Gardens, Gardening, Plants, etc 2019

Oh wow Lass your gardens front and back sound wonderful. 

I do bake but not as well as you and if honest l have such a poor appetite with poor energy l tend to eat my home grown fruit as is or with a crumble topping. 

Gosh your watering sounds fraught with problems especially if the hose gets a leak all through your home.

I spend most of my time outside in my garden weather permitting and must get a table and chair. Found sitting on an iron bench gets uncomfortable after a while. Do you have room for a table and chair so you can sit out and admire all your hard work? X

This is my front garden....

I've done nothing to it this year except for remove lots of cat poo! (Not from my cats I hasten to add. Those fluffy menaces are indoor cats with litter trays. Lol)

This is the back garden as of a few mins ago....

I've done all of that today, which is why I'm now flat out on the sofa. Lol. 

The terracotta thing spins, but there's space to walk around it. I'm also going to put a couple of raspberry canes in the corner by the bins and another by the house. But there's an old stump that needs dug out by the house - that's a job for another day! Lol.

The coloured pots are for herbs, 10 pots and 10 types of herb.

The far left corner are three square planters, but I've only got compost in 2 of them so far. Then there are two bucket bags with the baby blueberry bushes in them - can't wait to see the pink lemonade ones!! 

Including the 2 bucket bags for raspberries, there are 12 to fill and place. Then you can just see in the bottom right corner a tall rectangular planter. It's going under the window I'm taking the picture through. 

After that, the next job will be deciding what is being planted where. Lots of things need to be started off in a propagator, so once they mature I need to know where they are being planted out into. So I'll probably draw a little diagram for myself and keep it near the door. It will also tell me how many plants I need to start off, as I'll know what fits where and what space I have.

Busy busy, but exciting! 

As for the hose, it's a good hose. It's just the connection to the tap that's the problem. The floor is laminate, so I just get a bath towel before I start and cover the floor by the sink. Lol. 

Out the front I sit on the doorstep now and again. I put leads and jackets on the cats so they can go outside and potter around while I enjoy the sun and wind. It's lovely out there today. REALLY windy with very light rain. It's my favourite weather, and the sort where I used to go out and climb a hill to enjoy it properly. Out the back however, the steps are too low to sit on. 

My Mum and Dad bought me some recliners for Christmas, but my hips are too wide for them, and I'm 4 stone too heavy for their maximum weight. So they had to go back. When summer comes around, I'll need to see what weight and size I am and then find something I like and that's comfortable for me as I'd like to sit out the back there as it's more private than the front.

Lass

Xx

Oh Lass you do lift my spirit. Your descriptions of your cats being put on a lead to go with you into your garden reminded me of when my daughter was little. Her friend Laura put her rabbit on a lead and brought it round to meet our dog! I should say Laura was only 7 years old. Not that l am suggesting you are too old! My next door neighbour has a cattery and is involved in rehousing cats and l learnt the cats that have the cat version of hiv (l did not know hiv was in the animal population) are not put down they are rehomed to indoors only so they cannot spread the infection. Neighbour has 5 cats of her own so l do have them visiting and digging in my veg beds!! Got 2 large windmills trying to spook the cats but the cats are not put off by them. Any ideas much as l like cats l don't want them digging up my seeds etc. 

Glad if your hose springs a leak indoors you have that covered. 

Love all your coloured pots on the fence. You are going to have such fun seeing everything burst into bloom. My oncologist recommends gardening to her patients as the best therapy.

I do understand how you can overdo it gardening and then need a day of rest. It is always tempting to just get the weeding done and you find you have been at it far longer than you should! Gardening is as good as a gym workout and much nicer with flowers and food at the end of it. Try not to overdo it too much Lass x

Yes, they used to put cats with FIV down, but now they try and rehome them to indoor/catio houses with no other cats unless they've already got FIV too. Mine are indoor cats because I'm in a not great area with 2 really busy roads nearby, and folks who steal cats for dog baiting. So they only get out on leads to keep them to hand so they don't run off and get hurt. 

They're my cancer cats, as I call them. I got them a couple of years after diagnosis because my life had changed from a social, healthy, working 30 year old to a shut in, disabled 30 year old, who's friends pretty much all vanished and my mental health was suffering. Staring at 4 walls all day every day, with no one to talk to was getting to me. So once things looked like death wasn't imminent, I got 2 cats - and immediately my mental health improved. I had company, and entertainment, and something that needed me and relied on me and loved me. Couple of years later, I got a third cat to balance out the personalities, and now we're complete.

As for cats in the garden, start eating more citrus fruit then put the peel in the garden. Lol. It will rot down and compost in your beds, but the cats should be deterred by the citrus smell. So win win as it were.

But my back garden is now all set up and ready for seeds and/or seedlings. Well.... I need to buy 3 more pots and some compost to fill them as I impulse bought 3 new plants. Lol. A fig tree, a pomegranate tree, and a hibiscus. Because..... Why not. Lol. The fig and pomegranate are self fertilizing, so I only need one of each. Always a plus when you have a small space! But everything else is all set up.

