The Bluestocking - where women are women, and small furry animals are gerbils, quokkas, capybaras, or a red panda called Rosy

[MarieDeGournay]

Welcome all to the Bluestocking Pub, a haven safe from harsh reality [mostly] full of good company, and excellent food and drink served by the most efficient team of gerbils in the hospitality industry.

EdithStourton
that looks like a water buffalo to me. Their milk is very high in butter fat.
(You can always rely on me for random facts that you never knew you wanted...😂)
Mozzarella!

Random facts are lovely
Here's one I learnt yesterday: a 'pink' is a kind of sailing ship.

Swash probably knows that, and indeed has probably sailed in one while plundering Spanish galleons dipping through the tropics by the palm-green shores..

There used to be water buffalo at the Dyfi osprey project but I think they've got rid. Last I heard they had beavers. There used to be a field near me, on the corner of a busy junction but much lower than the road that had a small herd of WBs. I've not seen them for a few years. I think WB milk is traditionally used to make mozzarella.

I like the park cattle, like the Chillingham herd, white coats with black ears and noses.

They remind me of the hounds of Annwn, although they are white with red points.

The gerbils are being a little short with me. I've apologised for saying ad...the a-word but I think it'll take a moment. On the other hand the capybara think it's hilarious.

Ahhh - memories of Hyacinth Bucket and her picnic with riparian entertainment!

Here's one I learnt yesterday: a 'pink' is a kind of sailing ship.
And a 'smack' is a kind of fishing boat.

Busy morning here today. Up by 7, four mile walk with Brains and Batshit, then half an hour of breakfast, then a steady slog of tidying, laundry, gardening and helping DH move some furniture.

I'm quite tired.

I should probably get some lunch but I'm sitting in the sunshine with a cup of tea having just downed two chocolate biscuits.

I decided I'd cleared enough ground to start planting out some of the things that have been sitting around in pots. Five currant bushes (one red one white one black, two mysteries) TOP TIP before you buy currant bushes check that the ones you bought last year and neglected didn't actually die of it.

Five nasturtiums, some parsley, twelve summer broccoli, twenty four lettuces.

It is possible that that might be too much lettuce, much as I love salads.

Now having a sit down before heading off to a Palm Sunday thing beside the lake. I want it to rain, but preferably not for another couple of hours.

I'm planning a happy but probably futile summer of growing my own loofahs. Much to my surprise six have germinated and grown while I was away. The individual plants are enormous, I only wanted one.

Bing found that challenging. Even without my mentioning baths.

Any (real) pix? I remember during Covid when seeds were hard to find & we thought we might have to grow our own food, I'd bought some sort of squash & I threw a load of its seeds into a big pot, wondering if anything would come up. They all did, & they were huge & vigorous!

So I planted them out in the garden & soon afterwards, they all disappeared overnight. I suspect the deer got them. Blighters.

Five nasturtiums, some parsley, twelve summer broccoli, twenty four lettuces

And a partridge in a pear tree, @DeanElderberry? 🤣

I've been out shopping. Toothbrushes, mostly, but a bottle of perfume has mysteriously found its way home with me too.

The rain held off and our prayer walk was very good and thoughtful and jolly, along a path near the woodland edge where tiny leaves were just starting to unfurl, with views over the lake (birds limited to mallards, swans and a black-headed gull), and primroses, wood violets and the first bluebells growing beside the path.

So I won't say the best bit was getting back to the quay and finding that the male half of the couple swimming in the lake had decided to celebrate the lovely sunshine by going au naturel. But it was very funny - his female friend thought so anyway. I don't think he expected 40-odd people, many of them women and children, hopped up on Palm Sunday piety, to rock up and start praying by the waterside. He'd obviously left his togs tied round the access ladder so he was able to get into them while we all bowed our heads for the final blessing.

That'll larn him.

• *I’ve been tackling the bed of shame all afternoon. I’m jiggered! Just sitting down with a cup of tea, on a break.

It’s not so bad; there’s a lot of mature perennial shrubs and roses. Not to my taste, but I’ve pruned, tidied and weeded. It’s looking slightly less shameful.

Pulled out couch grass, nettles, brambles, dandelions (the latter, not very effectively). Wondering if I can just live with it. And I didn’t fall in the stream, although teetered over the edge a few times, due to the bastard brambles.

@EdithStourton @ErrolTheDragon

Ah, a water buffalo! I’m glad that’s what it is. He was of no help to me, however. He just languished in the cool water whilst I was being cut, stung and prickled.

