Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

Thanks for that Dusty. I saw the price then realised that it's not much more than a punnet of supermarket tasteless ones so may get some practice in with them this year and start early next.

There are also those that you can keep like apples I mentioned last year. But fresh would be best. I need a greenhouse don't I 🙄

Farway

Blue sky & sunshine, but short-lived, due to go downhill midday onwards

Wort. LIAM, it's free postage this weekend if you can't find cheaper or better local £1.29. https://www.dtbrownseeds.co.uk/products/love-in-a-mist-persian-jewels-flower-seeds

The seeds I ordered from them yesterday are on the way, dahlias to follow

Dusty said , 2p said: Heard of micro tomatoes? I'm definitely up for trying this because it might extend my season! Just right for one.

I suspect Dusty knows it already 😊

Errr….if you mean determinate, naturally small toms, I've grown them for years, mainly because they're fast out of the blocks, with a good chance of fruit by June.😁 I used to grow one of the weird 'sub Arctic' ones, just to get toms fast, then cull them when others came along. They grew very untidily.😒 However, nowadays, there are varieties which behave, like this one I'm currently growing:

Not watched GW yet, but this year I'm trying Bajaja, supposed to be OK for small pots and the like. Link for info only, other suppliers are available https://happygreenshop.co.uk/products/tomato-trailing-bajaja

I did try one last year, similar, went OK but nothing special. My normal small,one is Balcony Yellow and I save my own seeds

Greenbee, I'd start tying your apple branches down now if they are pliable.

YBE Am I too late to start the aquilegia do we think? As Dusty says, takes two years, sow tem now and get in final holes once big enough. I have some from seeds, not a big success due to neglect but I'm expecting flowers this year, fingers crossed they are not muddy purple

More pics, my hard red pear this time, it's laden with buds, so a bumper crop of useless red pears is expected

LessImpecunious

YBE: Morning all, on the Day In History that Europeans settled in San Francisco…

According to the Kitchen Cabinet on R4 this morning it is "Something on a Stick Day"… gargling tells me this is actually National Something on a Stick Day, and it refers to cooking something on a stick rather than any other bizarre activity or thing (mini bird-scaring windmills, witches, etc, etc?) The website I found was a general National Days one, but based over the pond, so not sure whether it really counts here anyway😁

… Am I too late to start the aquilegias do we think?

I know others have said two years to flowering, but I think if sowed now they should be flowering by this time next year ? Better to sow now than wait, anyhow…

Pic from hail day, surprised to see this flowering already!

And from yesterday - had been checking for flowers on fruit bushes having seen Farway's goosegog pic - mine just showing flower buds, nothing yet on any of the currants, but this was the biggest surprise - looks like it might be a bumper Jostaberry year - last one with anything to speak of was 2019!

YoungBlueEyes

Morning all, on the day that the clock on Tutus' dashboard comes right again for a while, 'til it goes wrong again for the Winter 🙃

Thanks for the seed info everyone, I'll bring in a bit of compost to start warming up and then get them started in some wee pots this aft and hopefully they don't die on me while I get them out next year.

Another greenhouse gb - you'll have it filled in no time. What seeds did you plant…?

I think I've seen The Wild Gardener 2p - is it a fellah with a shack hut in a field and his work to turn it from a scrubby field into a wildlife haven? It was slow but I enjoyed it, his accent was lovely and melodic 😊 How's the badger run looking? Are your seeds taking?

Dusty I like the muck wagon outline, it reminds me of those trees you get in market places abroad with the sitdowneries wrapped round them 😎 Fingers crossed your newest neighbours will be decent folk, or at least pliable enough that you can mould them into decent folks ha haa

Would you not rip out your useless red pear tree and stick something else in there Farway? I saw they had fruit trees in B+M yesterday, £12 each and looked alright to me. Was it you that was after a doyenne pear something something..? They had them, along with an array of the usual suspects 🙂

Gawd you did get some hail Less! (What's your white flower? Is it one of those snake's head wosnames?) Fingers crossed for your Jostaberries, it does look happy eh.

Well my toms have got proper leaves on them now, and my sweetpeas have come up through the soil, and my fig tree has the diddiest figs on it - 3 so far but I could do with about a dozen if you're listening St Fiacre thankyouplease 😃

OT - cloudy and grey and not very warm out there this morning - they reckon 6' but -2 if you're coatless. I wouldn't go that far like, but at least the wind's dropped from yesterday which makes a world of difference. Showers on the way says Tusky, so that's happening.

