One dark and stormy night...

Plants are made of sterner stuff too Mouldy. !
Give them the right depth of soil and a few days, they surprise us all.

Hi Mouldy ..
gardening by torchlight ... interesting ;o)

I remember reading, years ago, about a partially sited lady. She worked long into a summer evening after dark, as seeing what she was doing wasnt necessary, it didnt make any difference

Lots on here get down and dirty by torchlight too :O) probably some not gardening either. lol. I am thinking of picking up slugs and snails for you dirty minded lot. lol.

The lady who used to live next door to my mum and dad caused quite a stir when she first moved into the property, the neighbours all thought there was a prowler as they spotted a torch moving around in the very early hours, it was her and she was on the hunt for slugs and snails, mind you she was obssessed, didn't have anything that shed its leaves onto her prized lawn and complained when the leaves from anyones garden blew into her property, you can imagine what that was like as she was surrounded by gardens with long established trees and shrubs, lol, also took great delight shouting at children for daring to make a noise whilst playing in their own gardens, now that is what I call "Way beyond the call of duty".
I have been known to garden by the lamplight but that was in the days when we used to have hot nights and even after dark it was too good to go indoors,( I haven't dreamt that bit have I ????) LOL........

think you may have dreamt it Lincslass :O) it is raining here. Not heavy but constant drizzle. :O(

Sorry, it was me sniggering in the background! ;~))))))) !

Mouldy's midnight garden?

Good for those tough plants ~ standing up to the weather!!

Just wait till the flowers start to open ~ you will be out there with umbrellas to make sure they dont get battered by the rain!!!! ;-))

You're obviously a very good rapper, Mouldy!! I like to think I can sing a bit....in fact I was once told my singing sounded like a cross between country and Rap ( I'll let u work that one out for yourselves) !!!!!!!

Just seen your comment StikiT,...so when the rain comes, will Mouldy be singing a Rhianna song instead of the Rap?????

If this year turns out like last he'll be doing a Gene Kelly singing and dancing in the rain, lol..
Olive its drizzle and very foggy here, I have a vague recollection of still wearing a bikini in the dark, in my back garden I hasten to add, no sniggering please lol....

I didn't say a word!!!!!!
Pouring down here all afetrnoon after drizzle all morning.My back garden/patio is under an inch of water as our soakaway drain was blocked, it seems , by a daft tiler putting adhesive or something down it a couple of weeks ago!!!!!!!!

How annoying Paul, hope you get it sorted soon.

When it stops raining, I'll try and get out and hammer something into it to try clear it, Olive! try pushing drain rods in but solid!!!

Maybe if you sing paul the rain will go away or have you been doing a rain dance?

hmmm not sure about the rhianna song ~ possibly rap would be better!

Umberella -Ella- Ella!

;-)))

you will be doing a duet with mouldy soon paul!

You guys are a tonic.
Thanks for your support. It means a lot.
I'm glad nobody thinks I'm nuts, or are too nice to voice it aloud!
And as the old saying goes...March came in like a lion & went out like a lamb.
Or at least let's hope so. Lo

baaaaaaaaaaaa! i hope so too!

We've absolutely no doubts you're nuts Mouldy..probably why u'r fitting in so well...........

join the club!!!

As the saying goes "You don't have to be mad to post on here ... but it helps" LOL!

I only garden on a balcony but even I have been out in the most horrendous weather to rescue my plants!

Ended up losing all my primroses, Balconey.
Gutted.
Still, onwards & upwards, eh?

That's a shame! I lost all my Pansies & Violas last year & this year I lost all my homegrown Pansies! ;-((

Sorry to hear that, buddy.
Weird thing is, Balconey, I was gonna dig them out, but a wee voice said "Wait & watch"
So I did.
Lol, they seem to be recovering.
Beginner's luck at gambling is one thing, but gardening?
I'm sowing seeds indoors, 'cos of the bad weather we're all having & they're germimating & shooting up at a scarifying rate.
I'm thrilled, obviously, but keep waiting for a bombshell to drop!
Sweetpeas sown about a wk ago are now over 4" tall.
Sunflower sown 2-3 days ago are 1" & trying to unfurl to at least twice that size.
Is this growth rate, for indoor sowing, unusual?
I ask, 'cos I know from looking at your pages that you're no stranger to sunflowers.
Same with the rest...the packets say seven to blah-blah, but these wee beauties, whether it's lobelia, nightstock, phlox, or whatever, are triffids at the 7 day stage.
My worry is that they'll suffer later from this rapid early growth.
Any thoughts, folks?
Should I maybe cool them down or just let them grow?

