Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Farway

Lovely rose 2p, even better as it was such a bargain, I keep looking for a Ceanothus, I had one once but I killed it by over zealous pruning . mind you if I had one I've no idea where I'd put it now

Dave, looks like this year is Lakemont grape year then?

Mine has flower bud bunches but still waiting for them to open, everything is so far behind this year, I'm beginning to think my figs are going to fail this year because there's no sign of embryo ones yet but only a few months for them to grow & ripen

Main garden task today is watering the pots with Tomorite, I try and do it weekly from now on, and on a Friday so I don't forget or double dose

My pyracantha is bursting into bloom, soon be buzzing around it.

The pyracantha replaced the Ceanothus I bumped off, and it's probably of more use to wildlife with berries later and handy hiding spaces fro small birds queuing for the bird bath than the Ceanothus

MovingForwards

Dave, that's a great mobile chicken home, that's what my plan is if I ever get any.

Got excited today as it started to rain, stopped within seconds. Started a bit later and stopped about 30 seconds later.

Everything is beginning to pop up in the borrowed garden and if all my root veg works, there will be a nice supply.

The dwarf french beans are doing well in the builders sack, the ones in my garden keep getting eaten, as do the borlotto beans. 

I can set up my next lot of runners and borlotto in pots and find space in my garden, or use the remaining builders sacks for them. What would you do in my position?

I'm hoping to get another squash and tomato out today, then repot my russian toms to fill the window spaces. 

I must get my head round companion planting to maximise the available space in my garden next year. Will write down what I grow, then I can check what can / can't be planted with / near it. This side feels quite alien as I like seeing the different sections, but know I'm not making good use of my little garden.

pink_poppy

I was convinced I had a sunflower growing in the garden, turns out it’s a foxglove. I’m easily confused 😂

twopenny, your garden is beautiful, you must be so pleased with how it’s looking. Btw, the apple contraption is genius.

I’m not sure if we have a Ceanothus here, I don’t trust my identification skills 🙄 it’s definitely getting blue flowers anyway. I’ll try and get a pic later.

Farway, is that the smelly pyracantha that’s blooming?? 😉 I loved mine in my previous garden, it was a tiny Morrison’s £1 plant when I bought it and was over 6 feet when we moved.

No sign of phoebe for a few days.

Davesnave

MovingForwards said:

Dave, that's a great mobile chicken home, that's what my plan is if I ever get any.

I got fed up with moving the 'little' house, which weighs a lot, so I looked around and there was this old GWR trolley that I'd planned to eBay to some railway nut..... The ark was to be cleared from a deceased's estate and completely  buried in nettles when I saw it, but it came up nicely with a bit of wood stain. To think it was nearly thrown on a bonfire!

I don't think we'll see any grapes  this year Farway, but it's highly likely a cutting will be taken! Speaking of cuttings, my bucket of chopped-up willow stems has been steeping for 2 days, so I can take some rugosa cuttings from the neighbour's hedge. (She says it's OK! )

CatieE

Pinkpoppy, you are in good company - I'm the same lol. If there is a label with the plant then I'm ok

That's a beautiful ceanothus twopenny. I was recently given one as a present but it's very small at the moment. Is it easy to take cuttings from them, do you know?

phoebe1989seb

pink_poppy said:

No sign of phoebe for a few days.

Waves to pink_poppy 🤗
I'm still here, following everyone's progress.... just having to deal with a few unexpected family issues 🙄 Will hopefully be back posting properly soon!

Meanwhile, I'm loving the garden transformation, 2p and your mobile chicken house, Dave! We've four wheels here - freebies from a job DH was doing - all ready to add to one when we've time to make it/get the chickens 😉

twopenny

So Dave, expecting a party down your place when you become a wine producer

Thank you. Not sure the Ceanothus is 'beautiful' but it's florific. I now see different varieties and different colours everywhere and am envious - even though this was desperation to cover the eternal fence.

The garden needs some imagination next, plus more evergreen and winter flowering but it is producing something to enjoy and easy to mow around. I have to stop getting carried away with imaginative ideas that would give me daily problems mowing etc. Because once I had a life outside the house.

So to put the other side of the coin my next is tidying up the badger run. There are roses and Goosberries under there. Honestly I did have it neat and tidy 5 weeks ago.

Farway

pink_poppy said:

Farway, is that the smelly pyracantha that’s blooming?? 😉 I loved mine in my previous garden, it was a tiny Morrison’s £1 plant when I bought it and was over 6 feet when we moved.

That's the one, I'd forgotten the pong

pink_poppy

Farway, I’m sure your pyracantha must be a different variety to the one we had in our last garden because I thought the smell/pong was nice. I’ve noticed today that we have what looks like a pyracantha in the new garden, so will await the blossom with bated breath (and a peg for my nose, just in case 😂).

Waves back to phoebe 😊 sorry about the family issues, hope they get resolved soon.

Photo of possible ceanothus?? Unless I’m barking up the wrong tree again 🙄 Whatever it is I’m not sure about the brown leaves, I’m hoping it’s not going to die on me...


And my redcurrants are plumping up nicely. Twopenny has got me thinking I could make red currant gin to go with Dave’s wine from his grapes 🍇🍷 actually I’m under no illusions that the birds will get to them first as I’ve decided not to net them this year until I know what I’m doing...

DD265

Hey all, I hope everyone is well.
We've had a few days away and got a visit in to The Weir Garden (National Trust) near Hereford, today. In the walled garden they have a fantastic greenhouse, and they had what I think were grapes inside, only the bases of the trunks were planted outside through holes in the (brick) greenhouse walls. I should've taken a photo. The gardener said it was because they are quite tender, but having the roots outside means they have better access to water and are easier to mulch, whilst the leaves/flowers/fruit are still protected.

I finally tracked down a new nectarine tree and it has arrived. It's quite big, but there's no leaves on it, just buds, whereas the peach is in full bloom. I'm going to pot it up soon when the sun is off that area of the garden and see how it gets on. Most of my roses are now (or are about to) flowering and they're so beautiful. I have been battling aphids and black spot, unfortunately, but it looks like I'm winning with at least some of them. My tomato plants are getting large but the peppers are still small. My grandfather gave me a couple of peppers as well so we'll see how they get on.

I may have killed my fly trap - it dried out. This was before we went away so I don't know why I didn't realise; I guess I've been very stressed (not related to plants!) and that made me distracted. I'm trying to recover it but even the newest traps are turning black, so we'll have to see what happens. It was so healthy too. Realistically if I do lose it, I won't replace it - with the exception of the nectarine tree, that's my current policy for plants, certainly in the house and back garden. We've such limited space, particularly in the house, where the only cat-free room is our bedroom (and either the plants are toxic to them, or they're likely to damage the plant) so reducing isn't the worst thing - except it is.