Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Farway

Spring????, frost on the grass & cars this morning, but blue sky & sunshine, plus my lurgi / covid / sore foot is all on the mend so could be a good weekend ahead

At long last the radish have been sown, just a pinch and shuffled the cosmos & beetroot round in the conservatory to stop them stretching towards the light

Good news about the plum blossom 2P, mine’s holding on and looking good despite the cold & frost, it’s the lack of pollinators that maybe a problem

Your cherry if following mine the buds you see now will be blossom ones, big fat jobs normally. Leaf ones follow, same as apples, flower buds first

Woolsery, nice to hear some of the garden bug caught on with the off spring, mine split 50/50 ref son hacking away at his apple tree without a clue. Luckily as I believe I mentioned one granddaughter is now on the way to horticulture career via course at Sparsholt and work experience at Exbury and hope she will teach me a thing or two soon

On my trip out into the garden yesterday I managed to get photos of my pear Beurre Alexandre Lucas blossom plus a monks hood fritillary that has decided to open, I’ve had the fritillary for years and thought they had died away but seems not, tougher than they look

Woolsery

The red mottled version of the fritillary seems easier to keep than the white one, Farway. We had both, grown from seed collected from naturalised ones at our old place, but the whites have vanished.

Mowing today, but it's bitter out and quite cloudy. We found a couple of rabbits in the big freezer, so Dearly Beloved has turned them into a stew to go with the weather. Can't remember when I got those, but I'm sure it will be OK!

greenbee

I have both colours of fritillary, and if anything the whites are reproducing faster than the reds. I found a few hidden in a bed when I moved in here, and have naturalised them in the grass where they've been spreading happily (along with cowslips, snowdrops, bluebells and primroses - all of which were almost non-existent when I moved in). The half dozen primroses have now spread everywhere (including to the far bank of the stream) and the ones I've dug out of the flowerbeds seem very happy (so far) with their new home under the new hedge. The transplanted baby hellebores are doing well too. 

Woolsery

I must investigate further. Maybe it could be something to do with the last place being very alkaline and here being very acid.? Whatever it is, it can't be bad husbandry!

phoebe1989seb

Great pics, Farway!
Sounds lovely, greenbee 😊 I miss the stream we had in our garden on the Wiltshire side of the border with Dorset, particularly the huge swathes of yellow flag irises. Can't believe it's eight years this Dec since we sold that house! I'm hoping to reproduce the look by the proposed pond here....

Talking of which, DH has been removing some flat stone at the back of the outbuilding today which has been barrowed over to the pond area in readiness to form part of the edging 😉

It's very cold again, but a little sunshine mixed in amongst the scattered showers. I've not achieved much as have been too busy directing DH 🙄

Lots of buds on the bluebells and magnolia Susan has a few almost open flowers, whilst our primroses are still looking good....

Farway

Very frosty morning, grass & cars by looks of it, I hope not air & my blossom has been spared

While mooching in the garden yesterday I noted the currant flowers are open, and the goosegog I have trained vertically has loads of flowers open. I am thinking of a green pillar dripping with yummy gooseberries come summer.

When I pruned the grapes I used some as cuttings, now I note one has rooted & fresh leaves opening, it’s in a small pot in the conservatory at the moment so I think I’ll pot it on for this year. Trouble is I never labelled it, so no idea if it is the seedy one or not. Oh well I’m not the first to have done that, even Monty admitted this week he’d lost his hosta labels

Still no sign of green life from the Home Bargains Black Satin blackberry I bought the other week, still hope though time is getting on

Woolsery

Farway said:

Very frosty morning, grass & cars by looks of it, I hope not air & my blossom has been spared

 Monty admitted this week he’d lost his hosta label

Pretty cool here too, judging by the hens' water being frozen inside their shed.

Monty shouldn't label his hostas; the snails and slugs will find them easily enough! Like the BBC telling everyone this morning that sunflower oil is running out fast, flagging things up just leads to sudden spikes in demand.

I wonder if this will post. Over on another thread I was booted out 3x for mentioning the National Debt.....well, I that was the only 'special' term used among other everyday words. Most odd!

Woolsery

Not a lot of gardening today, but I prepped the area by the stream for grass sowing in anticipation of wet stuff soon.

Popped 'darn sarth' to collect an item won on eBay and noticed ravaged brown magnolias en route, so even the warmer places near Exeter copped it last night.

Quick supermarket dash for spuds on the way home confirmed what I said this morning. Empty shelves where sunflower oil once stood.....

twopenny

A little frost this morning but soon disappeared with the sun. Wish i could say the same about the cold!
First thing I saw was the birds had excavated the gutters wholeheartedly onto the newly cleaned pavers I did yesterday. So it's good I don't have that to do but couldn't they have done it before i spent half a day scrubbing?
And darn! I went to Morrisons for a couple of things and came out with 2 clematis @ £2, 2 pots of sweet peas@£1, 2of anenome blanda @ £1 each and a massive good lemon thyme @3,50. Just too cheap to resist.
I do have a home for each in my defence 
So yet another bad habit I haven't succeeded in breaking.
Love all the photos. So cheery and interesting

in_my_wellies

Not a lot of gardening done here partly due to the cold and partly due to visitors. I have composted the veg beds with hen poo. Just hoping for rain to break it up and mix it in. I've re-cut and edged the allotment paths, finally in position. It's only taken me 39 years to get it right. (until I change my mind next season) They're lawnmower width and flat so I must try to mow EVERY time, not run out of time

Magnolia trees round here suffered, shame as it was a particularly good year. My local garden centre had reduced several varieties of potted bulbs, snowdrops, mini daffs, grape hyacinth, etc and most were still in bud. I suppose they work by dates.  All planted in the spring border which is too dry in summer. 

I picked the last of the sprouts which I'd saved for my son and the first of the sprouting broc which was grown from very old seed, so old that the name on the packet is 'Broccoli' which is a pity as it's a very good variety. I shall keep some seed. 

I've not been able to buy sunflower oil for more than three weeks in any of my usual supermarkets. Fortunately I only use about one bottle a year