Hobbies and Crafts

That would be a good idea Vera wouldn't it? so often an empty garage becomes a dumping ground so it would be good to turn it into something you actually use.

K - thank you for offering to post some Erigeron seedlings to me. I am sure I can pick some up from local friends but I appreciate your kind offer.

At some point I may be gaining a bit of extra space in the garden. OH has been saying that, as we only run one car now, he could turn half of our large double garage into a shed cum workshop. Then he will get rid of the shed in the garden which will give us a few more feet of space. We are undecided whether to turn it into a bed, perhaps with grasses, or to keep it paved and move some of the garden furniture on to it. Either way I think I will be able to plant some Erigeron around it.

Not sure when all this is going to happen. It will take quite a while to rearrange the garage and hopefully sell a lot of stuff that is stored there that we no longer need. A neighbour has said he would like the shed if we can agree a price so I'm hoping that will prompt OH to make a start. Watch this space!

Yes the Magnolia is beautiful, shame it has such a short life though. That one was taken at Batsford.

Yes tipping it down again this morning so not going to get outside jobs done today. Still it will water in the bamboo that OH moved yesterday. :-) :-)

Sadly it did stop play and will again today. I didn't recognise you Ann with your new Magnolia!! Beautiful flower

Vera - Put a few Erigeron around the edge of a bed :-D They will spill over and take little space. I could post you a couple of seedlings. Mine have started to seed and grow in the paving which greatly improves and softens it :-)

In the middle of digging up part of the border and on our heavy clay soil it looks like it may be a while before I can finish it. Potatoes and onions planted and some seeds outside so I suppose the rain will do them good

Must get and let the hens out or WW3 will break out. The new girls don't stand up too well to our original Gang of 3.

Rain stopped play!!! :-(

Vera :-D :-D :-D

I'm going to have to stop looking at this thread - I keep seeing plants I want and have no room for. I really like that little Erigeron. It's pretty and carries on blooming for quite a long time but we only have two small flower beds here and I've filled those. I've also got loads of filled pots, so could you all please stop mentioning your lovely plants before I turn into a frustrated, grumpy old woman :-D

Erigeron karvinskianus
Mexican fleabane

B&Q had fence panels in stock at £20 yesterday but OH didn't notice the height.

Not raining here today although it did over night, sun is out at the moment, quite mild too. Just off to the local garden centre for coffee, when OH has finished making a box to put a very bedraggle small bamboo in. :-)

Noticed yesterday that our apple tree is sprouting. :-)

Is that that sweet little Erigeron K ?

We have some if it growing in our front wall in Somerset, looks very pretty mixed with the little ferns that grow there as well.

A horrible wet day here in Surrey today but I think I might take advantage of that fact and stay in the conservatory and do some seed sowing and potting on. Oh, how I wish I had a greenhouse !!!!!

Baby sitting tonight then back home tomorrow, then will come back for Easter as I go back to work on the Tuesday. Fence panels now not due until Easter Saturday at the earliest. I can't see them delivering them that day anyway. We drove round all the usual suppliers yesterday just to check but nowhere had them in stock.

Apple Blossom coming out, Honesty, Wallflowers, Tulips and Kerrias all fully out, garden full of colour looks like it should in a month's time.

M.
:-)

Because of the mild weather this winter I have just noticed that my outside diascias in pots are coming into flower!!

This is also the first year that the Mexican Fleabane has not been knocked back by the frost and now has buds coming. It is one of my favourite plants in the garden - waves of flowers and seeds around wonderfully

Sounds the same as sage Vera. I am pleased that the garden is endearing itself to you now, it is when you start to put your stamp on it that happens isn't it? :-)

Your patio sounds lovely Ann. I hope you enjoy many a glass of wine on it.

I hope you are not too stiff tomorrow. I know how you feel. We were in London yesterday and did a lot of walking. This morning I walked in to town, though I did get a bus back, and this afternoon I spent two and a half hours in the garden. I thought I was only pottering about but my muscles certainly ache now. The spirit's willing but the flesh sure is weak these days.

