A satisfying day

 A window of fine weather to-day, though a bit of damp in the air it was sunny.

A nice walk along the beach for starters, There was a fine mist shrouding the Isle of Wight making it look quite mysterious and lovely.

Washed the bedding but a waste of time putting it on the line as there isn't enough heat in the sun and no wind, so it just hangs.

Spent a satisfying morning in the garden when I came back from dog walk, working happily clearing leaves till the rain came down , BLAH!, it didn't last and I moved the pots with perennials round the back in shelter , cut down the dahlias and put them round the back also, this year I'm going to try putting them on their side so the pots won't get waterlogged and cover them with some floss, I'll try it with the geraniums too, as I have one special one I'd like to save. 

The rambling rose I bought in spring has flowered WOW, it's a crimson I hope next year it spreads over the fence., Had lunch and called it a day for working, tucked myself into my little craft shed and made a card, dogs out at 5 home for a shower and tea, watched SCD, and now thinking of bed, Altogether a good day.

Thank you for visiting and please come back, Arlene, Tango and Ruby

Dabbling in the garden

The weather has been 'iffy' lately as mentioned, well to-day we had a little window of dry weather, I had some dog towels to wash, so I got them out of the way and put them on the line to dry, that was a waste of time , there was no sun nor wind, and they just hung there in the slightly chill atmosphere, oh well I put the heating on for an hour to help dry them.

I digress, this was about gardeing. I did manage to get a couple of hours just tidying up and pruning, cleared out some pots of spent flowers, I also harvested some seeds form Marigolds and Nigella, hopefully to sow next year..

The Cotoneaster has gone a bit wild and was sprouting in all directions, so I tidied that up, I also get besieged with St John's wort, that got pulled out of chopped off, but it'll come back. My sage bush 'Hot Lips' has exploded and flowered for the wecond time, I'm not sure when to prune it, I'll have to look that up' 

I noticed that my beautiful Azelea was looking a bit dry and brown, and sure as apples when I bent a branch it snapped, I think I've lost it, maybe I let it get too dry during the drought, what a shame as they're not cheap and it was a lovely orange and copper. 

I stopped at 3.30 for tea and cake and the dog's to have their biccies, intending to go back out as there is still a good bit to do, but I'm afraid I went to check my email and before I knew it it was time to take the dogs out, oh well hopefully the weather will be kind to me soon. that's it for now. 

Thank you for visiting and please come back, Arlene, Tango and Ruby

A boring couple of days

Been trying to get the garden into shape for summer, maybe one year I will be able to spend a summer in the garden without feeling guilty about sitting on my derriere, Every year there seems to be more and more to do, or maybe it’s because I’m getting older I’m just getting slower, ?

Today I planted a Deutzia, Weigala , a climbing rose, Grisillena and two pots of sweet peas, let’s hope they all take.

My garden gets over-run with Lesser Celandine, it’s been the bane of my life, as it covers the flower beds and smothers so many plants, forget sowing seeds, I also get a horrible stinking onion smelling bulb with a white flower, I did look it up for a name one time but forgot it now, it , like the celandine, spreads all over the garden, I’ve pretty much given up sowing flowers direct and they’re confined to containers, and I’ll stick to shrubs.

I took a tumble to-day, nothing serious, but isn’t it funny how when you get older, when you fall, you don’t just sort of fall on your knees or anything, you seem to roll as each bit you fall on crumbles and you eventually land up on your face. I’ll be stiff in the morning I’ll bet. no damage was done, but I got a bit wet as I’d been watering the plants and the decking was slippery.

Well that’s it for now, I hope to get the lawn mown to-morrow, it makes the whole garden look so much better.Oh, By the way, Zak just loves coming out in the garden and faffing around, and it has stirred Ruby into coming out too, where she used to just stay indoors on her bed, she’s probably worried she’ll miss something. LOL

Thank you for visiting and please come back, Arlene, Tango and Ruby

Just stuff

I don't know how others manage to keep interesting blogs going continuously, I think of all sorts of things during the day that I'll post, but when it comes to putting fingers to keyboard i get bloggers block, but I'll try.
The weather [always a good subject] was lovely last week, so I spent a lot of time in the garden, I managed to mow the lawn again,  my neighbour's fence on one side had blown down, actually three six foot high panels, exposing a good size piece of my garden exposed, it was the bit below the lime tree and I must admit it also highlighted the rather overgrown and tatty state of that area, So that took up a couple of days work clearing out loads of rubbish and overgrown ivy plus a rotted conifer. After it was done I was tempted to plant the spot but then remembered that when the tree is in full leaf, it's quite shady, Now that the fencing has been replaced it has also cut down some light, but I'll look up my plant guide and sort something out.
On the other side of my garden I have what I call my little wild bit, but it was getting wilder and wilder with honeysuckle, ivy, Choisya, Mrs Popple fuschia, and Cotoneaster all vying with each other and topped with a Pittisporum, the birds love it but it had to be tamed a bit, so quite a lot of hacking and pruning, it's looking a lot tidier, and there is still plenty of room for the birds to hide and nest in.
I have a couple of bird tables which I love to try and keep topped up with bird seed, and the magpies and pigeons love me for it, I decided something had to be done, got some plastic fencing with 1.1/2" mesh and stapled it all round the sides of the tables, I watched eagerly to see if the little birds would take to it and YIPPEEE they did, so that will save me a bit on nuts and sunflower seeds.
It has turned pretty cold now with a sharp wind and to-day we had a few hail showers, so the garden will have to take a back seat for a while, thankfully as my nails are in a disgraceful state, I keep forgetting to put on my gloves.
I've a few more things I could say, but that's enough as I find that over-long blogs put me off, so I expect others to feel the same. Bye for now have a good week.

