Hobbies and Crafts

Today we have been to Teguise to the market, cloud and hot sun and very windy, and very crowded. Bought a couple of things and had a nice coffee and shared an apple tart (large slice) much like a tart tatin. Then we drove to Arrieta and had toasted sandwiches and chips in the snack bar, again very windy so it was good to sit and watch the waves. Back now to sit on the patio and read. We were going to go to Famara but it looked like it was in thick cloud.

Isn’t it annoying when you lose a long post like that Ann. It’s happened to me more than once. It sounds as though you are getting out and about and having a good time.

Gill, my condolences on your loss. It’s good to keep busy and gardening is good therapy. Thinking of you <3

We have been in the Milton Keynes area for the weekend on our annual get-together with OH’s siblings and their partners. On the way back we called in at a garden centre just to have a look around, not to buy anything. Famous last words........the bank balance was £60 lighter when we left :-D

We bought a couple of sedums and some bone meal but our main purchase was a shrub called physocarpus. We want to remove one of the witch hazels that hasn’t done very well in this house and replace it with a shrub and one that has a bit of interest about it. Everything OH suggested would either have grown too big or I didn’t like, and he wasn’t keen on anything I suggested. This physocarpus is the first thing we have agreed on.

At the moment the leaves are a deep maroon red, though I think they may be greener in the spring and get darker as the summer goes by. It also has white flowers in early summer. It grows to about 1.5 metres and the one we have bought is at least a metre tall now.

When we got back I did make an effort to do some deadheading and OH did some weeding but still lots to do in the garden.

Good to see your post went through this time around Ann. It sounds like you're having a lovely time away, apart from the wind. Maybe you could go to Famara tomorrow if it's not so cloudy. I like apple tart, I bet it tasted lovely. :-)

Thanks Vera for your kind words, yes, I find if I keep busy it helps. I was writing my post when you posted yours so I've only just seen it.

I love the plant you bought, I hadn't heard of it before so took a look online, it's very pretty. Isn't that the case, you go into garden centres with all good intensions of not buying anything and just to have a look then come out with at least one thing. I'm like a child in a sweet shop where plants are concerned and sometimes go a bit mad buying all sorts, but they do look nice when they're in the garden don't they?

It sounds like you've had a lovely weekend away with your family. I hope the weather was nice for you.

Vera, very aggravating, my fault I think though.
It was cloud cover this morning although still warm. We drove down to the centre, making use of the car. Had breakfast, we get a free breakfast every time we eat in a certain restaurant. Bought duty frees so we don’t have to carry them once the car is returned, and a few oddments, stocking presents then went for a walk out along by the sea. Came back to the apartment and had crusty bread, cheese and tomatoes for a late lunch and the sun came out at 3pm and it is again very hot.

Sounds as though you are enjoying yourselves Ann. I hope the good weather continues for you. Apparently we are in for a warm but very windy spell, at least in our area.

OH dug out the ailing witch hazel and planted the new shrub and it looks good. I’m very pleased with it. I hadn’t heard of it either, Gill, till I saw it at the garden centre.

We have decided to get rid of some Euphorbias so OH then dug one up and had a bit of an accident with it. I won’t repeat the saga here as I have put a thread on the General Chat board as a warning to others, and you might like to read that. Needless to say I am now getting rid of all our Euphorbias!

I've just read your post on general chat Vera. I have posted on there but want to send get well wishes to your OH and wish him a speedy recovery, I hope there are no lasting effects. It must of been such a shock for you both. Hope you are okay too.

Pleased to see your new shrub looks good. in place of your Witch Hazel. I've noticed a lot of plants I've never heard of in the garden centres recently. It's been nice to buy something different and it mixes the borders up a bit, rather than having the same plants repeating themselves throughout the garden.

