Alan S's Journal

confused about cyclamen

confused about cyclamen

in dec's issue of mag there's 2 pieces about cyclamen, one on p5 which start into flower in dec and one on p71 which talks about them being in flower since early august....are they the same kind of cyclamen?

how long should aug flwering ones last?

to mow or not to mow

back lawn on a drier day

i'm sitting here looking out at a nice blue sky wondering whether or not to mow the lawn. i was out on it earlier getting some brussel sprouts for karens mam and it squelched like anything under my feet so i dont think it bodes too well.

anyway maybe its just a sign to relax and take it easy. yeah thats it!!!i'm very easily persuaded ha ha....oh and i think its gonna be raining again tomorrow so maybe i'll just have to take it easy then too ha ha

HAND it to the french

hand of Gaul

the french have a saying when it rains heavily as it is now... "il pleut comme une vache qui pise"..its raining like a pissing cow"

well, you gotta HAND it to the french!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hellebores

hellebores

i only just noticed that the hellebores is beginning to flower. its just in time for christmas. it might even be a little early but its all good isn't it!

a beech nut!

a beech nut!

beech hedge is good all year round. it'll be in leaf right up until the new buds burst open in may especially if the hedge has been clipped and maintained during the growing season.

i really love the warm yellows and bronzes on the hedge...

its strange, my brother used to work with a polish man who could never understand why we in ireland hedge in our gardens and block out so much light...good point i suppose...i think it all stems back to marking out own territory

autumn colours

autumn colours

i'm not sure how much longer 2009 will allow the leaves stay on the trees what with all this wind and rain so here is a photo of what autumn does offer

cylamen

cyclamen

they're only planted a little while but they look the part partly hidden under the sweetgum leaves

begonias

begonia tubers

i put all the begonia tubers from the baskets into trays of multi-purpose compost hoping they'll come back again next year. i have them in the shed.

should i have them covered with more compost or fleece or anything...i never saved them before so it's all new to me

(the tubers are nice and firm)

new shoots

green shoots

i was tidying up the baskets and came across this begonia tuber with fresh little shoots. weather has been fairly mild so far this autumn

cooking apples

cookers

thrilled with my cookers!

solar lights

solar lights

i bought 24 of these solar lights in september. i was delighted with the look of them and so i bought another 24!

however, the light dimmed very quickly over the 1st week or so, so i replaced the batteries with brand new ones hoping the light would last longer than just a couple of nights.

no such luck. i bought a battery charger and i'm charging the batteries everyday....surely this shouldn't be the way to do it....am i doing something wrong?

labelling

anytime i bought bulbs i used to say to myself i'll remember the name of that and of course where i planted it...yeah right.

 so i bought labels in mr middleton onto which you write the name etc-you know the ones, white plastic!

i wrote the names on them in permanent marker, which turned out to be NOT so permanent

so i then bought a label machine which had a plastic label. i typed up all the names of the bulbs i planted in the last month or so..i'm not sure if they will actually stick to the white plastic labels or not as i wasn't imbued with much confidence today when i was sticking them on. fingers crossed eh!