My Garden

Idle chat

Last post 08-11-2009 1:56 AM by Roundelder. 4217 replies.

• 12/01/2005 03:08 PM

  In reply to

  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,740

  Reply | Contact Hello everyone, well I went to the local garden shop today and I have bought a bird feeder it is now hanging on the front fence and i have filled it with a mixyure called wild bird seed, I can see it from the front window but as yet no one has used it, I also bought a steel arch which i am going to install across the path at the front of the house and i will plant a clematis at each side due to living in Lancashires hill country the front garden has a slope and one border is higher than the other so i will have to dig out some soil so that the arch sits square, but i've done enough today so it can wait until tomorrow at least the thaw has set in and the ground is quite soft but we are forecast rain and this does not go well with clay soil so hopefully the rain will hold off until i have installed the arch.bye for now my friends digger

• 12/02/2005 08:32 PM

  In reply to

  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,740

  Reply | Contact Hello again,I have bought a bird feeder which attaches to the fence at the front of the house and i have filled it with a wild bird seed mixture, as yet no one has been to eat from it not even the squirrels! is it possible that i have put it in the wrong location?. As for wildlife ponds i have a small pond at the "lottie" i have an abundance of frogs and some newts, I am told that slow worms are good for the garden but i have never seen one and i don't know if they live in these parts, snakes are good also(i'm told)but again i have only seen a snake on tv. I would welcome any of these creatures and would gladly give over a piece of land to accomodate them.Miranda did you say that your brother has a pond and you thought he may be asked to fill it in? if so this website has info on amphibians etc and some are protected as is their habitat, so if someone asked your brother to fill in his pond, he could explain that a protected newt or frog is living there and so it would be unlawful to interfere.My wife has a grazing field for the horse, one is her property and the other is leased from the county council on the leased one some badgers have moved in and as the sett is protected in law the cc cannot develop the land which was once in their plan, I know this is true because the grazing license was offered every nine months and since the badgers have moved in we have been offered a long term lease 99yrs but only for grazing no buildings and no tractors (not even for muck spreading)any way i've rambled on again and completely changed the subject sorry folks. bye for now my friends. digger

• 12/02/2005 08:41 PM	In reply to
  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,740	Reply | Contact . digger

• 12/03/2005 02:45 PM	In reply to
  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,740	Reply | Contact Hi All, I tried to post last night and it hasn't appeared! I have installed a bird feeder which is on the fence at the front of the house I have not seen any one using it yet so I don't know if it is in the right place or not. digger

• 12/03/2005 04:27 PM

  In reply to

  Lorac Location: Joined on: 27 Nov 2005 Posts: 6

  Reply | Contact Hi Carro-online I like the user name, I'm really Carol, but there's lots of them already. Thanks for the tips about bird feeding. I'm still debating about the pond, where to put it and how big etc, but will be feeding birds this winter. About 5 minutes walk from us there is an area known to the local kids as the "birdie" short for bird sanctuary. I don't know if it reaaly is, but it's fenced off all round and is a small area of woodland and has been home to urban foxes. Lorac C Hewitt

• 12/04/2005 09:20 PM

  In reply to

  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,740

  Reply | Contact Thats another good thing about being retired, I used to find it so depressing to leave the house in the dark/come back in the dark and never see the garden during the daylight hours! ---------------- The down side of retirement is too much time and not enough energy to go out I have been sttod at the front window watching the new(posh) bird feeder that i filled with wild bird seed mixture and no one has used it yet not even the squirrels have i put the feeder in the wrong place? digger

• 12/05/2005 09:13 AM

  In reply to

  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,740

  Reply | Contact My post are still going to the wrong page usually below my previous post,who is frozen today? it is just foggy and damp here, I am attempting to purchase a new polytunnel cover this morning a company called northern polytunnels are just around the corner and one of their sales team is going to ring me back i think, the idea is they have a rail system that holds the polythene rather than trenching it into the ground but i don't know how to use it or if i have an alternative ie: fatening the sheet to a timber rail? digger

• 21/11/2005 09:18 AM

  miranda Location: Oxfordshire Joined on: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 2,923

