Dahlia 'Pink Giraffe'
I have been looking through last years photo's from the allotment, and I was amazed at how productive the plot had been, just look at this haul that I had and it was dated 31st August. It made me feel excited and I can't wait to get growing again YEAH !
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Crochet update
I crocheted together the rest of the squares I had completed for Florence's throw (see my other blog here) it's growing slowly and I still have many more sqaures to make yet.
Have a lovely weekend and I hope you all have good weather and get lot's of sowing done. xx
15 comments:
Hee Hee, I have also been looking at my photos and videos of my garden from last year and I can hardly believe that it looked that good and produced that much.
It sure gladdens the heart and gets the blood pumping to get growing again, oh yeah! the sunshine helps too :)
Hi Maureen & Kella!
I do the same - I look back on my blog to see what I was doing this time last year and to see what I can expect in the way of a harvest for this year - it gives me the inspiration that I actually don't really need! hehe.
I was a FAB day yesterday and I can only hope that we get some more good weather next week as promised - My husband will become a allotment widower! Actually he said that he would like to join me for a few hours next week! Wonders will never cease!
Hope you both have a good weekend
Ali xxxx
p.s. Maureen I hope the patient is a little better?
I thought that spring had arrived yesterday too. I made lots of plans for the weekend, my allotment is in desperate need of digging over, but it's raining today. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that it brightens up this afternoon. I love your Pink Giraffe dahlia. It sounds like it's done really well for you.
Hi KELLA, ALI & JO thanks for stopping by. I think that the best thing about keeping a blog is that you an look back very easily by month and date and see just what to expect, great isn't it. Keep on Blogging girls.
JO I hope the rain stops and that you get to the allotment over the weekend. x
I think that it's a case of almost but not quite spring here Maureen. It was rather grey and grisly on Friday. All the same I have been seed sowing and hope to get to the lottie very soon. That dahlia is a beauty :)
Hi ANNA, I hope the weather improves for you. I didn't get any more seeds sown today, I was busy crocheting squares. I am delighted to say that the broad beans and the sweet-peas sown very recently and on the study windowsill are all peeping through. It's such a lovely feeling.
Hi, love the dahlias, I am growing them for the first time this year and have loads of tubers in the garage. Should I pot them up or plant them directly in the bed I have ready for them?
Hi Damo, Personally I would pot them up, and then when the weather is fine and no danger of frost plant then into the ground and leave the compost around the roots so as not to disturb then too much. OR you can plant them into the ground later on, I think it's end of March-early April, but if you have the compost, pots and the space in a garage or shed, I'd go for the first option. They look gorgeous on the plot and are a traditional allotment flower, good for cutting too.
Your Pink Giraffe looks lovely and yes it is great to have spring here at last although the nE wind is still cold although we are protected from it in the back garden where most of the jobs are.
Hi JOANNE, yes it was cold here today as well, the wind really did chill to the bone, so I stayed indoors. Lets hope it gets warmer soon.
Thanks for the advice Maureen I'll definitely pot some up in the next week or two.
Hi Doc.
I'm so happy that spring has arrived for you. The wonderful picture of last year's bounty sure makes me want to get in my garden and start planting.
Last season, we talked a bit about horse manure. I researched it a bit and decided against it.
It's quite amazing how many chemicals are used around horses. I can dig up an article for you on the subject - if you want.
It's always something...isn't it! It's really hard no live chemical free in our modern world. Just last weekend - I was picking bits - well - whole sheets of paint scraped off the house when it was painted. There are heavy metals in paint, and once you get them in your garden, they are there forever.
Hi Prospero, I know what you mean about horse manure, we had a lot of problems here last year with contaminated manure. It was down to chemicals that the farmers used to kill the weeds in the fields and that in turn got into the hay, which in turn came out in the horses poo. It killed off a lot of allotment and gardeners crops.
My broad beans and sweet peas are growing well on the windowsills indoors and I can't wait for it to be warm enough to plant them out.
Doc,
this is a little excerpt from someone who had worked at a horse stable:
As for chemicals.... I helped out at a co-op boarding barn for a while and learned a few things about horsecare.
• They're "wormed" at regular intervals -- medicated with vermicide to kill intestinal and inter/intra-muscular parasites. This will pass through their bodies and can kill earthworms and other organisms. Good news is that all the horses at barn are usually wormed on the same schedule.
• Some horses are given systemic vermicide in their feed.
• During the warm months, the horses are regularly sprayed with insect repellent and/or insecticide to keep away flies, midges, fleas, and ticks
• Some stables/barns have periodic-release insecticide dispersal systems that regularly spray insecticide into the air
• During the winter months when the horses wear blankets, the horses are often sprayed with Static-Guard or some kind of home-made fabric softener mixture because the nylon/woolen blankets build-up static which bothers/scares the horses
• Horses' hooves are often painted/pedicured for shows
• Best remedy for fungal hoof problem is Gentian Violet, which is poured into the hoof cavities
• Some owners are more liberal about medicating their horses than others. There was one horse there that *needed* to be sedated for practically everything -- worming, injecting, shoeing, loading, etc.
• Some horses have regular stomach problems -- one horse had a "nervous" condition that gave her diarrhea every weekend before and during shows
It was only a short stint -- others with more horse experience may have other observations.
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Of course, this is for show horses, but it gives you an idea about the general care of horses and that goes for all horses. Pretty scary. This is the pharmacy of chemicals you get if you use horse manure.
Prospero, Oh boy am I glad I got cow manure last year. That's quite an eye opener, especially about the medication that horses are given.
Thanks for the info.
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