Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2025

Good morning all, yesterday was volunteer day at Capel Manor. Unfortunately the M25 was at a standstill at S Mimms, no prior warning until it was too late to get out of it, then to cap it half the car parking was shut off so really difficult to find a space. Not a good start to the day.
Anyway things improved later as I went home via the plots and dug a good crop of first early spuds. Also I picked peas strawberries, cherry and some Raspberries. Nothing like having our own produce to lift the day.

 

Planning to get into the garden today. Hopefully finishing off the Cosmos and Rudbeckia, will not grow so many next year. I think I forget, in March, just how full my borders are come June. I really don’t have much space for annuals now. I also need to pull off the spent Alkanet flower stems, to stop them self seeding and tackle two brambles I’ve just spotted from our bedroom window. They are at the back of the border behind shrubs and I can see them starting to come over the top. I will just need to have another good look so I know where to head into when I’m down at ground level. I might need OH upstairs shouting left a bit, right a bit….

Yesterday was a tale of two halves. The morning was spent having some neurological tests for muscle strength and nerve conductivity. Not very pleasant. They couldn’t do one set of tests as my blood pressure went too low. It’s always in the low side any way but they weren’t happy to carry on. Hopefully they will have got the information they need so just wait and see now. Anyway, to compensate OH suggested a garden visit and lunch out so we had a lovely afternoon at Hodnet Hall. I didn’t want to “waste” a visit to a new garden and fancied something enjoyably familiar.

OH is painting again today. I’ve an old dresser which I want painting to better fit in with our recently painted dining room. It’s currently dark cream with a crackle effect which looked great with the old deep blue but now looks dirty against our new rich yellow walls. Do you remember all the paint effect trends that used to be so popular - crackle effects, distressing and stencilling? I think it was the late eighties, early nineties so it’s probably due a freshen up!

Am also planning to try out a couple of new recipes later from my Meera Sodha book East. Baked onion bhajis for lunches and sesame tamarind aubergine for supper tonight. I had really lost any interest in cooking over the last few months and become very lazy, but am now bored of our current menu and determined to get back into it as we don’t eat very well (as in healthily) otherwise.

Hope everyone’s week is going well

 

That was unfortunate @Allotment Boy, there's nothing worse than that sinking moment when you realise the motorway is at a standstill and you're already half way down the slip road!
Your haul of veg and fruit sounds good though, I must investigate to see if our potatoes are ready to pick. We're picking strawberries but our raspberries are Polka ones so not ready yet.

I'm not surprised you were tired @Goldenlily26, lugging bags of compost/manure up and down steps is enough to tire anybody.

 

Am looking forward to the raspberries on our new plants @Allotment Boy but they are just tiny little green ones at the moment. But you’ve just reminded me that I have some mange tout ready for picking

 

Sorry @Butterfly6, our posts much have crossed.

Your tests don't sound any pleasant at all so hope the results are good news. Tea and cake are always a nice treat.

 

Rained through the night. There is a big puddle on the patio where the soakaway is a bit sluggish, and it’s still raining now. OH was awake in the night, so we both went back to sleep at 7am and didn’t remake till 9.30. I will make pancakes for breakfast, we have blueberries, banana, maple syrup and lemon to have with them!
I actually managed to transfer all my trailing nasturtium seedlings to a wall trough. I could almost see the sighs of relief from them as they escaped from their seed trays! If there is a dry spell, I shall try and liberate some other seedlings to join them. Also need to dead head the petunias in the hanging basket.
The potted poppies that I bought recently have burst into flower. Pretty double flowers, red rumble, but OH is disappointed in the colour, they are more magenta than scarlet. The true red one I planted in the garden has opened another flower. Sadly the second one I put in had its flower buds eaten. I’ve bought seeds to try and grow some more from scratch.
Otherwise, it looks like the dreaded housework today.

 

No rain here, yet, but doesn't look far away. Busy day planned, but lots of 'bitty' things.
Our peach poppy at the caravan has bitten the dust. Shame, as it was a beaut.
I have ordered some more alpine dianthus, Whatfield Gem, to hang from the deck rail at the van. Its perfume is incredible.
Those recipes sound delectable, @Butterfly6. Might have to investigate that book.

 

Afternoon all!
We're waiting for the afternoon choir session to start, and listening to a small group of singers from Latvia busking on the stairs in the concert hall... music really does break down national barriers.
It's stopped raining. Hope life is treating you well!

