Purple wellies tiny steps - clear as mud!

Moonlight
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Purple wellies tiny steps - clear as mud! Jul 29, 2014 9:24:02 GMT

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Post by Moonlight on Jul 29, 2014 9:24:02 GMT

Dad's been round.

Head well phew... sigh overwhelmed.

He doesn't rate Clearview Audrey and if his is the same (mines still ahead of his) then he won't be bothering with it next year. He was the same with Clearview Louise... and some of the other Clearviews.
Hay Hoe.

He is still adamant that my Eastwood Star will come out as an Eastwood Moonlight as it has the same slight yellow in the body of the branches (which initially when it first came out, some people refused to grow it because they said that it was virused but it is a natural trait of the variety).

He took 1 look at Fairy's Hillcrest Hannah and said that it needed tieing up, Pirate 'helped' her to tie it up - i.e. directed Fairy while Grandad was looking at my other dahlias. Fairy cried so Dad started explaining it to her and it was tied.

He took 1 look at Pirate's Amber Festival and said to me in a low voice that he didn't like the look of it and that if she wants to grow it next year we'll get her some different better stock.

Then he spotted the start of chrysalis forming on it and that was removed but Pirate saw it and told Fairy that she had nearly had a butterfly...

When I talked to him about 2 of my Moonlight seedlings that look poorly, he said that they were probably being attacked by capsid bug or something else and that they needed spraying.

He thinks that 1 of my Sir Alf plants is a pom (if it is let's hope that it is a good one

What else, he doesn't think that my Fred 7 is good enough (but I knew he would say that because I secretly think that to)(but then I still like it because it is my 1st and it is an Eastwood Moonlight seedling).

He went threw my giants did some more disbudding which if he had just said I had kinda grasped in my head where as with my Clearview Audrey, I still don't get or my Moonlights (Eastwood Moonlight is always Moonlight in our family). So I'm stressed there. Quite a lot stressed there still.

He likes Ryecroft Zoe and I think he likes Tisa but I can 'get away with disbudding it lightly...'.

Thing is with my Dad is he's right.

So in summery:
1 I need to spray them
2 I need to disbud - in variying quantities
3 More weeding - Pirate.

Moonlight Top Member Posts: 4,922	Purple wellies tiny steps - clear as mud! Jul 29, 2014 9:25:32 GMT Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Moonlight on Jul 29, 2014 9:25:32 GMT We also both believe that Fred 14 is going to be a purple + Dad thinks it will be a ball dahlia.

Moonlight
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Purple wellies tiny steps - clear as mud! Jul 29, 2014 10:51:41 GMT

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Post by Moonlight on Jul 29, 2014 10:51:41 GMT

Grandad and the girls went off shopping and returned a while ago.
Me being me, asked him to look at my Audrey, he said that the dusty substance won't affect the flower and is some sort fungus and to be aware that weeds like Sour Thistle because he thinks that they are carriers.

More food for thought.

Good news though, he said that what I had done was fine :)but I could do a few on my Nulands Josephine to help it reach the large pom size rather than be regular pom small size but it is one of those we won't know until we grow it, as it is a new variety for us both.

So I'm feeling a lot

.

Mental note to self - don't forget the ladybirds...

Moonlight Top Member Posts: 4,922	Purple wellies tiny steps - clear as mud! Jul 29, 2014 12:24:08 GMT Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Moonlight on Jul 29, 2014 12:24:08 GMT My seedlings this morning. Lots of buds and no disbudding! This is Fred 14 that we think will be a purple ball dahlia.

Moonlight
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Purple wellies tiny steps - clear as mud! Jul 29, 2014 12:48:56 GMT

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Post by Moonlight on Jul 29, 2014 12:48:56 GMT

Where as Fred 16 isn't going to be purple...

Both 14 and 16 are Red Balloon small ball seedlings.

Dad has told me not to expect that any of my seedlings are going to be anything like their Mum - (my phraseology = Mum) so I'm not but I still think that it is interesting. Hence I put the Red Balloon plant deliberately behind them. Later on I might move it if I decided that Red Balloon is a rubbish bloom, it was very difficult to see because it was swallowed up by my mutant Mary's Jomanda and Jomanda. n.b. Don't tell it but I might not decide to grow it next year

but then again...

