Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

I did buy a Dunster Plum bare root from a nursery. £25

They assured me several times it was a small root stock but I'm pretty sure it isn't.

I can give 5* to that variety or a dooer, cropper and flavour. Had a 90yr old one in my last garden.

My greengage was bare root too, small, succumbed to the drought/nearby self seeded Yew tree. I'm tempted to buy a new one at full price but waiting for signs of life and as the garden is so small there isn't really room for another..............

Now that's got me thinking. Oh dear

YoungBlueEyes

Thanks for the tree tips, I’ll be keeping my eye out for them 🤞🏻 A plum tree would be lovely too, granny had one and I remember the fruits as huge and delicious 😊

So himself went shopping and guess what he came back with? Bird seed, a bladdy great sack of it, and suet pellets. And which category does that come under I asked, paint or a greenhouse or am I roasting them for the dinner tomorrow. He laughed at that at least 😁

Re the bark chips. I don’t know how long they’ve been done, going by previous photos on RM it’s around 4 years. I only thought they were A Bad Thing because of something I read on here. I’ve got this thread open in its own window so I can read it from the start. I’m only a few dozen pages in but I’m sure I read someone say that bark chips deplete the nitrogen (?) as they’re rotting down so you need to sort the soil out before you can successfully plant something in it. I might have remembered that wrong have I? Be alright if I did, less work before I can get going 👏🏻

twopenny

So this seems tto cover everything.
https://donotdisturbgardening.com/do-wood-chips-deplete-soil-of-nitrogen-here-are-the-facts/
If it were me I'd rake back the woodchip, dig over the soil and bung in some blood fish and bone, plant and replace the woodchip.
You've then got the best of both worlds.
Re supermarket plants, find out when the deliveries are, which day, and get as near to. They will be fresh from the nursery and not neglected as they will be a week later.
Nearly dead pansies are a good buy reduced tho. They revive
Shrubs won't.
I got redcurrant, blackcurrant, clematis that did well. In fact I've put about a dozen clematis in with the roses. At £2 each it's a no brainer.
But if you want fragrant roses or good shaped bushes then a garden centre. Otter nurseries have a sale bench. November December ones some real bargains.
Roadside plant stalls are good too.
So it's dry, blowing a hoolie here and mild. May have a go at getting the last of the bulbs in as everything seems to be springing to life early.
The blackbird was trilling a bit at 7 this morning as I was awake coughing. It is cautiously thinking about spring.
Happy New growing Year everyone!

Farway

Dry & overcast, but at least it's not raining. I may join 2P in planting my bulbs later today, the hyacinths that have been hanging around forever waiting for rain to stop.

I may also lug the potted & frosted dead foliage dahlia into the conservatory, or at least a more sheltered frost proof spot, it's the only dahlia I have that is named, and is also a nice orange one, which I may try and get some cuttings from if I get round to it this Spring

Supermarket fruit trees, worth a go but very hit & miss if you have your heart set on one variety in particular, or space is limited, that said my ones from Lidl* are good even though no mention is made of root stock if prepared to prune or train can be OK

For bedding plants I have found Asda is good, as was Morrisons, but M's plants have gone downhill IME since being sold off. And for dead plants, you can't beat Wilko, they have the killing technique as a fine art form now, expecting to see young tomato plants outside for sale next week

* With mention of plums set me thinking, my plum "Stanley" from Lidl £2.49 in 2012, see above * , is in a large pot but was poor last year, due I think to the heat, think prunes not plums.

I'll sort the weeds out in the pot, they're not actually weeds it's evening primroses & campions so wild flowers really but obviously competing for water & nutrients even so, once cleared then BF & Bone and keep a better eye on the watering. Lovely juicy plum variety BTW

YoungBlueEyes

Happy New Year everyone!

Yeah I've bought 'sad' pansies etc before. They usually just need a bit more/less sun/water and they soon pip back to life. Even I can manage that  

I need to work out where stuff is going before I buy stuff to plant. Which ones need a lot of sun? What'll live happily down the shady side? If the fruit trees go there, I'll not have to plant anything greedy near them or they'll be fighting each other for nutrients. Etc etc. I need a good plan before I start really.

Cough cough coughing here too, it's exhausting. I'll be happy when it's shifted!

The birds seem very happy with the new seed (well whatever the pigeons haven't managed to trough down before The Murderous Colin scares them off). I don't know what I want rid off more - the pigeons or the squirrels. If Lovely Neighbour would stop feeding TMC he could make proper headway into both I think.....

It was a beautiful morning here, quite mild and not too breezy, the sun was kinda out. Then it came cloudy and now it's raining. The pressure's up tho so it feels quite Spring-like, it's lovely!

I hope everyone has a good 2023, wishing health and prosperity to all     

twopenny

Well what happened!
Dry, mild, no rain forcast so washing out, pruned, weeded, edged and down came the rain. Not a light shower, a continuous cold rain.
All tools hastily stuffed in the garage to sort tomorrow, washing hanging indoors.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!

This was yesterdays. No idea why it didn't post.

This morning the sun is shining. I'm in credit on my leccie bill thanks to the government. Can nearly breath now and stopped coughing except at night so may celebrate by going for a walk and coffee.

The garden looks so much better for a bit of a tidy but I'm not going to paddle round it today. Well that's this moments idea

Farway

Sun & blue sky are back this morning, and just as I was thinking I may just get out & start pruning the apples it rained, stopped now & looks very sparkly with dew drops on roses , not really, but does look nice with the sun shining through on bare branches

At last, I planted my hyacinth bulbs, and discovered the vine weevils have chomped through the roots of my carnation / pink in the adjacent pot , little bu66ers.

I will have to sort something out soon, before Spring arrives because despite me saying I'd change compost, it now seems the VWs are more abundant than I thought so will need something cheap as chips to water in or on, trouble is both specific killer or nematodes are not cheap a chips.

Will have to have a rummage, maybe my DDT shed store will solve it [joke BTW before I get carted off by Green Police or in sin bin with Woolsery]

YoungBlueEyes

I’m looking forward to the days when I’ve learned/experienced stuff and can say gardeny things to actually contribute 😁

The weather here is rather Spring-like, touch breezy maybe and not warm but the sun’s out and the pressures still rising so it’ll do. 

Still coughing here, especially at night, and not much helps it tbh. Oh I’ll tell you what I have discovered - if you clutch a cushion/pillow tightly across across your chest before you cough it sure helps with the ribs. And then I realised…… that’s brace yourself innit 🙄

Daddy was right. I’m not as clever or as funny as I like to think I am! 

goldfinches

Sorry to hear that so many on here are suffering seasonal lurgies but just wanted to stick my head around the door to tell you about the parakeets I spotted in a tree by the river this morning. I did take a photo but they were so high up that all you can see is a green splodge so I'll try again tomorrow. They're these ones London's Parakeets: Everything You Need To Know | Londonist and the article is right about the noise they make too.

PS Happy New Year to all on this thread and Woolsery too.

Farway

And back to raining again, at least it will let the hyacinth bulbs know they are now planted and get on to with it please

Completed my indoor gardening and the saved / left over seeds are now in my Celebrations choccy tub waiting for Spring

Apart from that, no gardening today, too wet

PS, not sure if I'd want parakeets or not GF, sounds exotic, but I can only guess the problems they would cause, I don't suppose eat vine weevils do they ?