Hectic again here, woke up in a panic too because the frost was harder than I expected, all ok though I think, the wind is very cold though, despite the beautiful sunshine. I'm cutting back boundary hedges today, gosh they seem to go on forever, and because the neighbour doesn't bother I am fighting their brambles and ivy too. Then on the farmer's side it is all bracken, sometimes I wish we had a concrete wall between us!
I've got Hot Cross buns proving and a cheesecake and cupcakes ready to go out for takeaways this afternoon.
Charlie had to close his savings account this morning because he's got a better deal at the other bank, it was quite funny because he was very nervous of telling the old bank he wanted to close it and could he have his money out please. - He thought they might say no or shout at him, bless him. They did ask why, but once he explained there was not a lot they could do because they just don't offer the same service. They certainly didn't shout at him.
Saturday weigh in was successful again, almost another kilo gone. I'm obviously lighter, but I still feel there is room to lose more, my body shape is just not what it used to be. I have ridiculously skinny ribs/waist but then a wide area around the hips, I feel I look out of proportion. At CdeG I spent every day running up and down stairs, I think that kept the hips in shape, I'll be so glad to get back to it. I do feel healthy though, and have so much energy, I will stick with this low carbohydrate diet on a semi permanent basis I think.
Nice to get your own back on these annoying calls isn't it @Dovefromabove. If we get any here I just start asking them if they speak English, saying I don't understand French, they soon hang-up.
Right, ever onwards, need to knead those Hot Cross Buns again and then back to the boundary - joy - not!
Ooh, one question, @Biglad you reminded me....is rhubarb easy to grow, will it spread too far, thinking of @Allotment Boy 's photo yesterday and if it's ok, when/how do I plant it?
“Coffee. Garden. Coffee. Does a good morning need anything else?” —Betsy Cañas Garmon
Dove I now have a filter on the phone telling people that there is a filter from my phone line/broadband provider, because I was getting several calls a day, telling me my PC, had a problem, havent had a scam call for 2 years now. I used to keep them chatting, put on different accents, and pretend I was calling to myself indoors. My oldest son who is my computer whizz kid, went one better. He taped this call, similar to yours, added sound effects, tractors and the like, kept them going for 20 minutes, was crying with laughter when he played it back.
It must be a piece of cake ( ), @D0rdogne_Damsel because it has survived the 'wilderness years' in my garden!!! That and strawberries must be the hardiest foodstuffs known to man
D-fab is the champion rhubarb grower, so will be able to give proper advice, but I reckon it will grow pretty much anywhere. After a few years the plant bulks up and can be split into smaller ones. My original was split into 6 this winter, which was long overdue.
Ideally, I'd get some planted now but I defy you to mistreat rhubarb badly enough that you don't get a good crop.
Afternoon all, I've been out in the garden and although I was planning a gentle day of pottering I ended up emptying and scrubbing the greenhouse inside and out. I also cleaned out the birdbath. I'm watching Poirot now and taking it easy. Tomorrow I'll tie in the Clems and climbing roses, which is what I was supposed to be doing today.
I've now got the fleece sorted for the raised bed so I can sow some early seeds. My leeks seeds have germinated along with cucumbers and tomatoes. I'm really enjoying getting things growing again.
I keep getting those open reach calls too. I'm afraid I just put the phone down as I can't be bothered to engage them in any sort of conversation.
@D0rdogne_Damsel rhubarb needs shade and moisture over here and plenty of manure anywhere. I have just moved mine to its own raised bed behind the hen house and between the water butts so it doesn't get sun till the afternoon and there's plenty of water if needed. It's a 1.2m square raised bed built from a kit and last year we filled it with our own garden compost and grew strawberries. They have now been moved to somewhere else to be safe from the chooks and I've added 2 40 litre bags of horse poo and planted the rhubarb in there, under a cold frame as it's so flipping cold in that wind and they're just babies.
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)."
Hello all. I'm staying with daughter 1 and her family for the w/e. She's planted some more roses, she already had over 100.
