Garden And Gossip Forums

Nothing agricultural, but I did make 144 mince pies, I must be mad.

Just been on  a long walki n the countryside with Kato. Although it was bitterly cpld last night and well below freezing today,with the sun shining and the covering of snow everything was so pictureque.
Part of the joy was the crunching underfoot. Kato was in his element and didn't want to come home.

One thing I have noticed is that with fertilizer costs so high, many of the farms round about are now spreading cow muck on the land to keep cost down. They are reverting to semi-organic methods which can only be good for everyone.

The tractors and trailers of muck were out in force this morning sometimes transporting and dumping it on fields 3 or 4 miles away from farm.

I read this article about pet friendly lawn feed https://www.relentlessgardener.co.uk/is-...pets-kids/

Cold but sunny morning so I retreated into GH2 and cleared out the remaining tomato plants. Then I tied the mangetout peas to the vacated canes. Plenty of growth on these but, wherever they'd touched the glass the tips had died. Ground level plants - mainly salad leaves - are still fine and pickable.
Weather permitting, I'll be clearing GH1 tomorrow.

As I'd hoped, the weather was warm enough (in the GH) to clear the remaining tomato plants. Most the tomatoes had become squishy in the cold and fell of the plants as I touched them. Fortunately, my 3 furry tomato hounds were still happy to snaffle them up where they landed.
Did a bit of Ivy hacking and nettle pulling in the old chicken run.
The chicken's water feeder has been frozen all day. As soon as I added hot water it seemed to freeze over again so, to save myself countless trips back and forth to the kitchen I've left a thermos of boiling water in the run. Hope it will still be hot in the morning.

Cut the tops off the Vietnamese Coriander and put them in water to root. The parent plant seems to have suffered in the cold in the GH so I'm trying to rescue a bit before it keels over.

Planted out a load of bulbs (albums and tulips) that I was given on Christmas Eve and had a gentle tidy of the Rose Bank.

Sowed some Radish in GH1.
Planted some spring onions from a free bunch. They've been rooting in a jug of water and Today is the day they feel soil under their toes. Stuck them in a bucket in GH1. The plan is to trim them regularly, leaving the roots and bottom inch of stalk in the soil. Hopefully these will regrow.

Repotted 3 orchids. Probably not the best time as they all had flower buds on and one was flowering, ithas been flowering now for a few years. They all had quite a lot of rotting roots which I trimmed back and used some fresh compost.

Off trout fishing today for the last time this year. Must be mad. 

Forecast is for freezing temperatures and rain all day. Got some new flies for Christmas that I am itching to try out.

 Should be 'interesting' I wonder how long I will percevere at the waters edge? 

Tight lines!