General Chat

good morning all I guess Genes had a sunday morning lie in this morning as I have not been able to get on here for the past half hour.

Sunny here again and 9 degrees so looks like being a nice day. And looks like another water the plants day.

As usual for Sundays, nothing planned. I will probably walk down to Irenes to take some of the books back.

No not seen the baby Robin's yet but he's still taking food away. I have a pair round by the chicken run that I havet o take some fat pellets to each time I go round there. They wait in the holly tree for me and I put them on the top of the run fence. as soo as I turn to go away thye come down.

Just one more lot of the strawberries to repot and that those finished. Then I have to clean the soak tray and see if I can get them all in one big tray and the little one on the end so I can do away with the tray that hangs over the barrow. Lets hope the squirrels don't tuck in this year.

Evening all,

It's been a lovely sunny day but there's been quite a strong wind , Iwe have been out in the garden getting the garden table put together and getting the chairs out .

Vera thats a lovely lot of plants ,hope OH got them in the right places for you anc now the watering starts ,I have been using water from one of the butts but we soon need rain as they will soon run dry .

Ann have you given the shower head a good descale lately ,I know we told Colins brother ( the plumber) that our shower was taking a while to heat up and he said descale the head and it worked ,I thought as I had clean it regularly and it wasn't that but he was right .
Knees not to bad I can still feel it ,it feels tight at the back and I hobble a bit when I get up .
Aldi had those little begonias on Thursday also lobelia and pertunias .

That's was awful about that Sycamore tree ,why drive out and chop the tree down and film it makes no sense to me I hope they throw the book at them.
We have a Sycamore tree over the way and I'm always pulling the little saplings up they mix in with the plants and then I suddenly spot them when the leaves get bigger ,we have loads of the little spinning aeroplanes come in the garden .

Shame you couldn't find the right colour blue top Anng ,perhaps blue isn't in this year ,I love blue its my favourite colour .

Oh gosh Mel fancy having to eat three eggs a day ,I hope she doesn't get egg bound :-0 still it gets your egg supply down a bit .
Did you ever see the baby Robins.

Did the shop and cleaned out the chickens nest box. Then I did the pond filter on both ponds. I was just fishing the huskd out of the big pond as I had fed them and there was still a lot of food in there uneaten when Aron called in for eggs. His wife needs to bump up her vitamin d so was told by the doc to eat three eggs a day. Great I thought he had two dozen and left me a tenner for towards the next lot.

I have mixed up a load of compost to repot some strawberries and my little indoor plants,(Cape primroses) Streptocarpus I have four from cutting I take in water on the windowsill but they are all white ones.

I need to sow my new runner beans too as theres nothing showing on the ones I sowed ages ago. I'll sow a lot so I can give somet o Aron and Beccy and Janine and Simon.

Did you see about the Sycamore Gap tree in the paper today. I think those two men should serve a longer sentance than 10 years. I always oved that tree and we used to see it on Country file and in the film Robin Hood and its been in other things over the years. Such a beautiful shaped tree even though I call them weed trees here as they sow themselves everywhere you don't want them in this garden.

Just washed some pots so am off to do some planting and sowing now.

Just a burger to cook tonight so not a lot of prep there then.

Yes and watering tends to run off thesurface rather than soak in too. I've just done battle with unpacking the spray with weedkiller container and lugged it up the garden. I'm not sure that I like it as you have to keep pumping it even for a half inch wide short spray that soon dribbles. If I pump it up more the container hisses as if it's the maximum pressure it will take. I'll see what OH thinks tomorrow and have left it behind the shed out of the sun for now rather than lug it back. Nothing seems to work properly here just lately. The shower for ages now takes ages to warm up and so wastes a lot of water. I think it's the new boiler we had and will have to get them back. I ended up using the ensuite shower this morning as the other went cold again just after I thathered my hair. Then when I was soaked I realised there was no soap in there and I'd forgotten to bring my bigger towel with me. :-S At least the car window is still staying up.

I went to see The Wheel Specialist yesterday, about 6 miles away and OH came and decided to wait in the car. He managed to trigger the car alarm after I'd gone inside! It's the first time I've heard it so at least I thown it works. Apparently the diamond cut wheels are dearer to refurbish......guess what mine are! I could have them plain grey instead and not have the spare wheel done which would be a bit cheaper. Each wheel will cost almost as much as the spare wheel I bought for it but that was 7-8 years ago. I think I'll stump up my earnings from ERNIE and get them done though. I don't want to have to swap the car yet so will see some benefit for a few more years and if they get worse they might not be able to do them at all.