@D0rdogne_Damsel and everyone who said rhubarb is easy to grow - it isn't if it's planted in the limestone hills of hot and sunny Dordogne. But then DD has better soil than I did. I've just bought a plant for my new garden, soil is deeper and damper here.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
@D0rdogne_Damsel yes Obelixx is right, it generally forms a large (ish) clump and does not spread too far. Mine looks like a lot as there are several clumps in there it means I can force some each year then do a different bit while the first one rests. I do supply 3 families with it though. I never crop any after May though as my Father always said the acid build up became too strong after that. Funnily enough there was a feature on rhubarb on GW last night, I assume it will be on iplayer if you missed it.
I ended up with a dozen large rhubarb clumps in my Belgian soil where they loved all the rain and the fertile soil. Fed the neighbours across the road at the horsey farm whose garden was on sandy soil, friends at the dance club and made lots of chutney as well as the cakes, crumbles, cobblers. Luscious.
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)."
As Obelixx has said, plus don’t pick at all in its first year, take just a little in the second year and never take more than one third of the stalks. I stop picking at the end of July to let the crown build up energy for the next year.
Plenty of space, don’t let it dry out, mulch with organic stuff at least once a year and remove any flower stems that appear.
The feature on rhubarb last night was great, including a demonstration of how to pull the stalks ... difficult to describe. However I wish she’d said to twist off the leaves immediately after picking as that keeps the stalks firm.
This clump had been in situ 5 or 6 years when this pic was taken.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Posts
Hectic again here, woke up in a panic too because the frost was harder than I expected, all ok though I think, the wind is very cold though, despite the beautiful sunshine. I'm cutting back boundary hedges today, gosh they seem to go on forever, and because the neighbour doesn't bother I am fighting their brambles and ivy too. Then on the farmer's side it is all bracken, sometimes I wish we had a concrete wall between us!
I've got Hot Cross buns proving and a cheesecake and cupcakes ready to go out for takeaways this afternoon.
Charlie had to close his savings account this morning because he's got a better deal at the other bank, it was quite funny because he was very nervous of telling the old bank he wanted to close it and could he have his money out please. - He thought they might say no or shout at him, bless him. They did ask why, but once he explained there was not a lot they could do because they just don't offer the same service. They certainly didn't shout at him.
Saturday weigh in was successful again, almost another kilo gone. I'm obviously lighter, but I still feel there is room to lose more, my body shape is just not what it used to be. I have ridiculously skinny ribs/waist but then a wide area around the hips, I feel I look out of proportion. At CdeG I spent every day running up and down stairs, I think that kept the hips in shape, I'll be so glad to get back to it. I do feel healthy though, and have so much energy, I will stick with this low carbohydrate diet on a semi permanent basis I think.
Nice to get your own back on these annoying calls isn't it @Dovefromabove.
Right, ever onwards, need to knead those Hot Cross Buns again and then back to the boundary - joy - not!
Ooh, one question, @Biglad you reminded me....is rhubarb easy to grow, will it spread too far, thinking of @Allotment Boy 's photo yesterday and if it's ok, when/how do I plant it?
D-fab is the champion rhubarb grower, so will be able to give proper advice, but I reckon it will grow pretty much anywhere. After a few years the plant bulks up and can be split into smaller ones. My original was split into 6 this winter, which was long overdue.
Ideally, I'd get some planted now but I defy you to mistreat rhubarb badly enough that you don't get a good crop.
I'm staying with daughter 1 and her family for the w/e. She's planted some more roses, she already had over 100.
@D0rdogne_Damsel and everyone who said rhubarb is easy to grow - it isn't if it's planted in the limestone hills of hot and sunny Dordogne. But then DD has better soil than I did. I've just bought a plant for my new garden, soil is deeper and damper here.
I ended up with a dozen large rhubarb clumps in my Belgian soil where they loved all the rain and the fertile soil. Fed the neighbours across the road at the horsey farm whose garden was on sandy soil, friends at the dance club and made lots of chutney as well as the cakes, crumbles, cobblers. Luscious.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.