OH and I went to see the shed my mum's neighbour was selling to us today, only to find that we had been given the wrong measurements so we can't buy it after all as it won't fit into the space we made for it. I really wish I'd taken a look at it before I laid all the flags as it would of saved us a lot of time and money. Luckily the flags look good but we're not sure what to do with the space now. My neighbour said I'll probably fill it with more pot plants LOL......she's probably right :-)

It sounds like you're having a lovely time away Ann. We are due bad weather this week so I think you're in the best place right now :-) Can you bring the sun back with you :-D :-D

Morning all

Nice and sunny here today but the wind is really bad so I don't think I'll be out in the garden today. I was going to plant up the last of the bulbs but I don't fancy having a face full of compost so it can wait until the wind dies down a bit.

How is your OH today Vera, I've been thinking of the two of you and hope he's on the mend now?

Euphorbia - A warning

I expect the gardeners amongst you know that Euphorbia plants are toxic but this is a plea to everyone to take extra care when handling them and watch your children around these plants. An incident today made me realise just how toxic they are.

Just before lunch OH had dug out a Euphorbia and we were getting rid of it. He was wearing gloves and was well covered up but for some reason he had taken his glasses off. As he bent down to pick up some pieces from the path a cut stem sprang up and caught him so that the sap went in his eye. He rinsed it immediately with lots and lots of water but his eye was extremely painful and within minutes was swelling and bloodshot. We went first to the Pharmacist for advice which was to get to a doctor. Next to our local doctor’s surgery where he was given an emergency appointment and seen fairly quickly. Doctor ascertained that there was no foreign body in the eye and the eyeball wasn’t scratched and gave him two tubes of saline solution which he had to pour in his eye as I was driving him the 20 miles to A&E.

At the hospital he had his eye washed with a full litre of solution, had the acidity in his eye checked, his sight checked and lots of drops and ointments put in. He was then sent home with anti-infection ointments and drops that he may have to use for a few weeks and told to go back to the hospital if the pain hasn’t lessened by Friday.

Euphorbia is sold in garden centres everywhere and lots of people have it in their gardens. We knew the sap was an irritant and thought we took reasonable care but we hadn’t realised how toxic it is. Without prompt action OH could even have lost his sight in the affected eye. I don't want to frighten anyone into removing the plants from their gardens but PLEASE, PLEASE take great care when handling Euphorbia.

Ann and Gill, as you both suggested I have pasted the Euphorbia warning on this thread as well.

Thankfully OH is considerably better today. His eye is sore but the extreme pain has gone and he felt OK to drive to an appointment he had this morning, though I insisted on going with him just in case.

I have spent the afternoon trying to catch up on the jobs I had planned to do yesterday and this morning, so no gardening done today. It has been sunny and very breezy today and, according to the forecast, it is going to be thick cloud and strong winds tomorrow so I don't suppose I'll do any gardening then. At least I'll find out if our new fence will stand up to the wind.

I am pleased your OH’s eye is improvinig, very frightening when our eyes are affected.

Pleased to hear your OH is feeling much better today Vera, good idea to go with him to his appointment though, better to be safe than sorry. Hope you got through all your jobs. I was hoping to do a bit more gardening but the wind was to bad to work in. I wanted to plant the rest of my bulbs but thought the wind would blow everything about so didn't bother in the end. After watching the weather this evening it looks like we're in for more wind and rain over the next few days, the same as you Vera, so the bulbs will have to wait for now.

Glad to see you have put the warning on here to, it may save someone else from having an accident with Euphorbias in the future.

What a scare you and your OH had with the euphorbia plant Vera. We had these but I've dug them out now. I hope you both will have a much better day together today.

I hope Ann and OH are enjoying their second week away. It is blowing a gale here but bound to be very different for them in Lanzarote. Have a lovely time you two.

Gillx, perhaps you could buy a garden bench and make a patio seating area with the paving you that have done now that you won't be having the neighbours shed.

I filled two large tubs on Monday with daffs, tulips and anenomie bulbs which will bring lots of colour to the back garden in the Springtime next year. I still have some mixed tulip bulbs and also some allium bulbs to plant yet but I ran out of compost.