Just trying to get warm again now. Blanket, cat, and hot water bottle - but still chilled on the inside, especially my back as it was exposed to the wind and then the drizzle that started while I was out. Brrrrrrrrrr.

Next job..... gutting my kitchen. No idea how it's got in such a state, but it's ridiculous. Lol. Need to rearrange things so I have space for seedlings and mushrooms - I got a mushroom growing kit for my Christmas! Pink oyster mushrooms. I'm excited to get them going. Just need space for them. Lol. I also got a cheese making kit, and a gin making kit. So need space for them too. Not sure my kitchen is big enough tbh..... But watch this space!

Back garden.....

Lass

Xx

So yesterday I shifted my pots around out the front to make them more aesthetically pleasing, and so I could fit a giant plant pot out there that's for a hibiscus to go into. I also moved my clove currant and my..... you know, I can't remember what it is. A Japanese Quince maybe?..... out the back as they, supposedly, produce edibles. That knackered me, so was sadly all I managed yesterday. So today I carried the 100L bag of soil to the front and filled the big pot with 70L, then carried the rest back to my kitchen where I sat and potted some seeds up. February has me planting Chives, Garden Cress, 4 types of tomato, Tomatillo, and Cauliflower. Exciting stuff!!

How's it going for everyone else?

Lass

Xx

Hi Lass, blimey I wish I had your energy! Yesterday I transferred two pots of fete a tête-à-tête and two pots of hyacinths (3 white and 3 pink). By the time I had filled a big tub with compost and planted them my back was killing me. I ended up with the heat pad on it until it calmed down a bit. I put the tub where I can see it when I am sat in the lounge. Pleased I have done it though as once they flower they will cheer me up to see them.

I had a satisfying time on Sunday smashing ice (it was an inch and a half thick) with a hammer so the garden birds could have a drink! Today I just topped up the bird feeders and chucked some dried mealworms on the ground for the blackbirds. I love to watch them in the winter and so very many come into the garden now that they relies the food is there.

love and hugs to all

Maggie xx

Fraid you can't grow cauliflower in a pot, and many other veg too.  There is a lot of info on the internet about various veg growing. For instance, sweetcorn, which is absolutely sublime when picked and eaten fresh, needs to be grown in blocks in a bed, such as 5x5 or 6x6 because they are wind pollenated, and you can shake them daily because the top tassell is male, so you need to shake the pollen down to the female flowers. 

Why do I know this, because I am vice chairman of the Northern Ireland Vegetable Association, and have been for 10 years, I have won many hundreds of prizes for my veg over the years . If you want to grow carrots in pots, go for Paris Market, it's a small round carrot the size of a plum, so perfectly suited to pot or even better, container growing. Parsnips? No. Not in pots, they need a deep soil, and fresh seeds, old seeds have a poor germination rate, not worth it. A variety called Gladiator is good. 

Any other questions please send them, I'll do my best. 

Tvman

Also, for most veg, sunshine is a must, otherwise they will go to seed.

Tvman

Hey Maggie,

How go the hyacinths and tete a tete? The latter might be popping up just now? I've spotted some of my random yellow things are budding at the minute! I call them random yellow things as they are odds and sods from my friend who works in a primary school. So they are leftover bulbs from when the kids have been planting things. Lol

I've also got a couple of crocus that have come up. A yellow one and a purple one! So that's a bit of colour for the garden.

If I had the space then I'd love something to feed the birds on. But it would need to be out the front, and tall enough to see through the window from my chair. To get something big enough, it would get in the way of the washing line. So I guess I'm just going to have to enjoy the few birds I get in the fir tree.

My seedlings are coming along nicely. All 3 cauliflower seeds have sprouted, and there's a decent number of tomato plants coming up too. However no sign of any Tomatillo, which is a massive disappointment. I've put a deadline in my calendar as to when they should have sprouted. So we'll see. If there's nothing by the deadline, they won't get binned but they will be moved out of the proooppagator, because there are quite a few things that need started next month. So I need the space! Oh, and my tulips are going great guns. Loads of leaves coming up, and I think it'll look amazing and eclectic once they hopefully flower!

Lass

Xx

Hi 

I managed to get out this weekend to clear the debris from last autumn. I made a good start but there’s a way to go. Boy did it take it out of me. Today I ordered some plant plugs to fill a few gaps. I’ve never really got the hang of keeping seedlings alive so I don’t bother anymore. I know, I know. It’s easy and I’m being defeatist. I just can’t take the pain anymore (flings hand to brow in melodramatic fashion). 

While I was out I was able to take stock of spring’s progress. Crocuses, daffs, snowdrops, primrose all in flower. Forsythia threatening to burst out any second. Lords and ladies and pulmonaria in leaf. Buds everywhere. Joy! 

Xxx