YoungBlueEyes

Pics. DeadStickTree is fine and doing it’s thing -

As is that thing that I bought a lovely but too small pot for, and planted out year before last for it to sulk. Well it’s got over itself now look -

Cherry tree (possibly, it only flowers so I couldn’t tell you what the fruit are as I’ve never seen one yet) -

A bit of happiness from my walk to work the other day when it was lovely. Is it some queer breed of a magnolia? It’s all flowers and no leaves. I daren’t go up close to sniff it but I couldn’t smell anything from the pavement -

Bluddy raining now I’ve just put my wash out, naturally.

Dustyevsky

Yesterday I did things with numerous sticks, so I hope that counted. The first sticks were all joined together. These were the drain rods I plunged down the end of our septic tank drainage pipe to see why it's not performing well….but it seemed clear. 😕

After lunch, it was still quite cold, though the wind had abated. I resumed cutting back the elm hedge. That should have been completed ages ago. 😟 Well, it's done now, and we've lots of sticks to pick up! 🙂

Finally, when it was nearly dark, I found some toms which hadn't been potted-up with the others, so I had to stick those quickly into 9cm pots. Did that count? 🙂

I've looked this morning, but I can't see any fritillarias here, Less. It might help if we weeded! Too cold for that, though.😒 They say rain will reach us by lunchtime, so I predict another polytunnel day. I agree aquilegias may flower next spring if seed is planted now, if the plants are grown direct in the garden. They don't like pirking-out and being moved from pot to pot etc.

I'm ashamed about our Boysenberries Jostaberries. We had a huge thicket of what I suspect was them when we moved here. It was a great wildlife retreat, with the bushes so tight no human could get in. I'm afraid we instructed the digger guy to pull them out, and they went on 'the heap.' 😩 To be fair, the garden was untamed jungle everywhere you looked. We just wanted it cleared. 😥

I keep forgetting to post a picture of the stream area, so here it is. The stream is just a trickle now. I'm sure there are fewer primroses this year, but the Iberian comfrey and geraniums are doing OK.

Farway

Happy BST everyone, hands up who forgot to Spring Forward? YBE reminded me, my car clock is also now correct again.

As is custom the first day of summer is cold & dull grey, with rain later this evening

Less said And from yesterday - had been checking for flowers on fruit bushes having seen Farway's goosegog pic - mine just showing flower buds, nothing yet on any of the currants, but this was the biggest surprise - looks like it might be a bumper Jostaberry year - last one with anything to speak of was 2019!

I had to look up Jostaberry, I've heard of them but needed a reminder. Now I want one! Just looked them up, who'd thought there are even different named varieties? Eyes open next time at Morries, it's the sort of plant they'd sell, but not looking for the cost arm & leg options

Seeing the fritillary, and same on GW, I will have to check if mine are still around, they come & go and being dry last year they maybe Gone this year.

I've got bluebells out, just the muddy purple blue foreign ones that came with my garden, they don't spread because it's such a rotten spot & I'm happy for any bit of colour there. My pic was out of focus, next time!

The purple mange toot I started seem to be fails, no sprouts yet. Am I bovvered? No, only trying because I found the old packet

My real green mange toots I put outside this morning to start the hardening off, may plant out Easter depending on the weather

I watched GW and saw the tomato bit. I'm near certain one he had, small yellow cherry in a pot, looked very much like the Balcony Yellow I grow. Bit of a failing I thought not to name them as he was showing them off displaying them at the end

YBE said Would you not rip out your useless red pear tree and stick something else in there Farway? I saw they had fruit trees in B+M yesterday, £12 each and looked alright to me. Was it you that was after a doyenne pear something something..? They had them, along with an array of the usual suspects

Well I would if I was not over 80, it's taken nearly a decade for this bu66er to fruit. Much as I'd like to, I may not be able to wait that long again ☠️. This bu66er was supposed to be a Doyenne pear, lied to and misled by a Lidl label. In ideal world I'd buy one or more others, but common sense has to trump optimism here, same reason I'll not get a dog or cat. Even planting beans is fingers crossed 😁

My French one, Beurre Alexandre Lucas from 2021 is true to label, and actually ripened some without rotting last year. Looking good this year as well

Just refreshed, YBE pics, Dead stick tree, apple? Second pic is def a pear,hope it's not from Lild 😂And it is cherry, but if not self fertile & none around maybe that's why no fruit? The white flowers, ChatGPT says Magnolia stellata (star magnolia)

No gardening today, but may sort through my climbing beans ready for sowing a few come April

LessImpecunious

YBE - Gawd you did get some hail Less! (What's your white flower? Is it one of those snake's head wosnames?) Fingers crossed for your Jostaberries, it does look happy eh.

