Magazine style - all inclusive

[alp]

Need to have a look. I saw T&M had 70% off, but not on those I wanted this morning. Now, where have you been busy your good self? Need you to help me to banish the annoying bug! Thank heavens for your tips. I've stopped the mice coming into my lean to. The foul smell was killing me, until I used my fabreze!

Yes, what a glorious day. Sunshine is strong and it's so nice. Words can't describe this loveliness.

 

[Perki]

Its not been a bad week and still quite warm for the time of the year, still haven't had a proper frost yet so some plants are still flowering , mainly salvias - aster monch and some little flowers on some dahlias I haven't lifted yet . oh and my mahonia is in full flower looking very well. My new tree turned up on Wednesday / Thursday parrotia persian spire , its a bit small at the moment for the space but will soon get going , I was hoping it was going to have some leaves on it still but its bare so no point putting a picture on .

 

[alp]

Bowden is even pricier than Farmer Gracey. Got 2 orders coming one from TM and another from Avon. Righjt after saying it was a glorious day, a cloud came over and hid the sun. Later, it did turn clear and it was a lovely day after all. Did a lot of separation of Stipa Giganteas and the newly improvised bench was already filled yesterday. Used the big water bottle to insulate some dahlias, one thalictrum. Sad year, no seeds from that thalictrum at all. Those on the other one are still green.

Today, we're going to get wood chips and insulate the greenhouse.

Going to be wet.

Wrote the above and forgot to post.

Yes, it has been wet and now it's even wetter. I went out to chuck a duck and some chicken bones as I dislike leaving meats/bones in the house. It was windy and rainy. I dashed in and out. The Brits have exercised strong self-control and now fireworks are being let off, as if thunder and lightning were rolling in. We all know that people raid stores AFTER THE EVENT! And I am never fast enough. I am always the also-run and left to contemplate what wars have ravaged the shops, leaving nothing on the shelves.

Today, there was a queue in both pet@ home and B&M.

Perki: That tree that you looks quite dramatic Is it scented as well?

Bought an aeonium and went to Jeanie's and raided her pots: Got an Olivia Rose for free and some others. Before I could plant them, I was reminded why I wasn't keen on roses: I got pricked by some nasty thorns. I remember a lady told me that roses were great as they rebloomed time and again and the scent and colours were incredible. Seeing my pink rose flowering again, I decided to forget about the thorns and start my love affair with roses. Let's hope Olivia (Austin) can sustain my budding love! Thank you to my lovely and generous friend, Jeanie!

 

[Perki]

I am not sure if its scent but I don't think so but hopefully I'll find out this winter .

 

[alp]

How's your sister, Perki?

It is raining buckets here! The noise is trememdous and I have this unenviable task of going to feed the chckens. Poor things were cooped up yesterday and today seems to be another miserable day. Those birds love staying out. They have had 4 eggs for 2 days running. Mind you, I could let them out, but we might go out, and I don't have hindsight, I can't keep them safe. What a foul day for the fowl!

Some of the beautiful Strepts that I had

Cynamon

Teleri

Bethen

BlackLace

Dee

Lola

Fernwood Morning blue and pink

Nina

Sunny Hare

Telma

Wow x 2

such beautiful flowers. I won't buy them again. Very difficult to please!

 

[alp]

Yesterday was a day of scavenging. First, got 1/5 of a builder's sack of wood chips which I scattered on the slippery clay path. Rain water had flooded part of the it. Most of the path had been very dangerously wet. A scattering of wood chips meant we now have a safer path to walk on to the greenhouses and hencoops.

Then scavenged for foods and on the way back, saw some bags of fallens leaves. For 2 to 3 hours, the rain had stopped, roads dried and it was extremely sunny. We went into the shopping mall and suddenly saw rain pelting down on the glass roof. It was very heavy. Then the rain stopped and we went for the leaves; and sadly the car was already quite full. I think we had about 4 to 5 bags of the leaves. This year, I think I had about 20 bags of leaves. Will chuck some to the birds and some to rot naturally.

Very depressing weather, but it's quite mild. By the end of the day, hopefully, we have one greenhouse insulated. Went to return a box of greaseband to British GC and found out that they issued you with either a credit note or gift card. A bit of nuisance. Then a couple next till dropped some glassy decoration and his partner had to drive home because the place didn't accept Apply pay. You feel sorry for businesses as I am pretty sure Apple Pay charges extra for the service. I also dislike the idea that you can't get discount, promotions because you don't have an expensive contract for a phone.

 

[Perki]

My sister doing a little bit better but still not well from what she was saying a couple of days ago , her husband totally fine even though he has had a positive test .

