Hobbies and Crafts

Very exciting, Vera.

How is everyone's garden ? Mine is very yellow at the moment, what with the Daffs and Primroses,Forsythia, Crocus, Mahonia and Kerria with just a bit of pink from the Bergenias and some Hyacinths and some blue Periwinkles and Hyacinths and purple Crocus.

Greening up nicely too, sat in the Summer house a few times last week but it is blowing a gale still at the moment. I have got to go out though, have some Swiss Chard and Purple Sprouting Broccoli to plant.

I see some of the fence is waving about again, will it ever stay put ?
M.

Wonderful Vera. Good luck hope it isn't too costly for you.

Well, the garden designer brought her plans for our garden on Wednesday and we are delighted with her suggestions. She seems to have listened to everything we had to say and has incorporated everything we wanted, even including a tiny rectangular pool for our resident frog :-D

These plans cover the design of the garden i.e. where there are seating areas and beds and paths and how they are shaped and what materials are used. She then talked to us about plants and colour schemes and has now gone away to do a planting plan. She's going to keep the costs down a tiny bit by including our existing witch hazels and grasses that OH has grown from seed he brought from our old house.

The next stage for us is to get quotes from garden construction companies to do all the work. It's a small garden but a big job to completely remake it. I know it is not going to be cheap but I will be really disappointed if we can't afford to do it all this year.

Getting really excited now :-D :-D :-D

I haven't really explored the garden to see what is coming up as it is so cold out there. I just shot out and took a few photos and shot back in. Those little bulbs didn't come to anything here either Maryanna. I didn't get Alliums from the pound shop as we already had quite a few in the garden. Unusual to lose Geums, Maybe they will come back later, I can't get rid of mine they grow like weeds. (And get treated the same). I can't remember what did grow now. One scrawny gladioli and a couple of poppies I think. :-D

I have just been pottering about outside as well, Vera.

I notice lots of the Lilies are just starting to poke through, things like Phlox and Perennial Geraniums are well up.

I seem to have lost a lot again though, all those Geums I put in last year ( Ann :-( ), a couple of Salvias that did so well last year, some Lavenders and various other bits including some Gauras.

Strangely all those plants are in the beds, the same ones in pots have survived.

Beds look a lot tidier now though.

Ann, I was going to get a few more Alliums this year as they did so well last Summer. none of the £ shops I looked in had them though. Those little yellow and blue ones did nothing at all, the big ones seem to be coming up again OK.

M.

Ooh Vera, bet you are excited. It was lovely here until 11am but clouded over and has gone really cold. so no gardening for us. OH just in from golf so too tired at the moment anyway.

A lovely day here so I have been trying to tidy up some pots in the garden. I was surprised at how much is coming through.

My patio peach is in bloom and looking very pretty though it still needs covering at night. There are three pots of agapanthus and two big tubs of lilies that are all showing nice green shoots and there is one little heart's delight tulip in bloom, as well as several clumps of primroses which are looking good.

OH gave our little patch of grass its first cut of the year this morning but he may not have to do it for much longer as we may be getting rid of the lawn altogether. Our garden plans are ready and printed and the designer is bringing them over to us on Wednesday. Assuming we like the plans she will discuss planting schemes with us and then it is up to us to look at the cost and at the bank balance and decide whether to do it all, do part of the plan or drop it.

I am really looking forward to seeing what she has drawn up for us. :-D :-D

I am going to put this on here so that I can find it again later in the year.

To propagate Daphne

Propagating should be done after mid-summer using semi mature new growth. Daphnes like acid soil and the cuttings should be put in ericaceous compost ( WITHOUT added fertilizer)

A grey day here again today, but dry and not too cold. OH spent an hour plus in the garden just generally tidying up. And I pruned back the Buddleia. It is brown garden bin day tomorrow so that will get rid of those bits.

Vera, it is going to be lovely, I bet you can't wait.

We have Daffs out as well as some more Snowdrops and a whole load of Crocus, yellow, purple and cream ones.

Nothing much happening with the Forsythia, hardly surprising considering the way it gets treated , poor thing !!!

M.

