Gone potty? Plants gardens and lawns .

[Harpy]

Oh me to SBee, just yesterday I was twisting my star jasmine vine in the fence when I heard a flapping near my ear.
I flicked it away then it came back and stung me right on my ear, yeee-ouch it stung.
A paper wasp got me good.
Well as for the mozzies, they love me, can’t do anything outside with out spray on or they will literally drag me away

 

[SBee]

Ha!. Nice image @Harpy, you being dragged off by a swarm of mozzies! we obviously have such attractive skin and blood for the pesky things!
We had a wasp nest in our kitchen roof last year but weirdly became quite fond of them. I made a silent pact with them - I won't go near them if they won't come near me. It worked as well...

 

[Harpy]

lol lol a pact, mmmmm wonder if I can make a pact with those mozzies?

 

[SBee]

@Harpy I recommend and secret pacts with wildlife are best done in whispers. We live next to a small lane, much used by walkers, horseriders and dog walkers. I often forget this when I am talking aloud to various birds that come in, or asking a plant to grow better... Get some odd looks at times.

Despite the night temp due to drop to zero tonight I finally got round to ordering some veggie seeds. Can't do as much as I like but will grow salad bits in the greenhouse and pots. I normally sow far to early so am changing tactic this year and won't sow until start of April.
Always makes me feel optimistic sowing seeds.

 

[SBee]

It's Spring. Supposedly. In the UK we are still in that mixed up time when a burst of Sun is followed by rain. Or hail. Or a late frost, depending on whereabouts in the UK we are.

But I made the (rash?) Decision to take all my over wintering tender plants out of the shed and greenhouse. They are back where they belong and I need to hold my nerve and let them be.
Except my beloved tender ferns who get specialised treatment. I have a bag of fleece specifically for them.... who wouldnt? think we all have our favourites.

 

[Harpy]

I have moved a few plants into my little fern house too. Hopefully they will still get some sun and protected from our coming cold weather.


Here are some staghorns I finally attached to boards

Below are a few pots I added mixed succulents

My little fern house to potter in

 

[SBee]

Am slightly jealous, I adore ferns, mine often have to over winter or get fleece covers and they are the one plants I worry about in the Spring when they come out into day light shed they are happiest. I actually enjoy fighting bout their best positions as the season's change.Your stag horns look great like that on the walls.

In the UK we are heading into summer. Apparently. Just no one thought to notify the weather of this. heating's still on and some neighbours still light woodburners. So quite typical really!

 

[Harpy]

I too love ferns, they give the area a real forestry feel, I just need to get a solar pump for the pond I have near my egg chair. Love the sound of running water.
Our closest neighbor is always to first light their fireplace and last ones to burn.
I do the same I move a pot here and there to share the sun lol

 

[Harpy]

Just thought I’d show what I found in my little potting area. Isn’t he just gorgeous?



And the bromeliad flower, my first flower of this kind.

I have managed to go get some quite time out there lately, it’s so relaxing.

 

[SBee]

So exciting when a new plant flowers. Shows you are big I g it the right care,attention and conditions to make it happy. Am so right in thinking this is your winter time right now? Glad you can be outside for a while. a little outdoors time does us all good.

 

[Harpy]

So exciting when a new plant flowers. Shows you are big I g it the right care,attention and conditions to make it happy.

That’s it , I have a fair few succulents at the moment and there some flowering now I didn’t know that flowered

Am so right in thinking this is your winter time right now? Glad you can be outside for a while. a little outdoors time does us all good.

Yes is or winter, i personally don’t think it’s been to bad. I also have raynauds My fingers and toes so hate the cold , if they freeze up I know it going to be a cold old day and there won’t be much happening outside that day. We have had so much rain it’s been hard potter but today is a beautiful and sunny. Having my morning cuppa in the sunshine at the back door.