Typical!

How about some Vinca minor, @Swashbuckled? Pretty but minimal effort, and good for ground cover.

Male water buffalo. Nuff said.

@MarieDeGournay

A pink?

Wouldn’t be seen dead in one; I have my reputation to think of 🏴‍☠️🤣.

Thanks @Magpiecomplex ! Ground cover would be good.

Just done a quick search. Says “Grow in any but very dry soil, in full sun (for best flowering) to partial shade.”

The soil in the corner bed is VERY dry. Probably because there is a massive tree at one end of it. The roots will be sucking up every available drop. It is a Hell hole.

Just realised there are two beds of shame. The corner one and the one on the other side of the stream. The dry tree bed is the corner one. I tackled both today so am feeling virtuous. But any suggestions for ground cover for a bed where a huge tree takes every drop of water will be very welcome.

I will probs post the problem on the gardening board one day, but I put everything off about that bed. Mentioning it here is possibly the beginning of me acknowledging its existence. 😊

The gerbils are very excited because they have planned to visit our gardens in the night and do all the hard work so we can rest. They said they’d read The Elves and the Shoemaker and it gave them this idea.

I feel on the horns of a dilemma; I thought it was quite lovely but also wouldn’t want them to be overworked…

Ah, that’s where I was thinking of. It must be nine or ten years since we went there.
Theres a White Park herd in a little nature reserve near us, they’ve got calves at the moment, very cute.

If the loofah grow I'll definitely try for some pictures. At the moment they're only seed leaves (which look just like squash) the first true leaves are just starting. They're not at all hardy and require a long growing season. Bearing this in mind i tried starting the first seeds over a month ago but they didn't grow. I tried again but clipped the edge of the seeds before planting, this batch has grown. Very quickly. Our last frost date is early May. I foresee many repots. Gives me time to think of what I can put up for it to climb.

I think there are other herds of park cattle, the Chillingham is the only one I can think of off the top of my head.

I didn't know the gerbils were so green pawed. I've reminded them that the pigs, carefully supervised, are brilliant at turning the earth over and, obviously, the capybara are the go to for putting up stuff for climbers, rockeries, raised beds and, of course, water features.

Btw 'cheerbils' 😘 👏

Ground cover where it is dry:
Lamium (laminate: thank you, autocorrupt) is worth a try (grows under trees)
Some of the euphorbias, while not exactly ground cover, can do well and look nice
And that horrible iris foetidssima will grow anywhere and spread.
Also wild garlic - ground cover you can eat, v nice with salmon

I've got Vinca (not sure which) in my garden. Been trying to kill it for years.

Edith's comment about Iris foetidissima reminded me that Crocosmia/Montbretia might also be worth a try. Growth is apparently stunted in very dry conditions but since it normally grows like stink, it's unlikely to stop it completely. And the flowers are pretty.

I love montbretia - like fuchsia it has become Hiberniores Hibernis ipsis, more Irish than the Irish themselves as the history books say of the Normans.
BUT it pops up bloody everywhere in my garden. Except of course in the part of the garden I would like it to flourish in🙄

So it should do the necessary in that difficult bit of Swash's garden, and fortunately there's a natural barrier to stop it taking over everywhere.

I found this photo on the internet, I didn't take it but I could have, it's such a common sight on country roads

We’ve been out to another nice garden today - it’s an utterly charming one which belongs to a garden designer and is only open once a month. Then went to the big garden centre and bought an obelisk for a big clump of Ann Foulkard geraniums, a thyme and some small lavenders to replace plants which didn’t survive the winter (or possibly dried out). And a couple of bags of the Sylvagrow compost everyone seems to recommend. Apart from pulling out the remains of last years honesty which have done sterling duty brightening the border till recently and putting in a few plant supports proactively rather than waiting till the plants have flopped (I’m sure plenty will do that) there wasn’t time to do much more. I might just go out for a bit of dusk daffodil deadheading.

Hi all been so busy, with my gardening business, trying to get my own veg going, greenhouse stocked painting outdoor. Stuff bla bla bla…

add to that supporting my daughter and new no 3 grand baby banned, and the other lovely two barely time to make an appearance here.

so just been swiftly lurking.

To top it all my pond sprung a leak so have just found where and need to repair that which is a pain.

Anyway off on our canal boat on Friday so will post some piccies.