Ooh exciting. Do keep us informed. :-D

You might remember that a couple of months ago we got a garden designer in. We spent a long while with her telling her our likes and dislikes etc and from that she sent us a quote for doing a complete new design with detailed plans etc.
We accepted her quote and she came this week to do a full survey. It's only a small garden but she spent more than three hours measuring it every which way, taking levels etc. She didn't even stop for a cup of tea till she had finished. We're very impressed with her.

Anyway she has gone away to draw up plans and says we will get them in about three weeks so I am getting excited again now :-D :-D

Noticed this afternoon that we have a couple of daffs out in the garden and the snowdrops are almost out, we only have a small clump. Also have a few early crocus.

There you are, every cloud etc..... I am sure it will be fine. Yes we hang the feeders from out apple tree too. :-)

When we woke up this morning and Himself pulled back the curtains it did seem a lot lighter but when I got up and looked outside it looked so bare.

Anyway we got up and dressed and picked up all the sticks and debris and leaves they had left behind, pulled out the remaining ivy, cleared some ground cover stuff and had a good sweep up.

The Rose under the pot is fine, the climber looked a bit worse for wear so I cut it back a bit and have tied it to the trunk again.

Once the pots and bird bath were back in place it looked a lot better, some more blue slate and I have to say it will look so much tidier.

One draw back is that I have lost the branches the bird feeders hang on so will have to get a hanger thingmy. On the plus side, I didn't nearly knock myself out on a branch when I filled the bird bath up again.

Lots of bulbs coming up, which we can see now we have cleared the leaves, Daffs, Bluebells, Crocus and Hyacinths.

Oh, and we can see the fields at the back from the bedroom again, so not all bad.

M. :-)

My parents had a huge bramley in the garden, didn't climb it but did sit under it in the shade, it was still there when we sold the bungalow but I bet the buyers cut it down, it was away from the house though so didn't do any harm. They do grow big though. It will seem strange when it is first cut but you will soon urilise the space I'm sure. :-D :-D

My head must be full of cotton wool. The bit about the ground feeder on my last post was supposed to go on the bird thread. Doh!!

Poor you Vera, hope you soon start to improve.

Glad you are on the mend Ann.

Himself has just had a man round to quote cutting the Apple tree down.

I don't want it to go, neither do any of the kids as they remember climbing and swinging from it when they were little.

I have also got two lovely roses growing through it.

The only thing is that without it we will no longer have the constant pigeon / dove nesting and the resulting Magpie attacks on them.

It does rather block the light from our bedroom but now it has got so big also means that we can no longer see the view, out the back, of the fields.

Swings and roundabouts I suppose but it will be a sad day and the garden will look a lot different even though it will get more sun and I have to admit that the roots do go right under the patio which might not help the drainage problem.

It will just make the name of the house " Bramley Cottage " seem a bit random !!!!

M.

Still full of cough and cold but I'm not feeling so grumpy now, thank you Ann. Cancelled a hair appointment this morning though as I couldn't face that and I don't suppose the hairdresser wants me coughing and sneezing all over her. Hope it's a bit better by Saturday as we have a dinner to go to and I don't think my outfit will be improved by a shiny nose and bags under the eyes.

I have put my ground feeder thingy out this morning and am waiting to see if the robin or other small birds get to the food before the starlings do. I don't know how the starlings get in and out as the mesh on the cage is fairly small but I suppose they are quite slim birds. At least it keeps the fat old pigeons away.

Yes it is lovely to see the sun Vera. Sorry to hear you were feeling down. This cough/cold virus doing the rounds is horrible, I am in my third week of the cough now, although the cold has gone. OH is in his second week, all you can hear his cough cough from one or other of us. Glad the sun shone to cheer you up.

Quite bright here today with a very wintry sky and very cold. But we are just back from the local garden centre where we bought our seed potatoes and also seven half price packs of seeds plus with the Thompson and Morgan seeds we got a free pack for every 2 packs bought so 3 free packs. Worked out that we saved £8 this morning. Every year they have a week in January when you can buy hald price seeds, so that is our French Marigolds, tomatoes, sweet peas and baby carrots bought. About all we grow from seed. So Spring must be on the way. Lovely thought. :-) :-) :-)

Vera, hope you feel batter today. <3