Magazine style - all inclusive

[alp]

Air is very fresh outside and as soon as I let the Silkie, Kusco, out, he made noises non-stop. Only one way to quiet him down. In the cage again. Very little I can do! I so want to slab him with an ASBO!

Will clear an area for the greenhouse or return it to grass. Bit worried that potatoes, hellebores and bind weed will come through the grass. In the allotment, some people either like potatoes or swear by not growing the stuff as they come back every year. Monty also said that even though he thought he had cleared a patch of the last vestige of potatoes, there was bound to be one coming back.

Shocking to see SE Asians queuing up for water because of the lack of monsoon rain! Very sad for them.

Salvia Solomon's Dance

Delicate beauty

Night Moth

Penstemon Phoenix

Apple Blossom

My 2nd Trollius Chinensis!

 

[alp]

My hydrangea is wilting under the heat and there is no rain in sight. Unfortunately, it's all over NE. I protected the teak furniture with Bertoline and as soon as I googled, it said it's not needed. Well, this set is more than 15 years old, so I guess it doesn't matter. But the solvent stinks and smells unnatural. I wish I had money to buy beewax!

Lovely penstemons - no Sour Grapes or Mother of Pearl though

All this time, this interesting rose is left unloved at the back. I think roses, cistus, achilleas and lilies are the only friends that I have. All wilting under the heat and 31c is predicted.

 

[alp]

An hour and 3/4 of watering whilst others are crying for too much rain! Heavens have lost their sense of focus! When the weather reports were on, I wished I were a witch who could will the neon blobs to pour down on east of London. Going to be a busy day. Need to clear the rhubarbs from the allotment and rejig my garden.

Snapped this on the way to town

Mock orange - wonderful perfume and loads of flowers

Some sage - next to a busy road - plants indigenous to Europe

How could some council gardener think it's a good idea to plant oak saplings next to a main road and there were quite a few of them! I should have felt shame the way I laid out my garden, judging by this! LOL!

 

[alp]

Been a very busy day! Went to B&Q and saw that the grass strips were reduced to 50p each. We took 18 and was worried that the car could not cope with the dead weight. I was reduced to wait and it took nearly 40 minutes. A staff member was joking with me, saying that if I were to try to sell the house using the grass to better the lawn, I might sell faster if I turned the grass strips the other way round. I just giggled and giggled. I said I might want to buy more. He said he would see if he could get a good price for me. He counted 11 and I counted 10 and we had a good laugh! He came back with 30p. I couldn't bear the idea of making my son going 6 trips as he took home 9 and if I added 10 to the remaining 9, the axle might punish us for being cruel. Hard to make him do 6 trips when he had to work from Monday to Saturday and Sunday was the only day of rest. Then a couple came and took them. They stood there the same time as me, as if they were not going to pay. At the end of 30 minutes, I said to them if they were not paying for them, I would pay for them as the staff member must be having his lunch break. Straight away, they pushed the trolley away from the outside pellet. I felt bad as they didn't look dishonest, but why wouldn't they pay? They looked at me and I looked at them. Any way, I realised that I really should have more as 18 strips wouldn't be enough.

Last night, I painted the teak set of garden furniture and wasn't amused as the colour outside the box was this colour

And the tin said Forest Green,

it turned out to be

And it's watery. 10 coats more like it, not one coat!

Now, I am totally exhausted. Very happy as the boss of a plant centre gave us a Salvia Patens for free. He's always very generous. He said his friend grew them for him in Nazeing. Most beautiful salvias and they were of very good size. Also, got a tiny Trollius Chinensis for £2 and it's teasing me with one tiny bud! Went to the allotment and planted out some more plants. Most pleasant weather as it was cloudy with a gentle breeze.

 

[Perki]

Your not buying turf alp ?

My visits today to 3 GC didn't go well didn't get any plants for me planted a few plants out this afternoon when i got back .

 

[DirtMechanic]

I see I have to come all the way over here to say Hey! @alp. It looks like proceedings are of your usual high quality!

 

[alp]

Your not buying turf alp ?

My visits today to 3 GC didn't go well didn't get any plants for me planted a few plants out this afternoon when i got back .

Oh, yes! turf!

And we're already a scorcher!

 

[alp]

I see I have to come all the way over here to say Hey! @alp. It looks like proceedings are of your usual high quality!

All contributions welcome!

 

[alp]

And tomorrow

So much for the warning for rain for me!

