Hobbies and Crafts

Magpie Mmm! Home grown veg, lovely, unfortunately we don't have room in our garden for veg, it does taste different though. I suspect you might get more frosts being unprotected by other buildings. Still swings and roundabouts, no doubt you prefer it the way it is?

We have roast chicken too this evening but with shop bought veg.

Our Leeks have done really well this year, as have the Brussels, and Purple Sprouting! I didn't think they'd do anything much judging by previous years, but they've excelled themselves! We're having roast chicken, homegrown Leeks and potatoes for lunch today which is quite pleasing!!
We too have bulbs showing but nothing significant! We live way out in the country, with our village about 1/4 mile away and nearest neighbour the other side of a 10 acre field at the back of us, (no one at the front, just a wood and fields) which is great, but it can blow across the wide open fields, which makes it that much colder than a built up area.
Tomorrow I have the Dentist :-( (only a check up!) then a big shop at nearby Tesco's! So that's tomorrow sorted out! Gardening? who knows, it all depends!!!

I won't pot the Hosta on until the weather warms up, they are not showing at the moment so are cosy under the soil, no point disturbing them.

It is another gloomy grey morning here. Not sure what we are doing today but I am pretty sure it won't be gardening.

We have 4 daffodils in full bloom in the garden and one in bud and, looking out of my office window I am pretty sure I can see a couple of yellow crocus buds. And the snowdrops are coming through among the Helebores which are in flower so surely Spring must be on the way!!! (That is me thinking positive because I hate January!).

£7.50 Ann, wow that was a bargain from £26 you did well there. Have you re-potted the Hosta yet or are you going to wait until the weather warms up a bit?

Your right they would of had to replace the PC while it's still under guarantee. It's nice though when you have a friendly member of staff rather than someone who moans.

Yes gill we were pleased with the pot to replace the Hosta one ot is big and fairly shallow we wouldn't have paid the original price of £26 but thought £7.50 was good. the other pot is medium sized and we use a lot of those in the summer.

I don't think Currys had a choice about replacing the PC as it was only 2 days old and definitely not fit for purpose, however, they could have moaned about it but didn't so, yes they were good in the way it was handled.

You got a lot for your £41 Ann, the list of things you bought was very long. I see you bought a new pot to replace the broken one your Hosta was in, so that was good as you were looking for one weren't you?

What a shame about your PC, it was nice of the staff at Curry's to replace it for you. I like good customer service, I can't abide miserable people who don't seem bothered when you have a problem that needs sorting out.

It's gone quiet here after the workmen working like crazy for a few days, it was nice to have a lay in this morning without being woken with banging and shouting. We had a bit of snow yesterday but not much, I did notice on the weather this morning we're due for more snow next week which will please Sandra as she loves to make snowmen. She was a bit disappointed yesterday as there wasn't enough snow to make one and it melted pretty quickly to.

Well back from sorting things out returning the new PC with its DVD problem. Actually not too bad, I have told OHyesterday was a rehearsal, today should be easier as he's had a practice (he gave a wry smile!). currys were excellent. a very good helpful man on customer services, ran the PC up and checked through to find (thankfully) that OH was right and the DVD was not working, the computer was not seeing it so a problem in the software and he gace us a relacement machine without us asking for it.

As we joined the dual carriageway outside to travel to the roundabout to go back in the opposite direction (where there are roadworks) the other side was at a standstill so we decide to drive on and have coffee at Dobbies which has recently been taken over from Wyevale. and they had a really big sale on, presumably of old Wyevale stock, so we joined their loyalty scheme and spent £41. But for that we got all sorts, slug bait, lawn stuff, miracle grow, a very large slightly shallow pot which will take the hostas from the pot they are in which as broken in the frost after being in use a long time, another pot, quite big and royal blue, a talking walking pig a bit like Peppa and a couple of things to be used as gifts, a bag of cashew nuts and a mini cheese grater and an orchid. So a morning well spent even if the new computer and printer are not in. It was also good for OH to get out in the fresh air, his cough does seem a bit better today and he slept well last night.

Oh Ann, there's nothing worse than a shop in a muddle and no price tags, it's so annoying especially when you have to find a member of staff to ask how much things are all the time. Hope your OH's cough eases soon, my OH had to have antibiotics over Christmas and New year as he had a chest and throat infection. He's still got a bit of a cough, but at least he can sleep at night now.

It's so windy here today, we're glad everything is done in the garden and that we put the water feature in earlier than planned, I doubt we'd of got much work done now. It's a good job I put some more concrete on the wobbly post, I think that might of fallen down by now if the job hadn't been done. I doubt the builders will be here today, they've been doing the fascia boards and I think the roof is the next job, that's not a job for windy weather, so will probably be delayed until it's a bit calmer.

