G'day. Been out all day wit the gardening club and it was perishing cos of cold northerly winds. Brrrr! Started off with a visit to a small holding where our hostess is planning to grow edible flowers, foliage and a few berries for high end restaurants. She has 3 horticultural diplomas and used to look after all the floral displays in a small town but ill health stopped that. We got to taste all sorts of stuff and learned that Indian running ducks eat masses of slugs and snails but not plants and they're funny and sociable too. I have duck envy. She also has hens for clearing beds of weeds and pests.
Picnic lunch in the greenhouse - very convivial as people share their home-made Pinaud/Trouspinette/cakes/tarts etc. Then a tour of her own garden where there are collections of salvias and pelargoniums and some rare plants and then a quick session on how to take various kinds of cuttings and I have come away with bits of Michaelmas daisy, salvia and a rose plus a fancy pelargonium.
Warming up with a coffee now before sorting out some fabric for patchwork group - mystery quilt, 4 fabrics to select and cut - then second half of last night's SCD to watch and the results. Haven't yet seen any of Killing Eve or the last 2 Bodyguard so no spoilers for those either please.
Hope everyone is warm and dry and well. Have fun Liri and Chicky and anyone else with projects and celebrations to enjoy.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Flumpy1, I live up a steep hill within stone throwing distance of the Surrey/West Sussex border with Hampshire just a mile away for good measure. Haslemere is our nearest town.
Evening all Coo,@steephill you must be in the same neck of the woods where I used to live ( Bordon ) @chicky which GC have Squires taken over? Not a bad day except an engine warning light came on as I left the store after lunch, so I had to return, swap the contents of my van into an empty van and then head off. Finished at 6.30 so not a long day. There's some leftover mash, and broccoli in the fridge. I think that might have to do for supper.
@Hostafan1 Squires have taken over Frensham GC - the one that got to be more famous for its tents than its plants 🙄
@Fairygirl new tulips have been bought - went for something called the brown sugar collection :
I have created my own concoctions in the past, but this year I thought I would let someone else do the hard work of finding the right flowering times/heights/colour combinations 😳
Lovely lunch down in Lymington followed by a short potter on the sea front - beautiful day out there.
Steephill and I are nearly neighbours 😀😀😀. I’ll be round for cider next summer 😋🍎🍻
Hi all. Lovely weekend with BIL and partner. They are fairly new to gardenig , so we spent a long time outside, with me showing them how to take cuttings and divide plants. They were very complimentary about the garden which was nice of them and made me feel good. [He has been to the house many times, but this is the first since he met new partner and got into gardening ] Heavy session last night, so I am off to bed. Hope all are well, see you soon.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
All my fruit juices tend to be alcoholic, last year's grapes made a very decent rose. Only 4 bottles though . The freshly pressed apple juice is rather wonderful, much better than shop bought if I say so myself.
It is a very nice bit of the country down here but as a Scot in exile it could do with a few lochs. Frensham Ponds are not quite in the same league as Loch Lomond. As I am sure Chicky can testify the taste of fresh country air when you get off your commuter train from London in the evening is blissful.
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Picnic lunch in the greenhouse - very convivial as people share their home-made Pinaud/Trouspinette/cakes/tarts etc. Then a tour of her own garden where there are collections of salvias and pelargoniums and some rare plants and then a quick session on how to take various kinds of cuttings and I have come away with bits of Michaelmas daisy, salvia and a rose plus a fancy pelargonium.
Warming up with a coffee now before sorting out some fabric for patchwork group - mystery quilt, 4 fabrics to select and cut - then second half of last night's SCD to watch and the results. Haven't yet seen any of Killing Eve or the last 2 Bodyguard so no spoilers for those either please.
Hope everyone is warm and dry and well. Have fun Liri and Chicky and anyone else with projects and celebrations to enjoy.
Coo,@steephill you must be in the same neck of the woods where I used to live ( Bordon )
@chicky which GC have Squires taken over?
Not a bad day except an engine warning light came on as I left the store after lunch, so I had to return, swap the contents of my van into an empty van and then head off. Finished at 6.30 so not a long day.
There's some leftover mash, and broccoli in the fridge. I think that might have to do for supper.
@Fairygirl new tulips have been bought - went for
I have created my own concoctions in the past, but this year I thought I would let someone else do the hard work of finding the right flowering times/heights/colour combinations 😳
Lovely lunch down in Lymington followed by a short potter on the sea front - beautiful day out there.
Steephill and I are nearly neighbours 😀😀😀. I’ll be round for cider next summer 😋🍎🍻
Hosta you put your feet up now and rest 👍
chicky, I’ve never been to Lymington, think I might look it up 😃
Lovely weekend with BIL and partner. They are fairly new to gardenig , so we spent a long time outside, with me showing them how to take cuttings and divide plants.
They were very complimentary about the garden which was nice of them and made me feel good. [He has been to the house many times, but this is the first since he met new partner and got into gardening ]
Heavy session last night, so I am off to bed.
Hope all are well, see you soon.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
It is a very nice bit of the country down here but as a Scot in exile it could do with a few lochs. Frensham Ponds are not quite in the same league as Loch Lomond. As I am sure Chicky can testify the taste of fresh country air when you get off your commuter train from London in the evening is blissful.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.