|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Aug 2, 2012 22:09:41 GMT
I have got back home from my daughter,Heathers in Wales this evening .I think I showed you a picture of the baskets and other containers I had planted for her in June.I am going to show you pictures of them I took yesterday.
|
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Aug 2, 2012 22:12:40 GMT
 Heathers baskets and window box |
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Aug 2, 2012 22:14:56 GMT
 Heathers window box |
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Aug 2, 2012 22:17:47 GMT
 Tubs in Heathers back garden |
|
|
|
Post by Cherry on Aug 3, 2012 7:57:32 GMT
They look established now and are beautifully laid out.
|
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Aug 3, 2012 22:16:54 GMT
Today I have spent most of the day getting exhibits ready for my first show of the season which is at Knowsley (Merseyside).The show is on Sunday but I have to take my exhibits tomorrow afternoon.Because most things are running late I won't have as much to show as usual but I will put in what I can.
|
|
|
|
Post by Tel on Aug 4, 2012 6:17:29 GMT
Good luck Derek with whatever you manage to get to the show.  |
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Aug 4, 2012 21:49:45 GMT
Thanks Tel.Last year I put 50 exhibits in but only 35 today.Not many dahlias yet.I have put a vase in of 3 Taratahi Ruby and one of 2 Jomanda and a L'ancresse.Also a 2 vase class with one in each vase.Another person (dont know his name) had quite a lot.
I'll tell you tomorrow how I went on.
|
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Aug 5, 2012 21:30:31 GMT
I said yesterday that I would tell you how I went on at Knowsley show.Well,it was an absolute disaster  .We set off at 1.30. When I went staging yesterday I got a bit lost because I came off the M62 at the wrong junction.Today I thought I knew where I had gone wrong yesterday but I got lost again.I have been to this show before and found it first time.Rosemary was with me today and she was grumbling all the time and wishing she had stayed at home.We finally arrived about 3.30 and the man on the gate said that the show had been cancelled due to flooding and he wouldn,t let me take my car in.He said we could walk in but I had to park my car in a side street.It is a very large park,being the National Wild Flower Centre so we had a long walk to the flower tent.Thankfully it had stopped raining by this time.When we got there we were told that the water had been nearly a foot deep in the tent and the police had sent the people home.The water had gone by now so we could go in .Nearly all the exhibits had gone apart from mine so I just got all my plants together and the veg I wanted to keep.My flowers were still in the vases because they were mine.This is the only show I go to where you have to take your own vases.I had to empty them and put them in a bag. But then it started pouring down again and the water was coming in the tent again so we were stuck there for half an hour or so until it slackened and I was allowed to go for the car.I ran nearly all the way there.!and we loaded up and came home.I did get my prize money.At most shows the prize money is all together in one envelope but here it is in seperate envelopes for each class and it was only by looking at these that I knew which classes I had won prizes in.For Tel's information I got second with Taratahi ruby and third in the min.balls. It is not just a flower show.There were several other events going on and a lot of stalls with people selling plants so all these had to pack up and go home so I feel sorry for them too We were so fed up that we called for a nice meal on the way home to cheer us up. |
|
|
|
Post by SueA on Aug 6, 2012 9:15:17 GMT
That's a shame Derek, it must have been the terrific storm which landed on us here later in the day. We've been to the National Wildflower Centre a few times, you must have got well & truly lost to have taken 2 hours to find it, it must have been really depressing to get there in the end & find it was cancelled after all the hard work put in by everyone.
|
|
|
|
Post by grindle on Aug 6, 2012 11:05:14 GMT
that's such a shame about the weather Derek, I bet there were a lot of disappointed people |
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Aug 6, 2012 21:24:26 GMT
Didn,t do much gardening today.Thought it was too wet to go on the allotment which is what I wanted so I did some garden related errands instead.
Went to a trophy shop to get 2 trophies for the children's classes at our show.The child with most points in each of 2 age groups gets one.Went to a local garden centre for a vouchure they had promised me to give as a prize at the show.
Also went to "Country baskets",a local wholesale warehouse for some florist's foam. Got 2 boxes of 20 bricks which is enough to last me all season.I had just enough left from last year for Knowsley show yesterday.
When I came home I took some streptocarpus leaf cuttings from all the 10 varieties that I have.
|
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Aug 7, 2012 21:58:33 GMT
This afternoon I harvested some salad potatoes that I had grown in bags and washed them
It had been drizzling on and off all day but this evening was quite nice.I had been held up with jobs on the allotment a lot recently because of the weather so I decided to go on and not go to the veg meeting.
Started by going through the leeks .I removed each collar in turn and tidied them up by removing broken flags . I then measured them all and wrote the figures down.This will help when I want some for a show .I will know which ones are matching for size without having to remove all the collars again.When putting the collars back I turned them round.They are rectangular,about 18 inches by 12 inches made of builders damp proof material so I can have them which way I want.They were 12 inches tall before and now they are 18 inches which is the final height.Two of the leeks had gone to "mush" .I have never had this before. A few had also split
I then tied up the broad beans and spent the rest of the time pulling up large weeds before they seed.
|
|
|
|
Post by Tel on Aug 8, 2012 18:39:23 GMT
 Sorry to hear about your show been flooded out Derek.
|
|
|
|
Post by Cherry on Aug 8, 2012 21:00:03 GMT
I think getting lost to start with was some sort of omen Derek. You did win some prizes so all was not lost.
|
|
.We set off at 1.30. When I went staging yesterday I got a bit lost because I came off the M62 at the wrong junction.Today I thought I knew where I had gone wrong yesterday but I got lost again.I have been to this show before and found it first time.Rosemary was with me today and she was grumbling all the time and wishing she had stayed at home.We finally arrived about 3.30 and the man on the gate said that the show had been cancelled due to flooding and he wouldn,t let me take my car in.He said we could walk in but I had to park my car in a side street.It is a very large park,being the National Wild Flower Centre so we had a long walk to the flower tent.Thankfully it had stopped raining by this time.When we got there we were told that the water had been nearly a foot deep in the tent and the police had sent the people home.The water had gone by now so we could go in .Nearly all the exhibits had gone apart from mine so I just got all my plants together and the veg I wanted to keep.My flowers were still in the vases because they were mine.This is the only show I go to where you have to take your own vases.I had to empty them and put them in a bag.
Sorry to hear about your show been flooded out Derek. 
