Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

Hope you turned round 3 times anti clockwise and made a wish when you heard the cuckoos Poppy 
Odd, I went 2 miles down the road and cloudy with icy wind, so I came back home.
Cleared out the garage, which I count as gardening as that's what causes most of the mess, and cleaned the tools.
It's light rain now which for once is no bad thing, overnight. Even got the washing dry for once so it must be warming up.

It is strange though. Everything looks bursting with life and colour but we seem to have missed spring.

greenbee

@twopenny - I’d be dizzy if I had to turn round three times every time I heard a cuckoo. Ours is shouting constantly from 4am to around 7pm…

Dustyevsky

twopenny said:

It is strange though. Everything looks bursting with life and colour but we seem to have missed spring.

I've missed sheep! The grass is already a foot high and finding the thistles in it is virtually impossible. I have two new weeds this year: narrow-leaved dock and something I've never seen before, catsear. The dandelions, vetches, yarrow, and plantains get to stay, but those two have been added to my hit list.

This is another of our successful weeds:

-taff

Lovely sunny day so I went to a rare plant sale because as we all know, it's impossible to not buy plants even if you don't have room. Bought a few natives and a couple of frivolous things that may or may not survive. Got some mullein, violets, yarrow to hopefully cover a bit of earth and some creeping thyme and a succulent ish [can't remember what it's called]  to see if they will grow in between the clay tiles in the front garden. I think that there's some cow parsely in danger of being appropriated too in a field around the corner to add to the mix...

YoungBlueEyes

I'd say clearing out the shed counts as gardening 2P. If it's outdoors and it's not cleaning windows, it's gardening

Farway I think the only thing I'll be doing with the hawthorn is cutting it back a bit. Not yet like cos the birds love it. I've never made jam since school....

Slug pellets - am I the only one who uses salt then? I pour a wee pile of salt near my drain, drop them on it, wait for them to die and flick them down the drain?

Poppy Baby robins are so cute aren't they. I've robins and some other wee birds here, and all the babies make my heart smile Also saw a baby squirrel, that did not make me smile   

Turned warm with a slight breeze and high white clouds here yesterday, perfect weather imo. I got a round of weeding done - mostly a fingertip searching of the grass for mare's tails - then sat and/or laid out with a book. Bladdy ants need sorting out, the powder isn't even slowing them down. What else can you do about ants that doesn't include hot water or salt...? There's new mounds in the grass and round my plants   

Cold here this morning, with a brisk NW wind. My first load of washing's out  

twopenny

Bright and dry but cold so the brisk NW wind is wide spread!

Going to be out most of the day but the urge to get on with clearing the garage has gone. Bit of a shame as I'm only 1/3 through.

Ants in my lawn too. It's a new one, must be to do with the weather.

I use Nippon gel - I bought the little round bait stations of ant killer and in subsequent years just put a couple of drops of this in and leave it by their trail. They eat/tread in it and take it back to the nest for the queen. When the queen is gone they move out.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nippon-Ant-Killer-Liquid-25g/dp/B00NABUK92/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3TUM3MGH21SXQ&keywords=nippon+ant+killer+liquid&qid=1648749585&sprefix=nippon,aps,117&sr=8-5

They like to be out of site which is why these podsBS work (pet friendly) but you can put some under a flower pot with a pebble to raise the edge. Judging by my neighbours complaints it doesn't work as well

The bait stations are about £1.50 for 2 but Amazon seems to think they are made of gold! Same product.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stop-Station-Home-Defence-Stopper/dp/B004P2TZK0?th=1

First big rose out yesterday, dark crimson rescue - think it's Dublin Bay  but a rescue

https://www.ashridgetrees.co.uk/dublin-bay-climbing-rose

And the little musk rose needs dead heading. Its gone rampant this year which is lovely because it's a gentle sort. Cornelia, small and heavilly scented. Keeps it's fragarance even when dried.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/89091/rosa-cornelia-(hm)/details

Also to my surprise some iris I planted from £1 bulbs are flowering. I thought they were spring ones but aparantly not. White and purple currently in a pot with spring bulbs. Looks like I'm going to have to find a spot for them in the garden. More turf digging!

Right, off to the bank and shopping. Never felt less like it. Would just like to potter and read but I didn't realise how complex real life was before the lockdowns when you could vegitate. Surely there's a compromise between complete boredom and constant doing what you have to?

Gardens open this weekend. Was really looking forward to doing them again but these are £8!

Everything going up because of the cost of fuel but where does this donation to charity come into that?

Farway

Another sunny morning, but the wind is chilly, it waited until I planted the toms outside of course

I'm another one watching baby birds being fed, in my case it was a blue tit, both mum & dad taking turns to feed the fluffy youngster perched on a fig tree. I was worried about any prowling cat, I get some, and was ready to limp out to the rescue, but all was well

2P I have buds on some of the roses, but no open flowers, yet. Camera is on yellow alert.

The one I'm really waiting for is the one from a cutting taken last year. I'm going to give it a feed later today, the foliage is looking a tad pale with a hint of yellow.

I think the cheapo compost I bought, from H Bargains, while nice & crumbly, no bits of plastic or fence posts in it is also short of nutrients. Furthermore, I noticed a big improvement in the leaf colour in foxglove seedlings once I watered in some liquid fertiliser

One good thing about my damp compacted grass, no ants in there I'm aware of, but loads in the compost Dalek, where they patiently wait for Flying Ant day. A bit of a two-edged sword, ants stop the rats taking up residence so lesser of two evils I guess, of course in a warmer world no doubt ant eaters would appear and topple my Dalek.

If it warms up a bit more, now my neck crick has eased, I may get the long handled shears out and trim the goosegrass [sticky bombs] / apple suckers / self sown brambles from underneath Ye Olde apple tree. Had to look up "cats ear", yep, none here, but I have seen it around. I do have Lords & ladies, which I think is one of your successful pictured weeds, Dusty?

And I have a Cape Primrose flower opening, picture to follow once it's really ready

ch3shirecat4

the weather on sat was the best its been so far i loved it and i think its going to be lovely this week aswell woopp

pink_poppy

A chilly wind here too, but at least the sun is out.

I need to pot Tom into a bigger pot sometime soon as it’s getting far too big. I’m glad I don’t have a forest of Toms to contend with 🍅

I now have 5 peppers that have germinated in their little yogurt pots. The first one to pop up has a shrivelled leaf now though, so not sure if that one will survive. I’d be amazed if any of them do, tbh.

The cress is looking a bit brown as well - I’m not sure I have the greenfingered gene... 🙄

twopenny

Poppy, blame it on the weather, the seed, covid.
Optimism is a gardener :-)