Idle chat
Last post 21-11-2009 11:19 PM by richardpeeej. 4419 replies.
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19/05/2006 03:36 PM
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- Digger
- Northern UK
- 18 Jul 2005
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4,743
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Hi everyone, we are having more inclement weather today the wind has picked and is rattling down off the fell many of my plants are taking a pummeling! also I went to the "lottie" about an hour ago and in one part INSIDE my new polytunnel is about 9 inches of water, and outside some of my sweet peas and potatoes are under water!!! at home a branch fell off the large tree at the front of the house and luckily landed in the garden on the path and did no damage but then a small branch fell off and landed right on one of my lupins so i have been to the garden shop and bought more plant supports some were in a sale for just 10 pence each! so i got twenty of them they are the plastic rings which are supported on a cane, my oriental poppies are now in need of extra support due to the heavy rain and high winds and apparently we are all in for more bad weather right through the weekend, on that cheery note my friends i shall say goodbye till next time.
digger 
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21/05/2006 10:25 AM
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- Janeth
- Kent
- 13 May 2006
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16
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I might be the 2nd youngest but don't always feel it after a day digging and lugging! I'm still attempting to clear a part of the garden that is teribly overgrown but I can't get excited about pulling out brambles and ivy! I've got a week off in June so I might make myself do it then - I'm planning on making it into a parial shade/woodland area as we have 2 fairly large trees over hanging it. I'm planning a fatsia, hydranga, rhoddies, azaleas, hostas, elephants ears, heuchera....anyone suggest anything else, especially climbers, that might work?
We don't have a drought order, like Sussex, but we do have a hosepipe ban. It's not affected us much cos I've always used the butt for water. Having said that the butt got half empty a couple of weeks ago during that dry spell, so if we have a month or so without rain I might be stuffed. I think you can get a devise to put between 2 butts to pass the overflow from one to the other - I might try that.
The weather has been off and on here - got absolutely soaked yesterday by a sudden shower whilst planting a dahlia - havent really had a chance to go out since as I've not been able to judge the showers correctly! It looks like it's going to be like that all week so I doubt I'll be able to to get out much - I'll be climbing the walls by Friday!
hope your polytunnels have recovered Digger - it would be ironic if you lose your harvest because of too much water!
Janet.
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21/05/2006 02:56 PM
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- Digger
- Northern UK
- 18 Jul 2005
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4,743
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Hi janeth, Yes it would be ironic indeed but we have never been short of water up here although my OH is having an underground storage tank buried in her horse field just in case. Yesterday i had a hole excavated inside the polytunnel and one outside and then a drain was fitted and the water all drained out but this has led to flooding in the chickens pen and it really looks like we will have to have another soakawawy installed!! It really sucks because in the south people are already having water restrictions placed on them even though they have not had a reduction in their water charges and up here we are awash with the damn stuff. The drain is working in the tunnel i checked at lunchtime and it was dry inside, we have had rain continuously for over two days!! I will however be able to tinker around in the tunnel tommorow in spite of the horrible climate, bye for now my friend.
digger
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22/05/2006 11:02 AM
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- miranda
- Oxfordshire
- 17 Nov 2004
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2,976
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It's still pouring with rain here, as it has been for days and days. All I can do is to watch as the lawn seems to get longer by the hour. We get the odd bit of sunshine but it's never dry for long enough that the grass dries out sufficiently for cutting.
Still, I've moved or planted a lot of stuff in the last few weeks and this wet weather will help them to establish without me having to water all the time. Small mercies and all that...
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22/05/2006 08:09 PM
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There's a lot of selective growth going on... ie the weeds are growing twice as fast as anything else! Even with all the rain OH managed to dash out and cut the grass on Saturday. We were really lucky a week ago because we were having a little charity plant sale in the garden and the weather held off for us, it would have been rained off if it had been this week.
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23/05/2006 11:10 AM
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- miranda
- Oxfordshire
- 17 Nov 2004
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2,976
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I'm hoping to cut our lawn today - things are getting a bit desperate out there, but it's just been too wet to cut. I really hope the rain holds off long enough to get it done.
Still, with the soil being moist, all the plants I divided a few weeks ago have taken, even the Heucheras that got hacked about, and I haven't had to water them more than once or twice. Fingers crossed they'll all carry on thriving.
Everything is growing so fast, isn't it?
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23/05/2006 12:14 PM
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- Digger
- Northern UK
- 18 Jul 2005
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4,743
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Hi Miranda , anthemis , we are having a dry spell at the moment Just had to take Sally assistance dog to the vet she has got an eye infection from the hay at the stables(we think) and now i am going to risk walking on the wet lawn to do some tinkering c u all soon.
digger
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23/05/2006 12:25 PM
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- sue1002
- Ipswich, Suffolk
- 06 Sep 2005
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5,200
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Hi all, have managed to log in today, haven't been able to since Friday, emailed Admin (thank you Admin) and am now back. We have had loads of rain here over the past few days, today is quite nice and hoping to get the grass cut this afternoon, it needs to dry out a bit more though.
I have booked Sasha in with the vets to be spayed next Tuesday, she has a lump on her side and have asked for that to be removed at the same time. The lump is a sebacious cyst which has never burst and has now got to the size of a 10p, so while she is under aneasthetic she might as well have it done.
Saw one plant on last nights flower show which is a definite must to go up the pergola - the clematis avant-garde, it looks so gorgeous.
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24/05/2006 10:46 AM
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- miranda
- Oxfordshire
- 17 Nov 2004
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2,976
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I'm not familiar with that clematis, Sue, but found a photo. It's quite striking, isn't it? What will you combine it with? Best of luck with Sasha, btw.