 

[johnsalmon]

Harpy is on he other side of the country from me some thousands (2,496.40) miles away and climate is different. here it has been bitterly cold with some snow on the ranges (last snowed here in 56) and above average rain - got my grandson to cut the roses back and I noticed that there are appearing to shoot again. The mulberry tree is coming back to life. I bought a hydroponics unit to grow the vegies takes about a 180 plants so looking forward to setting that all up. My partner cannot get out in the garden as she has Parkinson but she would be able to go out on the back veranda and tend and pick the vegies
This is not the coldest winter i have ever had but it is the coldest in 10 years but that Australia - it can be overly hot overly cold overly dry or overly wet very seldom just right
there is an old poem that sums up Australia exactly - do a search for "said hadrahan"

 

[SBee]

Hi @johnsalmon being on a relatively small island I always forget just how HUGE some countries are - almost beyond the realm of my imagination. I think the UK is just about 1,000 miles total from top to tail!
When we lived high up in the Scottish Highlands if we were in Inverness ( lower altitude ) and it began to snow we knew to turn tail and head home immediately - it wasn't too far away where they had snow gates to close the roads if they became unsafe to use...

I used a mini form of hydroponics to start young plants off but found it wasn't really needed where we are,and as my hands fail I do far less veggies now. But will be a joy for your partner - you do the hard work of growing them and she can enjoy picking them.

I love that " said Hanrahan " has become well used daily language. ( and form a Monsignor as well ) The poem struck a chord with me, Brits being obsessed with weather talk and never satisfied with what it's doing and expecting a new weather catastrophe. In Inverness it was often said we had four seasons in each day.
As a farming man the original use of the poem will be close to your own life. We live in a small village now, lots of crop fields about us and even I can see how stunted the crops are this year, such late planting from a late and wet Spring - can hear the distant farm machinery now as I write - so a 100 year poem retains it's relevance. That's worth a toast of rum from yourself

 

[sunkacola]

being on a relatively small island I always forget just how HUGE some countries are - almost beyond the realm of my imagination.

It kind of works the other way, too.
For me, having lived most of my life in North America, it's hard to imagine living some place that small!
I went to Hawaii one time, and while I had a wonderful time and of course loved it, I couldn't imagine living on a small island in the middle of the Pacific. It felt almost scary to me, because in order to leave you have to have an airplane ticket or a boat.

Having grown up in huge countries with wide open spaces that go on seemingly forever, I find it comforting to know that I can get in my car and drive for days and days and still be in the same country. That I can get mountains, two oceans, desert, prairie, woodlands, rain forest, farmland, alligator swamps and wetlands, huge cities and miles of empty space and more, all in the same country, and I can drive to all of it in my own car, given enough time and money for gas.

I did live in the UK one time, though, and what I liked the most about it was the feeling of ancient lands, culture, and history. Seeing a stone building in the middle of a city that had been there since the year 900. You won't find that here.

 

[SBee]

Agreed @sunkacola. And your reply me think about myself. I don't actually feel the need to be somewhere else now. I have travelled abroad on visits and have experienced the landscapes and cultures, but in a basic way, I actually enjoy much of being in the UK ( speaking here of it as an actual Land, not of course the general politics and many negative aspects all countries must live with, in varying degrees )

I like much of the UK landscape and so think being a small country offers me the same comfort as the vastness of the USA does to you Its yet another time I am in wonder at the diverse nature of us as individuals. I think as much as you may feel a little claustrophobic on and island, your love of the vastness of yours would scare me!! Those differences we have fascinate me.

But it may make Island dwellers ( and I don't always remember we are and island despite being totally surrounded by sea!) ) at times a bit insular - definitely me. My sisters embarking on a year's world travel that would horrify me!

The UK does see many varying landscapes, albeit on a far smaller scale, that are quite accessible. As long as I am surrounded by fields and trees that'll do me. I no longer hanker for cities and being around too many people, though I enjoy The museums in nearby Cambridge.

I do always acknowledge the ancient history of the UK, both as a Land as as people. I have dug up Roman pieces from our garden and picked up stone age tools from the fields. We all walk in the footsteps of those that came before us.

I'm glad you had a taste of the UK when you stayed. it's good to accept when our feet seem rooted where they feel at home at different times in our lives.

And I do hope you and your beloved dog continue to heal. X