Got some friends staying 

   

And look at the beautiful gift they keep leaving me

   

  

I plan to make a success of sweet peppers next year.  I think I've failed in the past. Because the plants were always overshadowed in the greenhouse by tomatoes.  So my question is:

What variety of sweet peppers have you had success with under cover.   I'm fond of the orange ones in the shops as I think they're sweeter.  I have a pkt of freebie seeds Etiuda Orange which I will give a try.  Has anyone else tried them?

Can I overwinter geraniums without a greenhouse?

Why do some varieties get called F1 on some seed suppliers but no F1 mention on others?  Can I check anywhere please?

I grew Rosella tomatoes this year from Premier and they are lush.  Performed well, taste gorgeous, thin skin but not as prone to splitting as black cherry or black opal. I am saving seeds to share on here, but need to clarify if they are F1 or not. 

https://www.premierseedsdirect.com/produ...y-rosella/


https://www.seedaholic.com/tomato-f1-rosella.html

Any advice please? This tomatoes really impressed me, so I would love to share them.

Sutt0ns "New for 2020" seeds are being advertised online. This is a company with a penchant for giving grand new names to quite ordinary seeds sold far more cheaply elsewhere. 

As an example, they're selling "Garlic Kale" - 200 seeds for £2.99. In small print, it says these are Texsel Greens. 
Joy Larkcom mentions these often in her books so I've known about them for many years .

DTBrown's Catalogue has just arrived - they sell "Amara" Ethiopian Kale "quick and easy to grow Texsel greens"  500 seeds £2.49.

Even cheaper - Seedaholic 370 seeds  £1.10. https://www.seedaholic.com/texsel-greens.html

..................
Sutton's at their best want you to forage for wild plants in a pot. 
https://www.suttons.co.uk/Gardening/Vege...167976.htm
Only £3.99 to grow a pot of weeds.

Each day, for the next 26 days, we're going to play I-Spy and find plants in our gardens/countryside, starting with that letter - photos especially welcome. 

If you can't find a plant, find something else - be inventive.

Tomorrow's letter is A

To make it more challenging, Points will be allocated for each item and we'll keep a running total to see who finds the most. For example, Turnips, Teasels and Tarragon would score 3 points. If they were on a Table it would be 4 points.

Obviously people have seen my post about my beloved Stella

Mrs B had an arranged work call this morning about if she'd been made redundant or not, turns out she has. Folks, this is good news and what she wanted therefore I'm putting it down to Stella having a word with the big man !!!

RIP my beautiful baby Stella, I will always love you.
 
We had to make the hard, but right decision today, obviously it doesn’t make it any easier!

This is supposed to be British Komodo dragon. I’m guessing it’s not as they’re not orange and this definitely is.

     

   

It’ll be interesting testing this one !

   

   

Here is a question for everyone which has got me pondering more after the recent thread regarding having £1k to spend on the garden. 
Here is an aerial picture of my veg patch area and a rough plan with approx measurements to our boundaries instead of the hedges currently. We have a small apple tree in situ roughly where the scribble is. There are also some soft fruit bushes and an edged bed in the area but these are moveable. 

I'm after peoples thoughts regarding a few things. The south and west boundaries are leylandii hedges which our previous house owners have let get overgrown, we are keeping them at their current size as best we can but at approx 8-10' high and 5-7' thick they need to go. 
I'm wondering whether to replace the south boundary with a low ish (4-5') hedge or fence (our neighbours say they're happy with anything different and are willing to help with cost). I'm thinking with the west hedge to do a fence to keep veg patch separate from the lawn beyond and on the west side grow cordon fruit trees. I cant decide where to put the break in the fence, either by the shed corner or in the middle where the hole through the hedge currently is.

Next in the grand plan is probably some extra beds, I may get rid of the edged bed in the middle and make several smaller ones in a potager style arrangement. 
All thoughts and suggestions greatly taken. 

PS we know the ground under the hedge is going to need lots of organic matter to rejuvenate it. Also we have at another boundary approx 150' of mixed deciduous mainly hawthorn hedge which we majorly replanted a few years ago to make it stock proof again, so I may be looking at something different for this area for more diversity.