Awful weather - typical Brits talk

ArbitraryRandom

Farway said:

Is the buddleia in the way? or is it just a PIA? Asking 'cos my white buddleia is shooting up again, as intended, from it's hard winter pruning.

Now is fine to start spuds chitting, try not to get them too cosy & warm or the shoots get leggy & snap off when you plant them.

BTW if you miss it's fine to plant them without chitting, it's what millions of farmers do. I think a trial was done to see if chitting sped cropping up or not, I don't think it did, but perhaps that was maincrop & not super earlies?

It's at the top middle of the garden (where the new shed will eventually go, so currently empty space) but you know what they're like, it sprawls over a good couple of square meters... Now I've planted what a reasonable person might call 'too many trees' in the garden, I can't really have it coming back and taking the space/light. Better I think to try and nix it now. They did paint the stump with something that was supposed to be toxic, but I'm assuming it was so late in the year it wasn't sucked up. 

I'll maybe wait a little longer on the spuds then. I need to properly clear and prepare the window/propogator and I've just been too lazy so that can be this next week's project. I've got three to try from a beginner kit that came with grow bags and was in the January sales - a Charlotte, a Maris Piper and a Vivaldi. I think they're 'second early'? 

(I've been unusually self-centered and ranty today, apologies all).

If someone came along at the crack of dawn to dump some giant pole on my private property then damaged my non existent car by towing it away I'd be a mite preoccupied by it as well Rant away! 

twopenny

Bluey, tetes are in morries at £1 or so for a clump pot.
Buy and bung in the flower beds now.
All mine are from pots I bought for the window sill. And they spred well. As do snowdrops and crocus which you may find too.
It will give you some joy on a harrissing day when you look out this evening.    
You know you deserve it.....

Just sorted through my seeds. Joy! All are in date 
Not feeling keen to start potting with cold compost and chill, but maybe tomorrow.

And I've enough unused flower seeds for a whole new garden.
I may just plant out now despite cold weather still around before the birds get digging around for breeding.

wort

I’ve just had a walk to the cemetery and back, it’s dry and overcast not too cold. I have Scillia and snowdrops flowering and others sprouting but don’t recall what’s what . All my tete a tete and iris and muscari came from indoor plants that I plant out after they flower.

I have some Tom Thumb antirrinham seeds I know that’s spelt 😑 wrong. They say to plant indoors now then do all that p out stuff, which I hate and at that point they usually die. So has anyone ever tried just sowing straight into garden and at what time of year would you suggest. 

twopenny

Seems they're a tender annual. I don't do fragile, my plants have to look after themselves.
Usual thing is,after all chance of frost so depends if you have a sunny but sheltered spot that should be fine.
What you could do is plant in a pot outside in shelter. It will come up when it's meant to. Then transplant.

Currently digging up and moving stuff I couldn't do in autumn. Lots of self seeded primroses and foxglove. So ignoring Dustys advice that they don't like to be moved    
I have so many foxglove seeds I'd need a wood to accommodate!

LessImpecunious

wort said:

I have some Tom Thumb antirrinham seeds I know that’s spelt 😑 wrong. They say to plant indoors now then do all that p out stuff, which I hate and at that point they usually die. So has anyone ever tried just sowing straight into garden and at what time of year would you suggest. 

I haven't, but I have found that I get seedlings coming up randomly in pots and seed trays (usually with my own compost in, so possibly via dead flower heads added to compost heap, or just seeds blowing around...). They also seem to be fairly hardy, often overwintering at least one year (even at 700ft on a Welsh hilltop), but then heading for the fjords as they get older (like the rest of us...)

On another note, partly on-topic, I spotted a crocus yesterday trying to open despite inclement weather and the fact that I planted them on a mostly shady bank, not realising they need sun to open, so rarely do...) A chance to try out the macro feature on my new(ish) phone, which I suddenly remembered...

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

Wet start, but Dusty's blue sky has arrived , nice to hear it's good down West 'cos DD & family are now on half-term holiday in the Newquay area

They lied. It's mainly been rain so far. Hope they're not lying about Newquay too, which had a drier forecast than us. Half-term invasion due here soon. They will not appreciate the state of the rivers or the land. I can foresee a trip to the coast tomorrow. Open air pool doesn't look too inviting...

https://www.camsecure.co.uk/WestwardHo1.html

Newquay looks better: https://www.camsecure.co.uk/newquay_webcam.html

twopenny

Oh Imp that is lovely!! 
Cheered me right up after trying to shift plants in claggy, cloudy afternoon.

Dustys rain has reached here so everything I had out got wet including the seed boxes I'd proudly washed and oiled put in a smart tray then had to move with soil covered hands. 
I'm not destined to be a neat gardener 

Time to put feet up and console myself with tea and chocolate cake.........

Dustyevsky

Good photo Imp. So crisp!

I lost my post about the antirrhinums, so I'll just repeat that mine are Black Prince and Rocket White. Both self-seed without my help, so I merely lift the ones I want. Definitely a short-lived perennial here. Easier than many to p-rick out!

I've given up too 2p.  I've ordered over 100 bare root trees and shrubs, which I could just as easily do in evening! I might still go and propagate something, but with several time-sensitive jobs running late, my heart's not in it.

greenbee

I have 18 pots of snowdrops and 3 of aconites to plant, but I'm still tackling the vast piles of dead stuff. I chopped up a lot of the bamboo this morning as I was going to my mum's and her garden waste bins which are due for collection on Monday were empty. I'll fill mine tomorrow. 

I've been reading up on no-dig gardening, and it seems like a good way to get the veg plot up and running, so I've acquired a lot of flattened cardboard to start it off with. Next job is to order asparagus crowns as they're a long-term project. The hard bit is working out where to put what - particularly as i'm going to need to net a lot of stuff, so may just put in a big fruit cage and make beds inside that (there's a lot of wildlife here). 

twopenny

Fruit cage I've made with cheap poles and cheap metal angle things you screw on.
Netting was stapled on. It all lasted for years but didn't take long. Just did the trick 
Might be better doing 2 smaller ones as easier. Hopefully one is always intact should anything happen.

I did no dig for a while. It works well. Still pretty much going not much dig lol. 

Great to have an extra bin. My neighbour sometimes offer me hers if there's not much in there. So kind. It's the small things.

Can't wait to see the progress. My great aunt used to grow asparagus in her cottage garden and it was exciting and deliciously tender at cutting time.
You really are forging ahead