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Post by grindle on May 24, 2024 2:43:07 GMT
only had time in the afternoon to put up my tomato greenhouse and finally plant out tomatoes
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Post by balc2 on May 24, 2024 20:56:42 GMT
I spent 2 1/2 hours on the balcony this afternoon - the longest I've been out this year! I took out the Primroses & put them in plastic pots of similar size to the terracotta ones they have been in for some months. Then I planted the Petunias (all blue) in the terracotta pots & put them in the rings on the balcony railings. I prefer these pots as the pots on the railings can get very hot in summer. Terracotta pots perspire so cooling the soil in the pots.
I had 2 terracotta pots with Cyclamen still in them; one had died down, the other was still very much growing! So I took them out & planted the dormant one in a small pot while the growing one I put in a plastic pot of similar size. I then put Petunias in these pots s well. Now I think there are 10 or 11 pots on the railings! I still have a couple or 3 Petunias left but I put them in one of the 3 small troughs on the balcony railings in which I had planted Carnations.
My wife loves Carnations & says they remind her very much of her country, Spain. They grow very well in Spain as do Geraniums. I haven't grown a lot of them for nearly 20 years. I used to have lots of pots on the balcony railings full of Carnations. But I did manage to keep a beautiful red florist's Carnation alive, through taking cuttings, for many years. Eventually the last cutting died & I had no replacements for it!
I'll see about uploading some photos, perhaps tomorrow.
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Post by grindle on May 25, 2024 3:16:21 GMT
did a bit of weeding in a small bed at the front, then decided to get my bedding plants before the weekend rush at the Plant warehouse, hopefully I now have enough for the pots and the small bed, a friend came for a cuppa in the afternoon so the only garden work was talking about it
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Post by jellibeans on May 25, 2024 6:58:14 GMT
Nothing for the last couple of days as we had other things on but hopefully I'll out there today and continue planting out .....after the dreaded grocery shop has been done
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Post by balc2 on May 25, 2024 20:22:12 GMT
I finished putting up the last third of the strings on the balcony this morning. Took me half an hour or so. Now that's one more item ticked off the to do list! 👌
Now the mini green house needs to be taken down & put away till around October. The same with the balcony table. Not really sure what to do about the shelving unit. It's such a hassle to take down & put up. I've been inclined to leave it where it is but on the other hand it will probably look out of place after removing the table. If I had been growing tomatoes like other years there would be no question about taking it down as it's in the place they would normally go.
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Post by grindle on May 26, 2024 1:38:31 GMT
potted on most of the plug plants with just 12 to go there were a few casualties but not as many as I thought so I should have quite a few to donate to St Lukes Hospice village open day on 30th June. Madly trying to get the garden up to scratch, planted up the small border by the front path and the containers by front door before it rained
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Post by Cherry on May 26, 2024 10:02:27 GMT
balc2 treat the loss of the carnation as an opportunity to replace with something even more beautiful. However, they are all lovely and the perfume is gorgeous. I like the blue petunias because these are usually the scented ones.
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Post by Andrew on May 26, 2024 11:09:56 GMT
Yesterday I planted out my beans, and then cut the lawn.
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Post by jellibeans on May 26, 2024 17:06:11 GMT
Despite having a lovely sunny day we have had a pretty breezy one as well. Finding some of our 'pokers' in a battered state made me decide to stake some potentiality vulnerable plants this afternoon. Better to safe than sorry.
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Post by balc2 on May 26, 2024 20:40:54 GMT
Nothing today but I hope to do something tomorrow. Looking at the mini greenhouse & the shelving unit I have had another idea as to what to do with them! I'm still taking the table down, sometime this coming week, but not on Bank Holiday Monday, I hope to go to a garden centre for some Lobelias for my hanging baskets & perhaps a couple, or 3, Pelargoniums.
What I may do now is to put the shelving unit alongside the mini-GH & not take either of them down! Not having tomatoes there this year, for the first time in 20 years, means there will be more space. You may wonder why we don't sit outside on the balcony? Well, being as it faces south-west it gets all the sunlight going from about 10 or 11am till the sun goes down. So it becomes very hot in the sunshine & the light is extremely bright. Besides my wife can't stand sunlight any longer since she had her cataracts removed a few years ago. She also has glaucoma& lots of big floaters in her eyes making it difficult for her to see. The bright light hurts her eyes & makes the floaters much more visible. So indoors we have to have the curtains drawn when it is bright outside & she has to wear sunglasses a lot, especially in our kitchen, where the light is always very bright.
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Post by grindle on May 27, 2024 3:18:57 GMT
just had time to cut back some wayward branches of cotinus in the front garden and bag it up, probably not the best time of year to do it but I didn't get the opportunity earlier in the year. Potted on the last of my plug plants in the greenhouse
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Post by Andrew on May 27, 2024 15:19:02 GMT
Tidied the shed this morning, then planted a few perennials out this afternoon.
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Post by geumgrower on May 27, 2024 16:31:41 GMT
Weeded, watered, wandered.
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Post by grindle on May 28, 2024 1:42:31 GMT
visited the town Flower Festival in the morning watered in the greenhouse
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Post by balc2 on May 28, 2024 5:18:29 GMT
balc2 treat the loss of the carnation as an opportunity to replace with something even more beautiful. However, they are all lovely and the perfume is gorgeous. I like the blue petunias because these are usually the scented ones. The last Carnation died years ago! I obviously replaced it with something else as there are very few permanent plants on the balcony. But there are some that are semi-permanent like Geraniums and Pelargoniums or Fuchsias. These are renewed every year from cuttings so I never lose them. Most of my plants are annuals, or bedding plants as there is no room for plants that flower for only a few weeks. I plant bulbs and corms and tubers but grow few plants from seed as I don't have the space to grow them for months till they flower. I certainly never grew tender or semi-tender plants for summer display on the balcony. I do grow a few annuals from seed like Morning Glory, some years Sweet Peas or Nasturtiums. I sometimes grow Sweet Williams or Carnations from seed as well but these are more an exception than a rule.
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