I'm worried they will be very leggy by the time you come to plant them out. Definitely cool them down a bit, you can't really plant out safely till end May& that's a way off yet. I haven't sown anything yet.Perhaps I'm delaying rather but things have a knack of catching up when the weather improves.

Rounds like good advice, Feverfew. The sweetpeas have almost doubled in size, since yesterday!

You most definitely need to get them to a cooler but frost free place or, as Feverfew says, they will become very leggy & will collapse & you will lose the lot!

I should listen to my own advice as I've lost a trayful of tomato seeds I sowed at the beginning of February! :-((

After a few days in a cooler place the Sweetpeas can go outside as they are perfectly cold resistant. Any HARDY plants you might be trying to grow can also go out with them. Nevertheless if they are in small pots you'd be well advised to bring them in on nights when frost is forecast. The reason being that they have only a small amount of soil in the pots & this can freeze quite quickly during a frosty night. If they were in the ground there wouldn't be any problem as the roots are very unlikely to get frozen. I have some growing inn the ground on the allotment. They are from seeds that fell to the ground in the autumn & germinated & have been there ever since. I've removed some of the weeds & grass seedling growing around them do the y have more room to grow.

Have just turned the heating down in the flat, guys.
The only reason I had it so high was for the plants, except for my bedroom, where I can't sleep, unless the window is open all year round.
The spuds seemed happy in there from the start, so I just left them there & they didn't try it on with me, lol.
Actually, you were both on the mark, as I've had to wave a fond farewell to one crop of lobelia, poached eggs, laurentia...need I go on?
A valuable lesson & one I won't forget.
The sweetpeas are mostly around 9" tall, but don't look to be troubled at the mo', but we're forecast for snow, 'til next Wed. Can they cope with that, Balconey?
Just finished potting up a pair of Tricyrtis, same of Phlox, four Aquilegia & an Astilbe.
I've got three alcea roots, but want to prep an area of the strip, so they don't run rampant & start bullying the other plants.
Was thinking of sinking a large container.
Any ideas of how deep their taproots actually go, or if the root has been knowm to deviate?

Alcea or Holyhocks as they are better known as won't need the special conditions you are planning on. Unless you have got confused with some other plant!

Here are a couple of links for you to check out. They also contain some information on their growing conditions.

To go to these links, (in case you don't know), you can do a number of things, #1: copy & paste into your browser address bar & press enter, #2: in Firefox, (at least I don't know about other browsers), you can highlight/select the link & using the right button on your mouse click on the link & you will get an option to open it in a new tab, that's the option I generally prefer.

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=87

&

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcea

Most of the plants you mention, Mouldy, should never have been started off so early in the year. In future never sow seeds of most plants in the house before March at the earliest. When they have germinated/sprouted the heat should be turned right down & they should be moved to a cool but frost proof place with as much light as possible.

Thanks, Balconey, you're a diamond.
Only have android touchphone, so will work it out (like a constipated mathmetician) with a pencil. Lol.
Was I thinking of the Aquilegia or the Astilbe, as being a tad greedy, rather than the 'Hocks, as you've pointed out?

Astible, if memory serves me right, like a damp place to grow in but Aquilegia will grow practically anywhere I think.

'Granny Bonnets', or Aquilegia, are perennial plants that flower year after year in the same place. They also like shady, damp places like the Astible.

Here is a link to the Wikipedia article which you may find interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquilegia

Gonna get you a cape & mask for Crimbo, buddy. Lol.

Pardon my ignorance, but who is "Crimbo"?

Having resided among you sassenachs for the better part of 28yrs, I'd have thought you'd know that Crimbo is not a who, but a what!
Xmas...Crimbo...Yuletide. LOL.
Is this really the 1st time you've heard it?

If it weren't I'd never have asked! LOL! Thanks for enlightening my ignorance! :-))

Maybe it's specific to particular areas, buddy, but I 1st heard the word in the 80's & with programmes like 'Fools n horses' using it I just assumed it was in common use.
Funnily enough, as soon as I'd written it I thought of the episode with Del n Rodders dressed as Batman & Robin. LOL!