 

Apparently we had a short storm in the night with noisy bits and some heavy rain but I slept thru it. Muggy today but a bit cooler so, having done the weekly shop this morning, I shall go and do a bit of planting before getting cleaned up for yoga this evening. Feet need a good soak as I garden in flip flops when it's hot.

Some rain expected tomorrow and then not a drop for 10 days and high temps @Tui34 so I need to make sure OH has a watering schedule while I'm away next week. If all goes to plan there'll be a new strawberry bed, more squashed and some tomatoes planted out as well as the new bed and the remaining pots to keep moist.

Hope your food bank stint goes well @Ladybird4 and that you regain some energy @Goldenlily26 and your visit goes as well as expected @Lizz.

Love an onion bhaji @Butterfly6 but can't be doing with aubergine at all. Texture thing.

Hard to find highly perfumed dianthus here @Penny_Forthem but i've found a few, un-named in shades of pink and crimson.

Enjoy the rest of your day everyone. Hope your water butts filled @AuntyRach

 

Forgot to say @Allotment Boy that we have a mature cheery tree planted by our predeccessors and are actually getting some of the fruits this year - no idea what it is but the cherries are shades of yellow, orange and red. Normally they drop before ripening or the birds get them. Plums coming along too but most are Mirabelle which is just so bland.

Apples, pears and apricots looking good and we've had some good loganberries but the raspberries are late.

 

While having coffee this morning on my deck, my noise started a deer that was down in our valley garden, then I heard a strange noise in the woods, looking toward that direction I saw her baby eating something. Soon the baby left and went toward the noise, and the noise stopped. Looked on You Tube, in this video the noise was between the Alarm and Predator scream. So must have been the mother yelling at her baby. Seems babies don't listen for a while in any species. LOL

 

Good afternoon,
It’s been a warm day but with a strong breeze that has taken the edge off it a bit. I’m glad, in a way, that it was that bit cooler as OH and I tackled a conifer that needed to be cut down as it was getting very wide and showing signs of dying at one side. I was also concerned about its roots as it was sited quite close to a drain. Anyway, it is now down and if it’s less windy tomorrow OH will put some stump killer on the stump as it’s too hard to dig out completely.
I also trimmed back a mahonia by about half as it was getting too big as well. We didn’t plant it, I suspect the birds did, kindly dropping a seed at some time. Because it was behind the conifer, it was a little difficult to get at, but is now much easier to tame as it’s easier to reach. I’m undecided whether to take it out completely, but for now it can stay put as it’s quite an attractive shrub.
I hope Fizz enjoyed her bat @Tui34 .

 

Hello everyone. Unusually today it was quite quiet at the Food Bank. For the first two hours, after we had weighed and dated all of the donated items and put them into the cupboards, Bestie and I were bored out of our skulls and wished we had taken along some knitting to do. We noticed that new cupboards had been fitted into the room where the food is stored and then packed and that really helped with storage. 15 minutes before we were due to do our stock check and make out our orders for the main hub we had a sudden rush of four families. This seems to be the way things go now but its a bit of a nuisance when the opening times are common knowledge. Not to worry though as we got through it all very quickly. The rain started as we left the building.
@Goldenlily26 no wonder you were tired after all that lugging around of bags of manure and compost around. @Butterfly6 I echo @lizzie27's thoughts about the procedures you had to go through and I, too, hope everything turned out well. @Blue arbour I often discover 'gifts' from birds in my garden and I have an oak sapling donated by a squirrel to sort out too. I've been so busy rose wrangling I hadn't noticed how big it has become. Anyone got a stick of dynamite??

 

Signing out for today. I wish everyone pleasant evenings and a peaceful sleep. See you all in the morning.

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Housework! Yuck! I gave the shower tiles a good scrub, and cleaned the handbasins. Will need lots of hand cream tonight, should have worn gloves.
I moved my trailing begonia plants, and a lot of candytuft seedlings into the wall trough. Now I have to find somewhere to put the sunflower seedlings. It may have to be a pot on the patio outside the front door. There are few places that will be in view of the house, and which are facing the sun. Otherwise we will just be looking at the backs of their heads!
I got a couple of lots of laundry done and put away, so I think that s enough boring stuff for a couple of days!
Where are you off to, @Obelix-Vendée? I hope your OH is better at following instructions that mine. He didn’t empty the rainwater from the seed trays, and some may have drowned.
I hope you have better dreams tonight, @lizzie27. Mine last night included several appearances by Donald Trump! Definitely nightmares. Also one dream where I was less than appropriately clothed for attending a lecture. Haven’t had one of those dreams for years!