Last Post 1209 days 18 hours ago
31 January 2010 22:01:02
Glorious day
Beautiful and sunny here though very cold. The garden was neglected though as Sunday is one of our walking days so it was a couple of lovely hours in West Cork.
30 January 2010 20:40:15
I put the two shrubs I bought yesterday in Aldi in pots as they were bare root in plastic bags with compost (Berberis Atropurpurea and Potentilla) . Then I decided on a space for the Berberis down at the back of the garden where there is a lot of Lamium (dead nettle) so I started clearing a patch. The ground there is just full of roots so I'll have to do it at least once more. It's a start anyway. Then I went for a cycle in the afternoon, cold but lovely. Definitely out of practice after all the bad weather!
29 January 2010 16:23:28
Beautiful scent
Lovely day here and I did a bit of tidying up in the garden. Fabulous scent coming from the Sarcococca (Christmas box)--first day I had noticed it.
26 January 2010 19:55:06
Just to let you know that I'm thinking of joining you for Chelsea. Hope this is ok!?!
25 January 2010 12:27:36
Bad weather passtimes
Ternie was making lovely jewellery, I was more prosaic-- rescuing an unsatisfactory sweater! The sleeves were really wide and floppy at the wrists and even though I knew this I couldn't resist the colour and so I bought it. But I got really sick of the sleeves so ripped out the rib and knitted it back down. One done one waiting--the knitting bit is easy it's getting started is tricky.
23 January 2010 22:18:20
I called into Aldi yesterday just for a look!!? Of course I bought 3 shrubs, 1 Aucuba and 2 Cistus, I couldn't decide between the white and the pink with maroon splotches so ended up buying both. Now the problem is where are they going to fit?
22 January 2010 22:09:26
Snowdrop close-up
I think it was Myrtle suggested that we could compare our various snowdrops so I took a close-up today. I think I must never have looked at a snowdrop from below before-absolutely amazing!
19 January 2010 12:34:38
Yippee snowdrops!
When I was admiring Myrtle's snowdrops yesterday I was wondering what was keeping mine. Then this morning when I was doing some badly needed tidying of brown and soggy stuff I suddenly spotted a little white flower! The moral of the story is don't just go looking for things go tidy!
18 January 2010 11:08:45
First of all the Dimorphotheca seeds arrived in the post--thanks a million, Jacinta! As they're not to be sown until April there won't be any more news of them for a while!
Then I noticed a redpoll on one of the feeders, oh another one on the other feeder. Went in to write them in on the survey; when I came out they were still there and two more waiting!
And all this on what is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year(third Monday in January).
17 January 2010 19:31:34
I have a bit of a cold (it seems to be going on this site!) so didn't do too much in the garden. The patio seemed to be full of soggy leaves so I got out the leaf vac and shred and cleaned things up a bit. The only cheerful things are various bulbs putting up their noses and the hellebores showing new growth.
16 January 2010 10:49:42
Miracle of growing from seed
It's hard to believe that one of the tiny green dots in front could turn into a plant like this.(Begonia Semperflorens that I grew last year and brought in at the end of the summer.) The actual seeds are so tiny they wouldn't show up in a photo. By the way I don't think yogurt pots are ideal as the seedlings are too cramped but I'm short of space!
12 January 2010 20:09:55
Recycling
This morning an amaryllis had collapsed and needed a stake and I certainly wasn't going out to the shed in the rain so I used an old knitting needle.
12 January 2010 14:17:20
Just looked out the window and I see my small tree in the front garden has lost another branch. I think its time must be up.
11 January 2010 20:50:36
Avocado from a stone
Just thought I'd tell how I grew an avocado from a stone --by mistake! I had tried to grow one several times years ago with no success ao gave up the idea. In more recent years I've been putting them in the compost bin and one day when I was weeding I came across this lumpy thing and discovered it was a half avocado stone and it had sprouted!! so I potted it up and brought it indoors. I don't expect it'll ever have fruit but I just love doing funny things like that.
10 January 2010 16:29:33
Snow finally arrived here so I've put up some photos. I had put salt on my back steps several days ago and the snow didn't stick there at first though I think there's some there by now.
10 January 2010 12:45:53
I think I saw a fieldfare today but blackbirds chased it away before I could get a photo. It was like a thrush but had a really woolly grey head and reddish brown on the chest.
09 January 2010 17:56:19
First seedlings up
Hooray! Something cheerful for a change. The first of the seedlings have come up, a couple of Verbascum and also a couple of Antirrhinum.
08 January 2010 20:16:09
I spotted what may be very rare in these recessionary times--a 10 C reg car!
08 January 2010 14:06:15
Don't forget water as well as food for the birds. I've been putting out water every day but somehow today they went mad for it, both drinking and bathing in it. One sparrow kept hopping in and out before deciding to have a bath--just like someone working up courage to go in swimming! By the way I saw 3 redwings today and also a greenfinch which I hadn't seen for a few weeks.
07 January 2010 12:18:26
Redwing spotted
Managed to get a fairly good photo of this redwing.
06 January 2010 21:57:12
Icy weather
We had a tiny flurry of snow this afternoon but mainly it is just extremely cold. A few of did a walk around the Mahon walkway, the Marina and the Atlantic Pond and discovered that it was partially frozen over.
05 January 2010 21:33:33
Tradescantia
With Jacinta breathing down my neck (joke!!) I decided to do a job on the Tradescantias. It turned out to be one of those jobs where one thing led to another as one of them had grown so much that it knocked down a few other things when I lifted it and so I ended up having to clean up the whole area! No harm as I had been ignoring it for ages. The light coloured one had plenty of short stems so I took the lazy way out and just cut off the straggly bits. Probably not a good idea. Anyway Jacinta the bits are on the way!
04 January 2010 19:46:47
Just to let you know that I found several small black flies around one of my Lidl Amaryllis-- I presume they came in the compost.
03 January 2010 21:54:11
Seed planting
Took out the seed packets and found some that say sow from January so I got out the yogurt pots and compost and now have six lots of seeds in my little propagator on the warming mat I had for wine making when that was the in thing. I also put in some Protea that I bought in south Africa but I'm not sure if they will do here. Anyway time will tell.
03 January 2010 15:47:28
I was all set this morning to put Arbrex on the tree that lost a branch. Hat and scarf on , open the door and it was raining! yeuch! and of course you couldn't know if there was ice under the rain. Anyway it cleared up after lunch and I went for a walk. 90% was perfect but there were a few skiddy bits that you just wouldn't see.
02 January 2010 21:27:31
Thought it was time to show my face on the site so here I am in my gardening gear. I think it was colder here than yesterday , certainly the ground was too hard to do anything. I got the broken tree sawed as best I could and bought the Arbrex so hopefully that will save it. Otherwise I just cut up some bits that I had put in the compost bin the other day--the nasturtiums had frozen hard and were actually easier to cut than when they were floppy and slimy.
01 January 2010 21:38:34
Amaryllis again
I've just written a whole lot and when I went to do a photo the writing disappeared! Anyway I've repotted my old ones and my Lidl ones are flowering!(Much shorter version!).
01 January 2010 16:42:24
New Year's Day 2010
I went round the garden this morning and took photos of any bit of a flower I could find and I will do an album in a minute (or 6!). They are mostly just hanging in there and not in great condition!