South West and Central Southern England Discussion - Dec 2023 onwards

[Dorsetbred]

Our friendly plump robin

[Wynn D Woo]

A foggy start to the day which didnt lift until mid morning, now a general haze but sunny spells.

[*Stormforce~beka*]

 jtay What you growing? I've not -planted anything yet! Every year I'm lazy to start and before I know it i'm late ...

[jtay]

Chillies, tomatoes and coriander are in the sun, as they've germinated.

The cayenne chillies from a packet haven't germinated, but the seeds that I saved from last year's crop have.

Got some early annual flower seeds on the heated mats in the brew shed window, hopefully for cutting in the summer.

Built a cold frame at the weekend, so hoping to make good use of that extra space this year. It's already got perennials in that we've lifted and divided.

[*Stormforce~beka*]

 jtay ISn't it too cold to put tomatoes out? I should make a cold frame for the patio ...

[jtay]

 *Stormforce~beka* Oh yeah. They'll be back inside shortly. Just try to get them as much light as possible, so they don't get leggy. Apparently, being out in the breeze strengthens the stems, but not sure I believe that.

We bought my Mum one of these for Christmas...

It's pretty lightweight, but will do for her.

 

[jy]

I'm enjoying the cut and thrust of bartering.Delphiniums 2 litre pots 2 quid nothing over 2.50 so far shrubs and all perennials only need a tidy then good to go.Got my eye on some lovely Salvia Hot Lips.Selling on has been made easy by the greedy garden centres and supermarkets. Of course they have high overheads..does that justify a mark up of 5 to 600 hundred percent...no I don't think so either

[jtay]

 jy I'll sell you some Salvia hot lips. Took some cuttings last autumn.

Is this at Baskets and Blooms?

[jy]

No they are expensive lol just got 120 dyanthus for 30 p each be interested in the Salvias

My bad...Dianthus

[jtay]

 jy Haven't got that many. Will do a load for next year, now I know how easy they are.

Are these all for your customers?

B&B are dearer these days, since the change of ownership.

Edited March 6 by jtay

[jy]

Mainly yes but I'm honest..buy cheap ...sell cheap...sell out..summer bulbs have arrived today.This year our new place has a garden untouched in years so will try to colour it up a bit

[jy]

 jtay I knew Mark Shering really well the previous guy we used to travel from Kent on Thursday long wheel base truck and wheel the full trolleys on.We were able to be very competitive not unusual to take 3k on a busy Saturday 

 

[jtay]

 jy A large % of that would've been my Mrs and her mother.

Now her tastes have upgraded to Farmer Gracey's , which are £££.

Edited March 6 by jtay

[jy]

 jtay send their details I will  send a refund.Its weird though,two years ago I bought 5000 Summer bulbs.before end April they were all gone.This year got 450 don't want the pressure of the large quantities any more

[jtay]

 jy

[*Stormforce~beka*]

 jtay I have one of those greenhouses 

[*Stormforce~beka*]

 jy have I killed my lavender? 

[Dorsetbred]

1 hour ago, *Stormforce~beka* said:

have I killed my lavender? 

Those magical green fingers of yours

Edited March 6 by Dorsetbred

[*Stormforce~beka*]

 Dorsetbred Does it look dead to you? It was only new last year!

[jtay]

 *Stormforce~beka* Take a snipping to see if it still has a green stem. If it does, you might be OK.

Lavender likes poor soil and hates sitting in the wet. If you've just stuck it in the ground, that's probably why it's struggling. You can mix pea shingle in, or similar to ensure the soil around it drains well.

Cloudy start this morning. No sign of any blue sky yet.

Correction... Fair bit of blue above now. Off for a walk. 

Edited March 7 by jtay

[Dorsetbred]

Morning All, bit of a change this morning as the cloud movement is from the east. After a misty night the overnight low of 3.0°C at: 06:45 has climbed to 9.4°C, RH82% and a light freshening breeze from the east with patchy cloud coming in off the channel.

From Above

On Golden sands

[Dorsetbred]

13 hours ago, *Stormforce~beka* said:

Does it look dead to you? It was only new last year!

Do a quick test, select a twig of lavender bend it, if it breaks then could well be dead, but if it bends and doesn't snap there's a fair chance it's slow in getting its act together. Lavender is quite hardy temperature wise, so I'd not really think the cold has killed , more like the excess of rain. JTAY has given you the good info.

[*Stormforce~beka*]

 Dorsetbred Yes it snapped. Guess rain has buggered it although it's in the ground. Grrr!

[*Stormforce~beka*]

 jtay When I planted it I put in compost and growmore. Guess I'll be buying another one then gah! And just plonk it in the ground with something. Don't have any pea shingle. I can put shingle from around hte pond in but it's a bit bigger. Or would it do better in a pot? Although that would be an weeble in summer when we are away as no one waters for us things have to take their chances lol

[jtay]

 *Stormforce~beka* It shouldn't need much watering. They're native to the med, so won't mind that. You could have saved yourself compost and fertiliser too, for the same reason.

Have you got any broken oyster shells for the chickens? I don't see why that wouldn't work for drainage instead.