Magazine style - all inclusive

[alp]

Another cold day

Will go out and have a look around but must hold back as I have car insurance and Road tax to pay! Everything has increased in price.

Watched quite a bit of Alys Fowler's gardening programmes. Quite like the idea of garden to food idea. Going to buy 4 to 6 chicks on Tuesday when the weather should have warmed up.

 

[alp]

The fake meat revolution is here! Fast food chains like Burger King are now selling a new breed of vegan burgers, created in a lab to taste (and even bleed) like real beef - but can they possibly be good for you?

• New wave of meat-substitute burgers said to look, smell and taste like real thing
• Last week, Burger King stocked new vegan burger and Nestle launched one too
• MoS has reviewed new scientific burgers and graded them on taste and health

***************************
So much for vegans or flexigans!

Ultimately, this is a free ad for Impossible Burger! Don't be fooled!

 

[Perki]

what are you getting chickens for alp ?

dull day can't be bothered to do much not even go to a GC and eye up some plants .

 

[alp]

Perki: We want to start an organic way of life - having our own eggs .. Should have gone for laying hens, but the lady who gave us her spare feeder said it cost her £17 per head. Oh, dear! Very dear!

Watched Alys Fowler eating eggs almost every day! Very nice. And her garden is 60 feet by 20, but well stocked. We looked at an allotment plot yesterday. £41 for a tiny plot. East London for you. Not the £60 for a big plot as described by @Robert Cummings ! Gutted.

Got a free fridge freezer yesterday. Bought 12 x delphiniums from sin bin for £2, an orchid £2, Another delphinium Black Eye for £1. A Coral Charm peony for £6 and sadly the tree purple peonies had all gone! £7.99 with one bud last time!

It was very cold yesterday. My lily tub was frozen. I poured a bit of warm water into my melon seed trays and the seedlings all perked up. Very nice.

Will use the nematodeslug this afternoon.

 

[alp]

Egypt unveils nobleman's incredible 4,300-year-old tomb filled with wonderfully preserved colourful wall art and inscriptions after archaeologists uncovered it last month

• The tomb was made for an ancient Egyptian nobleman and is adorned with colourful reliefs and inscriptions
• The tomb has been dated as being 4,300 years old, which was during ancient Egypt's Fifth Dynasty period
• The discovery comes just a week after engineers finished a £7 million restoration project in the same region

Something's wrong with the pic upload function. Just couldn't upload any photos!

5th time lucky! Such an exciting and amazing find!

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

Thousands of rare orchids are bulldozed by a council in a single day – as part of No Deal Brexit plans that have now been shelved

• 17,000 plants were bulldozed by Kent County Council but plans now halted
• Making way for drainage ditch supposed to tackle flooding on the road to Dover
• Orchids at Blue Bell Hill Roadside Nature Reserve had been maintained by volunteers for 15 years

3rd time lucky! Why can't I upload photos as before!

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

Amazing rescue - doggy way!

 

[alp]

Woken up to a much warmer day! Thank heavens! Just did a head count and I might have 3 new bearded irises!

There's a warm glow on the east of my living room. Hopefully, it's going to be sunny soon. Planted out some kale, some salad leaves, some sugarsnaps, sowed climbing yellow beans and Purple Queen beans.

Ah, well! No sunshine predicted!

Applied the nematodeslug yesterday, but only to part of the garden! Hope it works.

 

[alp]

Finally, got my chicks and egg laying hens. Oh, lordy! How they pooed and stank!

I thought it would be warm yesterday. Not even by a mile. It was cloudy and cold and the chicks must have been shivering in the car. In the end, we gave up the £5.99 for 9 pieces of fatty KFC and came home early for the chicks' sake.

Egg laying hens have not been performing and the only gift to me is big lumps of poos! Yuk!

And they finished the food in no time! Lordy! Need to have a steep pockets to keep these two!

These, however, really tug at my heart's strings, if I have one that is!

These last one (the whitest one) is especially worrying. When it landed in the cage ( a new find in a skip!) it stood right on top of the water feeder and wetted half of the cage. It wouldn't feed and stood facing away from the gang like a misfit!

Then there are 3 which would stand inside the feeder so that the less assertive couldn't get near. Like this!

I have now improvised another feeder tray so that others can feed. Just now the yellow one even pecked at the one with whitish crown.

Amazed at how people turned their tiny garden into a hen factory! So many white boxes and they separated all the breeds to keep the the purity of them. Just give me headache, But boy, they are ever so cute! Might go back to get a yellow and a white one. So cute!

 

[alp]

• Jessica Scatterson killed herself at her home in Warrington, Cheshire, in 2017
• Coroner: Jessica's social media activity ramped up to intense level before death
• Nasty messages sent between her and friends were discovered on her iPad
• Drawings and notes referencing suicide were found in her room days after death

This is every parent's nightmare. She's only 12! Evil walks amongst us and social media are just rubbish - not necessary and how people make money without taking due care! Just like the case of Michelle Carter! With her taking a life using text and getting away with 15 months is a pure joke!

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


Robbie Williams threatens NEW court action in planning row with his Led Zeppelin star neighbour Jimmy Page – despite the council approving plans four months ago

• Robbie Williams has been locked in a planning battle with Jimmy Page after buying the mansion next door to Page's Grade-I listed home in 2013
• He wants to build an underground swimming pool but Page says vibrations from the earthworks will damage his home
• Council planners approved Williams' application in December on the condition Williams set aside money as a bond in case damage was caused
• Now lawyers for Williams have told the council such a condition is unlawful
  
  ****************************

I'm glad that Williams is off X factor; not that I watch it! Imagine the stress and litigation costs his neighbour has been going through! Hope Take That excludes him from tour!

