5 Gardening Dairy: Happy gardening and happy snapping ..

[alp]

You have been warned!

The bitter end! Siberian winds will sweep away UK's mild weather driving temperatures down overnight to leave Britons waking to 4C chills on Monday

• Milder-than-usual conditions will come to an end on Monday when temperatures will feel like 4C (39.2F)
• Easterly winds from Russia will send mercury plummeting across the UK, especially on the east coast
• From sunny skies and 12C in London on Saturday and Sunday there will be rain, wind and cold next week
  
  Just came in 15 minutes ago and it was spitting the whole day! 3 hours of solid work. Need to sort out my salvias before they are killed by the frost!

 

[alp]

Going to be a sunny day! 2c next Wednesday! Pretty cold. Need to mulch everything.

Christmas cacti is doing very well. Been very busy and forgot to take a photo. Re-watched some gardening programmes. Going to see a run down place on a 200 feet plot. Interesting!

 

[Zenj]

Morning all a dull day by the looks of it, we are going to Yorkshire Tomorrow see my two sisters and my mam it’s her birthday 91 years young will all be taking her out for a treat

 

[alp]

91 is very young! Hope you have a good and jovial day! We're very dull here as well. Going to Wickford and Basildon .. A very nice house with 90 foot garden was sold yesterday!

 

[alp]

For us, when we celebrate birthday such as 60, 70 or whatever after, we always have a several course dinner - with chicken, pork, whole fish which sounds exactly like the word "surplus" and the one down there is crispy pork.

Crabs

and prawns

Scallops and crabs and prawns.. I really miss those banquets. You might laugh, but I can really "gobble" all of them up! I often wonder how many people handle the bowls and chopsticks as they are changed for nearly every dish and there were sometimes 12 dishes ended with oranges.

Christmas cacti

I wonder if what this is

Saw this handsome beast near one of the house viewed

Very impressive!

After viewing that house, I have felt so much better in my house keeping skill!

Saw a lovely house with a good size garden. Shame that the decking takes up half of the lawn and is where it would be sunniest. The estate agent said it costs thousands and I feel like ripping it up! LOL!

 

[Perki]

Evening , planted a few bulbs today while in the greenhosue , its been a nice sunny day but chilly, nice and warm in the GH though.

They will regret planting that monkey puzzle tree they grow huge.

My christmas cactus has already flowered and is just going over now it been really nice, I got it given last year from a customer.

The plant you are looking at @alp looks like a Abelia

 

[alp]

Ah, yes! Abelia - nice as a hedge as it has loads of flowers and clusters of buds

I thought it was the wiegela Middendorffiana that @Zenj and I have!

Nice and sunny day as well. So nice going around in the car, especially the road to Chelmsford is lined by greens and mature trees. Something incredible wholesome about the journey into the town centre. Went to see an Open House of a detached bungalow. The lounge was tiny 8 foot wide and 14 foot long. But the garden and one shed were enormous! Seeing through the tree is a lock to River Chelmer and yet standing in the garden, the noise was like gifting you low level tinnitus.

Thought I was going to stock up Proscuitto from Lidl as the leaflet said Big weekend for stocking £1.09 100g Proscuitto. Em, no! Nowhere to be found. Saw a staff member relocating the allium bulbs and tulip ones to another corner, so I asked him when they would be reduced. He told me that he couldn't tell, but normally, they didn't reduce them. They CHUCKED them! And I thought they were ethical company!

 

[alp]

Good morning to a pretty cold and grey day.

Hopefully, it will brighten up. Might have a viewing which has sent us into a spin.

I will definitely lower the price and up stick. Pray that the new owner knows a builder or is a builder!

Saw a lovely bungalow yesterday. I thought I was going to see a run down bungalow on a 200 foot plot. Er, no! This one was in good nick, with a 18 foot through lounge leading to a very warm lean to. Only 60 foot at the back and 40 at the front. I can ask for more. The other one was next to a busy road. I have had enough of my share of living next to a busy road. Hope you all have a lovely Sunday, especially for bargain hunters!

 

[alp]

I think the RHS should take into the size of rootball as well in deciding AGM. The enormous size of the hellebore rootballs is driving me mad. They are soooooooooooo big! I was out tidying up the hellebore field. Boy, it was exhausting work.

I raised my head and suddenly saw these

This is one of the few good things left by the previous owner, the other is the rose and the worst of course is the neighbour! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!

A pathetically small Single pink anemone hellebore

This is a beauty! So early and I won't bother cutting the flower down. Loads of shops, including Lidl, are selling hellebores with flowers now.

