Yesterday I managed to scavenge 3 large plastic pots Now I have to fill them But before I can do that I need compost. Pa Panda is taking me to the GC to get the bags tomorrow
Wonky, I know you can put Eric in a pot - that's where my azalea is. Not sure how it works in the soil
Wonky, I think you'd better get a soil test kit & see what you've got. It's quite hard to make soil more acid, easy to make it more limey. Real lime-haters need to be in pots if your soil is alkaline - if it's neutral, you can add ericaceous compost or (horror of horrors!) peat, and/or water the plant with sequestered iron to lower the soil's pH. (If you can get hold of it, Moorland Gold peat is environmentally friendly - it's gathered from the filtration plants of moorland reservoirs in the Pennines, and as such is a waste product. )
Garden centre visit was most enjoyable. I couldn't let many plants "stick" because I had a 2+ mile walk home, with compost and seed trays, but 3 different mint plants and a saxifrage managed to squeeze into a carrier bag. The walk along the canal was lovely - 3 families of goslings (7, 5 & 2, all small, yellow and fluffy), a duck with 9 tiny ducklings, a dipper collecting food in the river, and an orange tip butterfly on a patch of lady's smock. And warm sunshine!
I've watched a heron sitting on a dead branch overhanging the canal, dropping down to pick off ducklings. No wonder they have big families... The Canada geese seem able to keep their babies in a line, with an adult at each end, for greater security.
Wonky again. Sounds as if you're your mother's daughter when it comes to cooking, too. That pud sounds amazing!
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Hello everyone, hope you are all ok. Sorry I've been AWOL again, work has been manic with staffing problems (big time) and I've been quite poorly this week.
Anyway, I though I'd have a mooch around and say hello before bed.
Chicky, has exam stress set in yet in the Chicky household? My big boy has had his first 2 today. Good luck to any of my Forker families that have exams x
Hard evening on the sofa, drinking G@T , after another busy day in the garden.
Just get the feeling that things are slowly taking shape, but having said that, I still have a greenhouse full and many window sills, all waiting to go out some where.
Managed to spend most of the day moving existing plants to " better " locations, trying to paint a better picture. Very pretentious I know.
My ducks do not seem to be nesting here this year, for which I am grateful, as in other years, I have spent my time trying to rescue the chicks when they get into the stream and can't get back into pond. The ducks still visit most days, which is nice.
Tomorrow I can feel a bout of total laziness creeping in, possibly nursing a hangover, if I continue on the gin.
Night all and good luck to any exam sitters tomorrow, possibly not the time to mention, that I loved exams.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
Thanks so much Lirio, think I'm going to play safe and do nothing until I have pH tested the soil! The plants are healthy and in good size pots and from a decent nursery so think they can hang on in there a little until I know what I'm dealing with!
sounds like you had a lovely day with weather to match! Lugging sacks of compost 2+ miles?!?!? Your hardcore! and yes can really really recommend the dessert, she said scoffing helping number 3!!!
Posts
evening all.
Waterfowl update. : 3 Goslings , no Mallard ducklings. The goslings came off the lake for a wander with Mum and Dad today.
20 tons of rather lovely topsoil delivered and covered before the nice young man comes on Saturday to barrow it into the beds in the polytunnels.
Oh no! Such carnage Hosta! Mr Fox eating well today! Hopefully three goslings will be easier to keep an eye on!
back to my soil research
Yesterday I managed to scavenge 3 large plastic pots
Now I have to fill them 
But before I can do that I need compost. Pa Panda is taking me to the GC to get the bags tomorrow 
Wonky, I know you can put Eric in a pot - that's where my azalea is. Not sure how it works in the soil
Wonky, I think you'd better get a soil test kit & see what you've got. It's quite hard to make soil more acid, easy to make it more limey. Real lime-haters need to be in pots if your soil is alkaline - if it's neutral, you can add ericaceous compost or (horror of horrors!) peat, and/or water the plant with sequestered iron to lower the soil's pH. (If you can get hold of it, Moorland Gold peat is environmentally friendly - it's gathered from the filtration plants of moorland reservoirs in the Pennines, and as such is a waste product.
)
Garden centre visit was most enjoyable. I couldn't let many plants "stick" because I had a 2+ mile walk home, with compost and seed trays, but 3 different mint plants and a saxifrage managed to squeeze into a carrier bag.
The walk along the canal was lovely - 3 families of goslings (7, 5 & 2, all small, yellow and fluffy), a duck with 9 tiny ducklings, a dipper collecting food in the river, and an orange tip butterfly on a patch of lady's smock. And warm sunshine! 
I've watched a heron sitting on a dead branch overhanging the canal, dropping down to pick off ducklings. No wonder they have big families... The Canada geese seem able to keep their babies in a line, with an adult at each end, for greater security.
Wonky again. Sounds as if you're your mother's daughter when it comes to cooking, too. That pud sounds amazing!
Hello everyone, hope you are all ok. Sorry I've been AWOL again, work has been manic with staffing problems (big time) and I've been quite poorly this week.
Anyway, I though I'd have a mooch around and say hello before bed.
Chicky, has exam stress set in yet in the Chicky household? My big boy has had his first 2 today. Good luck to any of my Forker families that have exams x
Hard evening on the sofa, drinking G@T , after another busy day in the garden.
Just get the feeling that things are slowly taking shape, but having said that, I still have a greenhouse full and many window sills, all waiting to go out some where.
Managed to spend most of the day moving existing plants to " better " locations, trying to paint a better picture. Very pretentious I know.
My ducks do not seem to be nesting here this year, for which I am grateful, as in other years, I have spent my time trying to rescue the chicks when they get into the stream and can't get back into pond. The ducks still visit most days, which is nice.
Tomorrow I can feel a bout of total laziness creeping in, possibly nursing a hangover, if I continue on the gin.
Night all and good luck to any exam sitters tomorrow, possibly not the time to mention, that I loved exams.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Thanks so much Lirio,
think I'm going to play safe and do nothing until I have pH tested the soil! The plants are healthy and in good size pots and from a decent nursery so think they can hang on in there a little until I know what I'm dealing with! 
sounds like you had a lovely day with weather to match! Lugging sacks of compost 2+ miles?!?!? Your hardcore!
and yes can really really recommend the dessert, she said scoffing helping number 3!!! 
Good morning
.
Cold and frosty this morning but looks as though it will be a lovely day. Lots to do and really must decide on a job and stick to it.
Hope you're feeling better now OL. Good luck to big boy with his exams.
Have a good day everyone.
Morning all.
After 3 very hectic days in the garden. I'm off to work for a bit of a rest.
Drizzle here at the moment. Could have done with more rain, but any is appreciated for the garden.