General Chat

Hi to Island and a nice ~~~~~~~~~~~~ to you. You have been busy with your sowing and have a nice lot of seedlings and plants coming on. I must clean out the spider webs in the corner of my she dI can't reach very well as you say they are that thick I couold knit a mat with mine too. In the earlier months when I get the Long Tailed Tits comeing to the feeder I take the cobwebs out of the shed and put them on the feeder. They are always gratefully recieved and never stay there long. I have even seen one flying away with a foot long web in its beak. One of those times when you don't have a camera to hand.

Have you sown more PSB for next year? I love that and can't get any at the moment from Asda they keep putting on the lists but always out of stock.

good morning Island how lovely to see you on here. Do you mean it is quiet on GR generally or just this thread. I think both go in fits and starts but it is nice when we all catch up.
Goodness you have been busy in the potting shed (and other places by the sound of it. Not having been able to get to the garden centre for my 'war' wound as you so beautifully called it, I have not been able to make the spontaneous purchases that usually fell into my trolly this time of year. I suppose it has saved money but it has spoiled my gardening experience a bit. Mind you looking round the garden it would not occur to anyone that I was short of plants.
anyway Island, if it all grows you are not going to go short of veg this year are you. As T never grew much veg I shan't miss that aspect of the garden. I did notice just now that the rhubarb is growing.Although only one stick looks ready for picking. Obviously it will be ready when we are away.

vera I too have loads recorded and not yet watched every so often I have a purge and either watch or delete but I am a bit of a light weight with TV programmes, tend to put things on like watched before Midsummer murders, Lewis, Morse which don't need a lot of concentration and for that reason also I am a soap watcher. I did find and enjoy as well a series of George Gently but I have finished all those now. Not a daytime watcher either, TV hardly ever goes on before 4pm unless I am really bored when it may go on at 3pm to watch the house buying programmes either in UK or abroad.

Morning all

So much for 'gardening rest' - the weather has not been too friendly. I managed one day when I delved into the dark depths of the spider hotel - aka the potting shed - there's probably enough spider fluff to knit a small mat :-0 I must take a photo. So now I have lots of plastic plant pots to wash.
I was late with sowing seeds but most seem keen to catch up which means potting on already. Toms. cues, pointy peppers (from raw) all coming up on the front window sill. Runners and climbing dwarf beans coming on a pace in the potting shed with courgettes, purple peas, and sweetcorn about to burst forth. It's my first time with 'Flower Sprouts Kale' and cauli so we'll see what happens. Three types of sunflowers and some marigolds. The PSB is still feeding us and this year I'm trying seed, which I sowed on Friday, rather than scrabbling around to buy plants at the last minute. 120 2" pots in all :-0 many needing potting on already. I start off with little pots for germinating to save compost and space as I have had mass failings in the past. None of my suttons dwarf beans germinated last year after three sowings - I tell a lie, I got five plants out of about 40 seeds.
I'd put half a cherry tomato on one side on kitchen paper in a dish a while back. Forgot about it, then discovered it was dried up with a bit of mould where the flesh had been - nice! What the heck, I planted it and guess what? Tomato seedlings have come up! Given that tomato seeds survive our digestive systems to flourish at sewage farms, why am I surprised? Mine hadn't been eaten I hasten to add!

Vera, I do sympathise with you struggling with a pulled muscle - I'm still getting the odd twinge in my ribs. I hope yours eases soon.
Anng I hope your 'war wound' will soon be healed.
It's the wrong time of year to be out of action although I think the weather is dictating when we can and cannot be outdoors.
I'm enjoying Gills progress reports - been there, done that, found a cement mixer in the front room :-0
Annx, love your paintings, especially the water on the river scene and the boat. I've 'signed up' for a seven day sketch challenge on FB which is starting soon - hoping it will give me a push to get arty/crafty again.
Mel, foxy Robbie, lovely.

Thank you all for emails and kind comments, I'm sorry I have been remiss in not catching up with them but all were appreciated very much.
It's a bit quiet here now. :-(

Dull and grey here now so I expect it will rain again soon.

