5 Gardening Dairy: Happy gardening and happy snapping ..

[alp]

La bonnotte potatoes

You might not think potatoes are a luxury food, however, these spuds can be sold for as much as $660 (£523) per kilogram (2.2lb). They grow only in the mineral-rich soil of the small French island of Noirmoutier and are only in season for around a week in early May. Then they're harvested by hand and have a distinctive salty flavor that is said to pair well with caviar.

A very interesting article

The world's most expensive ingredients revealed

You don't have to believe in everything you read in any news article, it can still be a very enriching experience ..

Yubari King melons

A lot of Japanese stuff here - mushroom, fish, milk ..

 

[alp]

Went to big Wilko plus and to my surprise, the dahlia tubers or indeed no tubers or rhizomes could be found.

Sorry for the repeats

A sultry maroon with even darker patches.

Glenda Gloss

Only one plant - the whole family is here!

Angel - much redder than this.

Ellen double red

Pinkish white

Double Pinkish white

 

[alp]

This is a white camellia - need to find out its name

This could be a Galanthus Hippolyta, or a Dionysus or Desdemona or even Pleno Flore!? I'm so hopeless at labelling!

See this one is a bit different from the first one in the previous post!

Double Green Ellen

Basal blotched beauty

A relative of my avatar! Tomorrow's joy Erythronium dens-canis

My little nugget of gold!

Wendy's Gold

 

[alp]

Good morning! It's quite and not that cold. Yesterday, it was 12c in Brentwood. Lovely Brentwood with views all over the area and I so wanted to live there. But it's incredibly expensive. £325K semi detached and people fought all over it and there is only one! Most of them ask for the same price for a maisonette! Shocking!

Going to be a busy day and have to vacate the living room for the rewiring to go ahead. The amount of dust was terrifying upstairs and the drilling deafening.

 

[alp]

Getting colder. Don't know how the continent copes with such heavy amount of snow.

 

[Gemma]

Hello again, alp

Are you excited about the upcoming new growing season? I can hardly wait to start working outdoor!
Last year's project was to dig a second koi pond, the year before was the log style chicken coop, this year's project will be an outdoor fireplace as part of the courtyard fencing, and finally my vegetable garden will have a dedicated area.
Happy gardening!

 

[alp]

Hey, Gemma! Have you come out of hibernation? LOL!

So nice to hear from you. Have you seen my hellebores? Growing season is already on, first with hellebores, then snowdrops and erythronium coming up soon!

So excited for your Koi ponds. It seems to me you are really enjoying the idyllic life incorporating garden as part of your charmed life. Please post updates.

My latest maroon double hellebores

As I am renovating my house, I am very surprised to get another stupid offer from someone. I said to the agent that how people could offer without seeing the house. She assured me that they had seen the house and asked me if I remembered them. No, it seems to me they are all from South east Asia and they all sounded like Mr Jones to me! LOL! I think it was the same first couple. They are big on gardening. I hope someone's going to enjoy the garden and treat it as a home.

When I have moved, I'm going to keep chickens and hopefully have raised beds for vegs and for the first time in 20 years, feel settled in my new place. I'm going to put in an offer. It's a bungalow on its own piece of land. Very small compared with yours!

 

[Gemma]

@alp your flowers are beautiful! I really really like the Ellen double red, it's my favorite!

Sorry I disappeared but as soon as we started digging the new pond, I had no time to keep up with the forums, my vegetable garden really suffered as well. I'm hoping to do much better this coming year since I finally have a dedicated site.
The pond turned out good, we still need to set the capping stones (ran out of time before the cold) but it is running and supporting life
here's a picture so you get an idea

Good luck on your move, can't wait to see the new garden!
I love this forum, I'm going to make time for it!

 

[alp]

That's a heart shaped pond! Well done! It's perfect. Hope you have some irises to festoon round the edges and some lilies in the pond. Very clever your husband is.Soon you will have dragonflies or damselflies flitting around. So nice that you are both on the same page!

A lot of things to be done before I can even put the house back on the market again.

 

[alp]

Good morning - Had another silly offer yesterday whilst the house is being renovated. I have now told them not to bother me if they can't come up with £385K. I have learned my lesson.

Forgot to post this yesterday

As usual, I'm hopeless with labelling Jessica or Veridapace

I have now 3 Wendy's Gold gleaming in the winter sun. Going to strike it - probably one!

 

[alp]

So dry! Please pour down a bit. My plants need it. Yesterday, it was predicted grey and yet, it turned out to be glorious and even balmy!

Long Live Sunshine and Long Live Rain! Off for the day as too much to do!

@Gemma - got any fish in the ponds. Would love to have a pond. Saw 3 houses with ponds and wanted to have a viewing. But one too near the roundabout, and the other gardens too small. Saw one in Harlow, most beautifully and back onto woodland (Love, love,love woodland), but before I could view, it was sold! Sob story of my life!

 

[Logan]

Good morning all, light cloud and gentle breeze temp 6 to 8c

 

[Gemma]

Not sure if it's still morning so I'll stick with my usual

...not sure on the weather just yet, it is still dark outside here.

@alp yes I put 4 baby koi in there last fall to start the cycle, they are still doing fine, I plan on adding a few more from the other pond in the Spring.
If you have the chance of a pond, even small, go for it, you won't regret it! If you never had one it can seem a bit overwhelming trying to keep water clear and happy fish, but once you realize that the less you do to it, the quicker it will establish a balance, then you'll save money, time and aggravation and you will truly fall in love with it....if you haven't done so already, check out the Garden Pond Forum

Off to work I go, have a wonderful day, all!

 

[alp]

I have a round butt, @Gemma, which I freegled - i.e. got it for free. A farmer wanted to get rid of his stuff as he and his lovely wife were going to have tenants. I picked up a round sturdy black pot (think about 80L and about 2.5 feet tall. I planned to put my water lily in there. Another freegled stuff. I actually wanted the basket, but the water lily roots were massive and it was impossible to dislodge the plant, so I put it in a square crate. When spring is here, I will use my lovely black round butt. Now I just dumped some land cresses into the square crate, and will use them as veg.

This morning, a gutter man stood on the ledge of this window and mended the gap in the gutter. I was so worried. £45 for his audacity!

Been out from 9 till 3 and weeded such a lot.

Jessica or Veridipace

A pink hellebore anemome without spots or freckles

Godfrey Owen with 6 petals

 

[Gemma]

I have a round butt, @Gemma, which I freegled - i.e. got it for free.
I'm guessing that's not what I'm thinking, right?

Lovely flowers!