'Is that ....SUN I see.....in Bridgend....what will they say?

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Well, what can I say peeps? the last few days have ben glorious here in gloomy Bridgend and after a few weels of nasty rain and cloud cover, it made a very welcome change……

As I was off Wednesday, I guessed it would be nice to have a relaxing day and potter in the garden. As you know, from my last blog, I had already had a move around on Monday but when Ali finished her lunchtime shift and returned home, she mentioned that she would like to nip to Homebase to get paint for TerrorJACdyl’s room – she’s putting her little sewing/craft table up there so wants it a slightly more neutral colour than blue waves on a white background which was there when we moved in a year ago!

I grimaced until she said that I might find something to go in my small, empty wooden barrel………ears perked up and before you could say ‘buy some flowers’, we were there!! Having been a bit naughty on our last visit to HB….I purchased the following for planting in the new border next Spring….

For those with failing eyesight, the packs contain the following seeds:

COSMOS – Sensation Mixed
LUPIN – Russell Mixed
CORNFLOWER – Tall Mixed
BERGAMOT – Panorama Mixed
SCABIOUS – Tall Double Mixed
WILDLIFE ATTRACTING – Garden Varieties Mixed
AQUILEGIA – William Guinness
TRICYRTIS – Hirta
VIOLA – Velour Chocolate Frost
COSMOS – Seashells Red
ECHINOPS – Blue Glow
FOXGLOVE – Pam’s Choice

I hope this will work out cheaper and hope they will all be a success….watch this space!

So, as I said, having been a little naughty in getting the seeds, I said I would be good this time….FAMOUS LAST WORDS Dan!!

When we entered HB, Ali suggested I go and pick up something for the empty vessel……..bad move woman……whilst she looked for paint. 10 minutes later she joined me outside in the garden/plant section. I tried in typical ‘useless man’ fashion to hide the contents of the trolley but to no avail! She rolled her eyes at me and simply uttered the words, ’It’s fatal letting you loose out here…..‘. She did not scream nor did she shout and I have a theory…..I reckon she sent me out there knowing I could not resisit and secretly hoping I wouldn’t because she wanted more flowers in the garden herself….aaahh, now I got ya all thinking! It might not be my fault after all and maybe the pretty flowers are not just calling me but the missus as well…..yeh, and she can’t resisit because really, she wants flowers now and doesn’t like the veg and everything and …….well anyway, it’s Ali’s fault! (Oh yes, all you women, of course, will stick up for Ali as women ‘have to stick together’ and she did take some lovely pics for her first blog……). ALI’S FAULT!

This is what Ali, pushing me in to temptation’s way, made me buy…..

F1 VIOLA – Fireglow….

Coloured heather and more F1 Viola in a new trough!

Coloured heather with F1 Viola in small barrel….

Ornamental Kale in a new barrel….

As above but close-up!

For a few weeks now, we’ve been talking about some sort of netting device to for the pond, to catch the Autumn leaves before they drop in the pond. Well, today was the day that some old trellis and it’s off-cuts were put to ggod use. It’s not perfect by any means but here is the 6-step guide to Dan’s ‘Stopping leaves from dropping in the pond thingymajig’…..

Step 1 – Take one old piece of unused trellis….

Step 2 – Take 2 off-cuts of old trellis and half screw some screws in the ends….

Step 3 – Screw the ends onto the main piece of trellis, being sure to tell the missus to hole the main piece upright else it will fall forward and you may injure your finger and cut the skin because she isn’t holding it and as the cordless driver starts to go round, the trellisy bit moves forward, the driver flies off and cuts the skin on your thumb…..REMEMBER ALI!!!

Step 3a – Leave the decking momentarily to wash bleeding thumb and put plaster on……(No photo available as too much blood gushing from thumb and feeling faint!)

Step 4 – find the netting that Ali used around the veg patch to stop the birds pecking at her veggies. This stuff is soft and much less dangerous than the last step….if you tell the missus to stand well away!

Step 5 – staple the soft netting stuff as neatly as possible around the constucted frame work….you can let the lovely lady do this as she is a female and they is neat wiv fings like this!!!

Step 6 – place over pond and wait for leaves to fall….

As I said, not perfect and not particularly easy on the eye but it should do the job, still allows any wildlife in and out AND, I used up old bits to avoid any cost so happy days! I also repotted the newer of the Cordy’s we got a few weeks ago as the border won’t be ready this side of Xmas. She’s now by the pond until she’s tied up and fleeced for winter….

So, that done and plants potted what else was there for me to do but snap away at some of the new and older plants and also, let you see some of my visitors on this fiiiiiiine sunny day.

Begonia – Dark & Green leaf mixed…close-up

Bamboo is looking healthy by pond…

Under the Osteospermum….

Begonia again but different pot and angle!

Sempervivum – Houseleek. Can’t believe it was just the main middle clump when I got this in May…..lokk at it go!

Under the fern by pond…..

Fuschias still going strong…..

Viola – Autumn/Winter bedding….

Same again….

A bucketful of fun….

And then there were the days visitors who joined me in and out through the day.

A nice fluffy bee came my way and after much wrangling as he moved from bloom to bloom…BINGO!

Handsome devil up in the Rowan…..

‘Is there anybody home…..?’

Caught this one trying to find his way out of the greenhouse…..Urrr, try the door that’s wide open mate! Any ideas as to what he actually is?

And this little one was on my Australis Autumn Cordy when I came to repot it….

Lovely coal tit….

Really like the next two…..

Then, as the day wore on and I thought about going back indoors, the sky above gave me another photo opportunity…..

…..and they’re only, paper roses……’ – Ali’s name for the Cosmos.

Hope you’re all enjoying the sun as much as I did on my day off…..

• 12 Sep, 2009
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