I need supervision!

image from Freepik

I woke up in the early hours of last Wednesday morning with cramp in my right calf ~ bloody painful it was, too.  So as you can imagine I didn't start the day in the best of moods.....

although I did feel more cheerful when I saw that the two sunflower seedlings were pushing their way further up from the compost 😊

As I was expecting the arrival of more plug plants, including tomatoes which were part of this year's greenhouse crop, I decided to move the still poorly-looking dwarf French beans out into the kitchen garden.  I separated out the clumps and put four individual plants into each of my 12"/30cm squares.  Then came the point at which I really should have been supervised 😲

As you know, my lovelies, I'm a big fan of chicken manure pellets for fertilising my garden and as luck would have it the two tubs I'd ordered also arrived this week.  They come in big plastic tubs, which have a tab that has to be prised off to open the lid.  I always seem to struggle with these bloody tabs and this time was no different.  I somehow managed to wrench my thumbnail in the process and boy oh boy did it hurt 😱  I must have actually pulled the nail away a tad as it bled a little ~ luckily I always keep my nails short!  Thankfully I was wearing gardening gloves at the time, which I suspect may have mitigated the damage somewhat.  As I was working in garden soil I thoroughly cleaned said thumb with an antiseptic wipe, and then wrapped it over the end and around with a couple of plasters.  It was so f***ing painful and, being right-handed, it was of course the right thumb that I managed to hurt 😒  There's still a bruise visible beneath the nail but it's not a painful as it was.  Like I said, sometimes I think I could do with a little supervision 😉 

Apart from watering the kitchen garden beds (the first time I've felt it prudent to do so this year), I decided not to do anything else in the garden and spent the evening feeling sorry for myself 😄      

Although I again woke up with cramp in the early hours of Thursday morning, this time in my left calf, I was cheered up ~ and amazed ~ to see the sudden rush of sunflower seedlings! 

My poor 'ole thumb was still very tender, as was my left leg, but I pulled up my big girl panties and tackled this bed in the back garden patio area.  I'd planted a "something" which has lost it's label and I can't now recall the name of 😏  Anyhoo, the bloody thing seemed intent on taking over the bed, via runners beneath the soil, so I decided it would have to be dug out.

I ended up digging out the three little plants in the far left corners and the centre front so that I could get as much of the mystery plant out as possible.  I put the former back in their original spots and gave them all a good watering to help settle them back down again.  Hopefully they won't be too resentful at being dug out🤞

I decided to plonk the mystery plant in the bed between the log store and garden shed, where it can fight it out with the willow, narcissus, and rosa rugosa 😉  The latter is full of buds, one of which had already opened.  Despite their deadly thorns I do like them, especially in a bed that I usually leave pretty much to its own devices 😄

The plum tree has lots of lovely fresh leaves but alas hasn't flowered this year.

The apple tree is making up for it, though, and the cherry has quite a lot of blossom as well.

More plug plants arrived.....

in, as I was expecting, not very good condition.  They are both bush tomatoes, Tropical Ruby and Indigo Cherry Drops.

They looked terribly sad and sorry for themselves; it remains to be seen whether they will pick up.

Friday was a much slower day as I had an appointment at the hairdressers in the morning, and my left leg was still pretty sore.  In the afternoon I just pottered about, really.  I moved the pots of dahlias out of the arbour and placed them in various positions around the garden.  I was able to move the fuchsias and geraniums out of the greenhouse into the now-empty arbour to get them used to being outside for the summer. 

It's incredible just how quickly the sunflower seedlings are growing!  If they continue like this, I shall have more plants than I was anticipating 😄

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)  

A Place Called England

Heard on Radio 3 this morning.  Just as applicable to the whole of the UK, not only England

A little here, a little there

Work continues in the garden ~ I'm trying not to think too much about all that's still to be tackled out there 😳  After the disappointing French bean plug plant delivery I decided to just hope for the best ~ although, to be honest, expecting the worst! ~ and get on with tidying the kitchen garden beds.  

