Category: Garden

Posted on

SPRING

Wow – sunny and eventually warm. i just went and got jam strawberries from Draycott – they had none so picked a tray for me so I now have over 2kg of strawberries to hull and make into jam. Last weeks strawberries were bordering on orgasmic, these are just as good. i woke up early and was sad – it was quiet outside – I was hoping for a rousing dawn chorus. I only live 100m from woods but all was quiet until the blackbird and some doves started a duet.

Weather looks fair for next week, 10% chance of rain later, but 10% is like a heavy dew, right? So I will be watering every day from now until October! garden is rioting and out of control – brilliant! My yellow rose bush might have over a hundred blooms, I will wait and see how the newest arrivals do – a mearly black rose would be good if it can grow a little. Shropshire Lady rose is already in bloom (pink) and red rose not yet. But there are 8 others of various sizes and scents and blooms! I might take some to the shop – see what happens? On which – tomato plants were £4.50 each at Draycott. I know this is expensive but I have already promised most of my 50 seedlings away. I will plant a few more in greenhouse – 4 pots so maybe 8 plants and then save a few for braving the patio and front garden.

Posted on

TOMATO PLANTS

I have just planted up into big pots the first 8. A second lot will be done early next week – I will see how these get on. Lemon coriander and nasturtium doing ok. Chillies not so good. hanging baskets slow but it has been chilly at night. Apple blossom good, vine has leaves, as do the mulberry trees in the front. Apricot not flowering this year – maybe next. Wisteria in bloom – lovely. Lily is doing ok after mouse attack just one of three destroyed. Bulbs do not like me so summer collection have not sprouted – yet?

Yet to plant are coriander and basil. I might try a wild flower mix in the paper/card trays that have come with pots in the post. If I plant them in the greenhouse, then put out on the grass when they start to fall apart, the roots should grow through the board? Worth a try?

Posted on

Garden

22 April – 50 tomato plants now 10mm high – labels are awry! so a bit random – plum, cherry, normal – whatever! I will put them 2×2 into pots in greenhouse = 16, then another 10 in pots out front and on patio. So about 30 to give away – Aaron and Kate have had a couple so far, Matthew might like a few and then the children. I also just put in basil seeds. Nasturtium are doing ok. Pretty woman lily seems ok, and bird of paradise lily slower, no sign of flame lily yet. Lemon trees are looking OK’ish. Wall flowers are blooming lovely. What else will come up? Exciting to see if evening primrose and chicory reappear this year. Rose plants look ok so I hope to have yellow, red, black, white, pink and more.

Posted on

OMG WHAT A PLONKER!

So Trump says tariffs are going well – that is a bit like a football match and the teams line up – and saying that the match is going well! Stock markets around the world are falling, American businesses are having to pay more for raw materials, even if the product replaces imported ones. Other countries have not responded with their own tariffs – yet.

It makes no sense logically to impose tariffs on countries like the UK which have a nagative trade balance with the States? Personally I believe there are better ways to hit back rather than imposing tariffs in return. Making on line warehouse firms like Amazon pay high street rents would benefit the High Street too. Reciprocal tariffs will add to inflation at a time when firms are already struggling with new taxes and wages. The on line safety law should give a warning to social media companies – alternatives are available! Clamping down on the use of tax havens would be a brilliant start too.

Much is being said about pension funds. Those paying in will get more shares for their contribution than in the past, those like me with smallish pension pots will see their value decrease, but unless actively using the capital it makes little difference. So the press will make a big deal about nothing (except for the few caught. The press have made headlines with $trillions wiped off value – but then when you look at the figures it is a max of 5% fall so far. That might add up to trillions, but for the likes of me it means nothing even though I have a pension fund.

And the weather – temperatures are up but with a cold east wind it does not feel like it! It is windy. Just watered the greenhouse and tomato plants are doing well, as are the bedding plants for the hanging baskets, which are full already. I have planted nastutiumas I actually love eating them – other fads are ok, e.g. avocado – its ok but bland?

Posted on

PLANTS

Just planted :- lobelia ultra cascade; Nicotina eu de cologne; Petunia double orchid; petunia frenzy; Rudbeckle all sorts; Verbena quarts; bacopia Snowtopia; B.Lotto; B. Ormandy; gazania tiger stripes; geranium jackpot; impatiens busy lizzie island. I will put rest of lavender out next week.

Posted on

GARDEN

Hanging baskets planted with mixed begonia – I will not hang them quite yet – it should rain a little later and once hung they have to be watered everyday. Heater is on in the greenhouse for the tomatoes – so they will need waterint every day! Snake plant given to Aaron – below

I will split the remaining plant and the one in the bedroom to grow more!

Temperatures of 5C night to 16C day. So I might risk a bit more planting basil, sweet peppers, and then maybe buy a cucumber plant or 2. We are due a hot summer.

