Anyone for Gardening?

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  • daffy2
    daffy2 Member Posts: 1,636
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Took advantage of the good weather to do a bit of 'outdoor housework'. I've strimmed the bits of lawn I need to access for the clothes line etc to make it easier to see and avoid the feline pooh and puke deposits, and had a satisfying bonfire session to reduce the 2 large heaps of hedge and tree trimmings(from cutting back overhanging herbiage belonging to neighbours each side) My hair and clothes have a nice outdoorsy smell and my back is saying it's contemplating a strop - but I don't care, it was lovely to be out in the sun and hearing the birds.
  • applerose
    applerose Member Posts: 3,621
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    My daughter and son are buying me a greenhouse for my birthday. Haven't decided yet exactly what I want but got ready to go outside to measure up to work out where to put it and what size I should get. As I was putting my shoes on, I thought I might just do some tidying up and cutting back while I was out. By the time I went outside, it was pouring down so I got a bit wet and no work got done. :heart_eyes: At least the daffs are starting to open and I spotted the grape hyacinths are flowering.
    Christine
  • ScottiePam
    ScottiePam Member Posts: 32
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Things are a bit slower up here in Scotland, especially on the East Coast. Currently planning wind/rain/frost/heat(?!) protection as this weather is here to stay. Ordered plastic dowels and cover frames from Link-a-Bord as I can no longer make them myself. This should be fun............ :oops:
    Have started off Tomatoes, Peppers and Cape Gooseberries in the propagator. Next are veggies and greens, salads already on the go in raised beds - Mizuna and Spinach do ok in the cooler weather. Off for a sandwich after all that talk of food. :)
    SP
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Snowdrops? Check.

    Cyclamen? Check.

    Daffs? Check.

    Lawn crocus? Check.

    Tulips? Check (note to self, not enough of them).

    Star magnolia? Trying.

    Iris? Getting there.

    Bird boxes? Sadly, no interest. :(

    DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • applerose
    applerose Member Posts: 3,621
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    My snowdrops have finished now but I have a few crocus. Tulips have a lot of leaves but no sign of flowers. There are some lovely yellow wild flowers in the lawn. Think they are aconites. Grape hyacinths are still doing well but are still in a pot. Must get them planted in the ground. Cyclamen leaves have almost doubled from last year. Hyacinths are on their way up and all the shrubs have buds on.

    I did manage to cut the front lawn and cut back the pavement side of the hedge. It was so lovely to be out in the sun.
    Christine
  • Airwave!
    Airwave! Member Posts: 2,466
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Well, snowdrops have just decided to join in (must make a note to talk more sternly to them), about time, eh. Madam informs me that gardening starts tomorrow (!??), oh well must be official then! Thought I'd better get the pressure washer out and clean the balcony, shed steps and paths. GC's have been enjoying the sun and mud for the last few days, we watched 15 month old gs taking his first steps of discovery on Thursday, found a nice muddy stretch and was picking it up and squeezing it through his hands, totally absorbed.......don't know who was enjoying it the most him or us? Mum arrived and was so taken with watching her son that she forgot to blame grandparents for getting him all mucky.

    The eldest (5 1/2) mentioned ice cream but grannie managed to put him off for a few more days. Big plans for planting lots of new shrubs this year, tree surgeon coming in next week so should have more light coming into bottom of garden.
  • Airwave!
    Airwave! Member Posts: 2,466
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Where are aĺl the gardeners? Anyrate, work is full ahead here, I cut the grass, first level at the back today, just a quick trim to get it all level again. Greenhouse put back together (again), the plastic panels keep blowing out. We have shrubs waiting to go in to the cleared areas to give new life and shape to the garden, this is the OH s job. New topsoil should be with us next week, 1/2 a ton to go from top to bottom in the wheelbarrow, no volunteers in sight!

    Bath next, to ease my achy bits.
  • applerose
    applerose Member Posts: 3,621
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    I'm here but haven't done any work since last time I posted. The daffs are looking good now but only got 10 flowers out of 50 bulbs. Tulips are in bud and hyacinths are looking really good. I planted a tiny thyme plant last year. It's looking very good and bushing out well. Put some in sausage rolls I made the other day and it tasted lovely.
    Christine
  • Airwave!
    Airwave! Member Posts: 2,466
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Thyme? Not usually one we bother with, I will make the effort to put some in, we try and keep herbs close to the house, come to think of it we might need to replant a few more herbs.

