Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

Love a drift of celandines. Just like a bank of dandelions. Sometimes I think we try too hard with gardens. Nature has it but we work hard to beat it. Crazy really.

I have a photo somewhere of a whole big bank of erigeron. It was stunning. No maintenance.

Dustyevsky

Oddly enough, I've just been watching a gentleman on YouTube, who was saying playing safe is what stops many of us fulfilling our true potential. He used the example of someone staying in a non-challenging job, rather than taking a  risk to seek something more rewarding. Riskiness isn't encouraged . How often do you hear "Stay safe!" these days? We all know where that came from! Who benefited from us thinking we weren't? Oh, yes, but I can't say here!

I'm also reminded of an MSE person from some time ago, whose signature was, "Do what you always did, and you'll get what you always got!" She started her own business in a particularly tough sector, and succeeded.

So, I say "Go for it, pp!" but have a good rest first!!! One of the happiest times Mrs Dusty and I enjoyed, was after closing our business and selling our house. We were somewhat stressed by being in a rented house with all our money in a very wobbly banking sector, (2008) but suddenly we had time to do things together that weren't 'work.' In a sense, I wish that period had lasted longer, but we found this place, and there was no escaping it. We tried!

Anyway, just watch out for the polar bears, because I've reduced 15 dumpy bags of heavy garden detritus to CO2 today. Sorry!  The wonderful sunny weather we seemed destined to have first thing, didn't stay, so the cool, windy and cloudy conditions with a few spots of rain suited a big conflagration. Hooray, that's the legacy of winter gone!

Dustyevsky

Up early, as we've a village market today and a very large digger arriving. No doubt our neighbours think we're about to self-drive the equipment already here, but this job's well beyond our capabilities! We're not even sure how much soil will be surplus at this stage, but we hope to create a completely new field division hedgerow as time goes on and more of the track is built. 

What we do know is the old stumps we pull out will be placed in the orchard to make insect homes. There will be around a dozen of those. Two new Cotoneaster hedges will go in to replace the Elms at the site itself, so overall there will be an increase in hedging and more diversity.

As for the Elms we're retaining, they're doing as expected since we took them back to the original laid framework. They looked very bare a month ago, but now.....

EDIT: Forgot to add, we have cloudless blue sky, and the forecast for next week is at least dry-ish!  Still no sign of the 'Spanish Plume.'

YoungBlueEyes

Sorry you've been made redundant pp, but at least the decision has been made now and you can decide where you're going next. Without prying - are you close enough to retirement that you could coast until state pension kicks in? Was your redundancy package one that you stretch a good long time? Not asking for answers to any of this btw, just thoughts. Could you create a different life now, with less money, but it still be good enough? Do you have enough for a smaller slower life is what I'm saying I guess, and would you be happy with that? When me and himself were both working we were stressed and arguing, hardly ever in at the same time, eating badly/for convenience, and we were both unhappy. When we moved here the jobs I could do were very unappealing and badly paid (and mostly in 'Ull) so I don't work now. I took control of his (below average) wages and spend it more wisely than he ever did, and yes our life is smaller (we're not new cars every year + lots of holiday sorts anyway) but I make 2 peaceful - if v old fashioned - lives out of his wages. We're much happier now. So could whatever you/s have now create something different but better, is what I'm saying I guess. 

And now I've forgotten what everyone posted ha haa! Nice to see baby blackies Dusty, hopefully lots more to come. I don't think I've any here because my ones are taking food back, yet. I don't know what the experts say about attracting more birds to your garden 2p, but I just started putting food out and they found it eventually. Have you predators scaring them away? 

I don't know what's up with my toms Farway, they get the same treatment as everything else. They're in the tiny front bedroom in the morning for the sun, then into the NW facing conservatory at the back for the afternoon sun. Some things have come up strong (not the ones I really wanted mind but that's Sod's Law) and there's not a peep out of the toms. I'm only doing the same things with them as I did last year and look how that turned out so I'll just be patient.   

They've given a lovely dry sunny day here, which it may very well be when the rain stops. Not warm though, that wind is straight outta the Arctic :brrr: 

ArbitraryRandom

Weather is sunny and dry, so before it gets too hot (!) I've just finished shifting the last of the 20 sacks of 'top dressing' I bought before the work started - completely eaten by the beds... another 12 sacks being delivered in a day or two, and I've just ordered another 40 (mix of compost, manure, bark and cheap tomato grow bags) which has been dispatched and due here on a pallet at the end of the week. Not the cheapest way to do it, but it's easier for me to move sacks than to shovel into a barrow then shovel out into the beds. I'm hoping that will at least finish filling the bed closest to the house... Who needs the gym?  

I've also prioritised moving my garden chairs this morning to a suitable location - the table and benches can stay in the garden until there's a patio, but I need a good sit down between shifting sacks. Some work to do to make it 'aesthetic' (maybe starting with some cuprinol), but I think it'll work. 

