Thread 13 - TalkLair: “I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.”

[Kucinghitam]

(Previous thread 12).

Looks like spring has sprung! Tulips, apple blossom and early hay fever are upon us. In the TalkLair, we remain hunkered down keeping cosy and warm, because "something something 'til May is out". The hearth is glowing, the walls covered in dubious artwork, books by non-approved authors line the shelves, rugs are down on the floors (and assorted pets curled up on them).

We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

It was still stupidly cold here yesterday. On the "plus" side (ha!) I ended up in hospital so now I'm mostly pleasantly warm. Bad chest infection in my left lung along with ridiculously loooow blood pressure. The latter has improved but I'm on oxygen as they try to sort out blood saturation levels. I was supposed to see one of my consultants today but alas that didn't happen.

Oh! I forgot. On Wednesday evening due to a moment of the violent cough and me moving I totally shot my back out, to the extent that I passed out briefly. Luckily I'd managed to lower myself to the floor so no hideous fall. Four hourly doses of morphine are giving some respite but not as much as I'd like.

So, yeah, showing off. Again.

Oh that's a bummer Mouse! (And you too Vegemiteandhoneyontoast - that sounds pretty painful too). I'm glad you're warm and you have the good drugs.

Gosh mouse, that is all a bit er, exciting. Hope staying in hospital isn't too bad, and it restores you.

That's a rather drastic way to stay warm. I hope they get you all rebalanced and reassembled soon, so you can go back to a simpler method (I recommend cat snuggles).

Oh dear, Mouse you really are in the wars!

Poor @MouseMinge! I hope they fix you up quickly

(Just realised may be triggering for @Vegemiteandhoneyontoast, boo to rose prickles!)

Thanks, @Kucinghitam , though it's not triggering at all. Roses are my speciality and I've had many scrapes, stabs and torn clothes from them over the years, but this was the worst. The swelling has gone down enough that the wrinkles on the knuckle are showing again and the bruise is coming out more.

Glad you're being well looked after, Mouse, and hope they let you home soon!

@Vegemiteandhoneyontoast just remember that the first person penicillin was ever tried on was a policeman who got stabbed by a rose thorn and got blood poisoning. He died because there wasn't enough penicillin made to cure him at that point. So don't think you don't need medication sometimes. I'm glad it's getting better.

@Britinme I didn't know that about penicillin, very interesting. I appreciate the warning about medication. I absolutely do realise I need medication sometimes as I was brought up by an old-school GP. We were given many medications from an early age, mainly because of all the germs he brought home. Until our immune systems developed more, me and I my brothers caught everything going and nightly wakings for another spoon of some vile medicine were part of growing up. My issue is that, before I discovered a decent insect repellent, I went through a phase of being bitten by horseflies and the bites getting infected, so had several courses of antibiotics in a fairly short time. Then I developed a sensitivity to penicillin and can't take it any more, but the antibiotics I can take make me feel really ill.

Saying that, we keep fully stocked first-aid kits in the car and at home and they get used regularly, though usually by me because I'm somewhat clumsy. Mr Veg is mildly obsessed with first-aid kits so we've got everything and my dad made us a Doctor Set so we've got that too. When I got a gash in my forehead after shutting the car boot on it a couple of years ago, many miles from the nearest doctor, the first-aid kits came into play. Mr Veg cleaned me up and applied some butterfly stitches and when I looked around afterwards it was like looking at a field hospital. It healed up very cleanly but I couldn't bring myself to tell my dad what had happened for a good couple of weeks and when I did he just laughed and told me about the time my step brother stitched up a cut on my dad's leg.

@Vegemiteandhoneyontoast can I ask you for a rose recommendation? I have a small, square garden, and my (very nice) neighbours have just replaced the low fence with a much taller one (I think they're mad because it will further shade their already shady garden) on the side that faces east.

I'd love to grow a climbing rose up it, and after having had a pricy, fancy bush rose in that spot (Peter Beale's Ash Wednesday) which didn't ever flourish and hasn't survived the winter, what would you suggest that is vigorous and relatively easy-care? No yellows or oranges, but all other colours considered, multiple small blooms preferred... And any tips on how to get it to flourish?

@SqueakyDinosaur if you've only got a small space then you don't want anything too vigorous, but there are lots of shrub roses that make good short climbers. One I'm particularly pleased with is white flowered 'Iceberg' which I've had growing up some trellis outside our house. It's pretty, repeat flowers and is undemanding. Another lovely rose is 'Deep Secret' which has very deep red flowers with a wonderfully intense fragrance. 'Gertrude Jekyll' is also a good choice and has fragrant pink flowers. 'Zéphirine Drouhin' is another possibility. It has fragrant pink flowers and is thornless.

