jo4eyes

Has anyone got any snow yet?

Sort of sleeted earlier in WManchester. Nothing stuck & it's stopped now.

Daughter says similar light sleet/snow in Bury area.

Temperature dropping, only just above freezing out there at the mo. J.

Composting in excavation

If you can layer the waste with soil then the waste will rot down more quickly & in a short while be ok to plant into.

Even in the colder UK doing a bean trench- similar principle of layers of vegetable waste & soil- works after say 3 months. I start mine in late Feb, March & by the time it's warm enough to plant out small bean plants in late May, for me, most of the waste has composted. It's an excellent way of gradually improving the quality of previously un-used or impoverished soil. J.

What we are doing this week

No gardening done today, but I did prune the fruit bushes yesterday & weed around them. Once weather allows shall feed them & mulch before doing battle with my homemade fruitcage- pea netting over tall topped canes.The bullfinches are already around.

I also brushed down & sorted through all my dirty/old pots. They now need putting away from greenhouse staging into the boxes beneath. The shed will now be easier to sort out as the pots were all thrown into a collection of boxes/rubber trugs just by the door! J.

Fork Handles

OK Becks- just like OH & me then!! which is why I took myself to college in the first place.

Geoff, trouble is I dont need nor want to learn. It doesnt really interest me. I can deal with most things that am likely to need on a pc. Ok I agree the photo issue is bugging me, but have actually found my camera under the 'stuff' dumped on the spare bed! So I could surprise everyone & myself, you never know......

Daughter's meal in remoska & am about to do myself some soup & crusty bread. J.

Fork Handles

Nothing sticking down here yet Gyn. OH has got back to NEast Derbyshire with no problem. At least he's the right side of Pennines for work, but may walk he thinks.. as could be easier than trying to get the car cleared & up the steep hill near the factory.

Geoff- I know am a duffer, but wont be the only one. Becks could do helpline stuff for people such as me! J.

Fork Handles

There you are Becks- new career in PC speak/selling maybe? One very confused from M/C here!

Amid much agro between OH & me I managed to 'buy' what I wanted from Amazon. Giftcard registered & still got £ to use....

Last bit of today's hoovering to be done. Rest will be done tomorrow.

It looks as if it's trying to 'sleet' a biot out there.. J.

Fork Handles

Bjay, dont over- water/soak the orchid. I killed one with over watering.

I water our 3, well 1 is daughter's, with tepid, soft water (what we have here anyway), only about 1X a week in winter & barely 2X in summer.

Pot in orchid compost, into a clear pot if got, no panic if not. Dont over pot either. The roots do try to escape, it's what they do, so accept some'll be outside the top of pot. If using new compost I wouldnt feed yet. Bright, not hot sill & wait!

Cut back any old flowering stems down to a node & after a couple of weeks or so you should see signs of new growth from one of the lower nodes. That'll be the next flowering stem. Well that's what I do. I do sometimes feed them when the stems are well in bud, but sometimes being the way with houseplants around here.

Right, OH wants me to sort out my Amazon/kindle things- I may be gone some time. J.

Fork Handles

Aw Pam, that's not nice. I grew up opposite a farm & the foxes were a real pain!

OH has just presented me with a cuppa & a piece of lemon drizzle cake... that's my treat for today!

The grenhouse does look quite good, even if I say so myself. It didnt rain after all overnight afterwards, but cant help that. The staging is now covered with brushed out plastic & terracotta pots. They need storing away next. I rarely wash any out, unless signs of a bad 'bug' infestation. I also did the winter fruit bush prune & some weeding beneath them. Shall feed & mulch them sometime soon.

Need to hoover today as daughter starts nights again tomorrow- last lot ever apparently- so the rest of this week will have to be quiet!

We're having plaice done someway for lunch before OH goes back. Must fine some vegs soon. Not sure what daughter will get for her meal this evening, think shall raid the freeezer.J.

Fork Handles

Morning all.

Wasnt around yesterday, as after shopping- how much?!! -spent the rest of the time outside, well wrapped up & doing lots! Too shattered to even turn pc on afterwards.

My Dad's paperwork is still to be finally sorted. Non urgent stuff for me, daughter has all of that & has/is dealing with. Once daughter actually moves out....yay, shall have space to move things around to actually do my sort out. Trouble is it'll coincide with seed sowing etc etc, so can just see it all still sitting there... & as for ours.

Glorious sunshine out there, but well below freezing first thing. Daughter scraping car for ages before she could leave for work. OH is going back over the tops today! No point in risking a journey first thing tomorrow morning when he doesnt need to. J.

What's the weather like in your area?

West of Manchester- bright sunshine today, with a hard frost out there. Just getting above freezing as I type.

Better than yesterday, which was dry but not really sunny. Still managed to spend most of the afternoon 'doing things' out there though. J.

Care & maintenance of elderly Bramley apple trees.

Suggestions for planting in a sunny, boggy site.