Adiós Gonzalo

It's been a strange sort of day today - one minute blazing sunshine, howling gales,  an ominous black sky and stampeding rain the next. I was so glad that I'd invested a tenner's worth into Rhino tape from Coed-y and hunkered the poly tunnels down as much as I could the other day. Amazingly enough they are still holding together (only just) and my plants have survived (so far). But we've been lucky - not so good  in West Sussex and all along the west coast, right across up to Cumbria,

Brompton Stocks and Antirrhinums.

At the end of August, I collected up quite a few  seeds from around the garden. I sowed them in margarine tubs, pricked them out into seed trays and they  are coming on quite well. Will over winter them and plant them out in the spring, (she says). Our son and his partner are planning to get married in July/August next year so I've offered  to grow  flowers  for the pending 'do'.  J said that she would like to do her own flowers, so I told her that she can have the pick of as many as she wants. (If she wants them). I love weddings.

This was one little patch, earlier on in the year - a bit of a mish mash of all sorts.

My friend brought me two baby holly hock plants last spring. They were gorgeous and have produced loads of seeds. I've planted a sea of little seedlings from them. Hope they survive the winter. Looking quite good up to now.

Aquilegia and Pinks

Another scrambly border. This pic was taken in early summer. I spent yesterday cutting everything back and rooting out all the weeds, I've taken some cuttings of the one in the front so I hope they 'take'.

Canterbury Bells, lupins and a little oak sapling I found growing in the middle of them.

Holly hocks,  lupins, primulas  and  stocks

Still got a few runner beans hanging on. Hope there's enough to make a meal tomorrow.

Musselburg Leeks

Carrots

Beetroot

Marrows

The wind seems to have died down at last so here's to tomorrow. Have a good week
Molly

Picking up the Pieces

It was a wild one last night! In our thirty six years down here, I don't think I've ever experienced a storm like it. By four-o-clock in the afternoon, the wind was fairly raging and the rain was rattling down in stair rods.  I did my best to mend a small rip in the newest poly tunnel but had to give in and dive for cover into the house.

One look through the bedroom window this morning and this is what greeted us - the 30 foot tunnel on the east side, next to the brook looked as if it had been slashed with a knife. The seventy footer one next to it was torn to shreds. Oh well  - it did need a new cover - we'd been saying for ages. and it certainly does now.

Spent the afternoon, patching the smaller tunnel with Rhino tape. Brilliant stuff for holding it all together. It was just about in one piece again when I came in. I've got spring cabbage, leeks, onions, garlic and lettuce in there right now.

All my plants were in the disaster area, along with some broad beans, I'd sown in cardboard pots.  I'd sown 6 rows of parsnips a couple of days ago. Also got beetroot, broccoli and cauliflowers growing - but they look as though they'd survived okay. It was a bit of a marathon, fleecing up as much as I could, so hope they make it through.

Anyway, the daffodil bulbs are are pushing their heads up where they can.

And the primroses starting to bud..

Good old hellebore flowering again amongst last year's windfall apples.

And Eric? ..... well he slept through the lot of it.
There's another front coming in tomorrow, so they tell us.

The Ace of Spades

The sun shone a bit today. Actually it wan't too bad out at all. After days of battling through the floods and the quagmire, unblocking clogged up grids and attempting to tame a rampant brook we really felt like getting out and going somewhere. We went down to 'Coed-y-dinas' Agricultural Store just on the edge of Welshpool. All the Christmas glitz and the New Year celebrations well and truly packed away and the spades, forks, bags of compost, arrays of seed packets and chicken coops all there to tempt you to spend the last of your hard earned cash. Don't you feel so much better when the sun shines! Along with bags of coal for the Rayburn and a cylinder of gas for the Super Ser, I bought a huge bargain bag of daffodils for £2 - yeah, I know, they should have been planted last September/October, but £2 - two pounds  - too cheap to leave there for that. I shall be planting bulbs in the mud tomorrow if it doesn't rain again.
D'you like that great big shovel they'd got outside the entrance?   All I need now is to find the great big man to go with it and we'll get back on an even keel in no time at all.