Still no sun here Gill, dull and damp and a bit drizzly. We did go out, first to local Tesco, then to Dunelm for coffee - bought a spoon, a door mat and two pillowcases in the sale.
The to Homebase where OH needed some electrical bits and finally to the Cheltenham Range (nowhere near as good as the Gloucester one) where I bought a few craft bits. Such an aggravating shop as half their stuff is not priced and it is all in such a muddle.

Oh has developed 'the' cough but is not too bad at the moment. He did cough a bit up until 2am but slept ok the rest of the night. If he gets any worse tonight he will take himself to the spare bed. :-) :-)

It sounds like you've got lots to do in your garden Liz. Sorry I thought you'd finished your weeding but can now see it's a bigger job than I thought. If I lived closer I'd come around and help you. We have a no dig garden so there's hardly any weeds to contend with. I watched Gardeners World and there was someone on there with a no dig garden, he had no weeds at all. That's where I got the idea from. Mind you with changing the front garden we had quite a few weeds there, so we're having to start from scratch on that one. It doesn't take to long though, so within a couple of years there shouldn't be any weeds in the front either. The only weeds I had in the back garden were the surface weeds, so they were quite easy to take out.

We haven't had that much sun Ann, mores the pity, but I see where you're coming from living in the Severn Valley, I should imagine you'll have more dull days than us. I do think we've had quite a mile winter so far so that's always a help, there's nothing worse than dull and cold days is there?

The spring will soon be here, along with hopefully, some nicer weather. The one thing I do like about gardening in the winter is you don't get bitten as much by the gnats, we have so many in the summer, I feel like I'm being eaten alive some days.

I've been looking after OH today, it would of been his late brother's 50th birthday today. He passed away last April after having Cancer. MIL was in bits today as you can imagine, he was her youngest child. So a sad day for everyone.

Wish somebody would send the sun over to us. the trouble with living in the Severn valley is we get these constant grey days, once they start they don't shift at least it is not misty today, quite clear but still need the lights on indoors., I think we have had one sunny day in two weeks, so depressing.

Oh no, I haven't finished the weeding Gill, we are surrounded by farmland with no close neighbours so it's an on going chore!! Also our garden is pretty big and we grow a lot of veg, strawberries. Raspberries, as well as roses and clematis, and other climbers, so there is always plenty of weeds to cope with particularly this mild weather! I try to do a bucketful most days, then OH can rotavate time come!
This morning it is sunny and unseasonably warm, so I've made a start on tying the raspberry canes! One less job for later on!

We're lucky everything in our garden is done including all the weeding, leaf removal and lawns edged and cut. We've never had such a tidy garden this time of the year before, so we're quite proud of all the hard work we've done lately. We actually had some sun today, for longer than a few minutes, it was so nice to see and made a change to the dull days we've had recently. The only problem with having hardly any clouds around is the very cold nights and frost in the morning. I'm just glad we sorted our gardens out before the cold weather arrived. We should of been putting our water feature in tomorrow, so we're pleased that job was done early, while the weather was mild.

I had to laugh a Blackbird flew down to our water feature and had a drink, but each time he swallowed he tilted his head right back, Sandra was really laughing. I must admit it was very funny to see. I wouldn't mind but we'd just replace the water on the feeder so it would of been much easier for him to have a drink from there instead of trying to avoid the water fall, which was switched on at the time. Never mind it was amusing to watch and he got the drink he wanted, which ever way he did it.

We used to have the same problems as you Ann with surface weeds on our gravel. I was just saying to OH today I'm glad we took the gravel away last year and flagged that area, it's so much better now. That's the problem with surface weeds they grow because of the wind spreading the seeds everywhere and gravel is the ideal area for them to germinate on. I'm expecting a few weeds to find there way in between the flags, but at least it'll be easier to get rid of them without disturbing the gravel and having to make that look tidy again. I don't like using weed killer, or sprays of any kind on the weeds or plants if I can get away with it, so I pull the weeds out by hand.

You've been busy in your conservatory Vera, at least it was warmer than being outside and another job out of the way. Pleased to see your migraine has gone now.

Your'e lucky Liz having the hedges cut by the farmer, it saves you a job then. You're like us now you've done your weeding, there'll be less work to do come the spring now. Our bulbs are coming up to, I planted them all last year, so I'm now looking forward to seeing them flower in the next few months. I went a bit mad and ended up planting around 500 bulbs so if they all flower it should look lovely and colourful.

