Awful weather - typical Brits talk

LessImpecunious

pink_poppy said:
This is a photo of some of the carp the previous owners left behind... please can anyone suggest something else I can try?? 

Looks like a ready-made gravel garden! - just add plants

YoungBlueEyes

-taff said:

They have two chances, all of these things, live or die. 

Welcome to The Shawshank Revolution!  Mind you, I've also given a plant another go cos I really want it to live - my hydrangea. I dug it up and put it in a pot with ericaceous compost. It's fighting me though

Previous owners had a trampoline in the garden, and the ground there is errr patchy at best. But there are some pretty weeds wildflowers so I've left them be. They're cracking on with no interference attention from me at all. Pic in a min. 

Tell you what I did get a pic of last night - the sun came out just in time to set  - is a fresh baby blue tit popping out of lovely neighbour's roof. I don't know if it was his first look at the world, but he was v nervous and jittery, then went back in. Made my heart smile.

I'm still sans sun but there's none forecast 'til next week. They say. Fine by me

YoungBlueEyes

Hello world! 

Tiny wee blue somethings (the leaves are furry and soft  With the thing that doesn’t smell like orange peel. 

Whatever the purple things are/will be, they’re all over my grass in big patches, so I’m not mowing now. 

LessImpecunious

The blue one is a Forget-me-Not, the purple one looks like a Common Vetch...

YoungBlueEyes

Thanks Less. I didn't consider forget-me-not because some of them are quite tall - a good foot or more. And if the Common Vetch runs away with itself it'll take over my grass entirely

LessImpecunious

YoungBlueEyes said:

 if the Common Vetch runs away with itself it'll take over my grass entirely

It should be fine if you just mow it when it's finished flowering...

RAS

YoungBlueEyes said:

Thanks Less. I didn't consider forget-me-not because some of them are quite tall - a good foot or more. And if the Common Vetch runs away with itself it'll take over my grass entirely

I'd suggest doing something urgent with that variegated tree growing next to the forget me not. You might mow it into oblivion I'd suggest pulling it up in case.

Farway

YoungBlueEyes said:

Have you squirrels too Farway? I can send you some jackdaws..? And I like your Red Campions, don’t look weedy at all 

Yes, I have squirrels, loads of them. I may have jackdaws, or perhaps they're crows? I like my red campions, in the sun they are a sort of pink cloud beside the path, I don't think my photos skills are up to catching that look, an artist could paint it though

Sun came out after a dull start, still a chilly wind though

Gardening so far today is trundle the garden wheelie round the front, a bit of a bummer with the back gate, it's wrought, curly iron type, hung on two steel pegs fixed into the mortar of brick pillars. One of the peg hinges has pulled out of the crumbling mortar joint .

Easily fixed but needs stuff I don't have, like cement. All I need is a cupful of ready mix, so I'm not going to buy 25Kg just for that. Meanwhile, I have dual use for the gooseberry bush as a gate prop

To add to my woe my Black Satin blackberry, that sprouted a fresh shoot, it looks like I have "wrong 'un" BS should be spine free, this one looking very porcupine like. Either it has grown from briar root or serves me right for being a cheap skate & using Home Bargains

I'll let it grow for a bit and see what happens

What may happen is hoping to get up to Wisley mid-June, so may even be tempted in the GC whilst there

Meanwhile, still on Blackberry talk I have another convert to Merton Thornless, I'm going to pass on a tip cutting to my fellow volunteer, she has a long wooden fence just crying out for a blackberry to tie along it. She will thank me next year when it fruits

greenbee

Farway - you should be able to get a pot of already mixed mortar from a DIY shed somewhere. That's how I've always bought mine as I've only ever needed a tiny bit. 

Dustyevsky

Missing this morning due to an impromptu country walk with Mrs Dusty, who wanted to see if she could handle Rosemoor again now she's had her knee op. We didn't go there, just did a 1.25 mile circuit round local lanes, including a 1:6 hill. It was cloudy, breezy, and cool for a change. We and made it round in about an hour. It's the furthest Mrs Dusty has walked since 2020, and hopefully, just the beginning of more outdoor adventures.

Red Campion features a lot in the hedges here, and along the stream in the wild garden. I took a photo which might be good enough to show later on.