  Reply | Contact I thought we could have an idle chat thread, for the quiet moments on the board when no one is thinking about gardening. Tell us a bit about yourself, say what you did at the weekend, what you ''do'', or admit that you spend w*rk time surfing, rather than what ever it is you're supposed to be doing. I'll start - live in a village in north Lincolnshire where nothing ever happens. It's quite nice, there are woods directly over the road that catch the morning sun, and this morning there are seven pigeons sitting high in a tree warming themselves in the weak sunlight. The garden is small, but a nice size for one person to do plenty of pottering about in. For the last week, it's been covered in frost, some of which never thaws, so I haven't done any more than go outside to look at the patterns on foliage. There are shrubs flowering - Mahonia, some Viburnums, Elaeagnus and Jasmine nudiflorum - which is pretty. The weekend was taken up with a Big Tidy Up, as the house has been a complete tip for weeks. That and sitting in front of an open fire, watching the flames and feeling drowsy. For work, I run a small mail order business with my partner which takes up nearly all our time. It's tiring but we enjoy it. How about you?

• 21/11/2005 12:10 PM

  In reply to

  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,740

  Reply | Contact Hi Miranda so nice to hear from you! I live in a small market town overshadowed by Pendle hill. It is very frosty here today but we have thankfully some sunshine and the wind is still, when the wind blows from off the hill it cuts to the bone, but the view is spectacular. Nearly everyone who has a house in this vicinity has called it "pendle view" i think it's funny, my place is called the garden house i try to keep my house as a garden with a house in it rather than "house with garden". I am no longer working due to an accident at work involving me and part of a jet engine, so i am now in receipt of my pension although i am no where near retirement age. I have an allotment with which i get plenty of help,and i am the secretary of the allotment society which is spread over14 acres on 5 sites and it is owned by us (society members). On Sunday our committee had a large "ding dong" which took up all my morning. Today i have just been into the greenhouse which is a lean to on the kitchen wall,not the ideal location because of bad light but i got it for £20 too much of a bargain to miss. I can't walk very quickly and it's too slippy outside just yet, so i wait until afternoon sun has warmed things up and then i may venture into the back garden. I am in the middle of re hashing the front border i bought four lovely clematis but i only got one planted the others are still in their pots and now the frost is here they will have to wait but should i leave them outside or bring them in? don't suppose they are taking much harm where they are. Bye for now Miranda it's nice to hear from you. digger

• 21/11/2005 04:39 PM

  In reply to

  miranda Location: Oxfordshire Joined on: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 2,923

  Reply | Contact Hello digger, nice to hear from you too. I wasn't cross on the other thread, btw. I disappeared out of lack of time and rage at all the world after my dog died. We also have an allotment, though are not on any committees. I can just imagine the politics that goes on, after attending one village council meeting a while back; it would drive me daft. Glad that someone is willing to carry the burden, though. We haven't had much time to get up the lotty and it's looking a bit sad at the moment. We keep promising ourselves that we'll do all the winter digging before it gets really cold, but it never happens. One day perhaps. £20 for a greenhouse is amazing and I'd jump at it. Ours is an ancient wooden thing, held together by moss and cobwebs. I'll be surprised if it lasts the winter. It's quite charming from some angles, all warped with smudgy glass. Had a fine crop of chillies and tomatoes from it this year. 'An accident involving you and part of a jet engine' - the thought of that makes me feel a bit funny. Glad to hear that you've got a pension, though, and it sounds like you use your time well. I had a close encounter with some road works a few years ago, after taking a flying lesson from a bicycle, but was lucky not to break anything. About the clematis - I'd tuck them against the side of the house or somewhere very sheltered. If it gets very cold, you don't want the roots to freeze so then it might be an idea to put them in an unheated greenhouse, just to be sure.