OH just did a very high cut on our grass. Yes weeds are growing but it wa much too cold out there for me today. We must get out the front and weed the gravel though, we have a strip that is gravelled between two front gardens, about 2.5 feet wide, the weeds are starting to grow in it. Seeds spread by wind and birds,nests to weed though as the roots are shallow.

I've started weeding already!! It's been so mild here and they are already popping up! Making a start really early saves loads of work later on! bulbs are showing and fingers crossed, they should be a good show this year. Our grass is quite long, but we are leaving it as it shouldn't really be cut till March at the earliest except on a high cut, and its hardly worth doing!
Our hedge in the field was cut yesterday by the local farmer. It's brilliant as he does the road side as well as the internal ones. A good job done!
Goodness, our birds are busy! You could spend a lot of time watching them.

Can see what it looks like on the IPad Vera by making the avatar bigger, very pretty, very delicate isn’t it?

Glad your migraine has gone but what a nuisance to now develop a cold and cough. Best stay in the warm for a few days then

A beautiful sunny day today but with a bitterly cold wind. Having got over the migraine at last I have now picked up OH's cough and cold, just as he is getting over it, so I couldn't face doing anything in the garden. Instead I tidied up and cut back some plants I had brought in to the conservatory when the nights turned cold - a couple of fuschias, a pot rose and an azalea which has been in bloom for ages, Also in the conservatory is a large pot full of some very pretty variegated leaved geraniums. I hope to tackle them tomorrow.

We also have some hostas to divide in a couple of months as they are far too big. The ones in the garden should be manageable but I also have 9 large pots full of hostas. They desperately need splitting but last time OH did one, the only way he could get it out was by breaking the pot :-( They are all in very large terracotta pots and I am not sure I can justify the cost of replacing them if we can't get the plants out.

We have a very pretty pink Viburnum in bloom at the moment so I took a couple of photos. They look great full size on the computer so I thought I would put one as my profile picture but, with the size reduced right down, it just looks wishy-washy so I'll probably change it again tomorrow. I'll have to see what else I can use.

I didn't think about putting in a claim if there is anymore damage Ann. Thank you for mentioning it, it might be something to consider if there's anymore damage. Apart from the concrete post at the end of the drive we can fix the other problems, although we shouldn't have to. We are starting to get worried at what else is going to happen before the property is finished.

We've had a dark dank day as well, I was just saying to OH I'm glad we had the water feature delivered earlier than this Thursday, as the weather seems to be turning bad. We were suppose to have it delivered on that day as it's our wedding anniversary and it's a present to each other.

I think OH was lucky the other day to be able to cut the lawns, they look so much better now. With the rain we had today the lawns would of been to wet to cut. I trimmed the edges the other day so everywhere looks lovely now. Pity there isn't much colour in the gardens though, but I suppose there isn't much colour around this time of year.

Breaking your Hosta's into smaller pieces is a good idea then you'll end up with more plants and they'll soon grow to a reasonable size. Do you have problems with slugs on them? Every time I've tried growing them the slugs have a feast and the plants look awful, so I stopped growing them in the end. I hope you can find a new china pot and it doesn't cost to much, I know how expensive they can be.

Yes we have had that problem with plastic pots Gill, but the big one with the large hosta in is a china (pottery?) pot so expensive to replace like with like. I might be able to break the hosta into smaller plants I have not been down there today it is so horrible here, I have had the lights on all day (although not the heating)

..It has been very dull outside, it is a sort of mist - not fog exactly-, at one point the sun broke through then completely disappeared again, horrible
No rain or wind here, if the wind came up it would blow the mist away I think Let's hope the wind drops for you then Gill, sounds as though the roof tiles could do some damage if they start flying. I think if they do any more damage to your property you should start talking about claiming on the builder's insurance..

We've got the same problem Ann and will have to re-pot a few plants in the spring. I think the sun from last year got to some of our plastic pots and because they are so heavy when we lifted them up the rim broke away. To be honest a lot of the plants need to go into bigger pots now so that'll keep us busy when the shops start selling the compost and pots again.

We've had a bit of rain today, it's been ages since it rained so that'll do the garden good, the only problem is the wind it's starting to pick up here, so I hope nothing is damaged.

We're a bit concerned about the loose roof tiles on next door's roof, one of the workmen ripped the bottom layer of tiles off before Christmas so he could finish taking the rendering off the walls, so if the wind gets to them they could go flying in all directions, including over the fence and onto our property.......fingers crossed that doesn't happen.