Its been drizzling here most of the day even though it forecast fine , the weather over the weekend was very wet and windy . I did a bit yesterday emptying the last dahlias out of pots, I've been cleaning them off with the hose this year can be bothered messing around picking every bit of compost off the tubers . I potted up the emptied pots with tulips, I've planted most of my bulbs except for alliums I haven't bought anywhere near as many bulbs this year.

sick to death of leaves this autumn I've shifted tons of the dam things . I don't bother with leaf mold its seems to take forever for them to break down, and having the space to compost them as well .

 

[alp]

Perki: Did your sister describe the symptoms to you? My helper said he had terrible flu like symptoms and it was awful. But that was before Covid was well known. Just a month before. Then last Thursday, his mum passed. It was very sad. He was a very good son, even tended to her lavatorial needs. She had Alzheimer's and had no idea who he was. This country is great. His mum lived in a home and had been taken good care of. When she was better, they sent her to his place on Tuesday and Wednesday and transported her to the home. So humane.

I was told to chuck leaves into the hen coop where the chickens would help disintegrate. I chucked a whole bag of dry leaves into the coop. I chucked the wood chips onto the path and to my surprise, the chickens were actually rummaging and digging amongst the patches.

We had a whole dry day yesterday and it rained after 4 or 5. I more or less dried my clothes outside. Alex Deakin said night time temperature would be 12c. I was so hot this morning that I thought the heating was on. Turned out to be 4am. I went back to bed and then got up 5am. Amazing how hot it was.

I had watched more or less all the true crime series and now had to move onto cooking and home improvement. Ugly House was unbearable to watch. This architect designed an extension with a front which rose up like a triangle on one corner. I remember when I wanted to have something built, the builder said he would only work according to an architect's specifications. Here this architect just chucked the design and asked the builder, not employed by him, to fashion it as it went along. The poor builder had to make it up as he went along. In the end, what is the point of having a taller triangular corner in your extension. Drama but no substance. Of course, the homeowners had to praise the architect for such an outlandish idea. They got to use an "architect" "for free"! A very costly higher corner!

Garden Rescue S2 is now on C5. I was very happy to have stumbled on the catch up. This couple spent at least 4k on a tri fold door and then left the team with 4k to do a big garden. Charlie didn't say they were mean to their face. I wanted to. Any way, she worked magic and the place was transformed into Ibiza style party place. Another couple had another huge garden which they had neglected for 27 years and hardly a plant in sight. Then asked for an Italian garden and they got it. I hope they have a gardener to keep it in shape. I don't see how they can keep all the boxes in shape. All the meticulous trimming and shaping call for a pair of steady and experienced hands.

It's going to be cold on Wednesday night, so folks, take good care of your tender perennials.

First time I have ordered something from Gardens4you. Hope it's good.

Some more streptocarpus to bring back memories

Beautiful Dracula

DS Solar Eclipse

Gina

Pink Lady

DS Glamourati.

 

[alp]

Did a lot of cuttings and removed most of the uliginosa to expose light so my irises can be accessed by sunshine and heat. Dug a ditch all along them to capture water.

• Cloched quite a few plants - Salvia Patens, some irises to speed their growth, hopefully,
• Layered a few branches of Cirsium Siliquestrum.
• Dusted the two hens which still had red and bald bottom and top rear ends and as soon as one had been dusted, she was released outside and it shook and shook its body and all the dust disappeared into thin air. All my hard work gone!
• Emptied 3 bags or 4 of leaves into the coop and dusted them as well. Also dusted the edges of the coop. Still have about 6 bags to go.
• Contacted a tree surgeon for a lorry load of woodchips, and he said yes. But then none came. His assistant said he had already tipped the load when I replied. I was so disappointed. But it's a useful contact. His men were working in Chadwell Heath, not far from here. Hopefully, next time. He offloaded once to my front lawn and it took a whole week for me to clear the front. It's not funny, but that is the most ecological way to bulk up the soil.

A most beautiful Yellow Peony Ludlowdii Lutea, but after flowering, it was the most awful looking spectre. I got rid of it as it took up so much room. But whenever I see it, I wish I had kept it. Such a zesty and uplifting happy flower!

 

[alp]

A glorious day and I planted out some hellebores which were dying from lack of water in the jam-packed greenhouse. Did more cuttings because of the cold predicted.

Hellebores

This one has a corona or nectary. I don't remember seeing this before.

Twister under a fiver!

Cirsium Trevor's Blue Wonder. Strange it's named so. Nowhere is it blue! I thought it had died. But hey, resurrection does happen!

This is a new plant in the back garden. I also have one in the front garden. I really like these. Red Lion perhaps, from Taylors.