When I took you on a stroll around the "grounds", I pointed out that this bed (number 2 😀) had the most weeds.  Although it didn't take too long to clear out, it did take a bit longer than I anticipated as I had so many potatoes to dig out!  This is the bed I grew my crop in last year and obviously I didn't get out all the tiny little tatties out when I harvesting the ones that had grown to a reasonable size.  I didn't feel that it would be a good idea to eat these potatoes so they were all discarded, along with the weeds.  I restrung the bed into my favourite 12"/30cm squares and it's now ready for the next lot of plug plants to arrive.

I forgot to take an "after" photo of bed 3 😏 but as you can see it didn't have too many weeds to tackle.

This year's potato crop in bed 5 is sending up shoots.  I will need to top off the bed when my delivery of compost arrives in the next day or two.

The extra Jazzy potatoes need to be topped off, too.

These lovely tulips are Moon Blush; the basket to the right (out of shot in this photo), Apricot Emporor, have finished flowering now.  

I moved three baskets of the "cutting" narcissus over to the strawberry bed.  On the right is Lemon Beauty, with Orangery in the middle, and Slice of Life on the far side.  Hopefully they will continue to thrive here and I will be able to cut some for the house if I want to 😊  The strawberries are flowering and starting to set fruit; I shall have to get some netting organised soon!

There are now just three baskets of narcissus left, which will be moved out once I've found the right spots for them in the borders.  The variety still in flower is Pink Wonder, with Cassatta beside it, and Tete a Tete at the back. 

I was very excited last weekend to see that a couple of the sunflower seeds were already sending up shoots ~ it's not all that easy to see them in this photo, hence the arrows!  Look out for regular updates on their progress as I'm finding this perhaps much more thrilling that it actually is 😉 

Trying again...

image from Clipart Library

more fool me 😒  You may recall, my lovelies, my enthusiastic post about trying to grow my veggies from seed this year.  Well, what I completely forgot to take into account was the fact that we would be down south for virtually two weeks in April.  Normally this wouldn't be a problem as our lovely neighbour kindly looks after the greenhouse for me when we are away, and I do the same for her.  This time, though, we were all away at the same time which would have been a tad difficult for delicate seedlings.  So I decided to try, yet again, plug plants from Marshalls.  A lot of their plants were due to be sent out around the time we were away but I was able to select some that had a later dispatch date.

I really wasn't holding out much hope that they would be any better this year than they had been previously, but despite my misgivings I nevertheless went ahead.  The first plants arrived last week.....

looking both leggy and sorry for themselves.  These are French beans Dwarf Tender Green.

I potted each cell into a larger pot, without separating the seedlings for the time being.  I'm not convinced that they will turn into sturdy, healthy, plants but maybe a miracle will happen 🤷

I have a selection of plants yet to be dispatched but this is the "journey" information from the courier regarding the two varieties of tomato that have now been sent out:

My parcel's journey

+

08/05/2508:25

We have your parcel. Please check back for updates

08/05/2506:17

Your parcel has arrived at your delivery depot (Shetland And Orkney Service Centre)

06/05/2509:49

We have your parcel. Please check back for updates

03/05/2509:41

Your parcel has arrived at your delivery depot

02/05/2521:43

Your parcel is at our national hub

01/05/2500:00

We're expecting your parcel from your sender. We will provide updates here once we receive it

As you can see, it takes a fair few days to get from Marshalls to me.  The above was the latest information from the carriers so even though they state that they have the parcel, there isn't as yet any indication of it actually being out for delivery.

Next year I will definitely be growing from seed!

Little words of wisdom

 

Reading round-up: April 2025

image from Clipart Library

April was a fairly good month for reading:

Sleeping Murder (Miss Marple series): Agatha Christie

Monsieur Pamplemousse Takes the Cure (Monsieur Pamplemousse series book 4: Michael Bond

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Douglas Adams

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe: Douglas Adams

Life, the Universe and Everything: Douglas Adams

 I'm really enjoying the Miss Marple books.  As you might expect there is an awful lot more detail in the actual stories themselves than can be fitted into the television series!  My favourite on-screen depiction of "Miss Marple" is Joan Hickson ~ I love the way she plays the character.  I confess that I also have a bit of a soft spot for Margaret Rutherford's version, even though it came across as a tad over-the-top.  Although I did watch the TV series adaptations with Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie, I can't say that I enjoyed them anywhere near as much as either Joan Hickson or even Margaret Rutherford.  I suppose we all have our favourite on-screen depictions of characters.  For me it will always be Joan Hickson as Miss Marple, in the same way that Jeremy Brett is Sherlock Holmes and David Suchet is Poirot 😊