    Todays job is the dump, when gc have gone. :lol: Just trying to write this without little'uns help, have to keep going back and correcting his wayward finferwork!
  • ScottiePam
    ScottiePam Member Posts: 32
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Thyme is a great herb for soup, herbal remedies (one cooking for a syrup for a rotten cold as I write), foot powder, etc, etc.
    We have lots of herbs, medicinal and culinary, and some just for fun. Patch is under review this year.
    As I have had to draw in a bit re distance humfing pots about, all my produce is in the big fruit cage. Wander round my raised beds like Capability Brown. Great therapy the garden, with the scents from herbs, and all the soft colours. Meditate there while the next-door cats pretend they don't know me.......... :P
    P
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    My aquilegia (sp?) are appearing, their pretty leaves are sprouting here, there and everywhere. I adore them and luckily inherited a few when we moved here. Now we have many thanks to my seed-scattering activities (that's one of the three bits bit of gardening I can manage).

    Our star magnolia was blitzed by Monday's gale but has rallied and is beginning to look more glamorous as each day passes. The tulips are opening and my iris leaves are getting stronger - I hope I have some flowers this year. All the roses are coming along a-pace and the pansies P planted along the drive in January are thriving. The couple of primroses on the drive are looking rather moth-eaten so I guess the slugs and snails are waking up. :roll: DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • Airwave!
    Airwave! Member Posts: 2,466
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Columbine, its easier to spell! I have been informed by swmbo that we have plants arising from the depths, neither of us know what they are, almost like a small lily but no flower yet a while and we can't remember planting them?

    I have sprinkled many lbs of seeds over the last few years, wild flowers, but...............unless its a different type of poppy I have sown?
  • applerose
    applerose Member Posts: 3,621
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Was looking out the window this afternoon and spotted a flower on my peach tree. Yes that right 'a' flower. I will guard it with my life. :sland-shark:
    Christine
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    A flower on your peach tree? How lovely!


    Hyacinths have appeared! White ones lining the drive and a couple of pretty pale pink ones in one of the flower beds. I also have one camellia on the plant I bought last December (a bee fought me for it but I won!) I also have very fat buds on my rhododendron Cunningham's White and opening buds on the other called Blue Tit (from the impeditum group, don't I sound knowledgeable? :wink: )
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • applerose
    applerose Member Posts: 3,621
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    DD, I have now found 3 flowers on my peach tree. How is your magnolia doing now? Your garden is sounding lovely.

    Airwave, I'm always finding things in the garden and wondering where they came from. I'm sure the birds put some of them there. I just noticed today that I've got poppies growing in amongst some clematis I put in to a pot. Don't ask. I can't remember why I put them there now. :lol:

    Our garden recycling was supposed to be picked up last Tuesday but apparently because there was no demand they aren't coming now for another fortnight. I've got 5 big bags already and still have one side of a hedge to cut down and the back lawn to trim. :?
    Christine
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    The star magnolia is making a good recovery, all the tatty bits were blown away and now there are many more fat buds appearing; there's a honeysuckle mixed in with it so the contrast of the white flowers with the bright green leaves of that is very pretty! Nurture those flowers but I guarantee there will be storms to blow them away. :roll:

    I mucked about outdoors yesterday, putting our all my garden solar lights which were stored in the garage over winter. I have seventeen in total and thirteen lit up - the problem this morning is I can't recall which four didn't! DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • Airwave!
    Airwave! Member Posts: 2,466
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    We have cleared the branches of our neighbours fir trees, I now have the job of removing 50 years of dretrius fallen off the fir trees plus the piles of shredding remains still there. I have a three pronged rake thingy, the rubbish is up to a foot deep in places, dig, rake, shovel, wheelbarrow and dump it in one spot. I did six barrowloads over three days and I'm creamcrackered.

    Theres about another 30+ loads at least till we see the original soil underneath, I think I need some help! A physiotherapist, a masseur and at least a consultant in something or other! Oh and a man who does.......
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    I thought that the tree's owners were responsible for clearing any debris their trees have caused. In the days when I had to but back branches that were hanging over our garden the detritus was hurled back over the fence for them to deal with - and vice-versa. This sounds too much for you to manage, Airwave, can you rustle up any help from somewhere? How's about contacting people who deal with those doing Community Service? DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • Airwave!
    Airwave! Member Posts: 2,466
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Its all very well being in the right but it doesn't get the job done. The row of trees at about 60 foot high are illegal but the council charge £350 to take up your case with no gurantee of if or when anything will get done.

