3: Gardening Diaries ...

[alp]

Not bad after the autumn equinox - day of equal lengths of night and day! From now on, all downhill, but the sunshine is still here! Thank heavens!

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Morning @alp
Glad to hear that you had a peaceful nights sleep .
Bright start to the week ,but our night temperature has returned back down to 0C ....thicker duvet , bedsocks and woolly hat time I think!! Not a good look

Therma!s will be on for a day out in the garden today....thats the plan!!

Might attempt some more cuttings too.

Have a good day and wrap up warm

 

[alp]

Yes, cuttings galore today. I have to dig up my thermal socks to keep warm ... Going to be very enjoyable working in the garden. I don't understand it. Those cosmos I saw in Wisley, they are standing up tall and airy, but all packed together and collapsed onto the floors

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Shame about the Cosmos.....ours are standing....with support!

 

[alp]

My dahlia Piccasso has been flattened. Only 2 stems standing. Time to take cuttings..I begin to think I have now a nurery!

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Were do you keep your cuttings ?

 

[alp]

In my lean-to and some outside. I need to move them to the back. As now, all the table surface is covered with cuttings - plums, greengages, figs, roses, mother-in-law's tongue, hydrangeas and box..dahlias and some irises from seeds. Need to get some cardboard to cover the tiles as it is now stone cold and I need to set up a heater in the style of BigC's overlapping terracotta pots to keep the heat and generate heat. I bought 3 paraffin and need to buy a heater when it is cheaper. Ah, I know, going to freegle to beg now!

 

[alp]

Freegled a paraffin greenhouse heater, advertised to give away a double head board. Put 5 pots onto the raised border to keep them warm for the winter. More wisteria to go down to tidy up the path. Take some Art Nouvea cuttings as a stem snapped. Deadheaded dahlias and zinnias. Lovely day for gardening as the weather has been glorious - I think all along the British Isle

source
Britain's Indian summer is back later this week as temperatures climb to 72F (after the mercury dipped to just 28F last night!)

• Temperatures fell to -2C overnight in Northern Ireland and will only get up to about 16C (61F) today
• But is 20C (68F) possible on Wednesday before 22C (72F) on Thursday as UK enjoys a sunny week
• It follows wet and windy weekend after severe weather last week brought two storms and disruption
  
  Nice weather to look forward to.

 

[Perki]

Evening , frost this morning but thankfully it hasn't knocked anything back, bit surprised when I got up wasn't expecting frost.

I've failed in my attempt in getting allium purple rain from lidl, been to 4 now to no avail . Went GC yesterday while I was on the hunt for allium bulbs, didn't see anything I fancied but got some dwarf daffs for the sake of buying something, they see me often at that GC so felt a bit guilty not buying anything. I did manged to get some allium Miami and Globemaster from one lidl store, the Gmaster are somebody else though.

can't stand the smell of paraffin, my mum used to use them in her GH years ago like 8-10 years ago, I can still smell it now in her GH awful stuff. And if they go faulty all your plants get covered in a black soot. Electric heaters are the most reliable and are normally thermostatically controlled.

 

[alp]

Oh, dear! Perki, you have put me off big time. I will probably use it for bonfire. But my incinerator is a freegle item and the bottom has fallen off completely because of the intense fire we have had.

Such a shame! You can't get your favorite. I had them in my hand. To be honest, for that many bulbs, it wasn't expensive at all. I was too shocked by the price to finish the transaction.

In rural area, Met office did predict that it could be 0c. Thank heavens that it was glorious and I was reducing the number of pots by burying them on the raised bed for the time being. When I can move, I will dig up the whole pots.

Have had a very good day clearing up the garden and the asters have flowered whilst 2 others are still in buds.

Very happy as I have sold some salvia seeds ... Shame I don't have a lot. I have taken quite a few cuttings. If you have had salvias, it might be a good idea to get some. Some rewarding and responsive! Not fussy at all.

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Evening @Perki and @alp
Had a good day out in the garden today. The greenhouse is now all cleaned and bubble wrapped ready for winter.!!

Potted on lots of cuttings and seed sown perennials . Lifted some more bulbs for winter storing.

The big....and I mean BIG!!!! problem now is trying to eradicate oxeyed dasies from the borders and one side of our lawn Why did I ever plant them in the first place Worse that when we use to have Ground Elder every where ! There are literally zillions of seedlings all over the place. I will removed the clumps in the borders tomorrow , but the seedlings are going to be a mammoth job I fear.

I've spent all evening researching info on what to do and am still no wiser in knowing the best way to tackle the problem. I feel totally sick when thinking about it! Probably wont sleep tonight either....daft I know, but that's me!

Going to catch up on some tv that I have missed this evening, in the faint hope it might take my mind of the nightmare lurking outside in our garden!

 

[Perki]

If it was me @Upsy Daisy I would hoe the seedling on a fine/dry day , dig up the large plants and weed kill the paths, or go to the nuclear options and weedkill all or buy a flamethrower or tell your OH to do it you've hurt back

 

[alp]

That's a shame that your hubs hate them. They are actually very pretty. I deliberately planted some out on the front area. It's not so bad. Just pull them out and get into action whenever you see them.

You have to explain to your hubs that they are not easy to eradicate in one go. I've managed to keep them under control.

I won't buy them again, but they are really glorious plants.

You've bubble wrapped your greenhouse. Can't blame you. I felt the cold from the tiles in my conservatory. It might be a good idea for me to find some cardboards to cover the cold tiles!

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Thanks @ perki...I'll take some pics tomorrow......you'll be horrified!!

 

[alp]

Upsy - You really have to impress upon your hubs that the eradication of the daisies will take some time. I remember seeing them at the far end of my garden. At that point, I said they had LEGS migrating at night!