Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

Thanks folks.It just seems an awful lot for such a tiny tree.
It was a Tescos lockdown buy at £10 or less and just the right size for netting. I had a handful last year.
The blackbirds tend to prefer the raspberries. But I do have a pigeon visiting for a drink and I remember them devastating my full size garden and tree picking from the green.
You are really good at germinating stuff Farway. None of my flowers have and even the runner beans are slow.
They are going to have to take a lower shelf so I can plant new veg.

Farway

More sunshine for today, just remembered I have some Little Gem lettuce seeds so think that is one job for today, just a pinch to give me taste to go with my crop of Cucumbers and tomatoes [more sarc]

My grass could do with a mow but my body is just not up to it right now with my cold & lack of puff, At least the bees will enjoy the dandelions between frolicking among the fruit blossom

2P, I do use a propagator for some germination, or the airing cupboard, but not always.

Talking about germination I had a big surprise yesterday, some may remember last year I grew mixed coleus from a packet of seeds and they made a good outside display & I was very happy with them.

Some flowered & set seeds and last month as I was clearing up the conservatory I threw some self-set seeds [like dust] on surface of a pot which I just left perched in the unheated conservatory, lo & behold they’ve now geminated, a bonus and a mystery what colours they will be, must be mixed parents so it’ll be pot luck results

Potted on the castor oil plants, very much needed, if I grow again I’ll sow in larger pots to start with, plus removed tops of the Bishops’ Children dahlias

And here is my Sunburst cherry in yesterday’s sunshine

pink_poppy

Long time no see. I think it’s time I came out of hibernation and got back into the garden. The weather is improving here (sort of) so I just need to get my gardening mojo back.

Lots to do here, both landscaping and planting, I just need to make decisions... first on the list should be growing a 10 foot hedge... 🙄 I’m thinking Western Red Cedar but someone else has suggested Laurel. I want something cheap and fast growing so will do some research.

Hope everyone is well. I’ve only flicked through the last couple of pages so will need to have a proper read, but gorgeous photos as ever 😊

twopenny

Hi PP, repeatedly on here and love your garden I've seen Portuguese laurel recommend.
https://www.laurelhedging.com
Several types it seems but I've no idea. Easy to trim though.
I've grown escalonia but after a decade or so it goes leggy.
Forsythia is nice if you can bear the bareness of winter. Still dense if you cut it right.
Really hot here in my back garden so I've been clearing out the tools and garage so I can find things. Watered pots.
Tomorrow should be cloudy so I'll put my plants in then if the nerve problem cooperates.
May even get on a ladder and wire/trellis the top of the big fence to secure honeysuckle and rose to give privacy from the peeps who put windows in the attic of 3 storey houses 

Woolsery

Portuguese laurel is more refined looking than the common laurel, Prunus lauroceracus, and almost as quick. Unlike Leyland cypress, Western Red Cedar will grow from old wood, so it's superior, if slower. With all fast growers the biggest problem can be their propensity to fall over in gales and we find Elaeagnus ebbingei worst for that, but it's happened with Viburnum tinus too.

No gardening yesterday due to big family celebrations, but I might get out there today later on....... or maybe just slob-out, as I'm exhausted! Weather looks tempting though.....

Farway

Another sunny day ahead, ideal weather for bimbling around the garden doing “not a lot”

I did pot on some Sungold toms yesterday but looking at the roots decided another week would‘ve been OK, so left the other varieties for the moment and moved them into the conservatory to try & prevent them getting too drawn & leggy being on a window sill

Sowed a pinch of little gem lettuce in a small pot on the window sill

Big excitement of the day was my Tomorite arrived from Amazon, shot up in price since last year but according to news fertiliser is going silly prices everywhere, and trouble is for home gardeners the old supply of say bonfire ash, or soot, milkman’s horse poo is just not there in these modern times

Gave all the pots at front a good watering having given them blood F & B earlier in the week I can’t wait any longer for rain to get it washed in now the daffs have finished flowering & need feeding up for next year’s display

Only real job for day is put supports around my lilies before they get too tall & blow over like they did last year, they still flowered OK but not looking as I envisaged

RAS

Lovely weather but rather tired myself yesterday.

You may remember the little apricot tree that flowered in my friend's polytunnel? I was going to move it outside but the snow came.

I had to extract its branches from the wallflowers' embrace and so some of the buds have not yet broken. I'd been told it was attracting a lot of bees, and was stunned to find it's set 5 fruit! Now do I risk letting them grow on this tiny, newly planted tree?

twopenny

That is soo cute!
Congratulations on your babies.
Being that small and just planted I'd let one grow just for the fun of it. Heartbreaking to pick them off.
Then feed and plant wallflowers by it. They attract bees and are shallow rooted.

Farway

More sunshine but a bit “milky” sky now, good enough to continue hardening off my cosmos and giving the module sown beetroot & radishes a bit of fresh air

RAS, I have extreme apricot envy, your little ‘un looks like mine should’ve been, laden with surprise apricots. Mine, bought 2009, is a dead brown tree like thing which I glare at every day. It was Peach leaf curl that did for it, I kept hoping it would resist but in vain. My advice let it fruit at least one as 2P says just in case you never see another one, mine flowered but never fruited for a few years as it slowly died away

On fruit subject yesterday mooching in garden I was struck by just how much apple blossom there is on my trees this year, now I of course put this down to good husbandry and great growing techniques but is it just me or is this a good year for blossom?

More good news, the named cape primroses [streptocarpus] plugs I bought beginning of March are just showing embryo flower buds uncurling. Another month before flowering maybe. The plants aren’t yet large enough to stand donating leaf cuttings but I’m all set for when they are

I may pot on my Ferline tomatoes today, they are getting a tad crowded in the small modules tray

Woolsery

Right, today it's dry and calm, so I'm going to re-trace mysteps over the field to get any thistles, ragwort and docks I missed last time. Hopefully I may attract the attention of our new distant neighbours and have a chat. Old ones swore blind they hadn't sold 3 weeks ago, then began pulling out last week. All very odd considering we got on well and he was giving lots of detail about other personal stuff like his operation etc. Now I need to know what the new bods know, as there's a connection between the two properties I'm not detailing here. Ignorance is bliss, as they say!

I'm sure the new folk will soon work out what their much  closer neighbour is like without my help.

Today is also when I'll pot on the courgettes and toms and pray for no more frosts. There's the conservatory, but somehow aphids lurk in there.

Now, where be those swallows?