All change!

Wow! You certainly filled up your spaces! I wouldn't have thought there was room for a squirrel to get in there, let alone cause damage! :o) If you don't mind sending stuff to Spain I'd like a few of your grape hyacinth - been looking for them for ages but they're not well known in this region. I've got just the place for them along the front of my 'Hosta Highway.'

they weren't as tightly packed as this before, Nariz: I had two of those plastic 3-tier plant stands, and the squirrels apparently loved them. I've managed not to use them at all in this arrangement: maybe I'll use them indoors for stationery or kitchen storage.

No probs with the bulbs - as I'm visually impaired I get free postage. I've also got some very young Carex Ice Dance and a few all-green Spider plants going spare if they'll be any use to you. I did a blog on the Carex, with pics of mum and babes.

If you'll pm me your address I'll whiz them off to you.

lol while I'm at it, still got some packets of seeds going spare, too - did a blog on that "anyone want some seeds?"

I am the proud owner of one of Frans. Carex'sis, sent to me very quickly in a packet that took me ages to unravel, think Fran used a whole roll of sellotape LOL. The plant was in tip top condition and I have planted it up now and will watch it settle in. Thanks so much Fran.
Great blog by the way, sorry nearly forgot!!

His Master´s lesson or Alchemyst in action. I like those grasses on the bottom. Nariz@ Where was the comment on grape hyacinth? I did not see any on the photos, but it is true, I do not recognize them, if they do not look like normal hyacinths. I am curious how do they look like. Will check them on google (and for sure some friends altogether with me :))

Well. I saw them. I just planted Muscari armeniacum on the grave of my grandparents. They are very nice flowers in the early spring. Good choice, Nariz :)

Well - what did you do in your spare time?? That should be a challenge to the furry folk, especially combined with the chilli!

Saw the title of your blog Fran and thought what's she been up to now....lol!
They all look good too me. Very healthy looking plants. Hope those wee blighters stay away.

They all look very healthy Fran, you sure do get a lot in considering the lack of space, hope the squirrels take the hint and go scrabble about somewhere else..
I would love to accept a Carex Fran and thankyou for the offer..

thanks all for your comments!

GN: no probs - I'd never sent a plant in the post before and I wasn't taking chances :-) . since yours arrived safely I've sent out a few more, a little less well-packed, lol I'll eventually get it down to just right - but I'd rather overdo it than underdo it. Good luck with the baby.

Kat: the grasses are about shoulder-high now, one is Zebra grass and I'm still creeping towards an ID for the other. The Grape Hyacinth are planted in the tree troughs closest to the camera; found stacks when I was digging up the tiny bed under the lounge window (didn't know there were that many, I'd only seen about half a dozen in flower!). They're only showing tiny shoots at the moment - well, something is! I also put my Tete-a-Tete in there, and any other bulb I found - I'll find out what they are if they take to their new home.

Steragram: lol thanks, I don't do stuff very often but when I do I go to town. Maybe if I did less, but more often, I'd actually get more done. lol my spare time is being taken up wth working out how to get a "roof" over my worktable, so that it stays dry, even if I don't - I want to have a go at plastercraft and concrete, can't do them indoors but they need somewhere out of the weather. Hope the little b's get the hint! They use the top of the fence as a runway, but they must come down sometimes to get at the pots. I've been checking daily, seems to be ok so far, she said with her fingers crossed.

Scottish and Lincs: thank you! Last time I counted I had just over 100 plants - but that was when I had four truoghs of pansies. But then I found all those bulbs, then Carex had babies, so it's probably more than before. lol but I keep forgetting that small plants don't stay small forever - at least, not if you're doing it right.

No probs with the Carex, Lincs: pm me your address and I'll whiz a couple off to you. The roots are actually bigger than the bit you can see, so I'm still learning how to pack those safely.

Thanks Katarina. I'm looking forward to receiving them. Photos later! :o)

So what was the change today, Fran?

lol Kat, still recovering from the last one! but trying to work out how to put a roof over the worktable that's strong enough and stable enough not to fall on my head

OK. Fran, my sight is worse and worse, in spite of glasses. What sort of new avatar do you have? To me it appears like just burned barbecue :))

Nice work Fran! :D

Just want to say Katarina - you crack me up!!

lol...I had to go and check it out myself earlier...and yes, I think it is a bbq....is it Fran? ;)

it's a mini-barbie, Kat and Karen, about eighteen inches across and two feet high - £5 at Lidl.

I've not actually used it yet for cooking food; it's a nice handy (and safely containted) way to burn wood so that I can get clean wood ash to use as fertliser (once I work out how much to use).

My avatar shows the end of a two-hour burn - not as dramatic as it sounds, as I always keep the fire small even if the container let me have it bigger - couple of sticks at a time, sit there and try to see pictures in the flames - never have so far. But it was great to sit out and chill - even if, at the end, the people next door called over the fence to ask how long it was going on for!

Some people are so intolerant. What's wrong with a scent of a bit of wood smoke in town? A reminder of the countryside. For years and years we burned wood from firs chopped in the garden soon after we moved in. Always lit after dark. No one ever said a word. Late afternoon yesterday there was smoke rising from a garden near to...no one called out for them to stop the burn that I heard.

There was very little smoke, the wood was absolutely dry and burned clean, no crackle and pop, it must have been just the smell of bruning wood. lol I took a pic to show how far away from the fence the barbie was - I'd guesstimate it at about the span of my outstretched arms (not *that* far, but any further and i'd have been in the garden the other side!). but they're a little bit on the odd side anyway.

I do love the smell of wood fires, reminds me o f camping, siting on a log and looking up at the night sky. sigh, the two perfumes of incense I wish someone would make are woodsmoke and fresh-cut grass - can't get enough of either.

lol I should post a question: what scent incense do people wish were available??.

I never heard of anybody siting and chilling in front of a fire - you're supposed to get warm!

lol more than one way to chill! fire is so basically elemental, like water; both draw me to them, provided they're safely under control!