Gardeners day out

14th May 2018

We had an almost garden free day today which was a bit naughty as we still have glorious weather and who knows how long that will last.  

I did manage to plant some sticks.  Ken is kindly digging the holes for me to help with the planting so I thought it would make it easier if i just marked where I wanted them to go.  I worked out the position of the next eighteen plants (nine in each border).  I used coffee stirrers (culled from my dollhousing hobby) and wrote a letter on each one demarcating what plant will go where.  This is the back of the border stuff - hollyhocks, delphiniums, gypsophila.  After doing it I realised what a good idea it is generally as it gave me thinking time as to what I want where and I was able to stand back and assess before committing trowel to ground.

growing sticks?

For our day off we decided to go to Dunbar Garden Centre after lunch for a looksee.  It was perfectly nice but.... here comes the moan..... it was pretty much like every other garden centre.  Someone a few years ago worked out a successsful formula for garden centres - some plants - mainly bought in - a nice moochy kind of shop which is almost totally not garden related - food and clothes and, what my mother would have called 'trinklements', and of course the ubiquitous cafe/restaurant.  Everyone quickly climbed on the gravy train.  As a business model, good for them but as a gardener I mourn the loss of of very individual nurseries selling their own plants which were raised on site and you knew would survive in your location.  If you were lucky at some of the larger ones you could get a cup of tea and a cake and the kids got an ice cream but that was about it.  What you did get was good strong plant stock at an incredibly cheap price, often quirky owners with a wealth of knowledge they were only too willing to share and a lovely couple of hours rummaging around the place seeing what they had ready to go that week.

OK moan over - Dunbar was fine and it netted me an absolute bargain.  All their bought in stuff was the usual prices that you see everywhere but they had planted up hanging baskets and they were one for £12.99 or two for twenty pounds - absolute bargain - couldn't make them up myself for less and they look like a decent choice of simple planting that I like.

my bargain buy

We have been here about six weeks now and my poor old (house) orchids have just got sadder and sadder.  The only windowsill they could go on and be seen and not block a view is the bay window in the sitting room, that would be fine except it is south facing and they are absolutely hating it.  In Bury they lived between an east facing pair of windowsills and a west facing pair of windowsills depending on whether they were in flower or not and they have absolutely flourished, giving me a couple of blooming periods a year, each of them lasting months at a time.  We only have a couple of very tiny en-suite windowsills here that are east and west facing so not really ideal for a large orchid.  Since we moved it is clear to see they are dying inch by inch.  I am utterly useless at binning live plants - for me it is almost on a par with putting a live animal in the bin - untenable.  So a bit like ancient Inuit custom I am leaving them outside to die 'naturally'.  My theory is they may make it through the summer and even perk up and I will give them anther go indoors over winter if that's the case or they will succumb to Newtongrange not being in Florida.

farewell old friend

My smallish Buddha came with me and he is quite sweet when sitting surrounded by flowers. His manky block of wood which he sat on at home did not make the move so I got Ken to make him a tall 'bench' out of old decking board.  There are no absolute rules on how a Buddha should be placed unless you subscribe to Feng Shui and then (outdoors) he must be facing East.  Mine is facing SW as that is where I want him!  It is however required that he must sit on something, preferably natural material and be elevated.  He must not sit on the ground - very disrespectful - so I have got something right

bought with my daughter many years ago

I went on a salad seed hunt.  I wanted cut-and-come again lettuce and land cress - nothing so exotic was to be found. 

 What I did find was a bit of an experiment.... seed mats.  I did try them once, years ago, and got no where so I am interested to see if this one works.  Same price as a packet of seeds - £2.99 - and will do three sowings.  This is where the cynic appears - at a pound a pop I can buy ready done from Tesco.  The gardener in me smacks the cynic and I do know how satisfying it is to 'grow your own'.  

not really what I wanted

As there was no land cress I settled on watercress  I am not convinced it can be actual water cress as that needs to grow, unsurprisingly, in clean fresh running water.  We will see, it does need to be kept moist.  I love land cress it is firey and fast growing and lasts most of the year.  Hey ho.

water not land cress

Finally ye olde fashioned radish.  I went for straightforward no messing French Breakfast, though how those little babies will be able to push their way through the clay clods I have no idea.  Basically, I think I will have to dig out a space for them.

I started with a moan - I like to think of my moans as observations not moans - I might as well finish with one.

£2.99 for a packet of seeds!!!!!  I remember the days when they were sixpence from Woolworths.