I didn't do that fab a job of doing that to my Happy Halloweens

which I left in their pots...
Happy Halloween? What Happy Halloweens?

Moonlight
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Purple wellies tiny steps - clear as mud! Jul 29, 2014 14:09:43 GMT

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Post by Moonlight on Jul 29, 2014 14:09:43 GMT

So here is my problem.
About a week ago while we were watering the sunflowers, we jumped when a frog (He looked a lot less bumpy than toads that I have seen) jumped and the frog (/toad) jumped because he had been spotted by Pirate.
Frog jumped behind the sunflowers and amongst the bramble (that had managed to break through protective weedbarrier and the gravel covering it.).
Making nion impossible to get him / her out without stressing us all out. So we left him alone and I am hoping that he will be ok and find a way out like he managed to find his way in. I don't shut the greenhouse door at all now or maybe he got through a broken pane of glass. Either way we left him alone and went up for dinner.

So I haven't put any slug pellets down since.
Now Pirate has been working towards her Wildlife Explorer badge and she has been wandering around the garden with her clip board and pencil + camera spotting all the different nooks and crannies for all of natures secrets.
Which is great but it also puts me into a dilema.
Yesterday Fairy spotted a ladybird - cue much excitement on a dahlia leaf and another has been spotted today which leaves me with a dilema. My dahlias need spraying but if I do spray, then it means I kill the Ladybirds food but also I'm highly likely to kill ladybirds.
So I'm teaching the children to love and respect the wildlife in the garden and yet I am about to kill it.

I put down my lovely dark well rotted manure teaming with worms but I haven't put any slug pelits on it because I'm guessing that what ever kills a slug is going to kill a worm. We have a family of 5 blackbirds having a great time wolfing down those poor worms. Last year I came home from work to discover that my Dad had put down some manure with straw on it to make paths between the dahlia beds but I can't do that myself because by doing so, I'm going to be marching onto of loads of worms with each step. Pirate didn't want to carry on marching on the manure along the cabin when she realised that she was about to stamp on a worm and to be honest I didn't want her to either.

So what do I do? Pirates' dahlia has been attacked by a caterpillar, Fred 4 and Fred 5 have been attacked by capsid bugs and now I've spotted blackflies landing on my Fred 7. It has been nice today, a lot cooler and everything is still a bit damp but then if I spray on the wet then my understanding it is less effective. I don't want to put more slug pellets down but then spotted a massive slug along the greenhouse which is where my Downham Royal and Weston Pirate dahlias are. Luckily for Mr. Slug it was me who had spotted him, had it been my Dad he would have been squashed straight away but with me, he just went for a flight into some bushes away from the dahlias.

Oh I don't know. I try my best. Damned if I do, damned if I don't and I don't have a lot of time left to do it.

Moonlight
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Purple wellies tiny steps - clear as mud! Jul 29, 2014 21:47:47 GMT

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Post by Moonlight on Jul 29, 2014 21:47:47 GMT

I've sprayed my seedlings and the corner and some random squirts on nibbled leaves, I had to stop because it is too dark. Put some slug pellets down everywhere except the new manured beds. All a bit random by then as it was dark dark by then.

Moonlight Top Member Posts: 4,922	Purple wellies tiny steps - clear as mud! Jul 29, 2014 23:12:43 GMT Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Moonlight on Jul 29, 2014 23:12:43 GMT I'm up to page 14, the start of April and the build up to our local town Spring show... Happy Memories.

Moonlight
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Purple wellies tiny steps - clear as mud! Jul 30, 2014 0:08:42 GMT

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Post by Moonlight on Jul 30, 2014 0:08:42 GMT

Jul 29, 2014 21:47:47 GMT Moonlight said:

I've sprayed my seedlings and the corner and some random squirts on nibbled leaves, I had to stop because it is too dark. Put some slug pellets down everywhere except the new manured beds. All a bit random by then as it was dark dark by then.

Oh and tomorrow I'm planning on Vaselining my bloom stems which is something my Dad hasn't done before. We'll see but I am concerned about how near the bud to go, I'm worried that I might end up spoiling the blooms for example on my giants by putting it too close to the bud.

