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

[alp]

@Larisa I have several tomatoes going.. one is supposed to be finest from a supermarket, one is black krim.. Gardeners' delight I think. Hopefully, I will have some tomatoes this year. I love it with spaghetti .. I hope your apricot will live too. Given warmth and sunshine, they should be OK.. Best in a conservatory and put a fleece over it when it is really cold..

 

[Larisa]

My "best tomato" is also from the supermarket. I bought it and realized that it is very tasty. It is amazing for me that it does not have diseases like many other varieties and gives a good harvest before the cold!

 

[alp]

They look nice, @Larisa . I bought the finest reduced and get the seeds. I must say, it was messy business extracting tomato seeds.. Extracted some, so I will see what they are like. A friend gave me a spaghetti squash and I extracted loads of seeds and managed to sell some on ebay.. Just for a laugh..

 

[Larisa]

@alp
Here, many people value the seeds that they themselves collect. Especially if this happens for many years. It's sort, not hybrids. I have the seeds of pepper, which was created in the middle of the last century.

But cucumbers I love hybrids. Our old varieties are a little "thick". This is inconvenient for canning.

 

[alp]

Here we call it heirloom seeds. This reminds me: I watched a film yesterday on iplayer in which Dennis Quaid plays a farmer who washes his GM seeds and he is in a lot of bother as he is supposed to buy new seeds. This is how GM big companies make their big money as you cannot re-use your seeds. You have to buy from these sharks. The GM seeds might not be good for wildlife as they are modified so the disease resistant and weather proof (or more resilient). The French strenuously go against GM whilst America wanted to give their GM seeds to some poverty stricken countries who didn't want them.. Here lies the dilemma: GM or not GM and is it right for GM companies to monopolise their supply of these seeds?

 

[Larisa]

I think every country should have its own "bank of high-quality seeds" for safety. This is the basis. The rest is a little experiment.

 

[alp]

I agree. When a poor country refuses to get free GM rice, alarm bell rings..

 

[Logan]

Morning all, Did everybody have a good night's sleep?

 

[alp]

Good morning to all - slept very well. Thank you. Hope you slept well too Logan.. After all that gardening work, how could I not slept well. Crikey, it was so cold out there but amazingly, I was woken up by very bright sunshine, 100% sure the ground will heat up soon. Have a nice day..

 

[Logan]

Alp, glad that you slept well. It's all that hard work.Yes thanks i did,but did wake up wanting to turn over on my side, but can't.

 

[alp]

Some flowers from yesterday - wall flower which self-seeded

Purple sensation

Multi-blue has got 2 flowers

Peony coming soon and Blue iris

Geum Mrs Bradsh

aw

 

[Logan]

Alp, their great. The original wallflower,was it a yellow one? I've got yellows.

 

[alp]

It seems to be we've all got yellows: Grey parrot, you and me.. I had a blood red and suddenly, I decided I didn't like it and ripped it up.. What's wrong with me???

 

[Logan]

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Morning, what a lovely sunny one it is too!

Hope everything is progressing smoothly for you Logan...and your hubs, how did the roast go yesterday?

I'm not surprised that you slept well alp........do your arms ache,mine did the week before when I did a huge amount of sieving. That reminds me I still have a couple of small borders to do.

I love wall flowers, we have a lovely range of colours out in bloom at the moment.

Might be cake and coffee at IKEA day today ...I hope!

Have a lovely day x