What have you done in the garden today? Part 7

[Jimmyneutronsforehead]

Continuation thread from MereDint's previous threads.

Sadly it doesn't keep them off my brassicas. I've tried meshes and nets but the buggers still keep getting in, I want some of those big fancy metal cloches, the ones that look like bells, but I'd need about 8.

My vegetable patch is only small, I'm definitely not running a homestead from it, so I've resigned myself to leave out space guzzlers.

I do think I might be trying the 3 sisters this year in one of my beds though to save space but with melons not pumpkins as I'm on a pumpkin ban since the poison pumpkin soup of Halloween 2024. I assured my family I would buy reputable seeds and not use the seeds saved from Halloween pumpkins this time, but they've said they'll need a stint in therapy before experiencing that trauma again.

None of mine are up yet, they don’t usually appear until May.

That's really reassuring. I'll stare longingly at the pot until May.

I have two crocosmias, Lucifer which so far hasn't shown any sign of life but has been in the garden for three years so I think it's probably a bit early and I have another smaller, orangey one, name escapes me but that has new leaves starting to show so I know that one is ok.

Yesterday in the dry part, I noticed my philadelphus has tiny green leaves starting and the clematis montana also has more obvious signs of leaves starting to come through. I have lots of bulbs coming up, some of which I don't actually recognise so that will be a surprise when they flower.

I bought some beautiful primroses and double bellis daisies yesterday in Aldi, £2.99 for pack of six, lovely healthy looking plants, only problem is, I have no pots left to plant them in and am puzzling over exactly what I can do with them.

I have no resistance whatsoever when it comes to buying anything for the garden in the plant line, I just can't seem to stop myself. 😂

My crocosmias are up, but established plants are often months earlier than new ones; they're fussy like that. @Myblueclematis, would your little orange one be Emily McKenzie? I have that and am enjoying it.

I cut back my clematis and it's got big buds coming. I've got honesuckle growing over an arch between the garden and the field (for which read: scrap land too boggy to do much with) behind, and it's all coming into this lovely haze of grey-green leaves. So glad for signs of spring!

The sun is out here and I've moved all my bulbs into the right part of the patio to catch some rays. My daffodils and some irises are out and it's cheered me up immensely.

Well, I did manage to plant up the new ones from Aldi, put some in the pot with the Daphne and the rest into a hanging basket which currently, is not hanging anywhere it is on a pot holder until I decide where it's going to go.

I think I know what the bulbs in the garden are that I wasn't sure of - Fritillaries - the snakes head ones. It looks like i may have around five in a small clump. That's the most I've ever had. It's possible that there are some more in the border somewhere so I'll keep checking.

Regarding Crocosmia @SarahAndQuack, it's definitely not Emily McKenzie, I would remember that name. I will have a look in the shed through the plant labels I do have and see if I can find it.

Gorgeous day today, nothing left in the garden to do so am going out to look at fridge/freezers as I need a new one. Nowhere near as exciting as going out to look for plants sadly. 😆

Oh, I love Snakeshead fritillaries!

It is gorgeous here. I'm planting a border tomorrow for someone else but I'm itching to get out. I've got new aconites to plant (I'm impatient to get them spreading!) and I want to clear around the hellebores that are all in flower.

I get this too but have a small pair of ankle boots if I know I am going to be squatting down or planting rather than just digging. I wear them all the time to the allotment with thick socks. Like these www.redpostequestrian.co.uk/footwear/wellington-boots/lbc-ultralight-ladies-ankle-wellies--navy__218316

@Jimmyneutronsforehead I need to know more about your poison pumpkin soup…

I love snakeshead fritillaries too, I was thinking about putting some in the front lawn.

I hate long wellies so I had Crocs ankle wellies for a bit and they were very light and wide but unfortunately my feet aren’t Crocs shaped (long toes and narrow) so I charity shopped them. DD has wide feet (she has her Dad’s feet) and she lives in Crocs. I bought some Fitflop ankle wellies in a sale and they are comfortable but quite heavy.

Has anyone grown a liquorice plant? We have an allotment that we took over in November and now have a herb bed and a fruit bush bed. I’d like to grow some Greek wild thyme but I don’t know if the conditions are right although the allotment is sunny and not water logged, and the rules on imported plants(!)
How is everyone herbs doing? Off to plant a blackberry at the allotment this morning to go in the fruit bed. It’s sunny but cold here so I think DH and I will go down for an hour.

