WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2022

I think this answers your question @JimmyB, taken from the internet....

The gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus), the largest of the falcon species, is a bird of prey. The abbreviation gyr is also used. It breeds on Arctic coasts and tundra, and the islands of northern North America and the Eurosiberian region. It is mainly a resident there also, but some gyrfalcons disperse
more widely after the breeding season, or in winter. Individual vagrancy can take birds for long distances. Its plumage varies with location, with birds being coloured from all-white to dark brown. These colour variations are called morphs. Like other falcons, it shows sexual dimorphism, with the female much larger than the male. For centuries, the gyrfalcon has been valued as a hunting bird. Typical prey includes the ptarmigan and waterfowl, which it may take in flight; it also takes fish and mammals.

I took the image at Dunrobin Castle here in the Highlands where a falconer puts on a display with various birds twice a day.

 

@JimmyB I got used to that too when I lived on the Isle of Man.

 

We do every year , they soon grow

 

I have sowed Livingston Daisies (Dorotheanthus Bellidiformis) Orange and Yellow mixed together directly in the soil where I have had a lilac one for years in a concrete trough and a pot each of Verbena Nana Compact Mixed Colours and Verbena Nana Compact Apricot. I am pretty useless with seed so it is for these.

 

I'll help you out Vicky ( so long as it's not Cleome!!) I'll cross all that I've got to cross.

 

I only got one out of a pack last year, a lovely Rose Queen, which was one more than when I tried it years ago. I wonder if the Rose Queen will come back this year?

 

Thank you - so more northern even, than your good self! And that's saying something...

It's an absolutely stunning bird: not sure I've ever seen one...but I'd like to!

 

Isle of Man? I know the locals love the island...but I've always found it a tough gig. Did a job and got stuck in a big freeze in Ramsay a few years ago. That was pretty miserable! OK for the TT though if the sun shines...

 

I just took delivery of four Meconopsis Lingholm Jumbo Plugs so I went out and planted them. Despite the cold, today is supposed to be better than tomorrow, plus I am expecting a lot more plants in the next few days.

 

Hubs dug out a Tree Mallow that got damaged in a storm last year and was now past its best . Planted out a rose,hoping is matches or is very similar to the one in the opposite border both of which are by the gate.

Sowed some ...
Nemesia -National Ensign.
Lobelia- Colour Cascade Mixed.
Antirrhinum Mixed For Pots And Baskets ( shorter).

Lovely day but cold in the breeze/ shade.Brrrr!!

 

Had a wander up to the greenhouse and well - results are mixed.

@Kelc I have 4 - out of 32 seeds planted - germinated red cabbages. So I've planted some more.

Lettuces on the other hand are going well: think no more supermarket lettuces this year. And I'll really try to get them to go all winter now I have the greenhouse there.

Sweet peas are coming on, and the missus patiently put a little trellis with string over them to keep them growing up until we feel we can move them outside. Lots more planted sicne as well, and they are coming through nicely. Any clues on the white spots on the leaves? They don't seem to be suffering particularly, but it's also not what you might call healthy.

And lastly: I planted seeds from a shop bought Kiwi last year. A load of them took. I potted on. But they looked to have all died over winter. In case they hadn't I took them inside and watered.

One has definitely come back. However, the others have what look like seedlings - away from the otherwise old dead stem - but with the right leaf. Could they be sending new shoots from the roots????

 

I painted the front of my shed this morning, bitter cold so I left the rest for another day.
Call me a wimp if you want

 

Got the veg patch weeded and covered up to get some heat going in it. Much like the fortunes of the Scotland Rugby team, I approach each growing season with the aim of learning the lessons of the last year, building on the successes, making tactical changes for the failings, getting the most out of the best available for a generation, only then to fail for the most part, at the same hurdles in a looped sense of stasis.

Beetroot, is the banker Italy game. It always comes through to deliver. Last years England/France upset was the Purple Sprouting Broccoli. Didn’t see that PSB success coming at all, given the usual dismal performance on caulies, brussels, and cabbages last year, the predictable Ireland and Wales, oh dear, same again affairs.

A return to the underwhelming norm form so far this season. The PSB that made it through the storms, barely resembling the palest of pale shadows of last year. The autumn onions planted have made it through as well, though look like they could pass themselves off as small shallots at best, or baby spring onions.

I suppose it’s all down to trying to eke out as much produce from a relatively small space in the garden. The whole patch needs re-invigorated, so I’m just going to double down on Plan A, as the rugby plan goes, and throw as much organic mulch, and seaweed, and whatever growmore comes to hand into the mix, and hope this season doesn’t go down as another false dawn, in a long line of false dawns. If it’s not working, throw more seaweed at it, which is becoming a fallback fix more and more.

Italy match this weekend could have grim forebodings on this seasons harvest chances…better check the sunrise times for dawn.

 

Sowed some more calendula and cosmos.