The rain stopped for long enough for me to cut the lawn and do a bit of tidying yesterday. The difference in the lawn for being edged and cut was astonishing; it was looking decidedly scruffy but is now like a freshly vacuumed carpet again.
Whilst I was out there I checked on some stem cuttings I'd taken from an Anthemis punctata ssp. cupaniana and was very pleased to find that they've all taken well. At the time, I'd just nipped bits off and stuck them fairly roughly into a set-aside bed of compost and soil, watered them and then forgotten about them for six weeks.
It often seems that the more casual you are with such things, the better they go. If I'd carefully cut the bits off and then used perfectly clean pots with fresh compost, they'd probably all have died.
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24/05/2006 01:25 PM
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- Digger
- Northern UK
- 18 Jul 2005
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4,743
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Hi all, I have got a real humdinger! yesterday afternoon my OH invited me on a visit into town I accepted and upon our arrival i made a "beeline" for Wilko's the plants in the doorway where in their usual sorry state, you know the rootball half an inch away from the pot rattling about like a pea in a drum and the stems etc.. were shrivelled beyond recognition, I said to my OH these should have been watered and out of nowhere jumped a sales assistant and she barked at me "these plants are watered every day, and then the air gets to them and drives out the moisture"" so I said does that happen at Wilko stores across the flippin country?" and she said "yes" now if we were in the middle east i could believe that warm air has evacuated the moisture on this type of scale, but come on folks we have had nine days of rain up here the air is as wet as the Atlantic these plants have not been watered correctly, but the sales assistant was adamant that she had been on a course about watering plants!!!!!!! so I asked if the alleged course was run by the RHS and she looked at me for a couple of seconds and then walked away!!!. I just had to share this quality nugget with all of you it fair made my day, well done Wilkos you really are helping the nations reputation for excellence in horticulture!!! not.
[Edited on 24/05/2006]
digger
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24/05/2006 02:36 PM
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- sue1002
- Ipswich, Suffolk
- 06 Sep 2005
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5,200
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Hi Miranda and digger, our Wilkos plants are not in the doorway, they are between the middle and the back of the shop, there is no way the fresh air would dry them out, if they do water them then they probably don't water them enough.
We have worked out we will probably use either 6 or 8 uprights for the pergola, will definitely get the clematis avant garde and combine it with the ones you mentioned Miranda, so that gives me 4 plants, now just got to decide whether to have two plants of each, or one of each and find a different 2 or 4 for the others. Such a big decision to make, and work out something so it can be in flower all year round, that would be nice.
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24/05/2006 03:13 PM
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- Digger
- Northern UK
- 18 Jul 2005
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4,743
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Hi sue1002, You could get all different clematis and then strike some cuttings for freebies I did this when i bought four from crocus but one of them did not take well so i have layered it on the ground this way i will have a little insurance in case anything un toward happens. My clematis nelly moser is not very well the top portion that wilted has now begun to decay and will need removing but the bottom three or four feet is in good order so i think maybe a slug or someone has eaten through a stem somewhere, and i can't lay a ring of sharp grit in mid air so i will put slug pellets nearby and then see if the culprit turns up.
digger
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25/05/2006 03:13 PM
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- Digger
- Northern UK
- 18 Jul 2005
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4,743
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Hi all, sue1002 how is Sasha doing?? i do hope she is ok I have planted up a couple more hanging baskets today and they are hanging in the polytunnel awaitng the good weather, My Raspberries down the lottie are ok making some good leaf growth but the ones without roots that i got diddled with have not done anything. loads of flowers on the strawberry plants though so i will have to net the area off very soon, up here we are having a really grand day but i know we are all going to have rain tonight and tommorrow until about lunch time so i have been trying to get as much done as possible today next week is allegedly going to provide us with some sunshine. (i hope). see you all later bye for my friends.
digger
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25/05/2006 04:06 PM
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- sue1002
- Ipswich, Suffolk
- 06 Sep 2005
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5,200
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Hi digger, its Tuesday next week when Sasha goes in for her op.
My blueberries are doing really well, put on some lovely growth and have white fruits appearing, I assume these are the ones that will develop into blue as time goes on, only got them last autumn and not had them before.
Going through the start of the chewing phase with Fred, each time OH goes to work or I go out he is pulling the wallpaper off near the front door. As I haven't actually caught him doing it so can't really tell him off, so come up with another solution. I got the dog gate down and put it in the doorway from the living room into the hall (we took the doors off because there is no room to open them without hitting something) and each time I go out, close the gate and put a sheet of newspaper on the bottom shelf of the bookcase which is beside it, he rips it up, then when I get back pick it up and put it in the compost bin. He thinks he is being destructive or whatever and doesn't realise he is helping me. When we had next doors one last week I had cleared all the books off the bottom two shelves, just in case, and probably won't put them back until he is out of it. If he's anything like Sasha she was about 18 months old before she stopped chewing.
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25/05/2006 06:01 PM
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- miranda
- Oxfordshire
- 17 Nov 2004
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2,976
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Reading about Fred makes me realise how lucky we were with Toby. He had a quick nibble on a few things when he was getting his big teeth, but was never a problem chewer. The only thing he ever destroyed completely was a placemat that he got off the dinner table, which had a dollop of gravy left on it - I guess that was our fault, really, for not cleaning it up before going out.
Glorious day here today, but I haven't been able to get outside. The weekend looks promising at the moment, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some more fine weather then.
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