The Monsier Pamplemousse books are old favourites that I first read many years ago, borrowed, I suspect, from the library.  I can't remember now how I came across them again in the Kindle store but I'm glad that I decided to buy the first few books in the series.  I think I just have one more downloaded that I have yet to read, then no doubt I shall be popping back online to get some more, as I'm pretty sure that there are more than 5 books in the series 😏

The Douglas Adams books are in an omnibus edition: The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Complete Trilogy in Five Parts.  I don't recall ever reading any Douglas Adams books, and to be honest I can't say that I remember watching the TV series either.  To be honest I've can't say that I've thoroughly enjoyed the three books I've read so far, but on the other hand I've not struggled with them like I did with Ted 🤷  Despite neither really liking nor disliking them, I will nevertheless finish the last two in this omnibus.

Confession time: the magazines from my various subscriptions have built up over the last year or two so, along with the gazzillions of yet-to-be-read books waiting patiently in my Kindle, I have a fair few mags piling up too 😳  I suspect the coming monthly round-ups will feature both books and a sprinkling of magazines, although with work in the garden now getting into full swing methinks there may well be a downturn in the amount of either that I can stay awake long enough to actually read 😄

Dahlia day!

You'll be pleased to hear that I did get round to doing some actual work in the garden last week, not just stroll around taking photos 😏  I was out there all day on Wednesday, which was a glorious day, and I made my first job getting our old duvet washed and hung out ready to go in the guest bedroom in due course.

I then took a deep breath and made a start on the poor dahlias, which as you can see from the photo above were once again left out all winter 😳  I didn't bother taking photos of all the tedious emptying out of the pots and rootling around to ~ hopefully ~ find tubers that hadn't rotted away, especially as I had 19 pots to rootle through!  Needless to say they didn't all survive my shameful neglect but, somewhat amazingly, 12 of the poor little buggers did!

 As it was such a lovely day I made the most of it by sitting myself beside the arbour, rather than lugging the pots into the greenhouse, and emptied them into the wheelbarrow  ~ which I filled up twice!  I can't remember if I told you that we decided to keep the bed along the wall in the little front garden patio area after all?  Anyhoo, that's where I tipped the old compost.  I usually keep my old compost as "bulk" to top up beds and borders as needed, replacing the by-now exhausted nutrients in it by adding a good sprinkling of chicken manure pellets 😊

Then it was into the greenhouse to pot up the tubers.  Some were able to stay in the same size pots they'd been in last year, with a handful needing to move up to larger ones.  I decided to make more of an effort this time by adding a drainage layer in the bottom of the pots.  As I only had a bag of rather fine horticultural grit, I thought it prudent to put something in the base of the pots so that I didn't lose said grit out of the drainage holes.  I had a supply of strawberry mats that I don't now use, so was able to cut them to size for all the pots.....

then slung in a scoop or so of the grit.

Look at that lump of, well I don't know exactly what it is to be honest ~ granite perhaps? ~ that was lurking in the bag! 

Three or four of the tubers are already sprouting and hopefully all 12 will grow.  I would have added some chicken manure pellets just to "beef up" the compost to give the tubers a good feed but I've run out.  I've ordered a couple more tubs so will sprinkle some over the pots they arrive.

I had to re-do two or three of the labels as the writing was starting to wear away.  I was left with one pot, though, where the label was totally illegible so had to work out which variety it was (turned out to be Prinzessa) through a process of elimination ~ luckily I was actually organised enough last year to keep a list of what I had on the computer 😆

What I'm left with now are:

Bahama Apricot (orange)

Cafe au Lait (pale pink)

Cafe au Lait Twist (creamy-white/pink)

Creme de Cassis (purple)

Grand Prix (lemon/white)

Mikayla Miranda (purple)

Peaches & Cream (yellow)

Prinzessa (creamy-yellow, pink tipped)

Purple Gem (purple)

Souvenir d'Ete (orange)

Tyrell (orange)

White Aster (white)

I'll keep you up-do-date with their progress!

