Our gardening diaries - from latest toys, flowers to wildlife .. Please upload pics

[MaryMary]

Good morning! And soon, good night!


@alp, I already posted this to the "What's Looking Good" thread, but I don't know if you look at it, and I wanted to show you.

 

[alp]

@MaryMary Thank you for doing that and they are looking soooooo good. Don't laugh at me -- I think they are phlox (I blush! As I am really not sure!) I bought some ground hugging phlox and it's still a heap on the floor and that's a nice way of putting it!)

I don't look at all the threads as lately I have a lot of housework to do, preparing to sell the house .. I'm dreading it - might be jumping from the deep sea to hot fire! And I'm worried that I won't have 110 feet long garden for me to make a mess of! Well, very literally! You might have seen the pics..

Good morning to all. A grey day and no rain. To add insult to injury, I can't find my camera charger!

Going to draw on the floor to lay the tiles.. Hope I can still be in a good mood on Friday..

 

[Logan]

@MaryMary that's pretty, it looks like phlox.
@alp have you watched location location location? It will give you some idea.

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Morning all , how is everyone today?

The promised rain is not really doing what is supposed to do......that is to land on the ground!!

Went really grey a little earlier....and eventually rain drops were visible for about 2 minutes!!! Then brightened up......now a few more drops are falling.........whoa! as I post this the heavens have opened.......yep just checked out the window and I can officially proclaim that the ground is getting .....wet!!!!


Sorry pic has placed itself in the middle....and in my excitement I forgot to move my thumb out of the way

Have a Thoroughly Terrific Tuesday!

 

[alp]

HURRAH! @Upsy Daisy At least, you've had a wet ground .. not to be sneezed at .. Go and read https://www.gardening-forums.com/threads/spam-thread.11457/

And I promise you it's a tonic!

 

[alp]

@Logan I might have a go. I need to see if I could get someone in to spruce up the house. The quicker I get out of here, the happier I will be!

 

[Upsy Daisy]

HURRAH! @Upsy Daisy At least, you've had a wet ground .. not to be sneezed at .. Go and read https://www.gardening-forums.com/threads/spam-thread.11457/

And I promise you it's a tonic!

Absolutely , fantastically brilliant

 

[Logan]

PROGRAMMES TO WATCH
TONIGHT
BBC 1. 9pm New Series In The Dark
Crime Drama adapted from the novels by Mark Billingham.Two girls have been abducted in a rural Darbyshire town.In the midst of the Media storm, pregnant police detective Helen Weeks returns after years away to discover that the man arrested for the crime is married to her child hood best friend. But is he guilty.

BBC 4 9pm
The British Garden: Life and Death on your lawn.
Chris Packham and a team of wildlife experts spend an entire year exploring every inch of a series of interlocking back gardens.

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Just my kinda programme.....thanks for that @Logan

 

[alp]

Some of my photos before the battery cried ..

Not a patch on @Logan 's. Next year, I must get some woodash.

A very ordinary Zinnia, not a patch on @Upsy Daisy 's.

and I blocked the light
Some alstroemerias .. some sensaton??

Prince George has a very beautiful backside! No pun intended! Hehe!

Some cheap plant

Some gaudy lilies with beautiful fragrance

How the bees love these prickly eryngiums

An oil-painting of a dahlia .. Just like an oil-painting

Teddy bear sunflower and one from birdseed

Some cheerful but very gaudy Rudbeckias ..

Favorite of the day, just love the purple colour of this Dracula - Streptocarpus

 

[Logan]

@alp your flowers always look amazing. I don't know if you can put woodash on blueberries.

 

[alp]

What did you use woodash on please? I forgot as blueberries need ericaceous compost.

Also @MaryMary Why is coffee grounds good for breaking up clay soil please? I have access to coffee grounds if I want to. I have stopped going to the café and suddenly you mentioned coffee grounds ..

 

[Logan]

@alp you can use wood ash on any other fruit, but i don't think blueberries.
You could ask Verdun about the blueberries.

 

[Logan]

Morning all
@alp glad that you got the rain, ours are full now.

 

[MaryMary]

@alp and @Logan, yes, they are phlox. They are very tall phlox, but I don't know the variety.

@MaryMary Why is coffee grounds good for breaking up clay soil please? I have access to coffee grounds if I want to. I have stopped going to the café and suddenly you mentioned coffee grounds

Do you want the short version, or the long one?

Short version: Coffee grounds are good for a couple reasons. They add to the soil's tilth, helping to open up spaces in the clay for movement of air and water. (Instead of water just sitting in the clay... it filters through the coffee like coffee through a filter!! .) . They add organic matter to the soil, and draw earthworms. (Earthworms eat half their weight every day. One pound of worms will eat 3.5 pounds of organic matter in a week. .) Earthworms have gizzards, like birds, and they need to eat "grit" for digestion. Coffee grounds work as that grit. As they move through the soil, the worms aerate it, further helping to break up the clay. The worms will also be leaving worm poop, which is wonderful.



For the long version... ... just keep reading!!

Click these links.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_conditioner#Composition

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Used_coffee_grounds
they are known to slowly release nitrogen into the soil. The coffee grounds are rich in potassium, magnesium and phosphorus. They are especially appreciated by worms and acid-loving plants such as blueberries.[3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilth
Clay soils lack large pores, restricting both water and air movement. During irrigation or rain events, the limited large pore space in fine-textured soils quickly fills with water, reducing soil oxygen levels. In addition to routine application of organic matter, microorganisms and earthworms perform a crucial assist to soil tilth. As microorganisms decompose the organic matter, soil particles bind together into larger aggregates, increasing large pore space. Clay soils are more subject to soil compaction, which reduces large pore spaces.[2]