The sun is already out and no hazy sunshine like yesterday's!

My lilies at the front is still very slow. I have found that I have a new friend for my droughty hot weather - Agastache!

 

[alp]

I can't believe it! Not a drop of rain whilst the neon blobs were supposed to be under the word London and that's where I am! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Painted these furniture about 5 times despite the Ronseal tin says One coat! I think it missed a 0 i.e 10!

We returned these to the lean to, dreading the PREDICTED rains! Ah, no! a few drops and even those were sporadic!

 

[DirtMechanic]

@alp you trust so much!

 

[alp]

It is raining now, but one butt is 3/4 full and another half full and yet another one empty, so it must have rained about an hour seriously, not from 3am onward.

Just gone out to let the chickens out! Heavens have heard me and have punished me with stoppage! LOL!

This is so hilarious!

Apparently, another person who wanted to be our PM had a dig as well,

Source

Who says politics is boring!?


Some snaps from yesterday

I have a group of these lilies and this is the first one, with red edges to the petals.

The salvia patens that I bought! Very pretty!

Must have grown under the magic of polytunnel! Will definitely take cuttings. Can let history repeat itself.

I had never raised sweet peas from seeds until this year. I bought the fragrant ones and they don't disappoint!

 

[Perki]

Bad time to be turfing alp , the grass needs watering continuously for at least 2 weeks and with your warm weather twice a day, is the turf for the allotment. your bench etc are looking good painted up .

Very busy a work and in the garden at the moment, I were having a tidy round the garden last night cutting aquilegia seed heads off before they spread around everywhere, potted up a couple more pots the plants in the GH are slowly going down , lots to do still haven't picked my strawberry yet but for the odd one walking past I wonder how many are left for me now after the slugs and snails . I've decided I have to many dahlia's but oh well didn't come back in last night from the garden till 10.30.

 

[alp]

Bad time to be turfing alp , the grass needs watering continuously for at least 2 weeks and with your warm weather twice a day, is the turf for the allotment. your bench etc are looking good painted up .

Very busy a work and in the garden at the moment, I were having a tidy round the garden last night cutting aquilegia seed heads off before they spread around everywhere, potted up a couple more pots the plants in the GH are slowly going down , lots to do still haven't picked my strawberry yet but for the odd one walking past I wonder how many are left for me now after the slugs and snails . I've decided I have to many dahlia's but oh well didn't come back in last night from the garden till 10.30.

Yes, I hate aquilegias - they are everywhere! Up my nose and down ... Grrrrrrrrrr! So very annoying!

Been giving away my rhubarbs roots dug from my alloment! Very popular! 2 households came last night and I avoided all contacts - please no need to ring bell, just choose and pick from the box and be my guest! (box is cheap or it will be removed with the roots) I might be cynical!

The turf is for the garden. We need to simplify the garden and sell up. The buyer pulled out, AGAIN! Well, how could they ask me to move within 4 to 6 weeks? I have tons of babies in my garden!

Late night in the garden - good for your soul. I was drenching in sweat right from the morning - it was so humid. Painted the teak furniture for hours and numerous times. I will finish the whole tin and I have to say this Ronseal is really rubbish. Wish I had read the review. One star all round. And the colour is not dark shiny. I might buy gloss to gloss over it. But I have already forked out £20 plus for 4 tins of this liquid. Probably not any more money. I need to rein in my expense. At my favorite gc, someone called out my name. I turned round to see the guy with BEAUTIFUL chickens. He got some irises from me. We both love this gc and would visit it every weekend. He spent £25 on a Canna. I was crying over the £10.99 orchid, just like the one Zenj showed us! Every time I saw it, I said, "No, you really should spend so much money on it! Wait till it was reduced to £2.99!" Came home, I said, "Your idiot! Why didn't you buy it? It might not be there next time and you could split it into 5 pots!"

 

[alp]

Internet played up. Friend came with an ADHD student and they helped laid the turf! Amazing what friends I have! Most of it done. Yesterday was soooooo humid. Was perspiring profusely in the morning. They came in the evening and had to go to the back of the property to climb over a small wall as I lost my keys, again! After that, the boy played the piano and it's amazing how much energy he had.

Planted out the alstroemerias, again, and had to use slug pellets and even they hadn't stop the critters from crawling on top of the flowers. Killed 2 and I really hope I can get some seeds out of them.

Need to go to the allotment today.