Today / This week / Gardening
In approximate order of occurrence...
Now that's done, here's a catch-up:
On Monday, as you may or may not recall, I couldn't be bothered with anything and wanted to stay home. I went to work anyway, of course, and then booked Tuesday off, which turned out to be a great idea, because I had such a lovely time! Started the day in 7 Sisters, much grinning and smugness, then went to B&Q and bought gardening supplies, inc. compost, gravel, mulch, and plants. I found that plain terracotta pots don't cost as much as I feared, so I have three different sizes for £9 (I'm still interested in alternatives, but at least I could get started with those). I got a Hebe (what is it??), some Allium that I can't wait to see, and assorted mini pansies, croci, narcissi, and hyacinths. A man delivered all the above to my house, and I spent a bit of time making storage for them, before meeting Tom in Covent Garden for theatre fun - Emma was ill and couldn't go, so I let myself be persuaded. We had dinner at Rossopomodoro, which is where Gili Gulu used to be, and then saw The Woman In Black, which was brilliant. A lovely stroll across Waterloo Bridge made for a pleasant end to the evening. On Wednesday, I had tasty Japanese food with a very stressed Benjy, and saw Flash Gordon for the first time ever (unlike some such films I missed first time round, I quite enjoyed this one). Yesterday was when I finally got started with the gardening, aided and assisted by Col. We sorted out most of the front garden, I've only got one bed to put plants into now. And we used up 75L of compost!!
Cacti
Of the three dying cacti, I managed to break the first one trying to get its roots out of the old soil. I was much, much gentler with the other two, which I have repotted as per kweilo's advice. The taller tubular one looks like it might survive, but I'm not sure about the small round one.
Rose
The Blue Moon was freed of weeds and mulched. It's been getting quite gangly, so a good pruning come autumn, I think. But she looks ok - no more rust, hoorah! She has some black spot, but I'm removing as many leaves as I dare. She also got some feed. I do hope she's ok in her little container... I have to keep checking she doesn't have wet feet.
Amusingly, someone had dropped a peanut pod in her container, and it had actually sprouted! I've kept it to see what it grows into, and have also planted a few more peanuts we found. Most of the pods I checked had turned to dust, but I put the more viable-looking ones into a pot of their own.
Front Garden
I planted the Hebe in one container, and the rest was mostly bulbs - one container has a hyacinth and some croci, with three mini pansies to look nice while we wait for the bulbs. The largest pot has a giant Allium (it's called a Globemaster, yay!), some Starflowers (Ipheion uniflorum Rolf Fiedler - I bought them years ago, so have no idea whether they're still ok or not, and won't until spring), and some croci and pansies. The smaller of two beds has 10 allium, nigrum and caelureum respectively, plus narcissi and croci, I think. One of my neighbours brought over a chestnut in a pot and a mystery plant (it looks to me a little bit like a peony, but I'm probably wrong), as she runs out of space on her balcony. The Peanut Experiment is also there. It's looking pretty nice - a collection of containers by the bathroom window, aka the area that used to have a great big laurel-type bush that I didn't like and which we ripped out last year.
There's a larger bed by the fence, which is where I'll put the remaining 14 Allium plus all the rest. There's yet more space elsewhere, if I want it; it's all paved, so suitable for containers. I've picked up a few seeds to grow in spring.
The back garden is of course still a disaster area. I'll get there... and I've got most of a bag of mulch for it, so that next time I clear out the weeds, there's a chance they won't come straight back.
Right, it's high time I got going... so much to do, especially once I get home tonight!
- I have no idea why I'm up this early, but I woke up before 6:00, and I have Things To Do, so...
- We're moving offices again. We've just finished a six-week decant, and will now settle into our final destination on the ground floor. Civvies today then.
- Not sure what's happening tonight, but in any case, it'll be brief.
- That's because tomorrow morning I'm departing Marylebone on an 8:20 train to attend a family wedding in Southport. I'm then stopping off briefly in New Brighton, and will be back in London on Sunday around 15:00. I've had to search high and low for a viable way of doing this; going straight to Southport was both costly and involved many changes, so I've actually got tickets to Liverpool, with everything else being done on local fares. I do not understand, but I'm glad I know enough about the area to find this out.
