What have you done in the garden today? Part 7

[Jimmyneutronsforehead]

Continuation thread from MereDint's previous threads.

I didn't know this either ! I thought it was just because they were big and watery . a size over taste thing .

Gloriosa Rothschildiana Summer Flowering Bulbs - Flame Lily - Climbing Lily

Can anyone advice - I've never grown these , are they dangerous for cats ? I'd put them in a container rather than in the ground .
My cats eat grass but hopefully not leaves . It's the pollen risk too.
They look beautiful but if there's a risk I'll avoid .

When I searched it said "toxic" but is that for humans /children?

I’m not a vet but we have a vet in the house here and putting it into her vet toxins it says the whole plant is toxic to cats if ingested particularly the bulbs. It rates it as highly toxic all parts of the plant to cats.

Ah , thank you for checking this .
We don't have lilies or daffodils either in the garden or cut flowers .
I have to think about other Cat Garden Visitors too as well as my own.

I've got some snowdrops in pots that have come up (finally) the cats haven't noticed them.
I did fancy some 'snowdrops in the green' but no .

@Jimmyneutronsforehead I could have written your post.

I'm 5'1 and have "sturdy" legs. Cankles. (Very tiny wrists tho, oddly). I'm thin now (thank you Mounjaro) but sturdy they remain. Even my teacher commented on them.

It is my life's ambition to find a pair of knee-high boots that fit. Even Duo won't do as even short length, wide calf-fit don't look right as my legs are maybe just an odd shape.

God the hours I used to spend worrying about the shape of my calves and comparing them to others. (We wore kilts and tights at school)

At the ripe age of nearly 43 I can honestly finally say I don't give a shit.

I used to really worry about my legs too as a kid, but when the original Lilo and Stitch movie came out I felt represented in a way. The way they drew all their characters bodies was eye opening.

Now they don't bother me, it's just frustrating when trying to find any boot that isn't a heeled brogue.

I chopped down my photinia because it was yet again so badly diseased with spotted leaves and terrible leaf drop.

I was fed up with red leaves all over the garden, all the more so because I really struggle to pick the buggering things up.

I had thinned it out last year as the advice goes and gave it a stern talking to but it took absolutely no notice so only has itself to blame that is now an ex shrub.

All lilies are toxic to cats and, I believe, to dogs too.

I took some plants out of our garden before we got the cats and I don't have cut flowers ( because FemaleCat knocks things over !)
But I read that the pollen is bad because they get it on their fur and ingest it when they groom.
Mine don't dig in the garden (litter trays ) so I;m less worried about them being affected by bulbs . But it's other cats in my garden too to consider .

This - it's the crossing that's the problem with any saved squash seeds (and occasionally with commercial ones as well).

When preparing squashes, I always lick the cut off stem end to check before adding them to the dish. Squash toxicity can be very nasty indeed, but fortunately the taste is unmistakable.

Ah, I hear you on the bendy @Jimmyneutronsforehead, my DD has EDS and though I don’t have a formal diagnosis myself, I have very unstable joints especially my ankles, so I suspect she gets it from me. My Dad was the same. We are tall, fat people though. I’m not sure that makes it any better! I generally wear waterproof walking boots these days in the garden.

How is everyone today? It was raining earlier and we popped to the allotment earlier to drop off a blackberry bush. Not sure it will survive it was a Tesco cheap one but when we went to plant it had no roots pretty much - we have stuck it in some compost to give it a chance. It was pouring with rain when we got back after school run so I thought I would plant up the two huge palm tees that we got at the weekend in the new 60 cm diameter pots for the decking. All was going fine until I stepped on the garden to walk behind the garden to get more compost and my legs slipped. Banged my head hard. I’m only 10 weeks post surgery in my arm (metal plates) but fortunately didn’t put my arms out but banged my head and back hard. So I’ve had a shower to get the mud out of my hair and a long bath. I came in and said to DH that the project that was the lower garden (down from decking) is being brought forward from the summer. It a slope away from the house and just a mud bath. Hope everyone has had a nice day!

Noticed some very pretty irises have come up - I didn’t even know I’d planted them, I bought a big bag of mixed bulbs in autumn to fill up the new raised bed/retaining wall at the back of the garden, and apparently it had irises in it!

Also shifted some of my cuttings off my living room windowledge and into my cold frame - might be a bit early, but the forecast is warm for the next two weeks and they were getting a bit big.

I'll happily send you some of my thornless blackberries! Never should have planted them in the ground. Now I've got a million.

Sorry, I don't do blackberries. Spent a few years removing them as a volunteers and now I don't want them on the tiny bit of land within my full control. Mind you, there are quite a few wild ones near me that no one but me seems to eat.

Found a small (supermarket size) pot of roses on the way to the post office. Mostly alive, just need to chop off the flowers and some leaves. It'll go well with the previously rescued small rose. Does anyone have any advice on how to get them to grow? The old one only produces 1-2 flowers a year.

I like rescuing plants but perhaps I need to learn to give up and compost them instead.

Bit too windy and cold today for any real gardening, especially after two days of 15-20 degrees.

Thanks @Jimmyneutronsforehead for the heads up - I've just planted my pumpkin seeds from last year's pumpkin, but to be on the safe side, I think I'll throw them out and start again!

What a gorgeous colour and a nice surprise ❤️

We’ve put this one in a pot but I tend to agree with you having cleared x10 m of brambles this year 😂 we have a secret walk with loads of wild blackberries for crumble we will see how this one gets on. We have red gooseberry, green gooseberry, blueberry, redcurrant, black currant at the allotment in this year and very established cherry, plum, apple, pear x2 on the plot. We thought one of the cherry trees is dead but is budding up nicely. I’ve woken up nice and stiff from my fall yesterday so we might do our yoga and then a gentle walk instead of going to the allotment. I’m going to be talking to some people today about digging down and digging the garden out. Decent top soil and levelling need to happen!!

Sorry to hear about your fall @Liquoricethyme, that sounds painful!

We’ve had a dry day today, so I’ve spent all afternoon in the garden, weeding. Accidentally pulled up this little guy, who was hiding among the weeds!

@TeamToeBeans is he tasty? I’m secretly scared to grow carrots - 🥕 everyone I know shakes their head like it’s going to bring a herd of locusts on your allotments! Same with sweetcorn apparently it’s like having a neon sign for the local badger that you are open for business 😂

And pleased to report headaches is gone and back not too bad. Yoga was fine this morning!

I'm trying pvc tube carrots this year.

I've been influenced. Peer pressure works on me.

Tell me more @Jimmyneutronsforehead !!

So you need to sieve your compost for this to work properly because carrots hate lumps, but you fill your long pieces of pvc piping, sow a few seeds per tube, spray, place something on top to keep humid while they germinate, and when they're ready you pull some long carrots out.

I'm making a boarder around my vegetable beds with the tubes and just securing with a bungee cord.

Was just checking my saved posts trying to find a pvc carrot tutorial and found this wildlife habitat from hanging baskets.

I can never keep things in hanging baskets alive so this might be the way forward for me 😂