The trouble with planting anything now, when it has been so dry so the new roots can't find any water in the soil is that they have to be well watered in and then watered a lot each day until established. I am hoping that the forecast is righ at we are expecting to have rain on Monday. Then reverting back to hot and dry afterwards. Hope it is a good steady soaking.

Afternoon All,

Another sunny day with no rain so I might try the new weed sprayer while OH is out at footie! I still haven't done the border at the bottom of the garden that has an area cleared of plants I want to keep. I can then start planting it up in a few days. There are a couple of plants I want to move from the front garden that can go there, one is a nice geranium with pink flowers and there's a Fuschia.

Vera it sounds like a nice selection of plants you bought that will look lovely in your garden. I would not trust my OH to plant them as he dosn't plant things deep enough and when you tell him he thinks he can just squash them down rather than dig the holes deeper. He's ok planting runner beans but on the whole destroying things is more his forte! Bit by bit he's enjoying cutting down some tall, too vigorous shrubs we no longer want in the back garden! Our garden bin is almost full again already.

Mel I remember having a small plastic model of the coach with lots of horses pulling it too. I wasn't even born by VE day either.

Gwyn I'm having second thoughts about those three cornered leeks and think they are best kept out of the garden! lol. They would be a handy free addition for the soup kitchens in the area though! I had a manager once who used to help in the local soup kitchen at the weekends. If I walked into the nearby city in my lunch break with him, and we saw any of the regular tramps they would all come and speak to him like a long lost friend and he was always very kind to them.

It's a shame there aren't royal blue tops in the shops AnnG. So often these days you find a top you like to find it is at most only in a couple of colours whereas years ago it would be in more. I've had to water the pots this morning.

I hope your knee is ok now Mandy and that you have stopped hobbling. It doesn't take much to twist or overstretch something does it. Have you finished planting everything up now? I still need some of those little begonias to plant where the sun beats down and it is very dry.

I also tidies out my sock drawer. Still have loads left in there, maybe need another sort out.

I have no subs on my delivery later but one item unavailable. Luckily ordered in anticipation of daughter being here. She doesn't like the more expensive tonic I drink and she prefers the Tesco low caloeie which in unavailable.

I have done a load of washing and early on I watered Cynth's pots and all my pots as well.
18 degrees here. We are forecast rain on Monday, I would not be surprised if it missed us.

Morning AnnG, Mel and all

It's a lovely, warm, sunny day here. We could really do with some rain but there isn't any forecast for the foreseeable future.

I have said where plants are to go and OH is busy planting. The trouble is we have a long dreary sort of alleyway that goes from the garage, past our back door, and up to a garden gate. I hated it when we moved in so I put a lot of troughs (19) along one side to brighten it up. I have a few with evergreen or perennial plants and fill the rest with colourful annuals. 2 each have 2 Christmas Box shrubs, 2 have mini hostas and 1 has oreganum, 1 currently has alliums just coming out to bloom, 1 has nemesia that I've kept going for the last 3 years and last week I filled 2 with geraniums I had overwintered. This morning OH has planted 1 with more nemesia and 3 with begonias. That still leaves 7 to fill before I think about the 2 bigger troughs and the pots in the garden, though they don't all have to be used. A half barrel will have marigolds in and I will still have enough of those for a couple of pots or troughs The 2 yellow argyranthemum are now in pots by the front door with a potted grass. I also have a red one but I will probably put that in the garden when the daffodil leaves all die down and I can see how much space I have.

So we're getting there but the things that really aren't doing well are the tomatoes. They are just so small and undeveloped though they look healthy. Mel's seeds are doing best.

I've got a Sainsbury delivery this afternoon - 1 sub and 1 thing not available but otherwise no plans for the afternoon, unless I can summon the energy to wash or steam clean the conservatory floor. It needs it but I really don't feel like doing it. Now I had better go and make my Mr Gardener a coffee and check he isn't planting things in the wrong place.

Morning Anng and all,

Lovely bright sunny morning here and its 13 degrees but pc is telling me to expect two rainy days starting tomorrow. OP its gon e up a degree since I posted and now its 14 degrees.

Just the shop to do today and BIL said he has the weekend to himself now so it looks lkike I may too. It puts me right out till I know he has come or is coming.

Good morning all. A bright sunny morning here and 6 degrees. Feels chilly to me as I am not dressed. Woke early before 6am and knew I was not going to get back to sleep so came in to my office and checked emails etc. Nothing planned for today except Tesco order 4-5pm.