Farway - I had to look up Jostaberry, I've heard of them but needed a reminder. Now I want one! Just looked them up, who'd thought there are even different named varieties? … Seeing the fritillary, and same on GW, I will have to check if mine are still around, they come & go and being dry last year they maybe Gone this year.

Yep, Snake's Head Fritillary, I was surprised by timing and existence, as even though they are in what was intended to be a bog garden it was not very well-constructed and gets very dry, especially last year… And the white ones seem to be thriving, several more besides the one pictured… Maybe the odd v heavy downpour/stormy day punctuating the hot summer was enough to keep them going…

Dusty - I'm ashamed about our Boysenberries Jostaberries. We had a huge thicket of what I suspect was them when we moved here. It was a great wildlife retreat, with the bushes so tight no human could get in. I'm afraid we instructed the digger guy to pull them out, and they went on 'the heap.' 😩

That certainly sounds like Jostaberry, they have a tendency to thicket! And beware temptation Farway, often lucky to get no more than a berry or two per main branch 😐️ But maybe the named varieties more tameable and productive…

Dusty - Yesterday I did things with numerous sticks, so I hope that counted….I agree aquilegias may flower next spring if seed is planted now, if the plants are grown direct in the garden. They don't like pirking-out and being moved from pot to pot etc.

It was "something on a stick day" so not sure - sounds like there was nothing on your drainage "sticks" at least, but perhaps that was preferable 😁 Re. Aquilegias - maybe that explains why my carefully-grown (well, sown and grown anyhow) and planted-out ones never thrive and yet we had a thicket of self-sown ones last year outside the front door in gravel on top of bedrock!

greenbee

The 'funny magnolia' is a Magnolia stellata YBE. I have a pink one planted last year which has a few flowers on it.

No seeds sown yet. Just getting laundry and cooking out of the way and hoping to tidy up enough to do some indoor sowing of toms, aubergines, peppers, cucumbers, courgettes, squash and whatever other seeds I can find (I'll check instructions, and direct sow as much as I can at the appropriate time as it saves a lot of time).

I need to think about what I can plant between the endless rows of onions and garlic I put in last autumn. And there's a lot of mulching/feeding that needs to go on. I'm hoping I'll get to grips with it all a bit better over Easter.

Patio pots are looking hopeful. Only a couple of early tulips out (literally a couple - the others in that pot look like they've come up blind) but the narcissi and tulips in other pots are looking good. I know there are agapanthus in a couple of the pots (can't remember which TBH) and last year's snapdragons and a few violas have made it (violas have self-seeded into the gravel which I'm very happy about). I'm going to chuck night-scented stock seeds into the pots and hope that they come up after the tulips/alliums to keep the interest going through the summer (and smell nice under the bedroom windows at night).

twopenny

Indeed Less, they like seeding best in the gravel round my washing line. But that's convenient because I lift them and put them somewhere more convenient 🙂

Farway what about grafting something else on to some branches of your red pear? And indeed yes, I mentioned the micro tomato on here in the hope someone had names. I'm guessing either Monty didn't care having a huge garden and he'd been told to talk about them. He didn't look very enthusiastic about the idea. Or, best guess is that the editor isn't a gardener and cropped it out.

I keep going to our DIY shop in the hope of some plants. They are good. My little apple tree is coming on well. I have the name of the nursery somewhere. Wish I'd had faith and bought the dark cherry now.

Bluey I had a magnolia stellata in a pot for a few years. Lovely early bloom but pathetic the rest of the year. Got the rapeseed black bug and gave up the ghost. Rapeseed not yet in flower but have to keep an eye on the cherry which it also loves and ruins the crop.

Dusty I love your stream. It's perfect just small like that. Yes mucking about in the garden counts. It's what 90% of gardening is 😄

Doing spring cleaning, off to the shops for a bit. Was hoping to put some compost from the heap into a container to mix with the cheap stuff but rain promised. Cold wind. We'll see.