Enjoy a virtual tour of Jimmy Page's artworks here

Isn't it beautiful, historical and awe-inspiring? But not so for Robbie Williams who thinks his millions and his entitlements wield more power!

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

Girl, 16, is arrested after planning a party on Snapchat where revellers caused £40k of damage to property as they tear down walls with sledge hammers at holiday home her mother rented for her online

• Property rules state that no parties or events should be held during the stay
• Residents witnessed people scaling the building in order to gain access
• A mother had booked the room on booking.com for her teenage daughter
• Owner of the property has had to cancel bookings with possible customers

The end of the day, what can they do with her? 16 year old?

**************************
'She needs to feel that you are a real man': Anger as Qatari 'sociologist' films online 'tutorial on how Muslim men should beat their wives'

• Abd Al-Aziz Al-Khazra, a sociologist from Qatar, posted the video to YouTube
• The clip appears to show him offer guidance for men on how to beat their wife
• In the video he claims husbands should never injure their wives with beating

He needs to feel that you're a real WOMAN, too!

 

[Perki]

Nice chicks alp , no they are not cheap to keep more than what it cost to buy eggs but you do get fresh eggs. Have you made a chicken run for them in the garden ?

Its been a grand day today nice and sunny , took the bench out of the GH and sat out with a brew going on for an hour noticing all the things I haven't done yet. Ended up spending the next two and half hours sanding down the bench.

 

[alp]

Yes, I have had my first egg! Thrilled as the hens haven't really been eating their proper food. As it was late getting them, we only had chick food!

It's also a way of life I want to introduce to my son! We free ranged them yesterday ie. leave them in a make shift square with chicken wire all around, but Houdinia looked around looking for gap and at one point, I had only one hen in the square. Had to run after her to get her back to pan. Came in and do a bit of research and found out it was better to let them roam. Went out and did just that.

I had to follow them round the whole garden and houdinia had to investigate the neighbour's garden. So that put paid to it. Back into the Chinchilla cage and the little polishes, silkie and legbar had a lovely afternoon enjoying the bigger pan vacated by the gypsies.

This little Dolittle was inert before it went out. It wouldn't even join the gang. Once it was in the same cage as the hens, she ran away from the gang and went to the hens' territory. Houdinia straight away pecked at her, twice. I was panicky. In the end, I had to separate the hens from them before the little ones became their dinner.

We built a dodgy box and used up one roll of chicken wire.

So want it to rain.

 

[alp]

Today's story which gives me goosebumps

Ring believed to be made of Charlotte's Bronte's hair!

Who's talking about goosebumps!

 

[alp]

Fimbriata tulip

Viburnum Plicatum Mariesii going to flower soon

Gala apple blooms

Double tulips which are so heavy that some can't stand up properly! This one is an exception!

The single is just so nice!

This looks like a poorly made fringe!

Azalea

Clematis Montana Appleblossom which has an incredible scent when it is in full flower!

This could be Alba - lacks the perfume!

This tulip has a disease!

 

[alp]

Don't you just love this strapline?

Rain, where are you? My garden is going to be ROASTED!

 

[alp]

Such a shocking story

'I live in a family of 15 people and my parents are abusive - my sisters are chained up': Chilling 911 call made by 17-year-old California house of horrors victim is revealed ahead of their parents' sentencing

And yet, these two could manage such a nice turn out!

The couple have children ranging from 2 to 20s! Shock horror! Why breed when they can't take care of them?

 

[alp]

Yesterday started badly - washing line snapped and Houdinia escaped, AGAIN! Thank heavens she didn't travel far. Would be terrifying if she ventured into no man's land. I feel very sorry for them as the caged pan is not tall enough for them to fly. I can't just go an buy any coop! To top it all, no eggs for me yesterday!

Went to Aldi and lugged home 6 bags of potatoes, quite a few califlowers, carrots as I want to learn to pickle. Channel surfing and saw this Japanese lady with NO FRIDGE! It was so nice to see mackerels put to use asap after being caught. We went mackerel fishing in Looe and it was fun. Only feather needed and the mackerels came up in a line! Small, but joyful to look at and good experience. Ex said it was the best holiday! Well, not because of the mackerels, but because we stayed in a pub/inn!

First orchids of 2019

Spinach crying to be planted out! But where!?

Snowy! Another Houdinia! It's sooo cute!

Viburnum plicatum Mariesii trying to enjoy the party! Talking about party! The heat brought out a lot of people yesterday and it felt so joyous. Friend invited me to BBQ, but declined.

My garden is host to numerous thugs - echinops which have deep roots, acanthus too! Even irises multiply very quickly!

The blighted peonies have a vibrant magenta colour - gaudy pink? But nice as it it so unique! Shame they have been attacked. Wonder by what?

Love the fimbriata and might buy more!

This peony Immaculee bought from Lidl last year has now a bud! Wow! Can't wait. Love peony! The tree peony flower has just completed shedded its petals, but it had a fairly long flowering time.

@Zenj is right. The nematodeslug is working as the salad leaves and other young sugar snap have been left intact. Shame I couldn't afford the whole garden.

Beautiful pink double tulip

Salad leaves doing very well. The ones from Miracle Gro has been a huge disappointment.

When you have too many trays going, you tend to forget one or two. Here is one - confined by a clear plastic bag, the asparagus Colossal seedling have become cheese strings!