Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

Sounds serious! Not the frogs, the triffid grape vine.

I'm keeping all this advice in mind and had a look at what was available locally, not impressed. I will look when I get up to the bigger GC but I think I'm going too far ahead of myself and if I'm going to do this I need to get the arbour built and flat paved first so ladders are safe.

Of course by then too late to plant but that does give me time to explore what is available.

It's raining again here (of course) so no gardening today and when the sun comes out tomorror? I am out for the morning.

Meantime I'm looking at my tree heather that has just survived as a bare stem with a pompom on top. I can make it a standard lol.

But they also have more in the GC .... wonder if I have room..........

Farway

Nice dry start this morning so duly trotted off to Home Bargains on compost & bedding plants hunt. Compost no problem, one bag duly bought, my last one I think, should be enough now. No luck on bedding pants, just pots of polyanthus & daffs. Not too concerned, early days yet

2P grape vine, could be the one time a mail order / online specialist is required?

 I bought mine from Blackmoor but I do know there are others around, the big boys like T & M of course but I suspect those type just buy in to sell on. Maybe this one holding national collection http://sunnybankvines.co.uk/

Wish I had bonking frogs in my poor pond .

Honestly I see posts about frogs laying spawn by the bucket load in mucky shallow puddles but never a sniff at my pond

RebekahR

Farway said:

Nice dry start this morning so duly trotted off to Home Bargains on compost & bedding plants hunt. Compost no problem, one bag duly bought, my last one I think, should be enough now. No luck on bedding pants, just pots of polyanthus & daffs. Not too concerned, early days yet

2P grape vine, could be the one time a mail order / online specialist is required?

 I bought mine from Blackmoor but I do know there are others around, the big boys like T & M of course but I suspect those type just buy in to sell on. Maybe this one holding national collection http://sunnybankvines.co.uk/

Wish I had bonking frogs in my poor pond .

Honestly I see posts about frogs laying spawn by the bucket load in mucky shallow puddles but never a sniff at my pond

Is your pond too pristine? Mine has gone to the dogs as it were. Full of pond weed and wild lol. They love it

Farway

RebekahR said:

Farway said:

Nice dry start this morning so duly trotted off to Home Bargains on compost & bedding plants hunt. Compost no problem, one bag duly bought, my last one I think, should be enough now. No luck on bedding pants, just pots of polyanthus & daffs. Not too concerned, early days yet

2P grape vine, could be the one time a mail order / online specialist is required?

 I bought mine from Blackmoor but I do know there are others around, the big boys like T & M of course but I suspect those type just buy in to sell on. Maybe this one holding national collection http://sunnybankvines.co.uk/

Wish I had bonking frogs in my poor pond .

Honestly I see posts about frogs laying spawn by the bucket load in mucky shallow puddles but never a sniff at my pond

Is your pond too pristine? Mine has gone to the dogs as it were. Full of pond weed and wild lol. They love it

My bold, Fat chance, Mine has passed the gone to dogs stage and is in the kennels with tail between legs, sludged up and duck weed ridden

Dull morning wiht zero gardening today

RebekahR

Farway said:

RebekahR said:

Farway said:

Nice dry start this morning so duly trotted off to Home Bargains on compost & bedding plants hunt. Compost no problem, one bag duly bought, my last one I think, should be enough now. No luck on bedding pants, just pots of polyanthus & daffs. Not too concerned, early days yet

2P grape vine, could be the one time a mail order / online specialist is required?

 I bought mine from Blackmoor but I do know there are others around, the big boys like T & M of course but I suspect those type just buy in to sell on. Maybe this one holding national collection http://sunnybankvines.co.uk/

Wish I had bonking frogs in my poor pond .

