My Garden

Idle chat

Last post 22-11-2009 2:37 PM by EvaInNL. 4426 replies.

• 28/02/2009 09:08 PM

  mrs_crocosmia Location: Caistor,UK Joined on: 23 May 2008 Posts: 70

  Reply | Contact  Hello everyone, We have been ill with a virus that a friend came by and left us, she is now banned from our house until further notice!!!! since we cannot go to her house if we even have allergy sniffles. Only fair!! We did go down to Little Marcle and met Philippa Browne, a former breeder of Crocosmia, and roamed around her nursery Overseas, WOW! oops side tracked there sorry, we now have much of what she has bred in our collection!! It is so exciting to have them and see what will come of them. She bred many crocosmia, some are Sultan, Harlequin, Gloria, Dusky Maiden, Custard Cream and many more. She is a very interesting and nice lady to talk to and we spent a couple of hours there with her. Below is her nursery....there are 6 poly tunnels in all   if you clear it, plant it....the weeds will come!! So plant more!!!

• 28/02/2009 11:10 PM
  Phot's-Moll Location: The sunny South coast. Joined on: 06 Jan 2007 Posts: 3,347	Reply | Contact  Poor you Mrs C - I'm sure your excitement about the plants will help your recovery though. Our hedgehog is back!  When the security light came on, I thought it was a cat and got up to shout at it (not that that does any good) and there he was snuffling about. Aaaw, he's so cute ...   Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you cannot, you are right.

• 01/03/2009 09:32 AM

  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 5,200

  Reply | Contact Hope you're fully recovered soon Mrs C, there's been so many bugs going around these days. Yes Susiq, the Lavatera does grow wild.  I usually cut it back at this time of year and it doesn't take long for the new shoots to appear.   It should be ok to transplant the broad beans to fill in the gaps Anemone or you could start some off in pots in the greenhouse and plant them in the gaps  once they've been hardened off. I made that lemon mousse yesterday and we all enjoyed it.  I had to substitute the clotted cream (shop didn't have any) for double cream and it came out well.  The sherbert on the top at serving time really gives it the edge, the only problem we had here was a small fight between OH and son to see who was going to have the lolly that was in the sherbert packet - OH won. sue1002

• 01/03/2009 11:20 AM

  Anemone Location: County Down, Northern Ireland Joined on: 08 Feb 2008 Posts: 575

  Reply | Contact Hi everyone. Hope you're feeling better soon Mrs C. Thanks for the Broad Bean advice Sue1002, I'll give it a go.  Truth be told I probably have too many as only I eat them.  I have a hot chocolate fudge cake - bought rather than home made - for dessert today so I'll try the lemon mousse next week, glad it was good.  Very naughty OH, taking sweeties from the child. Susiq, I went to the party last night and it just confirmed I am a grumpy old woman and what's more I don't care.  The band was very good but way too loud, conversation was impossible.  Also several of the party girl's friends had toddlers with them.  Their mums were drinking their heads off and the kids running wild.  I had my 16 year old with me, it was a cousin on their dad's side's birthday, and had to watch like a hawk to make sure he didn't have any more to drink than the couple of pints of shandy I allowed him.  We did a Cinderella and left before midnight.  Hope your hedgehog gets busy munching slugs Phot's. Anemone

• 02/03/2009 11:13 AM
  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 5,200	Reply | Contact  I would have done the same as you Anemone, loud music isn't for me these days. We woke up to a frost this morning but the sun is out now and warming things up. sue1002

• 02/03/2009 11:19 AM

  Susiq Location: Northumberland Joined on: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 1,104

  Reply | Contact Hi everyone, I couldn't get on here yesterday, it said the link was down? Hope your'e better soon Mrs C. sounds like you've got a lot more planting to do with your new crocs. MORE of the sweet stuff eh Sue1002! I'm pleased to report that all of the white toms have now germinated! Ah a hedgehog, no matter where I've lived I've never once seen a hedgehog, I don't know why we don't have them here tho'? Do you feed it Phot's? Definately a symptom of grumpy old womandom in saying the band was too loud Anenome I'm going to clear out the troughs today to get them ready for planting up, itching to put my new geraniums in them, but fear we are in for more frosts for a while, so I'll just have to try to be more patient!

• 02/03/2009 02:36 PM
  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 5,200	Reply | Contact I'm pleased the white toms have all germinated for you Susiq.  Mine are coming on well too and I'll get them pricked out and potted up in the next couple of days. Half the sweet peas I sowed last week have germinated so far and quite a few other seeds are coming up too but still no sign of the chillies yet. sue1002

• 02/03/2009 06:21 PM

  Susiq Location: Northumberland Joined on: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 1,104

  Reply | Contact That's great on your sweet peas Sue1002, sometimes they can be a bit difficult in germinating. No sign of my chillies either, but some of the packets say up to 41 days - why 41? I haven't got a clue - needless to say, they will probably be longer than the tomatoes! The other thing that hasn't happened for me is the cucumber seeds, no indication on the packet on how long to germinate - any ideas? I've potted on my allium seedlings today as they were getting quite tall. Well they've just been banging on, on the weather forecast of more doom and gloom frost-wise for the rest of the week - just when I was beginning to think spring was (almost) around the corner!