I have rosemary and lavender plants to put out tomorrow – by the path I think. Roses are looking good too – maybe 10 different ones, from almost black to deep red and also yellow and pink. Herbs are looking good, well rosemary and sage and bay are, the rest need a little more time – I need to weed/repot mints and then wait and see what else comes up – I think fennel will reseed (it was growing along the road in the gutter! and I hope the chicory and evening primrose make a welcome appearance.

Saw 2 brimstone butterflies yesterday which was great – I need to put the bee hotel up – by the kitchen side window I think – facing east for early morning warmth and avoiding heat of the day during our long hot summer.. On which, will the water companies whose reputation is trashed already by sewage and rising costs, cope with the negative publicity when they impose hosepipe bans and worse?

Posted on

SPRING IS SPRUNG

Well during the day it is – temps up to 19C here so … I have put in tomato seeds and some bulbs. Next up are some aubergine seeds and californian poppy and some lavendar seeds. The rest can wait until next month.

Posted on

Tomatoes

Weather is still freezing at night – frost last night, but looks like warming up by Wednesday 17C day time and 5/6C at night, so I will get planting seeds – I have a heater for the greenhouse if necessary! – so that will be the tomatoes, red pepper, and some herbs like basil. I also have ordered some pots for the snake plant which needs splitting. The size they are at, are going for £125+ online at at the garden centre! I have given a couple away to Holly and Kate, and Aaron has asked if he can have one. They make a great present as they are quite prectacular when over a metre high with a dozen leaves. I am not being tight but it costs me a pot and soil, and the reciepiant things the world of them!. Martin is coming round to cut the top off the wisteria before it takes the roof off – but the smell of that and the honeysuckle it cohabits with is amazing at dawn – worth standing by it for a few deep breaths to strt the day.

So a steak for lunch with roasties, carrots, broccoli and courgettes fried in garlic butter, I have also made baguettes which are hopefully rising so I can cook them when he leaves and gets home with them still warm for Felix (who loves them – more than me!)

I just entered my FIT – solar panels reading which looks quite small for the last 3 months, but hopefully we will have a sunny spring. I still do not understand why the clocks go back at the start of November – approx 45 days before winter solstice, yet go forward in 2 weeks – over a hundred days after the WS!

Posted on

CHILLI

Seeds planted but wtf! 12 seeds in a packet! I know it is pointless having 250 seeds to thin out, but 12! If they all germinate I will take back this gripe – chillies have thousands of seeds so why just 12? 20-25 would seem sensible. What ever – moan over. They are in the conservatory, nothing else planted yet although winter jasmine is smelling nice by the front door, i have hopes for the Bird of Paradise lily and hopefully season 3 of the flame lily.

Irrelevant fact for today ‘There are 5333 bell towers in the UK and only. 300 in the rest of the world”.

Welcome to the real world of politics Nigel. Farage has a dilemma, how to appease the hard right supporters who believe Trump to be sane, whilst attracting Conservatives from less looney parts. Starmer continues to do a sterling job of diplomacy between Trump and the EU regarding Ukraine. Blow Job has already defected wholeheatedly to Trump/Putin – at one time it seemed like he had a bus pass for Kiev – but yesterdays friends are dropped by the ****wit. Is there a more odious person in politics in this country? Farage runs him close but seems a little more honest in his dishonest beliefs! Truss is like a whinny gnat in the room when everyone is too pissed to track it down and thwack it! (Nice word THWACK?)

Musk has emailed American civil servants to justify their jobs The email came after Trump’s billionaire confidante Elon Musk posted on X that employees would “shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week”. I would email him back and ask how he has used his immense wealth for the benefit of anyone or the planet – a ****!

Posted on

NOT AN EJIT

Ok well, only just. Car had flat battery and I have a mobile charger (bought after last time!). And OK I did have to get instruction manual on how to open the bonnet! In my defence it was the slider bit not the actual trigger for the bonnet – and why have it in bright yellow when it is out of sight! A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse! Anyway the car is working again – I took it for a spin and then went to doctors for my repeat prescription (I left the engine running – just in case! So first the electrics, then the car and the third is the washing machine which decided to start leaking – but it is about 10years old which I guess is about right – new one being delivered on Thursday and the old one taken away. Domestic god or what (OK it is definitely an or what!). I am expecting the dishwasher to conk out next as it is over 20 years old.

Sun is shining and tomorrow should get warmer so I will plant chillies seeds in conservatory.

The news – well the Torygraph has a front page go at Angela Rayner for being in Ethiopia – I could not be bothered to read the details. The Express harps on about old people being cold – I have a secret for them. When little my bedroom had thick ice on the inside, we were shouted at to close doors constantly – a little cold is not a problem! (emphasis on “a little”!

Starmer is doing well! Perhaps diplomacy and the grand view of things is his forte? His comments have been considered and sensible – none of the populist slogan shouting. Thats why the Torygraph keeps a negative narrative on Starmers talks with EU leaders, and the Mail headlines Badenoch’s latest anti-woke bollocks. I guess Tories will have new leader after the May elections!