Happy gardening novice.

[Colin]

Hi,

I'm grounded for a while until I fully recover after hurting my leg lifting bags of manure over a wall so I've got time to be a pest.

It quickly dawned on me having such big gardens that if I wanted to go mad filling them with bought in pot grown plants it was going to seriously hurt my pocket.

Bron loves lavender so I bought four potted lavender plants at £2 each from our local Morrison's and put these in the garden. I also bought online a packet of lavender seeds wondering if I could grow these? I mentioned the seeds to a chum who advised me to place the seeds in our fridge for a day saying the seeds would then think its winter; then when sowed would think springtime had arrived? I placed the packet of seeds in the fridge for over two days then sowed them in plug trays using potting compost. I gently gave a good soaking of water using a bottle sprayer on mist. The tray is placed in our hut out of direct sunlight and I've mist sprayed with water every couple of days.

WOW; when I went to water them again yesterday I was greeted with four tiny lavender saying hello to me; this gave me such a buzz; when they gain a bit of size to allow pricking out I'll pot them individually and place them in the new cold frame I've made leaving them there over winter before planting in the garden next springtime.

I've now placed a packet of Ajuga seeds in the fridge and will sow these in a couple of days.

Just a little story from a gardening novice to say how joyful gardening can be even by sowing a few lavender seeds.

Kind regards, Colin

 

[Verdun]

Hiya Colin
Get well soon
So satisfying this propagation lark isnt it? Seed and cuttings; dividing plants too.
Lavendar en masse is such a wonderful thing to see and smell so if you have a large garden large swathes of it is great. Lavendar hedges! I have it on 2 sides of my veg patch alongside a path. Lovely neat evergreen aromatic foliage now and glorious blue clouds in summer
Word of caution though, over winter keep your lavendar seedlings on the dry side; not totally dry but they wont like being misted and watered too much during the darker colder months
Enjoy your respite and your gardening

 

[Colin]

Hi,

Many thanks Verdun for your get well wishes and encouragement. Yes this propagation lark is very satisfying indeed especially when the tiny seedlings pop their heads above the parapet for the first time.

Thanks also for the tips on how to look after the seedlings during winter months of which we have plenty here as you will know only too well starting next month when we alter the clocks again.

I'm annoyed I've hurt myself so easily; it doesn't take much to pull something but then it takes ages to return to normal; I dare not do too much but after dinner I'll have a go at washing the car rather than sitting around doing nothing; the sooner I'm back in action the better because winter will soon be upon us and I want to make the best of this milder weather whilst it lasts.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[Logan]

Hi Colin, I've only seen this thread and hope that you are better. It does take longer when a muscle has been pulled or torn.
Gardening is very edictive, i collected lavender seeds from my own plants and i was suprised how easy it was.

 

[Colin]

Hi,

Many thanks Logan it's very kind of you to ask. It's quite a while since I hurt myself lifting the manure and since then I've recovered and have been extremely busy as usual; those who retire and complain of boredom really do baffle me when there is so much to choose from as hobbies/projects. Bron and I are out of bed every morning at 7 o'clock and each day just disappears at an alarming pace. After breakfast this morning I was out clearing a carpet of oak leaves again from our paths and patio; just before 9 o'clock I set off to collect pitch pine timber blanks that I'll turn into handles for metal spinning tools;

https://www.diy-forums.com/threads/metal-spinning.289525/#post-1733983

I've just arrived home and the journey to collect the timber was absolutely terrible with grid lock traffic but success I've now got the timber on my bench.

We had a new smart gas meter installed yesterday by British Gas taking three hours for the installation so after dinner today I'll move everything back into place; the young guy from BG was brilliant.

I left school in 1962 aged 15 and can't ever remember a time I felt bored? I even struggle to spend time on the forum; I do however spend more time on the sister DIY forum seen above which suits my activities better.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[Logan]

Hi colin glad that you are better.
Yes it's best to stay busy, myself and hubby always doing things. Although i do most of the garden, hubby does the grass and any heavy lifting.
Have a good day.
Logan.

 

[Colin]

Hi,

Thanks Logan for your good wishes.

This afternoon as planned I spent an hour in the workshop putting everything back in place after having the new gas meter installed; with the mini hi-fi playing my favourite 60s songs I could then have a good look at the timber I collected this morning. It's pitch pine and I asked for 3" square x 24" long ten of them? I collected 11 at 2" x 3" with lengths between 24" & 30"? Best laid plans always go wrong for me; at £70 if I can use it for metal spinning tool handles it's a fair price but at the moment I don't know how it will turn out; looking where its just been sawn it looks decent but turning it over it looks a lot worse and I even had to pull out three very rusty nails leaving ugly holes. I hope to have a go at turning a pair of handles tomorrow but how nice it would have been to have collected the size needed without the nails and other faults? The pictures tell the story better. I'm not grumbling because similar sized finished tool handles from Turners Retreat code HTT7 are £34.60 each so buying ten ready turned would bring on an heart attack.

I hope your day went well Logan.

Kind regards, Colin.

Within minutes of clearing the leaves here are more.

Not exactly what I expected when buying timber for tool handles.

Imagine hitting this whilst turning on the wood lathe.

These three nails took a great deal of removing.

Where the timber has been put through the saw it looks decent; I wonder what it's going to turn like?

 

[Logan]

Hi Colin and thanks,it's been raining here and cold, so haven't done much apart from cleaning and walking the dogs, but that was cold.

That's the trouble with leaves, get them in the bird bath, have to do that every day.

You'll get that wood into shape and save yourself a lot of money.

Have a good evening.
Logan.