- Over five hours on trains on two consecutive days. I'm sure there's a positive somewhere... uninterrupted me-time?
- On Sunday night, we're seeing Miss Behave at the Roundhouse, which I'm looking forward to immensely.
- After that, who knows? Apart from that I'm on cat duty, as Mr Sims is going to InFest. Come Tuesday, there will be a newly house-moved birthday boy, so really, whatever he wants to do.
- Oh yeah, not going to InFest. Have fun for me :-)
- I've finally been paid, hooray! Life can restart now.
Now that's done, here's a catch-up:
On Monday, as you may or may not recall, I couldn't be bothered with anything and wanted to stay home. I went to work anyway, of course, and then booked Tuesday off, which turned out to be a great idea, because I had such a lovely time! Started the day in 7 Sisters, much grinning and smugness, then went to B&Q and bought gardening supplies, inc. compost, gravel, mulch, and plants. I found that plain terracotta pots don't cost as much as I feared, so I have three different sizes for £9 (I'm still interested in alternatives, but at least I could get started with those). I got a Hebe (what is it??), some Allium that I can't wait to see, and assorted mini pansies, croci, narcissi, and hyacinths. A man delivered all the above to my house, and I spent a bit of time making storage for them, before meeting Tom in Covent Garden for theatre fun - Emma was ill and couldn't go, so I let myself be persuaded. We had dinner at Rossopomodoro, which is where Gili Gulu used to be, and then saw The Woman In Black, which was brilliant. A lovely stroll across Waterloo Bridge made for a pleasant end to the evening. On Wednesday, I had tasty Japanese food with a very stressed Benjy, and saw Flash Gordon for the first time ever (unlike some such films I missed first time round, I quite enjoyed this one). Yesterday was when I finally got started with the gardening, aided and assisted by Col. We sorted out most of the front garden, I've only got one bed to put plants into now. And we used up 75L of compost!!
Cacti
Of the three dying cacti, I managed to break the first one trying to get its roots out of the old soil. I was much, much gentler with the other two, which I have repotted as per kweilo's advice. The taller tubular one looks like it might survive, but I'm not sure about the small round one.
Rose
The Blue Moon was freed of weeds and mulched. It's been getting quite gangly, so a good pruning come autumn, I think. But she looks ok - no more rust, hoorah! She has some black spot, but I'm removing as many leaves as I dare. She also got some feed. I do hope she's ok in her little container... I have to keep checking she doesn't have wet feet.
Amusingly, someone had dropped a peanut pod in her container, and it had actually sprouted! I've kept it to see what it grows into, and have also planted a few more peanuts we found. Most of the pods I checked had turned to dust, but I put the more viable-looking ones into a pot of their own.
Front Garden
I planted the Hebe in one container, and the rest was mostly bulbs - one container has a hyacinth and some croci, with three mini pansies to look nice while we wait for the bulbs. The largest pot has a giant Allium (it's called a Globemaster, yay!), some Starflowers (Ipheion uniflorum Rolf Fiedler - I bought them years ago, so have no idea whether they're still ok or not, and won't until spring), and some croci and pansies. The smaller of two beds has 10 allium, nigrum and caelureum respectively, plus narcissi and croci, I think. One of my neighbours brought over a chestnut in a pot and a mystery plant (it looks to me a little bit like a peony, but I'm probably wrong), as she runs out of space on her balcony. The Peanut Experiment is also there. It's looking pretty nice - a collection of containers by the bathroom window, aka the area that used to have a great big laurel-type bush that I didn't like and which we ripped out last year.
There's a larger bed by the fence, which is where I'll put the remaining 14 Allium plus all the rest. There's yet more space elsewhere, if I want it; it's all paved, so suitable for containers. I've picked up a few seeds to grow in spring.
The back garden is of course still a disaster area. I'll get there... and I've got most of a bag of mulch for it, so that next time I clear out the weeds, there's a chance they won't come straight back.
Right, it's high time I got going... so much to do, especially once I get home tonight!