Avoid 'Wedding Day', 'Seagull', 'Paul's Himalayan Musk', 'Madame Alfred Carrière' and 'Rambling Rector' like the plague as they are far too vigorous for small spaces.

Feeding and correct pruning make all the difference. The RHS has good guidance on the when and how of pruning. Once you've got the basics it's not as complicated as it looks. I've worked on some truly wretched roses that never flowered and brought them back to glory just by correct pruning and training. It's enormously satisfying and makes me look like I know what I'm doing when really it's just biology.

One tip for promoting flowering growth is to train the stems horizontally as this changes the hormone mix in the stems so they produce flowers rather than just growing upwards.

For keeping the roses happy, this year I'm trying 'Uncle Tom's Rose Tonic' and 'Sulphur Rose' both recommended by the Rose Society. They are sold as promoting flowering and strong growth and dealing with mildew and black spot. They both get good reviews and I'm curious to see the results.

Happy hunting!

Remember to put new soil in rather than planting directly where the other rose died. afaik, you can swap from somewhere else in the same garden.

Good point, I forgot to mention that! Another option, if you want to plant in the same place, is to dig out the soil, sink a cardboard box and plant into that. By the time the roots make their way through the cardboard the rose sickness will have gone.

Oh, and my non-antibiotic antiseptic for minor injuries, infections, funguses etc (don't ask, but it's horrid and the GP's creams and powers are either too creamy or too powdery) is colloidal silver. I'm not sure whether the particles in mine are truly small enough to be considered colloidal, but they're silver and they are very effective and non-stingy. I got a little battery-powered generator about 15 years ago and brew up my own, and use it on myself and the pets. The two silver rods it came with are distinctly thinner than they were, but still there.

@DeanElderberry my brother had a spell of making colloidal silver and gave us a huge bottle of it but I've yet to try it. How much do you use and for how long?

I just splash it on until whatever minor infection I'm applying it to clears up - which is pretty fast - instant for the fungus though the bugger does try to re-grow.

One of my cousins used it instead of antibiotics when he got MRSA after having a couple of severed fingers re-attached, and I thought he was crazy and irresponsible, but it cleared up brilliantly and he recovered faster than the hospital expected, so I decided to try it myself.

Full confession, I have also sipped it to deal with minor infections, but would not advise anyone else to do that as ianad. On the other hand, the minor infections did clear up and I haven't turned blue.

There's a senator in the US who took too much colloidal silver and turned blue.

Thanks, Elderberry, I shall be trying it out the next time I have an accident and will report back.

The turning blue thing is much disputed with some silver fans saying that what was taken was something else (silver nitrate I think) and that the tiny particles you get from passing a current through silver shouldn't have that effect. Dunno.

I have wondered whether the very rich get extra benefit from all their silver hip flasks and silver teapots.

One of my great-uncles went through life with a hammered-out silver half crown closing a hole blown in his skull in Flanders, and although he only made it to the age of 90, he was pretty healthy throughout, which contributes to my respect for the stuff.

Wow, imagine going through life with a silver half crown in your skull, that's amazing. As is getting to 90.

I don't know much about silver, other than it smells of eggs, so shall do some looking up.

Several of his siblings made it past the century, one to 106, so 90 is kinda 'died young'.

'Zéphirine Drouhin' is another possibility. It has fragrant pink flowers and is thornless.

Has to be this one, surely, just for the name. Although the description also sounds lovely.

I'm oddly tempted by the idea of turning blue. I'm fairly blue anyway.

The main reason I bought a 'Zéphirine Drouhin' was to remember a woman on the RHS course. She'd been a French teacher and had the loveliest voice, so if that rose was ever discussed in class, we'd ask her to say it. Silly I suppose but it was a real pleasure to hear her say the name.

I did wonder what you meant by 'only 90'.

DD1 survived her hiking/camping weekend, but poor thing - it was sooooo cold and wet! DD2 is going next weekend, it's forecast to be rather warmer, thank goodness.

Speaking of long-lived relatives, 92-year-old FiL is apparently determined to do himself in. We thought he'd be in much safer conditions in his new purpose-built sheltered flat. We popped in to visit him yesterday, and found that he's cluttered up the whole place so badly that it's become one big trip hazard. DH exclaimed in horror "How did you get all this stuff here?" and it turned out that FiL has been walking to his old house every day (over a mile) and loading up his wheeled walker with piles of shit - VCR, mini-exercise-bike, gardening supplies, sleeping bags, folding camp beds, bin bags of old clothes and bedding, etc etc. We think FiL is trying to squeeze all the contents of a 5-decades-occupied large family house and double garage into a one-bedroom flat.

I can see how infuriating that is for you, Kuc, but I can't help also being a tiny bit impressed at his determination!

Have you got any plans for stopping him bringing the rest of the house back too?