Magazine style - all inclusive

[alp]

What a lovely way to spend a weekend and it didn't rain for your nephew's wedding day. Just pure bliss! Must google Otterburn castle. In fact, we had very little rain yesterday although we had been warned that we would be neon on blue. In fact, it never rained a drop until we came home at 3pm. Even that was not heavy. Today I have to do the laundry and I am already worried that the clothes wouldn't dry properly.

Yesterday, I freegled a hand push lawn mower for the allotment and was too late for the water butt and stand. Apparently, quite a few people had rat problems and we were not the only ones trying to buy rat annihilators.

Yesterday, I was on the way to feed the chickens and saw the top of the hen coop totally off. My heart stopped and was worried that I would have 2 more headless carcasses. The two poor dears stood there, totally transfixed and scared. The hinge was broken and I fed them and normally the mealworms are a happy treat, but this time, they were too scared to even move, not to say eat. Sometimes, you worry that you have chickens and yet you can't insulated them against foxes, just like you have children and you can't give them 100% protection.

 

[alp]

Went to the allotment and did some serious weeding, harvest some sweet corns and more toms. A couple gave us some toms which were much bigger and redder than ours on Sunday and we had a curry with it yesterday.

Saw a lady harvesting her runner beans for seeds. Gosh, I have never seen the thickness or length of such beans - twice the thickness and 2 times the length. Amazing! But she seems reluctant to share her stuff, so I didn't ask her. A guy bought some smoke garlic and talked about how different it tasted to the normally grown ones. I knew they were delicacy sold to top restaurant. This reminds me of the giant smoker that DirtMechanic had shown us. Amazing stuff!

I think I will sow some garlic, sprouts and spring cabbage if I have any.

All the water butts are full bar one. I watered some of the driest parts in the garden yesterday, in the rain! I was so worried about the water bill that I had sent them £300 whilst I spent the same money when I had my lean to built £148! All for watering the plants. I will have a refund within 10 days.

Going to sow butterfly weed seeds, and some of my own agapanthus.

Killed a tiny mouse last night when I moved a stool to stand on to put something on the top shelf in the kitchen. I couldn't believe I was faster than the critter. My heart was racing in the process and after. Then when I removed a heavy bag of leads, cables, I saw a dry up corpse of a bigger one. My house is full of it. Went to Home Bargains on Sunday and bought a tiny bottle of peppermint essential oil which is half the size of the one from H&B. It was 99p and now £1.49. For two nights, the whole living room was full of peppermint smell. Such a scary prospect of having mice inside the house. I think I have seen 3 dead ones and 3 live ones.. I do hope they were the same critters! It seems to me the weather might be turning cold very quickly and that these critters are heading for the warmth indoors!

 

[Zenj]

Off the grid for 15 days we are off to Turkey tomorrow for some sunshine ,sick of all this rain

 

[alp]

15 days of sunshine and good foods! Who can blame you? Yesterday, I started to feel what it's like living in Lancasshire or Newcastle and it's not funny. It was heavy rain and dark and I couldn't even grope in the dark, which I did a lot when son was in uni! Have a good trip. Shame I didn't ask you to upload photos of your castle stay.

Yes, all the butts are full and containers of water everywhere. I hope to bump into Humberto next year. Soon, we will have Lorenzo and let's hope he veered off to the sea!

It's very cold last night and all our windows are shut because winds picked up suddenly. This morning, there is serious condensation in the bay window

Will go to the allotment and do some clearing.

Funny that my dying camera has now started to take these salvias clearly!

This is a Neon from Longacres

Lobelia - very late and slow flowering. Love it as I have tried it about 3 times.

Aster Girasol!

Salmon Dance

A newly bought dahlia for £2. Very happy with it.

 

[alp]

It was such a lovely day yesterday, despite the cold start. Went to the allotment to weed, clear and mulch. Bumped into my namesake and we had a good old chat and laugh with Jenny. My namesake just made me laugh. Saw her in summer with woollen jumper and today, she had a summer short sleeves drip dry! She went back home to celebrate her birthday, a present from her daughter and apparently, the lovely hot weather stayed with her.

Got rid of most of the sweetcorns and some Toms, and son wheeled 6 barrow-load of bark mulch to the plot. We are very lucky as we are near the mulch heap and water source. Mary next door allowed me to layer her white dessert grape vine and I have now 2 pots and I, in turn, gave me a bit of Dahlia Honka Veronne's Obsidian.

The weather was so good that I went back to the allotment after 3pm and came home at 5.

Snapshots from allotment

Lobelia Tupa certainly enjoys the openness and sunshine in the allotment and is much more advanced in flowering!

Rajman firecracker seems to know it's a bit late and blooming in a simpler form, but still my namesake loved it, saying that it's different!

Creme de cassis is most delicate and yet they all stand on robust stems and it's truly prolific. They don't collapse on the ground, quite unlike Rothesay Reveller!

Nerine!

Aster Girasol and it's very happy!

Self seeded butterfly bush!

Cape fuchsia has found a place to call home!

To feed the chickens soon. Hen is in love with the rooster, all coy and docile and accommodating, except when it's feeding time. She would block the entrance to the resting compartment so that she could devour all the mealworms. The rooster is slow and, could I say, a bit stupid! I deliberately gave him some mealworms in a separate tray, and yet it would take him a long time to turn his head and started pecking. Thank heavens there are only 2 left or he would starve, being so slow!

 

[alp]

Not so cold today and not so wet either. Lorenzo must have veered off.

Hope other parts are not drowned in rain. Really isn't that pleasant.