• 21/11/2005 05:21 PM

  In reply to

  Becky Location: Joined on: 19 Feb 2005 Posts: 56

  Reply | Contact Hello Well as you know I live in Switzerland. Now you probably think I am surrounded by mountains, cows and chocolate...but no, I am not. =) I live in the flatter part of Switzerland about 30.min from Zürich (biggest town in CH). I'm probably one of the youngest visiting this bulletin board, but I really enjoy reading so much great information on so many different gardening topics. I really enjoy the exchange of plant knowledge and also of course that everything is in English! I am surrounded by swiss german all day long so a bit of chat in english is always great. I am doing an apprenticeship as a gardener (apprenticeships are what we call on the job training, that's what 70% of the young people here in Switzerland do). It takes three years and I have 2 1/2 behind me. I work in a town nurserey and get to see and do a whole load of different things. Here at home my parents have an allotement with 30 beds (5m x 1.3m) (sorry, I use metric measurements!!) =) , so we have quite a bit of work there as well. Except for working (I work nearly 9/day) I love being outside in nature, mountainbiking, jogging, skiing (yippiii winter has arrived!!), inline skating. On a cold evening like today I like snuggling down next to our fire and reading a book or so... I play a few different instruments and also take lessons. Right now I also have a lot of work at school to do (that belongs to the apprenticeship programis just a few weeks or months spent in any kind of firm or job. At the moment I have three different possibilities for after my apprenticeship: adding another two years and specialising in landscape gardening, spending a year in England doing an internship =), or doing different internships in different countries all around the world, spread across a whole year. Must get going, will look in later on... Becky, Switzerland

• 21/11/2005 07:02 PM

  In reply to

  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,740

  Reply | Contact Hi Miranda and Becky, Miranda i am deeply sorry for your loss I lost my faithful labrador "Archie" a few years ago and i was in floods of tears i know how distressing it is to lose a friend, on a more cheery note when i finished work a friend of my wife gave me a bull terrier he is 9 now and getting less interested in going out for too long and he would rather go for a ride in the car! I call him Richard. I also have a labrador assistance dog called Sally she is still quite young and full of mischief but she helps with putting washing in/out of the washing machine, gets the post gets my socks etc.. Thanks for the advice about the clematis the tv weather man has just foretold-9 for friday so i think i will put the clematis in the polytunnel at the bottom of the garden it is unheated and i will put fleece over them to keep them above freezing. Becky in Switzerland sounds very busy and active havn't done skiing or skating sounds dangerous to me! but Becky if you have chance to visit foreign climbs i would go for that option, When i was younger and dafter i went to the middle east and although i wouldn't ever go back it was a good experience.Holidays in the Canary islands are more my thing now. At the moment i am thumbing thru the latest T&M seed catalogue our society has taken part in their society scheme which gives 50% discount on all seed items from them with no minimum spend! another too good to miss offer although i have to collate every members order from my society and send in the order this takes ages especially when people hand me their orders and don't put page numbers in so i have to trawl thru the entire catalogur looking up serial numbers but it gives me something to do on a cold winters evening. Thank you to you both for your posts do keep in touch many thanks. digger

• 22/11/2005 08:51 AM	In reply to
  anthemis Location: Joined on: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 317	Reply | Contact Hi Miranda, I 've just been listening to Today on Radio 4. Someone ( I think her name was Jane Wareham)says we don't take gardens seriously. She seemed to think gardeners were too keen on plants. Gardens should receive reviews by critics like plays, films art shows etc. Then, she says our gardens would be "better" and not be so full of plants! Discuss?

• 22/11/2005 10:17 AM

  In reply to

  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,740

  Reply | Contact Anthemis, i can hardly beleive that someone has said that. In my opinion that is nonsense a garden by definition is a place outdoors containing plants. For me a garden has to be alive I have no areas except one which contains a small flagged are between my potting shed and my tool shed. I realise we are all different and tastes vary greatly but there is a buzzword which has been doing the rounds for quite sometime "outdoor living" wooden decking, gravel, a couple of fancy lights maybe a seating area the obligatory patio heater (gas powered)to have one of these is probably ok but to have them all leaves no room for plants and the space outside loosely called a garden is used to entertain friends. I do invite people to my garden and i am happy to show them my greenhouse and polytunnel but i certainly don't have a patio i have a seat at the edge of the lawn which has a good view of the surrounding countryside. i realise i have "waffled on" sorry. good to chat with you digger

• 22/11/2005 12:21 PM

  In reply to

  anthemis Location: Joined on: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 317

  Reply | Contact Hi Miranda, idle chat? Ok here goes. I and my OH are retired and enjoying being able to spend more time in our garden. I don't know whether it should be described as small /large etc, peoples standards vary but it is usually not large enough for all the plants I would like to grow and sometimes its too large to keep tidy! Although we are very near our town centre (20 miles from London)we are lucky enough to back onto woodland but the downside of that is the perpetual battle with muntjac deer and pigeons! What is your mail order business? We ran a small business and I know what hard work it can be.