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£3.40 for a card to family in Sweden. For many years now, I’ve been buying the special issue stamps. I only really use stamps for birthday cards, so I like to send pretty ones! One advantage was that they were just marked as First or Second class, but kept their value even if the postage goes...

Monty did a piece on box blight, for no other reason Longmeadow was suffering from it, if it hadn’t it wouldn’t be covered, so saying have a planned segment on diseases, pests and when a plant is in poor shape like lack of nutrition or stressed.House plants are massive now with the younger...

Thank you My suitcase weighed just under 20kg, and I broke a long handle for pull it. Must buy new one before next trip.@simone_in_wiltshire and @AuntyRach, I love buttery taste of shortbread with tea or something stronger. It can't last long in my house either.

It was an old church and I think they wanted the effect of the acoustics there.44 years is some good while to wait for your first violin. It may not be too late for a guitar but devoting the time to it and arthritic fingers would be a frustration.Keep up the work on The Final Countdown...

That's good to hear. It's better for the plant to remove the dead seed heads soon as the flower has fallen. Then rather than put energy into making seeds, the energy goes into making the tuber bigger, so more flowers next year. If they were in the ground, then you can let them seed and get more...

The bottom of the wood is looking a lot more open now, as most of the plants down there drop their leaves for the winter.Another surprise is a workshop Lupin. I tried to grow some from seed, earlier in the year, one of which survived and went into the railway. Most didn't grow and a few others...

Some Winter pruning is usually done to prevent wind, snow etc damage. As previously said. I usually leave proper pruning until I see buds forming in the Spring so I prune just above the outward facing buds and remove unwanted shoots to shape the Roses. Roses are tough brutes so do not worry...

Do not talk to me about Spanish Blue Bells. The previous owner planted them out the front and back and after 5 years of digging (amazing how far down the bulbs push themselves). The odd one keeps appearing like the bamboo they planted.

I looked into biodegradability of pesticides including glyph, acetamiprid and some similar and they all varied a LOT depending on conditions, half lives ranging from a month to many years. Hard to say then

I just tried it on identify.plantnet.org and it gave me 57% probability Jasminum beesianum, with no other strong candidates.