I've got to go see the Doctor tomorrow re. high blood pressure and HH was talking about it to the girls, don't stress Mummy out before the appointment, I think it was Fairy who suggested I think of Dahlias to de-stress, HH took one look at me and said 'er, no best not... better to avoid that one entirely' (or words to that effect).

He's right - we both know that.

Moonlight
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Purple wellies tiny steps - clear as mud! Jul 30, 2014 6:43:00 GMT

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Post by Moonlight on Jul 30, 2014 6:43:00 GMT

page 16 done onto page 17

When HH came down stairs on route to work, he came and said: "I thought that you'd been down the garden." No, I've got to do this. Quicker it's done the better. I've started so I'll finish just maybe not the rest of the whole thing today.

Moonlight
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Purple wellies tiny steps - clear as mud! Jul 30, 2014 6:59:26 GMT

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Post by Moonlight on Jul 30, 2014 6:59:26 GMT

Jul 30, 2014 6:43:00 GMT Moonlight said:

page 16 done onto page 17

When HH came down stairs on route to work, he came and said: "I thought that you'd been down the garden." No, I've got to do this. Quicker it's done the better. I've started so I'll finish just maybe not the rest of the whole thing today.

Last page with attached images is page 32, so that's only so I'm over half way

trying to drum up some enthusiasm to keep going. Just hoping that there are some pages with no images at all.

Sorry for being boring necessary evil but I'm going to take time out now and go look at my seedlings, I think I deserve a break.

Moonlight
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Purple wellies tiny steps - clear as mud! Jul 30, 2014 7:06:54 GMT

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Post by Moonlight on Jul 30, 2014 7:06:54 GMT

Jul 30, 2014 6:59:26 GMT Moonlight said:

Jul 30, 2014 6:43:00 GMT Moonlight said:

page 16 done onto page 17

When HH came down stairs on route to work, he came and said: "I thought that you'd been down the garden." No, I've got to do this. Quicker it's done the better. I've started so I'll finish just maybe not the rest of the whole thing today.

Last page with attached images is page 32, so that's only so I'm over half way

trying to drum up some enthusiasm to keep going. Just hoping that there are some pages with no images at all.

Sorry for being boring necessary evil but I'm going to take time out now and go look at my seedlings, I think I deserve a break.

No such luck images on every page between 17 - 32. That's it I'm off.

sweetpea
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Purple wellies tiny steps - clear as mud! Jul 30, 2014 9:29:14 GMT Moonlight likes this

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Post by sweetpea on Jul 30, 2014 9:29:14 GMT

Jul 30, 2014 7:06:54 GMT Moonlight said:

Jul 30, 2014 6:59:26 GMT Moonlight said:

Last page with attached images is page 32, so that's only so I'm over half way

trying to drum up some enthusiasm to keep going. Just hoping that there are some pages with no images at all.

Sorry for being boring necessary evil but I'm going to take time out now and go look at my seedlings, I think I deserve a break.

No such luck images on every page between 17 - 32. That's it I'm off.

To de stress no doubt

Someone once said that gardening was a relaxing hobby. The misguided fool

i used to get quite stressed as I was away days, sometimes weeks at a time with my work as an HGV driver and I would get a bit stressed especially near a show worrying if my plants were ok but over the years i learned to relax and not to be over concerned. usually things tend to be ok and the worry is over nothing. Occasionally something like a really bad storm can interfere especially if you are not around to cope but getting stressed never helps. Chill out as they say.

I'll get around to it eventually

Moonlight Top Member Posts: 4,922	Purple wellies tiny steps - clear as mud! Jul 30, 2014 10:38:24 GMT Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Moonlight on Jul 30, 2014 10:38:24 GMT As always sweetpea you speak with the calming voice of experience. Thank you my Friend. Hope you are doing good yourself.

sweetpea
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Purple wellies tiny steps - clear as mud! Jul 30, 2014 16:56:13 GMT Moonlight likes this

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Post by sweetpea on Jul 30, 2014 16:56:13 GMT

Jul 30, 2014 10:38:24 GMT Moonlight said:

As always sweetpea you speak with the calming voice of experience. Thank you my Friend.

Hope you are doing good yourself.

Could be better but as the grandchildren are here for a visit I'm doing taxi service to the beach etc. so not getting my gardening work done. I tend to forget how exhausting children can be

I'll get around to it eventually