• 02/03/2009 08:44 PM

  miranda Location: Oxfordshire Joined on: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 2,976

  Reply | Contact Hi all, been offline as we've been doing some serious digging. Our soil is so claggy that we had to get it done in the brief window of opportunity, after it dried out and before it sets hard.  Sorry to say, Susiq, that the daffs here are just opening as well. Only a couple, mind. Hopefully yours will be along soon! Congrats on the pub quiz! Are the new people nice? Our favourite pub caught fire a couple of weeks ago but it's being fixed, thank goodness. A while back it was closed for eight months after it flooded and the river came in the back door and out the front. Don't envy you on the party,  Anenome - we're not really party people; invitations are generally met with an inner groan and we start thinking of excuses almost straight away. That sounds rubbish, doesn't it, but at least others feel the same.The party sounds like a bad dream, by the way. I bet you were glad to get home. Six polytunnels, MrsC - I've got serious polytunnel envy. Oh, what I could do with six polytunnels. Hope you're feeling better soon! I've got that Crocosmia 'Dusky Maiden' - lovely, isn't it. I haven't started our toms yet as I'm waiting for a new propagator to arrive. My other one has recently packed up after 20 years of service and I hope the new one is as long lasting.

• 02/03/2009 09:17 PM

  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 5,200

  Reply | Contact Sorry Susiq, I can't answer the cucumber question as I've never grown any from seed, any I have grown in the past have always been bought as small plants.  Yes, the chillies do take longer than the toms to germinate, perhaps they will germinate if I stop looking Well done for getting all that digging done Miranda before we get another cold spell, it's pretty cold here tonight and we're forecast hail showers later on in the week.  20 years sounds really good indeed for the propagator, let's hope your new one is made as well as the old one. sue1002

• 03/03/2009 09:58 AM

  Anemone Location: County Down, Northern Ireland Joined on: 08 Feb 2008 Posts: 575

  Reply | Contact Susiq, I grew a couple of cucumber seeds last spring though I'm sure it was a bit later than this as they were for outside.  I'll check my book when I get home as I noted down the sowing and germination dates for most things.  Meanwhile a quick Google suggests between 3 to 14 days with more heat giving shorter times.  I do remember reading that I had to sow on edge to prevent rotting. Sue1002, I sowed ordinary sweet peas and the sugar and spice and the normal ones have been much quicker to germinate than the sugar and spice.  Have you found that too? Hi Miranda, great that even if I'm a grumpy old woman I'm not on my own .  You have been busy with all that digging, mind you I'd love to be at home digging instead of sitting here at work today.  Fingers crossed the new propagator turns up soon. Anemone

• 03/03/2009 10:24 AM

  Susiq Location: Northumberland Joined on: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 1,104

  Reply | Contact Hi all, Well Miranda, you have been busy. The jury's still out on whether we like the newbies at the pub or not - we can't make up our minds! Thanks Anenome, would be useful to know how long your cucumbers took, I did sow them on the side, as you did. I'm off the greenhouse in a minute, to see if anything else has popped up (same as you Sue1002) Its like waiting for the kettle to boil - only worse! I got some seeds this morning from Phot's (thanx again Phot's) that I want to get planted up.

• 03/03/2009 11:27 AM

  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 5,200

  Reply | Contact I sowed the same as you Anemone with the sweet peas and when I looked yesterday, about a third of each sort had come up, the Sugar and Spice were a new packet and the ordinary ones were from seed I had collected off last year's ones. I know exactly what you mean Susiq on checking the seeds, I'm itching to check on the greenhouse but am having to wait in for the boiler to be serviced, you can bet your bottom dollar if I go outside, Sasha will come with me and she won't hear anyone at the door. sue1002

• 03/03/2009 12:06 PM

  Susiq Location: Northumberland Joined on: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 1,104

  Reply | Contact I know exactly just how you feel Sue1002 - its so frustrating - Portia always comes with me too, hope you don't have to wait too long for him to arrive. It's quite pleasant here so far today, so I'm hoping to weed my dahlia patch. I looked at the lodge garden this morning and its going to be a mission and a half to get it ready - its full of big clumps of grass. Think that's why I've made up my mind to do the dahlia patch instead - I just can't face the other one today!

• 03/03/2009 03:34 PM

  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 5,200

  Reply | Contact That's right Susiq, get the dahlia patch done ready for all the new ones you'll be putting in  I sowed some seeds that I collected off 'Bishop of Llandaff' and they germinated in about 4 or 5 days, it will be interesting to find out if it flowers exactly the same from seed as it does on the parent plant. It wasn't long ago when I was finally able to check on the greenhouse, some more sweet peas have come up and only one plant needed watering.  I'll have plenty of time tomorrow so I'll get some more seeds sown then as it's overcast here and looks like daylight is almost at an end. sue1002