After I'd finished the mammoth task of dealing with the poor dahlias, which as usual took me far longer than I had anticipated, I decided to try my luck sowing some sunflower seeds.  I was inspired by seeing the sunflowers that my Dad is growing, so thought I'd have a pop at it myself.  Vincent's Mix, as the name suggests, is a mixture of different colours and flower shapes, so it will be interesting to see what (hopefully!) comes up 😊 

By the time I'd sorted out the dahlias and sown the sunflower seeds, I was too tired to do anything else on Wednesday.  Thursday wasn't anywhere near as nice a day; although the sun did shine quite brightly later on, there was a pretty chilly breeze out there!  I was very tempted just to have another lazy day, but in the end decided to bundle myself up in layers and get on with setting the strawberry supports in place before the plants got any bigger.  It was definitely easier to do with the plants now being raised up in pots and more separate from each other.  I'm hoping that this will help them get more air circulation, and avoid the mildew/mould issues I had last year.

There's still lots to be done in both the front and back gardens, but I feel that I've at least made a fairly good start out there now 😊  

Before I finish off this post, I must just show you what I hauled all the way back from Leeds with me ~ three lovely new houseplants from a super shop not far from the hotel we stayed in 😀  The one in the photo above is, at it states on the label, Gynura Purple Passion.  It caught my eye as I thought it was quite an unusual-looking plant.

This is Coffea Arabica (coffee plant).  I was attracted by those lovely glossy leaves.

And finally, here's Monstera Adansonii Monkey Mask.  I did have a very small one of these but sadly it died so I thought I'd have another try at growing it, this time starting with a somewhat larger and more established plant 🤞

I packed the plants tightly together for the journey home and thankfully they survived pretty much unscathed.

The shop I bought them from in Leeds is called Nice Things, and really is chock-a-block with very nice plants indeed!  Sadly they only ship to mainland UK addresses, so I had to be very good and only allow myself to be tempted by three plants.  Trust me, though, I could have bought very many more had we been travelling by car 😄 

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)    

A stroll around the "grounds" ~ part two

Sadly the osteospermum and argyranthemum haven't made it, but I'm thrilled to see how well all the fuchsia and geranium plants are doing.  I shall have to start popping them outside during the day to harden them off now, as I will soon need the greenhouse for other things 😉

Although the photo doesn't show it too well, I was delighted to see blossom on two of the fruit trees: Summer Sun (cherry) on the right, and Scrumptious (a dessert apple) on the left.  No blossom yet on the plum, Victoria, which is further to the right and out of shot but I'm just really happy that all three have come through being uprooted from the front garden!

Both of the two little redcurrant bushes, Jonkheer van Tets, look like they may well produce fruit although the one in this photo is further ahead than the other one in the bed.  The strawberries are looking good, too 😊

The primroses that I moved last month are finally filling out and showing signs of blooms.

The mint seem to be enjoying their new living accommodation!  I still can't remember the name of the one on the right but its leaves have a lovely spearmint scent.

The standard redcurrant (also Jonkheer van Tets) must be feeling happy too, judging by all the potential currants forming on it!

Buds are starting to appear on the chives, but sadly I think I've pushed the thyme (out of shot in this photo) to its death with my over-enthusiastic pruning 😯  I have a rosemary to replace it, though, which I got from Tesco with the shopping this week from their "growing herbs" section.  I have my doubts as to whether it will survive here but I do like to give things a go 😉

The pansies (Matrix Mix Coastal Sunrise) are looking a little better than they were last month.....

but are being totally outshone by their brethren on the kitchen windowsill 😆

The raised beds are filling out.....

and amazingly those little fuchsias do indeed appear to have survived the winter!

I'm really pleased with how good the water bowl bed is looking.  I've just got to remember to fix the poor hare's front legs this year 😳

When I last showed you the tulips (Apricot Beauty) they were still in bud, but look at them now ~ aren't they pretty!  I'm so glad I didn't miss them flowering whilst we were away 😊