Thank you for your suggestions for fence colours. We looked at some and bought a couple of sample pots of paint. I think we have decided on one called Willow, which is almost identical to one in another make that is called Sage. It's green but a fairly light greyish, blueish green - can't think how else to describe it but I think it will look OK.

Although there is a lot we could do in it, I am feeling so much happier about this garden now.

Well I shall probably not be able to move tomorrow. Just spent two hours in the garden sorting out the hosta pots and re-placing them at the back of the hosta bed in front of the new fence behind the new patio. then I had to put down four bags of slate. (Actually I needed help with the fourth as I was tired by then so OH helped.) I can see one hosta coming through in the actual bed. I am really keeping my fingers crossed that none of the other hostas came through and were tramped on, I suppose we shall just have to wait and see but there have got to be at least 12 hostas in the bed. That is a lot of moneys worth! :-S

Your patio sounds lovely Ann. That's the next job once the fence is back up. If it ever is.

We decided to put slate chips around ours and in the wall surrounding three sides of the patio a couple of years ago. We went off to the aggregate place and bought four bags. We went back later and bought five more. In the end, including the three bags full that take up the space between the summer house and the top patio, we ended up buying nearly forty of them !!!!!! All those little spaces needed far more than we ever imagined .


M :-)

:-D :-D Maryanna.

Well the patio is finished and a good job they have done too. Of course now it is down to us to put the finishing touches. two sides are bordered by slate beds so now we need more slate, hopefully we can get that tomorrow. Then we need to sort out the pots that came off the old patio, hostas in most of them, just cosmetic bits really. the patio is made of what they call cobbles. to me it looks like the old victorian paths, different sized 'bricks' put together like a jigsaw. I didn't really know what to expect but I like it, it is very attractive.

Now then Ann, keep your eyes on the lad and that should stop you worrying about what is happening to your garden !!!!

Chivvied the fencing place today, they are still saying the end of the week. Looks like another weekend in a Surrey for us.

Went to visit my sister on Sunday and went to Richmond. Couldn't believe the Spring tide that came up and covered the promenade along the riverside in minutes.

There were pictures of it in themailonline. by the time we got home.

We were stuck so we had to stay in the pub until it went down, which was quite quickly. Shame as we only had time for one drink. Life is tough sometimes !!!

M. :-)

noticed driving down the lane to the garden centre this morning that some of the Hawthorne is in flower. :-) :-)

Garden now looks more of a mess than ever, barrow being wheeled up and down the lawn is making a path!!! I am assured by OH it will recover but I am not sure. I am toying with the idea of making the path permanent Lol!!! I had not realised how large that patio was down the bottom, should look good when finished.

Just been and bought compost for potting on the tots we bought at the weekend plus some more seeds. I don't know what happened to his 'I am not planting seeds any more, he seems to have gone mad this year. Must be with not going away for a month in May.

I daren't watch what they are doing, too stressful.

The lad is so strong, we had a stone trough down the bottom, about 18 inches by 2 to 3 foot full of earth and alpines, I wanted it up the top OH couldn't move it, we expected two of them to lift it but OH turned round and the lad was carrying it on his own. Oh to be young, fit and strong like that. And he always has a smile on his face too. Sadly the boss's mother died yesterday but he is working today as he says there is nothing he can do at home.

We do have a few neighbours though the layout is odd so a bit difficult to describe. We are in a little private close (sort of spoon shaped) with just six homes. The ends of two of the gardens join ours and the back garden of a house in a parallel road has a fence in common with us as well, but according to our land registry certificates we are responsible for all the boundaries round our house.

I can only think it is because the builder who built five of the six houses (the other one was older and already there) lived in ours himself for a short while and may have wanted to keep control over his own garden. He still owns the private roadway so he has to pay for all the maintenance and we have rights of way over it.

Now you mention it Ann I wonder if OH meant that sage green colour. I wouldn't mind that at all. When he said pale green I was visualising a sort of light apple green but he may not have meant that at all. I'll ask him later.