Magazine style - all inclusive

[alp]

Joseph, er no, Squirrel and his AMAZING COAT!

And I thought it was paint pollution!

 

[alp]

Ordered the nematodes slug and hopefully my irises can bloom without being snapped at the base. Do I need a special shower head please and what conditions do I need please? Tomorrow I will hide my credit card! Ooops! A bit too late!

 

[alp]

Thank heavens that I made it to the bathroom in time or there would be mess everywhere. After a few vomittings, I feel so much better now. The stuff stuck at the top of my throat has gone, hopefully! Such a relief. Was hallucinating and gurgling a bit last night.

No more sunshine today!

One of my amaryllis is flowering. Will take a photo later.

 

[Zenj]

Ordered the nematodes slug and hopefully my irises can bloom without being snapped at the base. Do I need a special shower head please and what conditions do I need please? Tomorrow I will hide my credit card! Ooops! A bit too late!

I use a number 14 coarse head watering can rose, as to be big enough holes and apply when soil is moist and above 5c

 

[alp]

5c?! Does it mean it is now too cold? How long can I keep this thing in the fridge though.. Zenj? It's moist all right. Need to google 14 coarse head watering can rose. I might be able to fashion one. Haven't used a watering rose for a long time. Don't even know where it is. Thank you for the help.

 

[Zenj]

After today I think your weather looks fine to apply don’t forget to stir them in the water well.

 

[alp]

Will do. Apparently, snowflakes in London! But with the heat in my house, the road and the residual heat from last year, I don't need to worry. I have planted out 5 dahlias and have taken cuttings. The more pots I put out, the more pots I have ended up having cuttings. One dahlia has more than 10 stems of about 8 inches tall. Take 3 cuttings out of my Salvia Black and blue and removed part of the fleshy tubers. Very pleased. Last year, it died and I had to buy another one.

Dancing Queen is a bit anaemic, like me today, a bit unwell!

£2 acer palmatum

I think I have broken the longest stem! Oh, dear! It's a bit too cold out there. Sorry, Dahlias!

I should have my nematodes tomorrow. Please rain again and again.

 

[alp]

I had to cover that last dahlia with a fleece. I had about 6 dahlias out. By Friday, they should be all right. Last night, I was fed up with the slow progress of my salad. I will have a viewing on Saturday and my lean-to is overrun with trays of tiny salad leaves, lobelia seeds .. so I turned on and up the propagator to 18c. Hopefully, they will be up and I can plant them out on Friday.

Well, I normally consult the weather chart before turning on the washing machine. Today, I had no choice as I had to wash the lace curtains. Life is so much more relaxed because of British summer time. Normally, I had to do everything needing electricity by 7.30, now it's 8.30. I can do the lawn mowing tomorrow to make the place look tidy - as if there were such a thing.

Sun is out. Great.

After hiding my begonia baskets Ember glow and the others inside my workshop, I'm pleased to announce that they are still alive! Soooo happy! Will take cuttings.

 

[alp]

Hidden agony behind our craze for cashews: How thousands of Indian nut processors on £2.15 a day are left with 'unbearable' burns from acid in the shells of the superfood loved by vegans

• Cashew nut processors in India have been left with burns from the superfood
• Pushpa Gandhi, 30, shells cashews and earns 200 rupees, or £2.15, a day
• Cashew shells have cardol and anacardic acid — that can cause vicious burns
• Charity Traidcraft Exchange blame poor conditions on European supermarkets
• They say stores lower prices and force cashew companies to hire cheap labour

Glad that I'm not a great fan! One would think they would have mechanised the process by now!

*********************

source

 

[alp]

Rainbow tree bark

 

[alp]

My surfinia cuttings are looking promising

I like to mess about the genetics of plants and I have hand-pollinated hellebores and irises. Last year, I had 3 such iris seed pods and yet I was clumsy enough to knock one of the seed pods off and a stem was gnawed by the blessed SS! So I ended up with one seed pod. I inserted some inside some jiffy pellets as they provided a clean environment for new seeds as soon as the seeds were dry enough. I cut open the bottom of the jiffy pellet so that roots could expand. I always ribbed open the membrane when seeds germinated and I also ripped the membrane open sideway as I hated to see plants dead because of the constraint put on the plant whilst it got bigger and they usually died with the membrane around the dead rootball.

The end result is usually that the jiffy pellets ended up with nothing and I left them to dry, or I ripped open the membrane and reused the innards. Then I had an epiphany - I planted something new using the other end of the jiffy pellets as they are not cheap.

Today, I was moving tons of trays inside the mini toms greenhouses at the back so that the lean up will look tidier. I saw these - 2 iris seeds have germinated

As you can see, some iris seeds had germinated and on the other side was some salvia cuttings.

I have 2 of these irises - very pleased. Quite hilarious and I hope I have some hybrids as I had used different types of irises - even a dwarf yellow one as it had tons of pollen.

 

[alp]

Good morning to a busy day. Have to mow the lawn and get the house ready for tomorrow. I am already feeling the heat. Tummy was rumbling the whole of yesterday and I didn't do much, apart from moving the trays to the back. The bay window lace curtain was shredded by the washing machine and it's going to be costly to replace it, just what I don't need when I have a 2nd viewing. The couple sold their house last week and asked to see mine again. I had some brazened slugs and snails inside the lean to and one slug was literally eating my seedling early in the morning, under my angry glare and killing stare. Right nuisance! Then the pink Argy that I bought was de-petalled, so I lifted up all the pots, only to discover the unwelcome snail.

I so want to get the Tidal Wave petunia Red Velour recommended by the gardener of Parnum Park and it reminds me that Johnny Canoe was using the same kind of petunias! Now that I have removed the swing, I no longer have a climber structure! Very sad! All my clematises have to settle with a stick in the pot.

Now someone has pinched my predicted sunshine!

Supposed to be hours of sunshine from 7am, as predicted yesterday.

Now I have to mow in the dark after 7.30am!

 

[alp]

Icy blast takes its toll on bird numbers: 15 out of 20 species most commonly seen in gardens appear less this year after the Beast from the East

• Numbers of long-tailed tits down by 27 per cent, and wrens down 17 per cent
• The wave of cold weather dubbed the Beast from the East in February
• Fewer sightings of 15 of 20 species commonly seen in gardens compared to 2018

I need to feed the birds today!

 

[alp]

The sun IS OUT! Glorious! Mown and scarified the lawn and will apply seed repair and Epsom salt tomorrow as the air warms up a bit more. Or do I need to do it?

Off now for the day!

 

[Zenj]

It’s a beautiful spring morning here