelous. Fingers crossed.

MovingForwards

I'm just hoping he will have enough energy to cook my dinner afterwards as we're supposed to be having steak 🤣

goldfinches

Went to University Arboretum yesterday with my walking group and admired the rhododendrons which have been absolutely loving this weather - glad someone was - and some of them were flowering so prolifically they looked almost as if they'd been staged.


Interestingly the pinks, purples, reds, corals and orange flowers all had no scent at all but the whites and yellows all had some and this was the best of them all.

The scent from this bush was so strong and sweet that wafts of it followed us along the grass path to the wildflower meadow and everyone in the group thought it the nicest of the scented flowers by far.  We couldn't find a label, although we did rifle the bush thoroughly so if anyone has a suggestion do say, please. We found another bush that looked the same but had a slightly smaller flower with a spicy rather than sweet scent so there's probably a lot of potential for confusion here.
The peacocks were very entertaining, even crossing the busy road while we were waiting at the bus stop, and I fell in love with a snowdrop tree which has gone onto my wishlist so it was a good afternoon all round.

Davesnave

Nice rhodies, goldfinches. Our only azalea is dead and so is the magnolia we planted a few months back. That sudden cold snap has a lot to answer for.

Spent half the morning measuring-up for hard landscaping, before finding the 'hard' part was sourcing the materials; the only remaining examples being in Basingstoke! Luckily, I don't need them for a while yet, but  the acute materials shortage is irksome and likely to persist.

Having failed in physical procurement, I used MSE to switch energy supplier and fix our price for 2 years, before spending the rest of the day murdering weeds and mowing.

Like  you 2p, I shall be hiding away over the Bank Holiday; not that the hordes come here, but they won't be far away.

RAS

Pretty stunning, goldfinches. You've reminded me that there are a couple of local places that might be worth a visit, particularly over the weekend when many will be elsewhere. Although I'm probably doing bees one day and working in the allotment shop another.

Spent yesterday at one of the orchards, supposed transplanting stuff into hedge.  Except it was a case of first dig out the ground above the bricks, breezeblock or whatever and then lever that out of the bottom of the hole before planting. We were supposed to have cleared that area a few year ago, but there's still stuff to hoik out.

We're nowhere near flowering for most flowering plants and the veggies have been static for ages. The grass and comfrey have loved it though.

Farway, good choice of grape. Lakemont even ripens up here. Although I nearly killed it a few years ago pruning too late. But one branch had rooted and I've now replaced the parent with a decent sized stripling. The leaf buds are barely opening here. It was one of four varieties I decided to try on a slightly north east sloping very exposed allotment site. The other seedless one that fruits well is Mars. Slightly strange but good flavour when just ripe, with hints of grapefruit then sweeter later. However Lakemont is the one for leaves for dolmades (which was one of my interests)

I've also got a small pippy one that ripens much earlier and I'm happy to spit pips. I thought I'd have enough to make wine last year then the b****y birds stripped the vines as they stripped everything else which they'd previously ignored.

Vanessa doesn't work here but might further south; flower buds form but don't really set. I'm inclined to cut it to the floor and let it bleed out next spring.

Farway

Dull morning, no gardening planned and just an Iceland delivery to put away

I'll not be going anywhere or doing anything over the Bank Holiday because I have to into hospital next Tuesday and the rules are get a Covid PCR swab tomorrow and then self isolate until hospital time. Not that there had been anything planned anyway

2P, bad luck with the pots but I know exactly how it is because been in similar situation myself, surprising just how heavy they can be

Dave, I was listening to something about shortage of materials, seems it's world wide, triggered so they reckon not but butterfly wings but Texan cold weather + Covid, no doubt with a dash of Global warming & Brexit sprinkled in depending on your bias

RAS, nice to hear about Lakemont, gives me something to look forward to. I also have a pippy one, Green Muscat which came from Wilkinson's, it seems to just have the one pip inside so not a problem plus it's small + sweet

Lovely pictures GF, in full bloom they make such beautiful trees, never see them around here with the chalk but we used to go over to Exbury with the children & then grandchildren when they were younger, plus the steam railway and peacocks

Here's number one grandchild with a peacock at Exbury, No 1 GC is now over six feet tall so picture was years ago and looking in the background at trees I guess we were there for the rhoddies about this time of year

twopenny

Loving the photos as can seldom get out for the rain!
And scrap what I said before, the predicted sun has become more rain for this weekend so gardening nil and tv and curtain making on the cards  
Possibly it will stop me moving things and just let it be.
Have a pretty Weigela bought last year for the dark reddish leaves. The deep magenta flowers have come out with the leaves. Chuffed with that.

MovingForwards

I do like seeing the photos, makes the chats more realistic and less online.

5 tons of compost arrived at 8am this morning, it's now been distributed.
I've got builders sacks as 'raised beds' in the loaner garden, they will hold root veg, toms and onion family. The other part is for salads, greens and other low growing veg.
So far I've made a start on the spud bed.
I've got all my seeds ready and when I'm more agile I can make a start sowing and planting.

There was a few rest breaks when I sat watching bees collecting from the comfrey flowers.  


Can I go to sleep now!

phoebe1989seb

Well done, Moving 😃

I'm loving all the pics too - annoyingly the camera on my phone is still playing silly s0ds so all photos come out looking as though there's a pea souper about, lol! I'm trying to get some taken that are worthy of sharing here 😉

Sorry to hear about your azalea and magnolia, Dave 🙁 The (unidentified, as it was already here) red azalea we moved recently *seems* to be doing ok. It's still flowering without any obvious signs of shock at its sudden uprooting, but I'll keep everything crossed as you never know!

We lost so much over the past winter - five acanthus (Hollard's Gold and Morning's Candle), loads of assorted salvias, six? erigerons, three heucheras, lavenders, verbascums, the big rosemary, some grasses, a couple of potentillas and a buddleia globosa of all things 😮 There's probably more.....

Makes me wonder why we bother, lol.....only kidding 😂