Do you mean the programme called The Pursuit of Love Mel? If so, I haven’t watched it but might watch it on iPlayer at sometime. I am so far behind with my viewing. I’ve got films I recorded 3 or 4 years ago that I haven’t yet watched. I’ve watched the first 5 series of Line of Duty on iPlayer but still have the final series to see and I’m currently trying to catch up on watching The Serpent. I read a lot, never without 2 or 3 books on the go, and I like to do crosswords so there just aren’t enough hours in the day. At least I don’t have time to get bored :-)

Morning Anng Vera and all,

Quite bright here this morning but its just started raining so how long that will last I don't knwo.

Slept well.

Did anyone watch that new serise last week on BBC 1? I did ask before but nobody replied.

Morning AnnG, Vera and all,

Lovely sunshine here and about 10 degrees, Colin is just getting the garden chairs out as family should be here later so I hope it warms up a bit but we can put our coats on .

Might do some planting later I have my Dhalias coming along nicely but not sure how big they need to be before I can plant them they are about four or five inches high .,I've been waiting to see when money plants his out as he put Dhalia seed in too

Right better gets some mugs out ready for coffee.

BBL

Good morning AnnG and all

Sunny here and 9 degrees as well at the moment but lots of rain forecast. I got very little sleep again as this muscle pain is worse lying down so I half sat, half lay in bed. No plans for the day. I’ll just see how things go.

Good morning, had a better sleep last night.
Sun is shining and 9 degrees out there, however, the forecast was for a lot of rain today so who knows. Bedding is in the washing machine other than that I have no plans for today.

Been out int he garden all afternoon and we have had sunshine and no rain. Oh did some mowing but then the grass box broke so that put an end to that.

I have washed out the soak tray for the little greenhouse and oh cut my canes shorter as Mole Valley did'nt have the size I wanted and mine were too big. I will leave them in the shed for tonight and put them in the greenhouse tomorrow weather permitting.

O that was a nice surprise Anng we could all do with some of those. Bought another Osti this morning its pale yellow called Serenity blue eye. It dos'nt look blue but has a lovely magena centre to the petals. I'll take a pic. Had'nt seen this one before.

Vera it does sound like you have pulled a muscle so take it easy for a couple of days and no heavy lifting.

Just ordered some things from Mole Valley and they hav'nt got potting grit or 5' canes so I had to order 6's and oh will saw them off for me.

Just potted my 4 tom plants and shall leave them in the shed for a day before venturing them into the greenhouse their plastic pit.

I am now going to corn the big girls and then take some cuttings of my erm erm forgotten the name of it!!!!!!!!! O Penstemons.

it has been raiing here and is very wet outside but it is dry at the moment, black clouds around though.
I have done the Tesco wipe down don't think I am as thorough as I was but I did wipe it all. Not a terribly big order this week.

OOh Vera, It is difficult to do gardening when you want to move plants and things are harder than they used to be. It does sound as if you have twisted and pulled a muscle in your side. Do you have any heat rub. I put some on my stiff neck when I had it and it seemed to work as it soon went. Just do what it allows you to do without hurting.
So that means you are taking two medications to lower BP then? The one I take with the long names is a diuretic. (hence the numerous trips in the night).

Just had a nice surprise from daughter as T's executor. She has had a nice cheque from HMRC without her first contacting them, a refund on his tax so that has paid for the replacement glass with a bit towards the car battery.

Morning Mandy, AnnG and all

Same weather here: wet, grey and chilly. They’ll be no going in the garden today, not that I really want to as I now have another problem. I seem to have either strained a muscle in my side or damaged a rib. A couple of days ago I moved 2 small shrubs. One was fine but the other one didn’t want to come up and I really had to attack it with a fork and spade to get it out of the earth. I think I did something then. Every time I moved in the night the pain woke me so I’ve not slept much. I think this poor old lady is falling to bits ;-)

AnnG, the doctor has put me on Amlodipine but will change it if it doesn’t suit me. I have also had Propranolol for 20 years. It is a beta blocker given for things like angina and it also lowers blood pressure. It can also help prevent migraine which is why I have it. I have been into town this morning and picked up my tabs and a blood pressure monitor at the pharmacy. We then stopped off for some compost and beer at Roy’s (I think some of you know Roy’s store). I had to wait in the entrance for OH for a couple of minutes and I couldn’t believe how many people walked straight past the sanitizer without using it. I doubt if they had all used their own. We all want to get back to normal but I think people are getting complacent.

