3: Gardening Diaries ...

[Upsy Daisy]

Good morning
Stunning flowers @alp........love their names too!

Well what a night!!! The surrounding trees were ( and still are!!) swaying madly in the strong winds. The noise that they and the winds make is a terrific din.....found it hard to sleep. Didn't help matters that it remained so warm that we had all the windows wide open too!.
Always find strong winds a tad scary as the trees are so close to the house ,we have a huge oak right outside our bedroom window.

Not sure how long we will have this wind for today so plans are still a bit iffy at the moment. I do have a load of seeds that have been dried and are in need of enveloping up.....so that's a definite job for this morning.

But first we have to rescue things out in the garden. The big sun parasol that we have had staked up all summer is now flying around and pots are overturned

Have a good day.

 

[alp]

Good morning
Stunning flowers @alp........love their names too!

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An offensive but very apt name. Yes, the wind has just calmed down, All the branches were swaying like mad and the noise was so intense that I thought it was raining.

It was very hot and humid last night and I had to turn on the fan. Need to go out to inspect any damage. I will carry on with cuttings as salvia cuttings have given me a lot of confidence.

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Just came back in, left hubs out there trying to add more stakes to some very battered plants.
Have cleaned and packed away most of the bigger garden furniture but have left out a couple of chairs and the smaller table.....ever the optimistic

Looking out the window I can see my poor hubs valiantly trying to add supports to our huge mass of Cosmos!

Have a good day, keep safe all who are in the worse affected areas

 

[alp]

I have given up on cosmos. I staked it and the flowers are still on the floor. I removed nearly half of the two trees and the left side of the bush still has very few flowers. The horrible thing is that when I was in Wisley, I saw them and loved the look of it. Airy, striking flowers .. whilst mine is a collective weak heap with flowers all over the ground.

We have started making a Peking Duck and were having a giggle doing what this video is showing at 0.51

Quite hilarious! My son is going to be an unwilling cook. He loves duck though! That's why we bought 3 for £12. Sorry, Perki! Ooooooops!

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Gosh!!! That is some serious preparation going on the there

That's a shame @alp , all our Cosmos are fine and still in full bloom with loads more buds to open. It was only that big white one that had drooped sideways over the path.....but in these strong winds hubs had a bit of a battle on his hands!

 

[Perki]

Morning , its rained some this morning. I moved the vulnerable pots last night so hopefully I've not had much damage.

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Morning @Perki ,, well done for being prepared......were you in the scouts?

Still blowing a hoolie out there, so I'm placing my gathered seeds into named envelopes...yep you heard right, actually putting names on things!!! Might not necessarily be the right names though!

I thought I had done a good job of labelling the clear collection containers......but I have to admit there are a lot without names, so might do a mixed seed packet

 

[alp]

Gosh!!! That is some serious preparation going on the there

That's a shame @alp , all our Cosmos are fine and still in full bloom with loads more buds to open. It was only that big white one that had drooped sideways over the path.....but in these strong winds hubs had a bit of a battle on his hands!

Yes! But we only have half of the fun as we didn't have that kind of pump. We have a football pump. Now we also need to find a heavy duty hook!

 

[alp]

Morning @Perki ,, well done for being prepared......were you in the scouts?

Still blowing a hoolie out there, so I'm placing my gathered seeds into named envelopes...yep you heard right, actually putting names on things!!! Might not necessarily be the right names though!

I thought I had done a good job of labelling the clear collection containers......but I have to admit there are a lot without names, so might do a mixed seed packetView attachment 44881

Love them. You must have ample room for storage! How I envy that.

It's so humid and I have cleared or weeded an edge. Waiting the the duck to cook!

 

[alp]

Morning , its rained some this morning. I moved the vulnerable pots last night so hopefully I've not had much damage.

Hope you are well prepared. It has all calmed down here, but it's so humid that I came in to have another Gelatelli almond and half a cup of milk. Such thirsty work and my garden is thirsty again. Whichever way I looked, I had to lug water to quench the thirst. So thrilled with my salvias - all the cuttings have flowers and healthy with minimal care. There is an article on salvias and dahlias in GW!

 

[alp]

This year's alstroemeria seeds are just pathetic. Small and pale and not a lot, but enough to hurt my palm when I bashed them open on top of a newspaper!

Our aromatic duck. Unfortunately, we followed a useless recipe and added water to stop the oil from splashing and the skin was NOT crispy! But other than that, it's full of flavour!

Not bad for first attempt.
dahlia with Phantom of the Opera mask!

Art Nouveau in response to the hot weather!

Heuchera flower - quite pretty

Hotlips from cuttings!

This standard suddenly realised that there was a party going on and suddenly burst into flowers. No flowers before!

Remember Me .. A fragrant whitish pink beauty

 

[alp]

3rd time lucky! For some reason, it would go back a few pages and delete my postings. Have you had a good day, @Upsy Daisy ? Finally, found the question mark!

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Never had Duck but must say it certainly looks very appetizing @alp Lovely pics ,your Dahlias are particularly beautiful, especially the 2nd one.

Very mild here and the wind is now blowing intermittently, albeit it still quite strong when it does.

Finished packing the seeds collected so far, have the room to collect more now

Did the grocery shop this afternoon, it was actually colder in Sainsbury's that outside!!.
Went to Lidl, but the bulbs didn't look much.

Not feeling 100% tonight, hope I'm not coming down with something.

 

[alp]

Duck meat is full of flavour, unlike chicken. 2nd Dahlia is Art Nouveau, @MaryMary's favorite!

Tidied up a edge and need to finish tomorrow. I'm too slow. Hope you feel better tomorrow!

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Thanks @alp