I don't like the programme! Only seen a few minutes from time to time but it fails to interest me!

I take my belly laughs wherever I find them, Balconey.
As they say...Little things please little minds. Lol.
I haven't actually watched tv for about 6 yrs, but don't really miss it to be honest.
The plants are doing great, thanks to your advice.
Just waiting now for the few days of frost to pass, then it's Hi-ho...
I'm looking forward to it.

Other than the news programmes every morning, the F1 races & Gardener's World I hardly watch TV at all. We even cancelled our TV contract with the cable company last year & now only have FreeView. In fact we keep the TV more for when our grandchildren come round than for ourselves!

I wasn't belittling you for watching that programme, as several people on here say, it would be a boring world if we all liked the same things!

Glad to hear your plants are doing well & that my advice has been useful to you! :-)) I always like to help people whenever & wherever I can.

No offence taken, Balconey, mate.
Mid 50's now & still got a 10yr old's sense of humour.
Waited decades & it hasn't evolved yet. Lol.
The bottom line is that without your advice I'd probably have lost all my plants, so don't under-sell yourself.
Top banana.

Glad my remarks didn't offend you, I'd hate for that to happen! I'm also glad my advice has helped you to avoid losing plants! :-)) Anything I can do to help you, or anyone else for that matter, also makes me feel good!

Cheers Balconey.

You're welcome, M8! :-))

Still haven't planted anything out yet, Balconey.
Frosts of -5, so far & the wind has picked up again, so they're all parked on my landing floor outside my flat.
It's fairly cold, but frost-free.
Whenever the wind dies down sufficiently I leave them out in the garden all day.
Roll on summer, eh? :-)

Today it seems a little less cold than the days gone past this month. We don't yet quite seemed to have "turned a corner" as the weather forecaster put it a few days ago! Nevertheless it seems that this week in some places in the country they will have temps in double digits! Not gonna happen here - for the time being at least! :-((

Just yesterday & today I put out my 2 trays of Sweet Pepper seedlings on the table on our balcony. I brought them in last night & I think I ought to bring them in tonight as well.

I've moved my Geraniums & Pelargoniums back out to the table on the balcony as well. Unless we are forecast frost they will now be staying out there for the rest of spring/summer/autumn.

Snow here, this morning, but if the forecast is right we're in for a vast improvement next week.
Here's hoping. :-D

We had some rain over night here & it's been cloudy all day. Not seen a peep o' the yellow globe in the sky today. :-(( Nevertheless, the temps have increased a little, now edging towards the average temps for mid-April.

It's definately trying to warm up here.
Still windy with an early frost, so we could do with a good downpour to clear the last of winter's grip.
I'm optomistic, so maybe I'm starting to think like a gardener? Lol!

Bully for you, Mouldy! We have had a couple of warmer days & today it was very warm in church. When we left to go home it was really warm & sunny as well. As we turned the corner of the block of flats where we live we were almost stopped in our tracks by the force of the wind coming along the street!

During the afternoon when I was sitting here at the computer I glanced out of the balcony door window & noticed, with alarm, that all the plants in the pots on the balcony were looking very droopy. Of course, I thought, it's that strong wind that drying the poor things out! I got up in hurry & went out to water them. I gave them all a good soaking! It was pleasantly warm out there but the wind was bothersome!

Seems to be the same everywhere, mate.
Sunny spells, drizzle & high winds that appear out of nowhere.
March winds & April showers.
The big guy is playing with the thermostat.

After a few days the wind is BACK - with a vengeance this evening! It's blowing a real So'wester! It must have begun around 8/8.30 pm. I remember becoming concious of the sound of strong wind around that time. By 9pm I had to take my pots of Daffs out of the rings on the balcony railings as they were about to be destroyed by the wind. I also brought in 4 seedtrays full of seedlings I'd put out to get more light while the temps were higher. The wind was drying them out too much & I'll lose them.

Two of the trays are full of tomato seedlings & the other two have my Amaryllis Anglo-American hybrids in them. They are still tiny bulbs & were only transplanted to small pots about a week or so ago. They would have dried out too much if I'd left them out in the wind all night! Now at 10.30 it's still blowing hard!

Ended up with a chest infection due to this damp air.
Yesterday was one of those rare sunny days with very little wind...a real spring day, in fact, but it's all about turn today with the wind & rain back.
Gloomy weather & gloomy forecast for next week. :-(