That's the new dog rose you can see just behind on the right, so I might put people I don't like that much in that chair if it starts to get too friendly, but I'm hoping it can be trained to cover the fence



EDIT: okay... not this month, but... https://www.blackcountrymetalworks.co.uk/rustic-ornate-swing.htm

-taff

PP, I'm going to say congrats on your redundancy just because, once you have a taste of freedom, nothing else will do, and then you get to look at things on your terms. One of my friends too a VR two years ago, had about six months off, then looked for a stress free part time job to supplement her savings before retirement and pensions kick in, and she's never been happier. Mine was forced upon me but I wouldn't change anything to go back to work. I do not want to get on the hamster wheel again. At some point, money will become scarce but that's what prepping now can do, cushion the blow when it does. Well done for the mattock wielding too.

Glorious glorious day so far, there are three loads of washing to do but there is a bed to built, seeds to sow, compost to fetch [ I may take a leaf out of your delivery Arb, great idea when things need filling]  omg, there's so much gardening to do I could dance [ but I won't, I'll fall over] .

Good idea re the siting oot too, that's one thing I forget, I sit and then I look and I see what needs doing and then I'm up in no time to do it, without actually sitting and enjoying..

YoungBlueEyes

Ooh I like that swing Arb, you could train a clematis or something all over it and wouldn't that be just heaven You're gonna have muscles like Popeye before the month's out  

If I remember rightly my garden is the same orientation as yours, so are you having more than one sitooterie? A sunny one and a shady one? That's what I'd like but I'm not sure where they'd go now the place is covered in trees and plants and trees. Think I've done that bit wrong However. You've got time to plan yours properly, so have multiples!  

taff  What is this life
If full of care
We have no time 
For our sitooteries ...

ArbitraryRandom

YoungBlueEyes said:

If I remember rightly my garden is the same orientation as yours, so are you having more than one sitooterie? A sunny one and a shady one? 

I'm not a huge sun lover, so nearer the house is good for me - it's in full sun in the afternoon, but I tend to want to sit in the garden around 10 with a cup of tea (we have a regular teams catch up then, so I take the call on my phone).

The patio on the other side of the garden will have the table and benches, and will also be shady in the mornings, but if I'm sitting out to eat (or if there's guests and we have a BBQ) that will be in the afternoon and it will be sunny (and I will be under a patio umbrella ) 

I don't think that swing is for me really - bit too fancy for my taste and they don't do a more simple version - but I do like the whimsy of a swing so might look for a metal or wood rocking chair as a middle ground

Farway

Another one here with sunshine & blue sky, plus like Dusty, set fair for rest of the week, or rather no blizzards forecast, could do with a Spanish Plume though, because all being well the climbing beans go out today.

YoungBlueEyes said:

I don't know what's up with my toms Farway, they get the same treatment as everything else. They're in the tiny front bedroom in the morning for the sun, then into the NW facing conservatory at the back for the afternoon sun. Some things have come up strong (not the ones I really wanted mind but that's Sod's Law) and there's not a peep out of the toms. I'm only doing the same things with them as I did last year and look how that turned out so I'll just be patient.   

I think your toms came from the same packing factory as my marigolds & cosmos , two of the easiest things to get going, except not here. Like you, other stuff is up no bother, but this pair is just no shows.

Once I have the beans out & more room, I may sow some more, which will spur the others on and a glut come mid-May.

Did anyone see the aurora last night? 

Supposed to have been a visible way down to the Midlands, DGD didn't, and she is up Aberdeenshire. Of all things, the sun had not set enough , one thing not taken into account, but ideal light for the polar bears hunting the wild haggis.

Best wishes with the digger Dusty, and the tree stumps, will you call it a Stumpery and be poshly Eco, or will they be just tree stumps?. Actually not mocking, there is a good stumpery at Highgrove, ideal if you have space and turns what could be just dumped tree lumps into something useful & probably worth bug watching in a quite moment.

Arbs, will your dog rose have nice hips come the winter? Rose hip syrup brewing? That fence is crying out for something, isn't it?

One job after bean planting, weather permitting, is getting the pots tidy out the front, every time I think of it, it rains or summat.

If sky keeps blue, could be a pic of my Judas tree blossom, looking good right now

ArbitraryRandom

Farway said:

Arbs, will your dog rose have nice hips come the winter? Rose hip syrup brewing? That fence is crying out for something, isn't it?

You know me too well  

I did some research - Rosa rugosa & Rosa canina are supposed to have the best hips for cooking, which is why I picked them. Plus they're both very hardy and the soil in that little bed is awful. The only thing that's been growing there for the last 4 years is bind weed and 6 inches down I swear it's just stone and ash - I dug out what I could, gave them a healthy scoop of BF&B topped with a spade of manure, and if anything has a chance it's them.