Outdoor pursuits

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It`s been a bitterly cold day here. The north wind is absolutely freezing but between snow showers the sun has come through and brightened things up. I decided that the wall manger at the front of the nice needed planting so I bought some potted bulbs.

Narcissus `Jet Fire`, `Rip Van Winkle` and `Bridal Crown` have all been planted but I didn`t have room for Narcissi `Jack Snipe` I`m sure I can find room for them somewhere.

I wanted to do a lot more outside so I pressed on and started on the roses. My new Felco secateurs certainly make a difference, they make much lighter work out of a difficult job. One of my roses, `Laura Ford` a patio climber that I`ve had for a few years now caused me no end of problems today. The main one being that it attacked me while I was pruning it! As I was pruning away, gusts of wind blew the branches into my coat and hair and at one point I thought I`d have to call Jim for help to get me out, thankfully that didn`t arise (I`d never have lived it down if I had…lol!) I am however, still picking out bit of thorns from my hands and as you are aware, they can really hurt. Eventually I finished it and it looks much better. All the other roses are less prickly and didn`t cause me any problems, I think `Laura Ford` just doesn`t like me!

In the greenhouse I have a small 4 shelf greenhouse that I had taken the cover off and just used for shelving. This year I`ve decided to put the cover back on with a fleece lining for extra warmth and on top of that I`ll place the small paraffin at the bottom and with luck it`ll be just right for my seeds. I got the idea from Radio 2 so I thought I`d give it a try.

I discovered that stinging nettles are growing in our garden. They have come through from our neighbours garden along with the bindweed that I seem to spend all Summer trying to remove. I`m used to the bindwood but the nettles are another matter. As soon as the wind dies down I`m going to treat them with Resolva weed killer. I`ve been told by customers that its good stuff so I hope they`re right.

Once I`d tidied everything away, I stepped indoors and knocked over and broke, the bottle of Russian cognac that was a present from daughter Kerry`s father-in-law. I just didn`t know what to do at first. There I was in my gardening clogs standing in the middle of a flood of cognac as it spread across the kitchen floor. It smelled like a brewery! I soaked it all up with tea towels and then gave it a thorough wash but you can still smell it all over the house. Hopefully it will disappear by the morning but for the meantime I hope we don`t have any visitors, what would they think?…lol!

Sandra x

• 10 Feb, 2010
• 3 likes

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