Went to the allotment yesterday and mulched 1/5 of the area. Planted out garlic and took some random cuttings from Girasol aster. Rewatched some Gardeners' World and will take more cuttings. The head gardener lady said she took 3000 cuttings and now I know the secret to masses of the same plants. Want to erect the greenhouses, but there is not 2 dry days in a stretch!

Glorious Girasol

Another beautiful dahlia

Aster Bahamas

Two days ago when it was sunny, tons of chunky bees were wining and dining here .. as if they were in Bahamas!

Nerine

Rajman Firecrackers next to Gaura, Achillea and hydrangeas

Lovely penstemon

Gaura

Argyranthemum

Never wanted to keep this hypericum, but now it's simply gorgeous

I might move it back home to add a bit of colours to my front lawn. Such a joy and the berries are most dainty!

Bog sage very happy in my dry and sunny allotment.

Beautiful blue colour, not the aconite (violet) or the eryngrium (grey) that Carol Klein talked about. Azure blue - uplifting and magical blue!

 

[Perki]

Looks like you are really enjoying your allotment alp must be nice talking to like minded people when your gardening. My salvia Uliginosa has disappeared I think the delphinium bullied it so its given up the ghost. I did buy another for mum but its still here so I think I'll claim it instead .

Rain all last night and still still drizzling now , before that we had two frosts but nothing looks harmed.

 

[Perki]

Few pic i took today

Reseeded the front lawn

 

[alp]

So beautiful your garden is, Perki! A feast for the eyes. How many David Howards have you got please? There seems to be a big group of them. Very prolific!

The lawn looks gorgeous.

Perki, do try to get an allotment plot and I am sure you will enjoy it. It's the best thing I have done for a long time. People there are impossibly nice. Since you're so young, I am sure you can find some long-term good friends there. Do think about it. Ah, it does appear like a bus man's holiday! Hehe! Must end here as I'm using son's Mac and he can't wait to get back on. Have a nice weekend!

 

[Perki]

They is 2 david howard plants in the barrel , they are quite large tubers now I had to force one into a 10litre pot in spring think I'll need a bucket next year.

Allotments are hard to get hold off round here , my mum signed up years ago must of been 4 year ago a least still not heard anything. Just had a look at one its closed for new applicants I wouldn't fancy any other ones. I don't think I would have time either working then home garden plus others bits and bats .

 

[alp]

I think my Edinburgh? / Rothesay Reveller is equally prolific!

But it seems to be your David Howard can stand up on their own whereas mine just collapses onto the ground - too many flower on one stem and too heavy for the main stem to support. I remember Monty's David Howard seems to be taller whilst yours is just right. So difficult to keep the nutrients right in a barrel or pot and yet they grow so happily in yours. Have you got a magic formula.

I am lucky that I have 4 allotment plots around this area. Mine is a bit further out. I only paid £25 for a half tiny plot. Having said that, when it comes to watering in high summer, it's too big for me!

Having decided to stay here for one more year, I put the snowdrops back into border again! Can't bear them in pots as I don't know how to keep the nutrients right. I'm waiting for the bamboos to grow to hide neighbour's wild wild west, but they seek the sun and they bend towards the other side! Grrrrrrrrrrr!

I will pour the horse manure on the top of the emptied border and get more when the weather is drier! Heavens know when!

I know why Zenj is now in Turkey! Sodden England!

 

[alp]

It obviously rained as the ground is wet, but it's not raining.

Washed about 100 pots yesterday and think these pot designers are having a laugh as they are so different in shape. Some with just 3 to 6 holes in the bottom, some with a line across, a circle in the middle, a cross across, 3 line or 4 lines .. Just gave me headache whilst stacking them on top of each other.

This has been a disastrous year for dahlias - I have 7 clumps - non-flowering and if they are, they are horrible red. No Art Nouveau, no white cacti, no Hazy Days, no Teesbrook Audry, no Dandy.. no big yellow Dinner plate Kelvin Floodlight or Dinner plate pink. no Bishop of Llanduff!

 

[alp]

Just been googling about hellebores and stumbled on this article

Hellebores: a heavenly flower for filling in early-spring gaps

Where to buy them, how to look after them and how to stop them drooping as soon as they are picked?

www.ft.com

Amazing! Didn't know the relationship between Twelve nuns and Harvington and was wondering why 12 nuns said OUR FLOWERS WERE MENTIONED by...

Correction - it has been pouring down buckets. I didn't know as I looked through my triple glazed window and when I opened the kitchen door to the lean to - there I could hear it pouring down .. Let go of some water as all the butts bar one are full! Now, I'm all wet. I wish I had taken tons of aster and penstemon cuttings. They will love this weather! Such a lovely amount of rainfall was simply unheard of here!

 

[alp]

Not an ideal for laundry, but it has to be done. My major bugbear with winter - can't dry clothes properly!

A very busy day it was yesterday. Got an alstroemeria roc n roll for £5, a Salvia with variegated leaves, a rudbeckia and Ex Wyevale was getting rid of their cyclamena, pansies and violas for 50p a tray. All the cyclamens are out in the shade. Today, I need to pot up the pansies and viola and the tulips and irises I bought last week. Now, I really don't see the point of buying pansies as they are dirt cheap.

2 trays of echnaceas are sprouting, so are the Lupin and salvia and some others. Not cold at all and we haven't turned on the central heating. Saw Carol Klein in her cottage series and was so pleased that she demonstrated how to twin scale snowdrops. I will definitely do that next year. Also, I would like to propagate daffs using the spooning method. Hope some gardening programmes will show this instead of focusing on dogs, cats! I don't mind twice or thrice in a programme.. getting a bit boring!

 

[Perki]

What do you do with all these plant you buy alp ? I haven't bought any plants for ages now still thinking of the master plan or can't source them.