@SarahAndQuack

I found the label, it's this one :-)

Ooh! That looks lovely.

Oh for a day when there was nothing to do in the garden. Although I’m thrilled to have a day free to garden and a blue sky. I’m going to cut my nails, otherwise they will get broken, and write a list. Think I might start with sorting ; the herbs at the back door, and then sow some seeds.

The long story short is that I saved seeds from the previous years Halloween pumpkins from the supermarket, grew them, didn't realise they were hybridised and therefore had a higher level of cucurbitoxin, and we made pumpkin soup from them on Halloween.

The making of the pumpkin soup was contentious, it was a too many cooks spoil the broth situation in the kitchen, what should have take an hour at the most took 4, and when I had a taste test before serving I said it tasted wrong and bitter, but by then everybody was hungry and just wolfed it down in their stubbornness.

I refused to eat it, shock horror, everybody else got really ill. Then we found out bitter tasting pumpkins have a higher level of curcubitoxins and shouldn't be eaten.

Now my family have said they'll not eat any pumpkins I grow anymore, despite me promising I will only buy specific for eating seeds.

Oh! I didn’t know that Halloween pumpkins weren’t for eating. I’d read that they are not great to eat, because of having been bred for size and texture, for carving, but I thought that meant “not ideal” rather than “actually poisonous”.

Thank you for saving my family from pumpkin poisoning! 😀

That looks really nice - a happy looking plant 😃

Well today we finished putting the slabs on top of the base of the shed at the allotment (it took up 4 weeks to clear over 12 car loads of brambles from the back of the allotment - carpets, broken glass, gas canisters etc). We have dug it out , grid and pea gravel down and today slabs on top and shed going up at the weekend - if we can and get a gap in the weather. But it was sunny today. The garlic is pushing up though and potatoes happily chitting in the tiny greenhouse on the drive.

The Halloween pumpkins are fine to eat it's the pumpkins grown from their seeds that you might want to be cautious about.

It's because unless farmers isolate their crops you never know what mix of genetics the seeds will end up with.

It can happen in all cucurbits as well AFAIK.

I have clogs from a brand called Gevavi, they're quite narrow. No holes, supportive cork insole. I bought them in the Netherlands though, where there is a bit more choice/quality. I tried on some from Aldi to compare and they were so flimsy. Blackfox clogs are also good.

I've got the Crocs boots but they're also really restrictive and cramped. I love my Crocs mega sandals, but the boots are quite stiff along the apex of the arch of the foot.

I've got really wide, flat feet, with quite short toes, so didn't think they'd be an issue, but even after stuffing potatoes in them and heating with a hair dryer I can't get the apex to stretch to give my feet more oomph.

I also have a mild oedema round my ankles and the cuffs of the Crocs ones really hug them so any flexion around the ankles gets really sore with them on.

My problem is I am just anatomically short, 4'11. Fat, though even when I was skinny I had what my grandmother would call librarian legs, and my my calves have just always gone straight into feet with no visible ankle. I usually get by in my sandals, but I am supposed to wear ankle supporting shoes where possible because of my extremely bendy joints and walking and squatting round the garden especially in slippery mud can be a bit of an extra challenge.

I feel like I can't be unique in being short fat and bendy, so I wish someone with more business sense than I would just make a welly brand for short fat bendy cankle people like me. **

How about muckboots? I have similarly short wide feet (imagine a duck’s foot and you won’t be far wrong), and “sturdy” calves.

The rubber splits pretty quickly but that doesn’t particularly matter if you are walking on muddy soil or a wet lawn, only really an issue if you are walking through puddles or really deep mud. I have a pair I keep by the back door for hanging the washing out/filling up the bird feeder.

I haven't tried those but your review sounds promising so I'm definitely willing to give them a go.

You're also likely to end up with sterile crosses - I forget the statistics but I think it's something like 1 in 2 or 1 in 4?

I remember being really annoyed when someone sold a load of home-grown squash at a village market stall - she'd labelled them as kuri because that's what most of hers were. I ended up with two rather weird ones and two that grew luxurient leaves and nothing else. Pitfalls of trusting to that sort of stall, I suppose, but she was otherwise generally quite a knowledgeable gardener.