Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2025

We enjoyed a visit to Snowshill last summer @Busy-Lizzie and it’s on our list for a revisit.
Sunshine today and hopefully a bit warmer than yesterday. The sun was warm but there was a very sharp easterly.

I need to spend a couple of hours in the office this morning and then OH fancies another visit to Hodnet. It’s one of his favourite gardens, aided in that assessment by a very good cafe with excellent cakes.

A lot of my tulip pots have come up blind or with tiny withered flower buds. All my Verona tulips were fabulous, but the failures are all Antoinette. The pots are in various positions around the garden, some more sheltered than others. I thought the latter were ok as the leaf growth looked stronger (if slow) but inspecting them yesterday there’s little sign of any viable flowers. I had a mixed result with my tulips last year so in a quandary what to do going forward.

On a cheerier note, we have lots of Great Tit fledglings flitting around the apple tree. It’s only 2m or so outside our back door, which means we can watch their antics from the sofa. I would never plant a tree so close in and when we moved in OH was muttering about removing it. I just thought it looked romantic, it had started to lean at some point and is supported with a sturdy prop forming an archway down the garden path. After the first summer (which was heatwave hot at times) enjoying the shade it casts and watching the birds, he denies ever wanting it gone.

 

Good morning everyone, busy day yesterday on the Allotments, so I'm taking it easier today.
I think the general advice with tulips in pots is generally not to expect more than a couple of seasons from them. Even with extra feeding, they dwindle away. If you have space, plant them in the border if not then discard and buy fresh stock. I know it seems extravagant, but it seems to be the only way to get a good display.

 

They were all new bulbs @Allotment Boy, I replace them every year.

Ironically, the ones from last years pots (which did well) also flowered beautifully again this Spring planted out in a scrappy bit of soil behind the GH. I usually compost them all or plant them in a spare bit of the herb/veg patch to see if I can get another year (and then compost them).

 

Ah , well that does point to the quality of the bulbs then. @Butterfly6 sorry to have stated the obvious, you obviously knew.

 

Usual thing here today, watering seedlings and plantlets and pots then hoeing and raking the dahlia bed cos the chooks have been making hollows. More dahlia shoots coming thru now. Then I unrolled and untwisted the seep hoses I don't need yet so I could mark out my new bed. OH will not be pleased but his rotavator has been sat idle for a year now so tough.

Play was intererrupted as I had to take Cosmos to the vet. Again. He will insist on playing with the farm cats and then gets wounded round his nether regions and needs shaving, cleaning and antiobiotics. This time we caught it before the abscess developed. Meanwhile, I saw the tabby and white visitor curled up asleep inside the hen pen under the jasmine I planted for shade. It scrapered when I got near but the vet has connfirmed that if I do catch it and it has no chip she will give ita health check and sterilise it. The farming couple retired almost 2 years ago but didn't take their cats to their new home.

OH has been playing golf near Niort today and will be near La Rochelle on Friday. Other than that he's mine to command for the long weekend. I'll get him in a good mood with steak and salad for dinner with Noirmoutier new potatoes and a chimichurri sauce. Going to be coll again tomorrow in the wind but dry.

Hope everyone's having a good day.

 

Had covid jab this morning and slept this afternoon.
Watered the greenhouse plants and did precious little else.
Rather a wasted day.

 

Today I managed to get a lot of weeding done in the back garden and got a lot of stuff into my green bin for tomorrow. My neighbour across the drive asked if she could put some of her green waste into my bim as her's is full to overflowing. I then went to my other neighbour's - the lady I had to take to hospital - to put their bins out as she and her partner are away in Wales with her parents for a short holiday. I planted up two of my hanging baskets but struggled to hang then up. Perhaps I would have been better watering them AFTER I had put them up to save on wrestling with the weight. I took two of my wall troughs down and emptied them of their daffs - which have been in for a few years and are pretty exhausted. I've put them into pots and I'll nurse them until Autumn and then they will be found spaces in the garden. I was too jiggered after that. Tomorrow I won't be at Bestie's as she is on holiday with her daughter but I'm meeting two of the Tea/Coffee morning ladies at the GC for a hot drink and what ever delectable goodies are on offer. After we put the world to rights I will be aiming to get the wall troughs planted up with regal pelargoniums and lobelia and this time I won't water until they are repositioned.

 

I am going to say good night now. See you all in the morning. Hope I get a better sleep tonight.

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Not a wasted day @Penny_Forthem. Sleep is the best way for the body to recover form illness and injury.

 

I agree with @Obelix-Vendée @Penny_Forthem sleep is the best cure.

I’m not surprised you were jiggered @Ladybird4 , I was just reading your post.

 

Evening all, it's been another warm and sunny day although the wind's got up now and it's turning a bit chilly outside.

OH has returned from his canal boat trip which he enjoyed but I think he's glad to be home and sleeping in a soft comfy bed instead of a hard narrow bunk!

I've moved my potting table away from underneath the big tree which is due to be felled tomorrow and also moved some nearby ceramic pots just to be on the safe side. We've realized that our phone line goes right through the middle of the tree so do hope that doesn't get snapped as we'll lose internet access as well as phone line if that happens.

I'm all for sleeping if you need to in the daytime, hope it does you good @Penny_Forthem.

Hope Cosmos will be ok @Obelix-Vendée. Do you think the strays are the former farm cats and have been living wild for the last two years? My daughter's cat is a cross between a farm cat and a feral one and although she's had him for 15 years, he still has a bit of a wild streak in him.

I expect you'll be so tired tonight you'll sleep like a log @Ladybird4.

Glad your enjoyed Snowshill Manor @Busy-Lizzie. We've been there twice in the last few years whilst staying nearby. You must have had a very long, cross country drive yesterday, not an easy route from Norfolk to Bristol. Enjoy your stay there and your trip to Cornwall.

 

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A very good morning everyone and have a wonderful VE Day. I will enjoy my GC visit and who knows what may stray into my basket!

 

Good morning all.

We had a lovely day in Wells. Thank you for your advice @lizzie27. We parked in the car park above Waitrose, the walk was OK. We visited the Cathedral, then had a cup of tea and watched the market, then we visited the Bishop's Palace, then the Bishop's gardens. The sun shone and we got quite warm. We had a light lunch overlooking people playing croquet on the Bishop's lawn.

Last night we had dinner in a pub down the road from Cedric's niece.

Off to Cornwall today.

 

I hope Cosmos is feeling better @Obelix-Vendée

Work today for me, it feels quite cool this morning and the forecast is cloud so won’t mind missing that whilst in the office. We are also having our new carpet fitted - living room, stairs and landing. We don’t know yet what time they will be here, am hoping it’s the morning so we are not hanging around. Even working, I’ll still have that on edge feeling waiting for the call.

Have started the 5:2 diet this week and today is my second fast day. Have done the odd day a couple of times already and find it goes quite quickly if I’m working. My hungriest bit is breakfast time, lots of rumbling protests going on, but then my stomach gives up and sulks until teatime. OH was very enthusiastic but after his first fast day hasn’t joined in again. He likes to graze and I think he found it far harder than he will admit.

Hope you are feeling better @AuntyRach and tree felling goes well @lizzie27

Enjoy your son’s visit @Goldenlily26

 

Good morning all. We had a pleasant day yesterday visiting Dudmaston. Gorgeous rhododendrons in the gardens and an interesting house. We will go again I think as we are NT members and it’s not far away. Another day of gardening I want to finish hanging baskets etc. Overcast here but hoping it brightens up later.