Thank you for visiting and please come back, Arlene, Tango and Ruby

Enough for now

Hi Folks just putting up a couple of pics of the garden now that the bulk of the work is done. I’ve planted the bulbs and some plants, and saying that I remembered my neighbour gave me some poppies, and I forgot to plant them too, Oh well tomorrow is another day as they say in the movies.

Still got more to do before I can put it to bed for the winter, so praying for good weather for another few days, as at my age I can’t do too much at one time, 2 – 3 hours heavy stuff and 4 – 5 [ish] for light stuff.      

Technorati Tags: spring bulbs,gardening.

Sleep

Hi all thanks for your comments and concern, and yes I did have a better night's sleep last night, thank heaven I go through phases where I can go for about two weeks and sleep through the night, then BAM! I can spend the next two weeks trying to get by on about four hours a night, the doctor's say it's an age thing, Tosh! they say everything's an age thing when they don't know the answer.
I did try the TV thing Horst but it didn't work as during the night it's usually violent or porno movies that's on and I'm not into that sort of thing, anyhow I can't see it would lull me off to sleep :-) I usually get up and make some hot chocolate and a biscuit, read for a while and it does the trick,-  mostly,
I spent a few hours in the garden yesterday and managed to chop up the Pyracantha that got damaged by the frost, I've got  thorn prickles all over me, but it's gone all bar the main stems, I felt a bit sad about it, as it was a nice specimen. I'll plant a Vibirnum there in it's place. Also trimmed off all the last bracken  leaves also planted out a little veggie garden. At the back I had the lawn replaced by shingle, I made a frame up about 4'x4' with left over kick board from the kitchen, lined it with tarpaulin and filled with compost, I've planted lettuce cucumber, and beetroot, some tomatoes will go in next month, Got the potatoes planted , and some are starting to sprout already. yummy

Eat your heart out Titchfield

Potatoes are grown in plastic laundry baskets lined with black plastic and are housed in the compost bin.

What's left of the Pyracantha

Spiky load of branches from the Pyracantha, I've got to chop them up for transport to the local  amenity centre. another prickly job.

Thank you for visiting and please come back, Arlene, Tango and Ruby

To-Day Monday

 

Just a quick blog, I went market early this morning as I wanted to catch the garden stall before the world and his wife bought up the best and most popular plants.

I managed to get pretty much what I wanted Two Vibirnum and a Pittosporum.

              

I wanted a new Firethorn as mine got totally blasted by the frost I was devastated, as he was just maturing nicely and had lots of berries this year, also a blackbird was eyeing it up for a nesting site, after the previous shrub died, not a good spot I don’t think.

My poor Firethorn. I thought it would be quite snug beside the shed, but the wind does come down from the left. sigh

The weather to-day is lovely, still fairly warm, and I really should be outside planting, but as I’m going out this evening I wanted to catch up on blogs and email, last night I wanted to watch TV [for a change] and I was ready for bed at 9.30. I know I’m taking a chance that the weather is going to be this kind for a few more days yet. I’ve got so much I want to do, I think it’s spring fever.

I walked the dogs Stanpit Marsh Nature reserve to-day as it’s on the back from market in Christchurch,

 

A nice pleasant walk, You can either go across the recreation ground and past the golf course to Christchurch, or go on to the Marsh itself, I avoid that as it’s a bit mucky, also you must keep dogs on lead during the nesting season, , rightly so, but not much fun for them.

which the dogs hopefully enjoyed as a change from the beach,

Well I’ve had a bit of fun experimenting with Live Writer on my desk top. Is there no end to my talents. ? ;-)

Technorati Tags: Vibirnum,pittisporum,firethorn,frost damage,Stanpit Marsh,Christchurch dorset,nature reserve,dog walk.

A little bit of anger here

I started out to make this a gardening blog in reply to Sheila’s post, but i am getting a bit worried, Let me explain, A girl friend suggested on Monday I come to her place for lunch/tea, I said yeah good, as she had another appointment at noon she’d call me as soon as she was through, it is now almost 2.30, I’m wondering if she's remembered , if she doesn't phone by three i'll take it the date’s off.

Right, I started gardening last week as the weather here has taken a nice turn for the better, i had gone to market and picked up three shrubs, a Vibirnum ‘Eve Price’ with nice big pink flowers made up of florets, A Hebe, with lilac racemes, and a Daphne Odarata, which smells gorgeous when in flower, I put them in the ground on Saturday.

I have got my potatoes, lettuce and tomatoes waiting to go in , Also bought some new dahlias both cactus and pom-pom,, not too tall as I’m not a lover of the giant species, nice medium sized which are just right for cutting.

There are still a few stray oak leaves waiting to be swept up and composted. Talking of compost, every year I get a small crop of potatoes  from mine, as they regenerate from the peelings that I put on . If it’s free, it tastes all the better is my motto.

However I’ve just had a phone call to say my friend is on her way home so I’ll eat humble pie, just a small portion and go. Tomorrow …….the garden, yes! as I’m going out with Sue and all our dogs on Friday.

:Tags:  dahlias, daphne, flowers, garden, hebe,lettuce, potatoes, shrubs, stroppyfemale., tomatoes, vibirnum