My neighbours are among the complacent ones. You’ve heard me moan about them before. Some days their house is like Piccadilly Circus in the rush hour with all the different people in and out. Yesterday I joined her and 2 other ladies from our Close in a chat outside. This is always quite funny as she keeps stepping closer so we all step back a bit. Sometimes we end up travelling from one end of the Close to the other. At one point she went with my OH into our garden to look at some plants. As they were coming out again she mentioned that the hospital appointment she had been waiting for is on Monday and she had had the Covid test yesterday morning and she and her OH were self isolating. What! When OH said that she shouldn’t be outside her house she just shrugged. I can’t decide if they genuinely don’t understand (but they seem intelligent people) or if they are of the “it’ll never happen to us” school of thought.

I’m a right Minnie Moaner this morning aren’t I? It might not seem it but I do feel quite cheerful. OH is just making me a cuppa and I might even have a little Kit-Kat with it. That’s something to smile about :-). I hope your day has lots of smiles as well.

EDIT Missed you there Mel. You snuck in when I wasn’t watching. It’s stopped raining here at the moment but I think there’s more to come.

Its pouring here coming down like stair rods.

Morning Mandy Anng and all,

Dull dreary and grey and I think its just about to start raining. Oh woke me this morning and it was quite late. I wanted to get up earlier to see if I could catch who was breaking eggs but managed to get three this morning and one broken one instead of two.

Yes weatherwise I too think its inside jobs today or there's always the shed but must remember to take a brolly with me. Something I have never used for years and years. I have two big ones in the back of the car so I will take one of those.

Must ask oh to fill the corn bin for me today and put a new compost in the shed.

good morning all from yet again a wet Gloucester. Although we did have a dry day yesterday and the afternoon was lovely. so sunny and warm that I took my G&T down to 'our' patio for 20 minutes but went in about 6.20 when it clouded over. No sitting out today though it looks set in for the day.
Tesco shop due 11-12 so that will be something to do.

Vera, well done on getting your appointment at the doctors and maybe you are right and the high BP is causing your headaches. That seems logical. I hope the meds bring it down anyway. What are you on? I have been on two for BP for over 20 years now Amlodopine and Bendroflumathiazide (I think that is how it is spelt), They have kept my BP down, in fact last year I had to halve the dose of the Amlodopine as it was too low!!!!

Morning all,

Raining here and looks like we should have rain for most of the day the sky looks really black.
So its a day of inside jobs I think , just having a drink before I start .

No sun here all day. We had heavy rain all yesterday evening and during the night, in spite of the forecast saying a few light showers. Today there hasn't been much rain but it has been grey and a bit chilly all day.

As I said in my email Ann your pots of violas are really pretty, a nice splash of colour. It's good you have had your dental appointment now. I would just leave the tooth with the lump for now. If you are not in pain with it and it's not damaging any other tooth, why go through root canal treatment or an extraction? What a shame your woolfelting class didn't go as well as you hoped.

It's good that you are getting your washing machine fixed Mandy. I'm going to have a look at Blinds2go as we need to get some new blinds. We have vertical ones in our bedroom and lounge and want to replace them as the lounge ones are damaged now. We have 3 windows in our bedroom and a window at the front and big patio doors at the back in the lounge. My OH would have loved to share your crab. The poor man hardly ever gets shellfish because I am allergic to it.

I know it's not funny Mel but I did laugh at OH getting his jab and giving blood at the same time. I hope he doesn't suffer any after effects. I see you potted up your million bells. I couldn't get any this year and am really disappointed as they were so good last year and gave me a couple of troughs full of colour all summer.

