Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Farway

Sun's out, but frosty. If the sun sticks I may just get out there and prune the Merton blackberry this afternoon

twopenny

Mild and not raining - but I have to go out.
Crocus comming into flower. I've been trying to add each year but there have been no bulbs in the shops.
My cheap onions aren't appearing either so trying to decide if it's worth paying more or just buying them ready from the shop.

Farway

Dull, grey but mild & dry so it’ll do.

I managed to get out in the garden yesterday afternoon, even had a spot of sunshine while working.

General tidy but my main objective was getting the Merton Thornless blackberry ready for the summer, once I started it more or less fell into place regarding what needed removing & what required training in. With the adjacent Judas tree sorted & severely haircut last year it’s lighter there so the blackberry can spread its wings, even looks a bit like a “how to train” picture now

Out this morning on my compost hunt, Home Bargains was my choice, mainly for parking regarding loading and ease of use because I wasn’t sure with my lack of puff & beta blocking pills I’d be able to handle a larger bag of compost plus they sell groceries etc.

All turned out well, plenty of compost, goodness it’s gone up in price a lot since I last bought some though. £3.49 for 40 litres but at least I could lift two bags into my boot. Maybe I could ind it cheaper but very much bird in hand this year. Somehow a pack of three bare root Echinacea and a bare root red lupin also fell into my trolley

The bare rooted plants are currently having a drink and I’ll pot them up later this afternoon, just to get them growing a bit before going into final quarters. Needless to say there’s some soft growth from being in a superheated shop so want to toughen them up first

twopenny said:

Mild and not raining - but I have to go out.
Crocus comming into flower. I've been trying to add each year but there have been no bulbs in the shops.
My cheap onions aren't appearing either so trying to decide if it's worth paying more or just buying them ready from the shop.

I buy from shop, even when I had allotment I never bothered with onions because they are so cheap to buy and storage is a problem, same went for maincrop spuds

Farway

Red sky this morning, but bright right now, not sure how that will play with my plan to continue clearing the back garden this afternoon, not  a lot to do but hoping to clear all the dead trailing nasturtium vines  which are making it look worse than it is

I potted up the three bare root Echinacea and a bare root red lupin yesterday, this new compost seems great, no lumps of bark, plastic etc. so far, and reading the pack it’s from Moss Peat, sustainable from ” Norn Ireland” I wonder if that was why it cost  more? However if it works better than the rubbish I had last year its money well spent. Time will tell

twopenny

Thanks Farway.
Surprising sunshine this morning so was going to snowdrop valley but higher on the moors it was drizzle and mist. 
I put my plants in the front by streetlight last night. I see I didn't get the big one in properly so it will need doing again when my nippy nerve sorts itself out.
I need something summer flowering there now.
One bonus there are lots of self seeded giant wallflowers for free. They are such good value for all year flowering and perfume they are fast becoming a favourite.
The cheap compost I bought to help the soil, think it was tomato growbags, has worked really well.
Growth is already underway more than it should be and a fair amount flowering.
Perhaps we should have a thread for good winter plants.
I'll post photos this weekend when I crank the laptop up and get some proper names.

Farway

Back to dull & grey but I did manage to finish off tidying the back yesterday so today's gardening is just trundle the garden waste wheelie bin out for tomorrow's collection

I have some polyanthus left over so I'll eye up moving some old troughs from back to front and plant them up, maybe, perhaps

And despite my vowing not to grow beans this year after last years slug chompathon I am tempted now I have decent compost, time will tell

Oh, and the back was kind & allowed me to lug a potted fig into the conservatory, the roots have spread a bit from the drain hole so will need repotting soon, nice fibrous roots luckily. I have a larger pot available, just need to do it soon

Anothe plus in the fig move, one of the lower branches has taken root in a seperate pot, by itself, untouched by human hand. One more free fig, if only my runners were as responsive

RAS

T'was a volunteer day at the more mature site. We'd hired in a wood chipper to deal with all the prunings but it's definitely better on larger branches rather then twigs. Had the same issue with the one on the allotment site; it turns Christmas tree trunks into tiny chips and leaves the side branches as visible 5cm+ "plates" which are clearly identifiable. Shredders obviously have their own purpose.

Still a bit soggy but did as much weeding round fruit bushes and amongst raspberries as possible. Found a labelled gooseberry cutting which will help confirm the ID of the others in the patch later.

And sorted out the inherited patch that contains both rhubarb and horseradish. There's enough time to spot any regrowth if I missed couch grass etc before they grow too much. Will try to extend that patch to prevent the same problem next year. We really are only just beginning to get on top of patches that were untended during the lock-downs.

twopenny

Been down to the garden centre to get my tools sharpened by a couple in the car park every fortnight.
I almost can't wait to get out and use them....they are at other places too and the half moon turf cutter should slice through like butter.
Checked for plants and pavers but no luck. They have the radio blasting out which is very distracting when you're thinking about plants.
Fig trees were £80! So well done Farway 
As my seeds are all 2000 - remember you couldn't get seeds because everyone had taken up gardening in lockdown? Bought some new veg seeds from our DIY shop at 89p a packet. Ive used them before and they're fine. Country Value they are called.
I'm exhausted now.
The sun is out but theres a biting wind so I'm inclined to look out at it and list jobs lol.

Farway

Hard frost with sunny blue sky, once it warms up I hope to get on and plant up another trough with the left over primulas

 My Tete a Tete daffs are just opening, in tubs at the front, photo to follow once the sun gets round there this afternoon & opens them up a bit, I also have one surviving crocus, squirrels had the rest years ago, I’ll snap that later today as well, has to be today because it’s supposed to tip down this weekend

 Another weekend job is repot my Cape primrose which is very cramped in a wall basket in the conservatory

 Nice to hear the price of fig trees 2P, I’m sitting on a fortune now. I’m thinking of putting one round the front, grown from a cutting, not likely to be pinched round here, especially in a large heavy pot that would need lugging to a car, never know though do you? Some folk will nick anything

 And here is the Money plant in flower for this year, it’s in my unheated conservatory, neglected and ignored but flowers every spring.

twopenny

I didn't even know they could flower. How pretty.
I put mine outside in a sheltered spot when I moved and it's so much healthier.
While I waited for a friend to arrive I realised there were lots of crocus burried under eriginon (s?) so I did some clearing. That solved my dilemma of did i want those daisys there or not.
That was my full days gardening.
However we did go to Snowdrop Valley, a long arduous slog through mud to get there but magnificent as usual.
Unfortunately after 2yrs of waiting they didn't have any for sale. My plan was to increase them each year. Roll on 2022