Honestly I see posts about frogs laying spawn by the bucket load in mucky shallow puddles but never a sniff at my pond

Is your pond too pristine? Mine has gone to the dogs as it were. Full of pond weed and wild lol. They love it

My bold, Fat chance, Mine has passed the gone to dogs stage and is in the kennels with tail between legs, sludged up and duck weed ridden

Dull morning wiht zero gardening today

Sounds like a project for this year ...!  Send us some pictures for ideas. Going to try and get out tomorrow. Need to start the bush cutting mission.

Farway

RebekahR said:

Farway said:

RebekahR said:

Farway said:

Nice dry start this morning so duly trotted off to Home Bargains on compost & bedding plants hunt. Compost no problem, one bag duly bought, my last one I think, should be enough now. No luck on bedding pants, just pots of polyanthus & daffs. Not too concerned, early days yet

2P grape vine, could be the one time a mail order / online specialist is required?

 I bought mine from Blackmoor but I do know there are others around, the big boys like T & M of course but I suspect those type just buy in to sell on. Maybe this one holding national collection http://sunnybankvines.co.uk/

Wish I had bonking frogs in my poor pond .

Honestly I see posts about frogs laying spawn by the bucket load in mucky shallow puddles but never a sniff at my pond

Is your pond too pristine? Mine has gone to the dogs as it were. Full of pond weed and wild lol. They love it

My bold, Fat chance, Mine has passed the gone to dogs stage and is in the kennels with tail between legs, sludged up and duck weed ridden

Dull morning wiht zero gardening today

Sounds like a project for this year ...!  Send us some pictures for ideas. Going to try and get out tomorrow. Need to start the bush cutting mission.

My bold, thanks but it's not ideas I'm short of, it's breath, heart rythm, lung capacity and new back muscles . Mine are done for after decades of digging & lifting so now I just potter, plan and do what's possible not what's neccessary.

And what is possible is my potting up the four new streptocarpus that arrived from Dibley's this morning, very well packed and timed., I had a message yesterday they were on the way and thought they'd be stuck in the sorting office all weekend, but seems Dibleys know more about posting plants than I do

Here they are, just unpacked and nicely labelled

There was one casualty,Texas Hot Chili has a torn leaf  but this could be a silver lining for an early start on leaf cuttings. I'll try & do it, the leaf spine is intact ayway

Farway

Oooops, forgot to add the pics and now not allowed to edit the post.

RAS

I'm good at killing houseplants, so wouldn't take the risk, Farway.

Been a busy few days with workdays, workshops and now helping at the allotment shop, at short notice.

One  of my recent gifts was a little apricot tree that I recently sheltered in a friend's polytunnel to protect it from frost and rain. We're both enjoying the blossom. It won't be allowed to fruit this year. Let's hope I keep it alive.

Farway

Lovely pic of apricot blossom RAS.

Odd you mention killing plants, I killed my Apricot, it had a flower or three for a few years but gradually turned into a dead twig and killled my dreams of picking lush ripe apricots as I mooched around the garden on summer days

The streptocarpus potting up went well, all sorted & settling in on the window sill now

twopenny

An Apricot tree is on my wish list - but more than one person in the know said they get varying sorts of disease from our weather and it's money down the drain.

I still think I could make it work even though they know better!

I look forward to hearing how you get on. Positioning seems to be the key and a lot of attention. Please make it work so I can get one

A bitterly cold wind today and cloudy skies so, after a busy week and one to come the garden remains in the planning stage.

2 beautiful terracotta bowls for potential pond. One too narrow and one too shallow. But at least they are around so I'll keep looking.

Considering the garden from scratch in 3yrs it's looking good with Primroses, Daffs and Tulips, flowering shrubs and Wallflowers but it's a bit dull. I'm trying to congratulate myself on the task but when I feel brave enough I'll have to post and ask for ideas.

I'm so hoping for some mild sunny weather when I can potter and just twiddle things.

Kale is flourishing and I'm planning meals around that. The Purple sprouting is on the way fast so I'm going to be stuffed full of good greens for quite a while.

The Broad Beans have sprung in pots. Dreading planting them out and they are eaten by slugs.