obelixx

Has spring arrived for you yet?

It hasn't.  Snow forecast for Tuesday after 2 days of heavy rain.  Joy.

recycling any ideas

We recycled wine bottles to make a retaining wall for our terrace.  Scroll half way down the photos to see a pic.  http://s211.beta.photobucket.com/user/Obelixx_be/library/05%20Obelixx%20garden?http%3A//s211.beta.photobucket.com/user/Obelixx_be/library/05%20Obelixx%20garden?#/user/Obelixx_be/library/05%20Obelixx%20garden?/user/Obelixx_be/library/05%20Obelixx%20garden&_suid=13634490696510746237292099927

Seeds are up

I have more chillies and tomatoes showing through and lupins, hollyhocks purple sprouting, summer savaoury, Christmas basil and sweet peas but no nemesias, echinacea alba or cream aconitums yet.

Do they usually take a long time?   Do they need bottom heat?

What's the weather like in your area?

More snow and jolly cold.  Fed up.

Restore and revive

If you go Mediterranean, don't forget lavenders for perfume.  You can get similar coloured flowers from nepeta and forms of salvia if the soil doesn't suit lavenders.

Is it still ok to feed dried fruit to birds bearing in mind the young

The whole peanuts risk geting stuck in baby birds' throats and choking them so I expect big chunks of dried fruit would be as bad.  Have you tried soaking it a bit before chopping in the processor?

I find the parents come and fill their tums at our fat ball, peanut and loose seed feeders and that gives them the energy to hoover all the aphids and caterpillars off my roses, clems and veggies for their babies.   Works well for me as I don't use pesticides and then don't have to go round squishing or picking myself.

What's the weather like in your area?

Snowing here in central Belgium and set to go to -16C.   Even the plants I have stashed in the garage don't like that.   Staying nasty but not so cold until the end of the 7 day forecast.   

Grumpy Obxx.

Good job I have indoor jobs to get on with.

Front garden very uninteresting

Diablo can get big.  Mine has but I don't mind as it's on the border between me and an arable field.

I would suggest samucus Black lace as an alternative with deep, dark foliage and good flower heads and which responds well to pruning back when it gets too big. 

The colourful stemmed cornus would also be good as they get pruned each spring to grow new stems for the fresh winter colour.  Alba Sibirica has the reddest stems.   Elegans has variegated foliage and burgundy stems.  Midwinter Fire has flame effect stems but can sucker when happy and end up invading a bed.

edible non poisenous plants/bushes

Or red and blackcurrants which aren't as fussy about having acidic soil.

What's the weather like in your area?

Snow all round here too and -14C last night.  Brrrr!

Encouraging bats in our gardens

Beechgrove this weekend

Weekend 22 March

Good Morning - 21 March

Choosing chillies

Hanging baskets and window boxes

New shed - any tips?