Vera that was a lovely big selection of plants. I envy you the show they will make but not the planting. I dare not buy any more plants until I come back from daughter;s early June. Baskets will have to be done then so I hope there are emough plants left for me.

Just strimmed all round the bungalow. BIL left but put my chickens food in the bins for me and two sacks of compost in my shed. Iv'e not seen this compost before I think its Rock or some such name, I 'll have a look when I go back down the shed. Just come in for a drink and then I am going to tackle the rest of my strawberry plants as I stlill have a few to tidy up and dress the top with gravel. I also have to feed the ones I have done as its feeding Friday. :-D

Plants you bought sound nice Vera. How are your tom plants doing?

It’s a bit breezy but otherwise it’s a lovely day. We went to our local garden centre just after 2 pm and have just got back, £100 poorer. At least it would have been just over £100 but my loyalty card gave me £15 off so it cost me about £85. It’s strange how I can spend money on plants without thinking twice but can’t put my hand in my pocket to get myself some much needed clothes.

We got mostly annuals to fill troughs and pots. I’m not sure now that I’ve got enough. We got the little begonia plants, small marigolds, nemesia, coleus and argyranthemum. I usually have cuttings from the previous year’s argyranthemum but I didn’t do well with the last cuttings I took. We did get another bird feeder as well.

Next job will be to get planting but that can wait for a day or two.

Ah before anyone says. Yes there are a lot on line looking at amazon but I rarely buy clothes on line I need to feel the material fiest.

I went into town and got some bits for my holiday. I looked in all the usual shops, M&S, Bonmarche and Peacocks for a top to match the light weight trousers I bought on Tuesday. I want a bright royal blue but there were no blue tops at all in any of the shops, every other colour under the sun but no blue. I have found a top in a light blue that will go at a push.

BIL has been here since my last post. I have strimmed the back garden down to Prickerly Bottom and a bit round the box hedge the mower won't reach and then start on the big west lawn edge and the strimmer ran out. I am now going to do us some lunch. Eggy and tomato sandwiches (fishing sandwiches).

Just seen this on facebook. I was surprised to note the Lancaster doing a fly over and round the concert last night but assumed it must have been planned, although the King looked surprised. It was lovely to see as it flew into pink tinged clouds. Just read that it was a surprise visit by the RAF.

I went to the lighting of one of the beacons yesterday evening. Gosh it was cold there, as we were literally yards fro the sea itself, so no shelter from the cold wind that had blown all day. There was a band and a Military Wives choir performing and we were all requested to sing 'I vow to thee my country' at one point, but the response was rather mixed, as many people didn't know the words without a strong lead.

Earlier in the day, I had walked through a churchyard in another town and you should have seen the amount of three-cornered leeks growing there. It really looked quite pretty and like a white meadow.
Plenty to make soup for the whole town, Annx ;-)
I have tried using some in cooking, but not in the quantity that it grows in our patch.
Wild garlic has more of a star-like flower, whereas the leeks have more bell shaped. Goodness knows where they came from in the first place in our garden, but then I could say the same for a very mini oak sapling. I don't know of any oak trees nearby, so I think that a squirrel planted that.
In past years, I have sat on the ground and dug up dozens and dozens of the tiny leek bulbs, but the following year brings another unwanted crop :-|

I hope all your heath checks for yourselves and OHs go well.
I am looking forward to my next ENT nurse appointment next week, which had to be postponed so is well over the usual 3 month mark now. I do realise that I am very fortunate to get this regular service on NHS at no cost, but it was someting the department suggested might help my hearing and it certainly does.
School is OK, as a child sit's right next to me to read in a corner of the classroom, but I have sometimes had to avoid going to meetings to listen to a speaker, when I get near appointment time, as I just can't follow them properly.

Morning all,

Another nice bright sunny morning here with a bit of a breezey wind. The sky is clear blue and not a cloud in sight. Its 14 degrees already so may be a really warm one later on.

Hips still a bit niggerly but I think I am going to strim some things today and not sure if BIL is coming to mow so need to pick up what I left on the top lawn by my border.

Pleased you all enoyed the VE day celebrations on the telly. I was'nt born so have no recollection of anything like that. My earliest memory is that of the Coranation of our lovely Queen Elizabeth. I was three and we went up to London with aunty Iris and uncle Len in dads car and I can remember lying across aunty and mum onthe back seat of the car and being woken to see the car go past with the Queen and Duke waving to people but can't remember if they were in the coasch or not. Of course no parking restricsion then. I also remember having a little coach and horses toy.

Well better get on as I have a little parcel to do up too.