Helenium Short and Sassy is so pretty and even now is flowering.

My chrysanthemum are still doing very well.

Penstemon Apple Blossom is glorious

Phygelius is glorious too. Deep red and lemony yellow!

 

[Perki]

Nice sunny day again. Got some bulbs planted today, didn't go as planned got the three fritillaria persica ( black ) planted. Started to dig the hole for the white ivory bells fritillaria and hit some concrete / stone, didn't think much at first I just dig that little bit out the dam concrete just kept going had to dig up the helianthus lemon queen, got the big iron pole thingy and smashed it up fortunately it wasn't to thick, I didn't get it all out it were going under the fence.

Bulbs in hopefully they come up next year and put on a show . They got more sand on top of the bulbs to help against rotting.

Also got the allium summer drummer planted and allium purple rain, I use the bulb planter for these, a allium bulb flew out the top of the bulb planter after standing on it whoops I don't know how it didn't damage it . Planted 100 crocus bulbs and got back inside for the second half of England.

 

[alp]

What a valiant dig for England, @Perki ! That's what happened to me when I had to dig up the Knautia. Was thinking of turning up the soil and incorporating horse manure! Dig into a 8 inches by 14 slab which was about 3 inches thick. In the end, the process killed the Knautia and had to buy another for £1 in posh gc which is now guarded by plain clothes and exit watched by 3 more plain clothes. I realised why that mid area is higher as it had been used as burial ground for unwanted rubbles.

Thank you for showing the sand bit, very useful info, Perki! I used the method you told me to store the bulbs and they came out very well. Thank you. That's a lot of crocus. 100! It's going to be lovely display! I bought only 3 packs of bulbs and that's it. Will wait till gc reduce bulbs and think about buying them. I might even have to move with 2 crates of horse manure! and several bucket of shingle! Oh, dear!

Yesterday, the weather was glorious for the whole country. It was warm whilst working in the sun and we had made much progress. Such a lovely day and today, look what Germany will gift us

From today, the weather will go downhill. Believe it or not, my rubber plant is out in the alcove between the garage and my bay window, surrounded by spider plants and a winter jasmine. The alcove is a sun and heat trapper! Will drape something over them. Love them and the summer heat has turned the rubber plant leaves red and a darker shade of green. The leaves have been glowing since summer!

 

[Logan]

Good afternoon all, been making some jam tarts and a mince tart for next Sunday.

Picked some chillies, very hot varieties

Cleared some of the chilli plants out of the conservatory so i can clean the glass and floor, ready to put the christmas tree in next month.
Got a bigger tree and some more decorations for it.

 

[alp]

Those tarts look lovely! Remind me of those I bought for 13p. Last Thursday, went shopping in a certain supermarket and saw tons of pork pies reduced to 1p, 2p and 3p. Some quite big as well. I said to myself I wasn't going to argue with 1p or 3p. Bought them all home at a princely sum of 13p. It was hard stomaching all those pork pies - so much fat. Don't think I will do it again. It was like a punishment eating the fat saturated pork pies.

Came in at 4.44 after getting out to work at 3. Saw neighbour's daughter massacring the fig tree. I asked her for some fig cuttings and unashamedly asked for a bit of intersectional peony root - reddish pink big flowers. I cut it and it was easy work. I offered her a pot of Salvia Amistad and a pot of Salmon Dance, both flowering, in exchange for that. So pleased as my yellow intersectional one cost me quite a bit of money. I had been salivating after this pink one for 20 years! I nearly fell down taking a pic of the flowering beauty!

 

[alp]

Good afternoon all, been making some jam tarts and a mince tart for next Sunday.
View attachment 47239
Picked some chillies, very hot varieties
View attachment 47240
Cleared some of the chilli plants out of the conservatory so i can clean the glass and floor, ready to put the christmas tree in next month.
Got a bigger tree and some more decorations for it.

Those chillies are lovely, Logan! So the tarts are so appetising!

 

[Logan]

Thanks Alp, don't eat them myself.It was good of your neaghbour to give you those cuttings.

Didn't do anything else apart from taking the boys out and doing the dinner.

Alp your hellebores will probably be alright after their hair cut.
I haven't got any flowers on mine.

Hubby working all day tomorrow, so i can do what i want. I usually get the secators out. I cut down the michaelmas daisies and Japanese anemones last week when he was out and filled up the rubbish bin, got to wait until Friday for it to be emptied.

Been putting out peanuts for the squirrel, he hides them in my containers and digs up the grass. Found a horse chestnut in one of the pots.

Not a very good picture. There's a nail in the wall that i hang a margerine tub with string on.