I am looking forward to planting bulbs for next spring but meanwhile enjoying missing the storms/winds at home and hoping everyone can stay safe. Lots of bougenvillae in flower here but otherwise mainly succulents and cacti. We did go to the cacti garden while we had the car, always enjoy that.. today was a long walk along by the sea and an equally long sit drinking rather large G& Ts. Blue skies and brilliant sun today.

Gill a sitting out area would be nice, maybe also a free standing solar water feature if funds run to it. What were you intending using the shed for, I think you said you already have a shed. :-)

Your garden is going to look lovely in the spring with the bulbs you've planted Kandj. I managed to finish the last of my bulbs today before the wind got to bad, it's blowing a gale out there now so I'm glad they are finally done. Yes a seating area would be good. Although I was looking at it this morning and thought if it was possible to move the greenhouse down a few feet there maybe enough room for a small summerhouse, the problem with that is they're not cheap. I might keep an eye out online to see if anyone is having a summerhouse sale closer to the winter, so long as it's not to windy it can go up and buying in the sales will be so much cheaper than waiting until next summer.

I've had to sort out my pots this morning incase they got blown over, we keep bricks and slabs of concrete to put around the pots, it stops them rocking and falling over everywhere, so hopefully none of them will fall over now.

OH went to B&Q before to buy two large bags of compost and when he got there the shutter to the garden centre bit were down, he said he needed the compost but they wouldn't let him outside to get it, he had to wait for a member of staff to get it for him. Apparently it was to dangerous for him to go out there himself in all this wind. Good to see they look after their customers, or maybe it's because they don't want anyone making a claim should anything fall on them. They are in the shed now just incase I need to re-pot any of my plants into larger pots. Last year B&Q didn't have any of the compost we buy for ages so we thought it best to have some in at all times now.

I just missed your post Ann, it sounds like you're having a great time away, I envy you the weather, although to be fair we do have the sun and it's quite warm but the wind is to strong to be out in.

I didn't think of a solar power water feature, that sounds like a brilliant idea. We have a place called "Water World" by us so I might go and take a look when it's less windy, it would be a lot cheaper than a summerhouse. The reason we wanted another small shed was to sit in, we both smoke, (I know a bad habit) but when the weather is cold or (windy like today) it's a nightmare trying to have a cigarette. We do sit in the greenhouse but it's quite scary doing that when it's very windy and when it's icy we can't open the door, so have to stand outside in the cold.

Oh Gill think of the garden things you could buy if you gave up smoking! My Oh smoked (he was in the RN) until he was about 56 gave up just like that and has not smoked since, we noticed a big difference in spending money.

I've tried stopping smoking a few times Ann and spent the money on junk food as all I wanted to do was eat, then I needed new clothes, so in the end it actually cost me more. I hardly drink and never have a night out, I only buy myself things if I need them, so smoking is the only thing I do on a regular basis. I only smoke about 10 a day so it doesn't cost that much. The only down side is, it's unhealthy.

I still like the idea of a water feature though and will definitely look into that, if the greenhouse can be moved there will be enough room for both a small summerhouse and the water feature.

OH has been keeping an eye on the two trees (a hawthorn and a crabapple) that we planted 4 years ago. He decided earlier this year that the roots were quite firm so he took the tree supports down. Although they are now 8-9 feet tall the trunks are still quite slim and in this wind they have been bending and swaying about a bit. I think they are OK.

I changed my avatar to show you the colour of the leaves on the new shrub we bought called physocarpus, but I am not sure it shows up very well in the little picture. I am looking forward to seeing the flowers in early summer - something to look forward to.

You have all been very busy planting lots of bulbs. Your gardens are going to look lovely in the spring :-)

On the iPad Vera I enlarged the avatar, the leaves are very pretty, might have to look out for that one.

Gill. Yes it is the health threat that is the problem I know, a bit like me and the sun. Even though zi have basal cell carcinomas (rodent ulcers) which could possibily turn to melanomas I still sit in the sun. Just try and keep to the ten a day.