    We have been in dialogue for 16 years with the previous owners who refused to do anything, the new owners have built flats and use an agency to manage, but won't spend or do anything.

    So I took charge and had all the branches on our side cut, fait accompli! Lucky I don't cut the roots on our side. Might get some decent fruit on our trees?

    Yes it is too much for me, I'll hire a odd job man to do the labour.

    We had a flat owner come to complain that we had cut the hedge down but it was the ivy on our fence, haha, he said, 'but I can see your garden'. Tough!
  • Airwave!
    Airwave! Member Posts: 2,466
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Its all right you lot, you can come in now, rant over! :cheers:
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    My neighbour M had to take direct action (as have you); the bottom of her not-very-big garden is in total shade thanks to two enormous eucalyptus trees. In January 2014 one of the enormous branches came down and smashed her chimney to bits which in turn fell on her car. Her insurance covered the bills but the trees' owners did not make any contribution towards the costs she had to pay out, and they are still refusing to trim the trees. This year M took it into her hands and had a tree surgeon come in and remove everything on her side of the fence. The trees look lopsided, and the owners are far from happy about that, but they still concern her (and me) - if one of them comes down towards us our kitchen will be eradicated. You can bet your bottom dollar they won't fall towards the owners' house!

    I am pleased you are going to get some help. Conifers are a nightmare to manage. DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • applerose
    applerose Member Posts: 3,621
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Good for you for getting that done Airwave although you shouldn't have had to. One of the flat owners can see your garden? Well now isn't that a shame. :bouncing-ball:

    That is shocking DD that the neighbours don't seem in the least bothered about the damage and the fact that someone could get seriously hurt.

    My neighbour's hedge is at the bottom of their garden and at least 20 feet high now and still growing. I did cut off some overhanging branches and I threw them back over the fence. There are some overhanging again but about 15 feet up so I can't get at them. Fortunately, the sun goes down round the side of it so it isn't affecting the light for me.

    My daughter sent me a voucher for my birthday to put towards buying a greenhouse. No idea where I'd put one. Along a fence where the kids are forever kicking their footballs over, up against the shed just outside the kitchen window which will block half my view of the garden, in a corner that gets no sun or behind the shed which will mean digging up lots of irises and an acer palmatum and also footballs coming over. Decisions decisions. :sland-shark:
    Christine
  • Airwave!
    Airwave! Member Posts: 2,466
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Just wait till the summer, I have four gc under six, the first thing they want to do is get naked, get in the pool and then run round screaming, bounce on the trampoline, down the slides then into the playhouse, bedlam but very funny! Even more noise can be generated by chasing them round the garden with the hose! :splash: parents love them going home happy and tired.

    Applerose, have a slightly sideways thought about a greenhouse, you could use two small ones, they don't have to be glass these days, oh even uses a temp one just to get plants going, come the winter it gets put away. Our big 12 x 8 one now has some plastic twin walled polycarbonate panels in rather than the original glass. You could use two up against the house, under the windows or I have seen a pyramide type one? Plastic bags are good for growing potatoes in. Lots of choice.
  • applerose
    applerose Member Posts: 3,621
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Isn't that what summer is all about? Having the kids running about having a brilliant time. Hmm, 2 smaller greenhouses. I'll have a think about that. I've been looking at the polycarbonate ones. I think they are less likely to get broken but it seems they get blown out. Have you found that? I have a small plastic one I've used for the last few years(although I bought a new cover for this year). Potatoes are in bags and tomatoes and peppers are in pots in the porch for now.
    Christine
  • Airwave!
    Airwave! Member Posts: 2,466
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Yes, we do lose the occasional panel, I thought it was due to not having been made to take these panels mind you 90mph winds don't help. A sheltered garden should be fine. Our greenhouse has been moved so many times that its a touch on the fragile side. I have at different times made wooden tables or used old kitchen tables inside, it must be getting on for 30+ years old. I have never made a proper base for it just used old paving slabs. I don't know what I'd do without it, it keeps oh amused for ages! We even have field mice living there and sloe worms. Gc have started getting involved as well.

    :hammock:
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