Kept all 3 butternut squashes in the open greenhouse and some bugs or rats have had their Christmas early. So annoyed with myself. Could have taken them inside. I love these squashes. Also the seeds were from Ben next allotmenteer. He planted nothing but sweetcorns this year and there were so many that they just died on the plants. So sad. Yesterday, roasted dinner with our own allotment spuds. Lovely! A lovely flavour. Can't remember what name it was. I was expecting soggy potatoes when we went there, but it was near the shed and it was always warmer and dry.

I planted out my Brown Turkey yesterday, also did some Amistad cuttings. Today, I need to check my involucrata to see if it is frost damaged. Also took some Gurantica Black on Blue salvia cuttings. The plant was so buggy and small. I have a large clump in the allotment. Predicted to be 3c. Also I spotted 2 more snowdrop buds coming! So excited. I had already knocked down one. The nematodes still haven't arrived. I ordered one lot on 9th and no sight of it and the seller said they would send another lot. Son said that GTA style of robberies might have made away with lorry content, just like the one with Apple goods. Our world is getting uglier and uglier... Thank heavens we don't have so much proliferation of guns. My heart bleeds for our future generations.

 

[alp]

Woke up very early - before 4am. Got a delivery of some irises. One had half a rhizome and some 3 others were so dry as if there were no life left. I immediately planted them and as I opened the box the wrong way, I only found out after planting that I was supposed to soak it for hours. Well, I am hopeless. But why so dry? It's ridiculous and then they say that I wouldn't get any flower in one season! Ooops! Heartbreaking. Hope they flower before I die.

Amazing story

Most complete dinosaur fossils.

Here are fossils of another kind

Only half of the rhizome is here!

This is the half side of half a rhizome

I'm not sure this Crinkled Crinoline will live even after several hours of soaking.

They did give me 2 extras, but none of these lot. Very annoyed. IF they LIVED, it would be 2012 before I can see any flowers!

I want to send the supplier a quote from WB Yeats: Tread softly because you tread on my dreams

This just shows how windy the night before was! Whole frame decanted to next door's immaculate lawn.

 

[alp]

have insulated the glass of the first greenhouse and we were doing the floor. Luckily, alovely freegler delivered her cardboards and we have had 3 or 4 lots and yesterday marked the biggest. Now my hens will get cleaner beds and we will have more to line the floor.

Was angry with neighbour's gardener as I thought she cut my thick cable used to twirl round my apple. Neighbour's daughter had a look and said it was chewed and it could be the squirrels. Well, I am glad that at least I asked her. She said squirrels chewed up her fountain cable and the fountain wouldn't work any more.

This greenhouse will be full today.

Worked in the spitting rain the whole afternoon from 1.30 to 4pm. Another grey day today.

 

[alp]

Human beings microwaving fellow human beings as if they were foods. Do we really need to be this cruel to be in control?

************************

Some flowers are still in very good form: Penstemon Volcano series, especially, Arabesque Red F1 and my ensata Eileen's Dream

Son made a planter.

We will have some more right to the end of the path to house all my various pots.

A nice freegler got me some woodchips and we will collect iot today. I gave her some 10 eggs and a Salvia Amistad to show my gratitude. She made food parcels for those struggling. So I will give her another 10 today. I will collect some cardboards so that my chickens will have nice clean beds to sit on. One hen ate about 20 worms the day before yesterday. I was gobsmacked. These hens seem to have huge stomachs and will follow me round and round. One day, I wore a pair of beige socks and they kept pecking at them thinking it was their food. I will never wear them out there again!

 

[alp]

It has been another glorious sunny day, right up to 4pm. Did a bit of laundry and went to get a big industrial bag of woodchips. Dumped half on it in front of the greenhouses. Then dug up one Alstroemeria to give away to our lovely freegler who delivered the cardboards to me several times. I also gave her a Roc n Roll variegated alstroemeria in a pot. Then went shopping and went to allotment to take some Saliva Guarantica Black on Blue for cuttings. Some Rajmen's Firecracker as well. Sadly, the Rajmen's was a bit too old and they weren't ideal materials for cuttings.

Was supposed to take another 10 eggs to the lady who gave me woodchips, but forgot. I saw the hen drop an egg, wet and steamy! I'd never seen a hen laying egg in real life. Quite amazing!

Son knocked out another planter and all the stray plants in pots will be put in them.

Penstemon volcanic series Either Etna or Vesuvis

Teesbrooke Audrey

Omega

Penstemon Blackbird

Red Rock

Calibrachoa in my hanging basket

It was predicted to be a very cold winter. Keep warm and keep counting our blessings!

 

[marlingardener]

We have a lot of birds here on the farm. We are taking part in Cornell U.'s Feeder Watch and reporting our sightings. We saw this red-tailed hawk on Saturday.

With migration starting, we'll see a greater variety of birds, but we have the Cooper's and the red-tailed almost all year long.