It's all happening at your house now Gill. You must be relieved to have found a builder to do the job at last. Your poor OH, even with ear plugs it must be impossible to sleep with building work going on around you. It's very difficult for night workers.

I'm sorry you didn't sleep too well AnnG and you seem to have had quite a busy day.

My day seems to have been quite hectic but I don't seem to have achieved very much. Last week at the hospital one of my problems was that my bp was dangerously high. Eventually it dropped to just being high but I was told to speak to my GP about it, particularly as I have never had high bp before, though I haven't been tested for 2 years. Today I thought it might be the reason my headaches have been so bad lately and I had better do something about it. Since Covid the easiest way to get to our doctors is via an online form. It's a one size fits all form so I had to fill in reams of stuff that was totally irrelevant but I sent it off at about 11 am and got an acknowledgement that I would hear from the surgery by 6.30 pm Monday at the latest.

Just as I submitted the form Sainsbury's arrived. Nothing missing and no subs so that was pleasing but wiping down seemed to take me ages today. Did that and got us a bit of lunch and just as we finished eating just before 2 pm the doctor rang. He wanted to see me and said he could fit me in if I could get to the surgery for 2.30. The result was that my bp is too high so I have more tabs on my script and he wants me to get a monitor so I can send them readings periodically. If I can't do that I will need to go regularly to the surgery to have it tested.

There has been loads on TV and in the papers recently about people unable to even get a telephone chat with their doctor so we are really lucky with our surgery. Between 11 am and 2.30 pm I had submitted an online form, had a telephone chat with the doctor and a face to face appointment. I call that good service.

I've also had an emailed letter from the hospital after last week's scan saying the consultant is going to phone me on 9th June. As that's nearly 4 weeks away I can't think he has found anything that needs urgent treatment.

As we like to eat about 7 pm I'd better go and start preparing something. We're having a veggie quiche tonight but I am not sure whether to do salad with it or something else. I'll have to go and investigate the fridge.

I hope everyone has a good night tonight.

Well my sunshine lasted for all of five minuets then it went cloudy again. There was one little spot of blue sky but that soon blew away. I was at the fish pond looking at my fish. I have a load of small black ones and at least two pinky ones.

That was a bad price for the washing machine Mandy just as well it could be fixed or you would have had a much bigger bill if you had to buy another one. More Expense as Frank would say.

Yes could'nt go without fresh undies everyday. The old joggers are getting a bit thin now and all seem to have knee marks in them but I don't often kneel dowon!!!!!! Oh says its because I don't have proper knees just points in the middle of my legs. Cheek. :-|

When oh went to Florida he had a bucket of oysters and lots of seafood but he likes it all mostly anyway. He has mussles in the fridge for lunch tomorrow.

I have taken two of my 4 tom plants down the shed and taken tiny side shoots off them. I thought it best to take two at a time so they could get there safely. I have taken a lot of lavender cuttings but not sure if they will take as I cut down a lavender I want to repot. At 4.25pm it fell out of the sky and I was stuck in the shed till it eased off and went and corned the big girls, I'd done the bantams. Then I cam ein and we had a coffe and a bit of chocolate cake and watched Tipping Point.

Boris on soon with an announcement worrying!

Afternoon All,

That's good you seem to have got the ball rolling at last Gill and have some changes to see now. It will be good today to see the size of the garden without the rubbish!

Mandy I didn't realise you could get patterned vertical blinds now. I've made a not of that site as we need a new roller blind in the en suite. I daren't pull it down anymore as it won't go back up! That wasn't a bad price for mending your washer as you say. It will be good to have it up and running again. They were bargain cues you got!

I put million bells in the pots afterwards last year AnnG, with Bacopa I think. Not sure what will go in this year yet. We are the same with clothes since the lockdowns AnnG. Clean undies though like Mandy said and I've worn out more of my older clothes too. We tend to keep some things for gardening and don't wash those as often. As Mel says they soon get dirty again.