Yorkshire lad.

Hello there Colin!!

Lovely to see you here and great to chat to you again .

No Blackie here sadly, we are bone dry with 8 completely empty water butts....weather extremes are all equally troublesome.

Hope you are both well, please say ' hi ' to Bron for me.

Hope are your plantings up the mountain ,are they doing well.

 

Hi,

Many thanks Sheal for your warm welcome which I appreciate. I'm sure you're vastly more experienced in gardening than I am; I've done gardening on a need to do basis due to so many other demands upon my time but over the last couple of years I've been attacking our gardens.

I'm sorry to learn of your sight issues Sheal it must be a nuisance and prevent you from doing lots of things you wish to do; good luck.

I've visited Rufforth Auto Jumble near York this morning and WOW no Blackie or Gale in fact a pleasant warm morning but overcast; back home though as I was unloading the car Blackie joined in putting a shower down; Blackie and Gale think the world of me and seldom leave me.

Hi Upsy; it's good to hear from you too and I hope you and everyone at your end are keeping well. Thanks for your good wishes and I'll pass them on to Bron. Yes the gardens are now repaying all the grafting I've put in and the meadow flower seeds I scattered at the top of our mountain are now looking like "The day of the triffids" they've really taken off.

I still struggle with only 24 hours in a day though.

Kind regards, Colin.



Two years ago this section of our garden was overgrown; Snowberry hedge at 8' tall and it was walking down the garden being invasive; mixed in the hedge were holly trees; brambles and mile a minute vine; the laurels to the right bordering the lane had gone ballistic; I completely removed the hedge and everything in it including digging up all the stumps and roots there being many of them. The joke of a lawn I turned over by hand leaving it for about a year then Bron kindly bought me a new Hyundai rotavator which proved a nightmare to use at first; lots of big stones and even more roots kept fouling the tines but after going over half a dozen times the soil was wonderful. I've planted Sky rocket conifers and Potentilla's plus ground cover conifers but this left a big bare patch to be used as a cat toilet. A few weeks ago I scattered thousands of meadow flower seeds and this is the result; since the picture was taken more growth has been put on so we;re looking forward to having our own small meadow.

 

It's looking good Retired. You may have some poppies in amongst the plants that should bloom soon. What are the yellow flowers please?

 

Looking good Colin

 

Hi,

Thanks Sheal & Logan.

Thanks for asking about the yellow flowers Sheal; I wish I had the answer; I just bought the seeds as a meadow flower mix as seen here;

Cornfield Annual Mix Standard

What I can do though is next time I'm at the top of our mountain try to take close up images of the yellow flowers then perhaps it will make identification easier?

I've just checked my PayPal order and it shows 2 x 50g Cornfield Annual Mix Standard at a total £12.85 so it's highly likely the flowers are Corn Marigolds but to confuse matters I also bought a big box of wildflower seeds from our local "Home Bargains" and these too are growing in the same area?

I'll wander up the mountain a bit later taking along camera and tape measure; I'm amazed by the growth though from these seeds which is most impressive; I doubt the area remains a cat toilet?

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Hi,

I took the camera and measuring tape up the garden but what a challenge in obtaining a decent image; it's overcast and dark also Gale is always here as she is today blowing everything around; I tried taking close up pictures of the tall yellow flowers Sheal but they were being blown around; in the end I pulled a flower head off and wandered down the mountain to the workshop; at least in the workshop the flower head was stationary.

The yellow flowers reach about 4' tall and are very pretty indeed. You're right about poppies Sheal and my fingers are crossed some will be showing soon; Bron and I like poppies; years ago on TV bron and I watched where a guy had been arrested and thrown into prison because he had poppies growing in his garden; I think the country was Spain and he was accused of growing drugs?

Lower down the garden I planted Ajuga and Primroses from plug plants; these too have done really well.

Kind regards, Colin.


Ajuga and primroses; past their best but have been wonderful.


The flowers were being buffeted by Gale so I tried to hold one steady only for me to then be buffeted; Gale is constantly here on the valley side.



Slightly better image taken in the workshop; I hope its clear enough Sheal?



Just the yellows at the moment; I'm looking forward to the other plants joining in for a lovely display; this is the first year with these meadow plants so they should settle and become established by next year.

 

Thanks Colin. Well the yellow flower certainly isn't in your wildflower list, so perhaps it's from your other seeds. I suspect it's Rape (Brassica Napus). When it sheds its pollen it will have a pungent smell to it and is well known for triggering hayfever.

It's Papaver Orientalis, the large poppies that produce Opium that the Spanish guy was probably accused of growing. It's legal for us to grow them here in Britain but not to harvest them.

 

Hi,

Thanks Sheal for your information; it would be typical of my bad luck to have sown rape seed but what's hay fever on top of everything else? I've just spent the last hour and an half fighting our TV; Bron and I started watching a movie via YouTube; into the movie it dropped off line; finally got it back on after a few minutes off it went again; oh well it was a decent movie whilst it lasted so try Holmes on Homes; this played for a short while then froze; enough was enough phone Virgin media; press this press that button; finally getting somewhere until asked to enter part of my password via the phone; hang up until I find my password and try again this time press more buttons; try turning the TV and Virgin box off; not likely it doesn't work; hang on for assistance to be told there is a queue; hang up then switch the lot off; wait five minutes switch back on again; back to Holmes on Homes for another few minutes and off it goes again; GRRRR I'm very patient but the big key is wound fully up in my back so enough and I've quit the TV; I've put a copied movie on for Bron from a stick; I daren't go near the thing otherwise ir plays up; I'm sending out magnetic fields? Sorry for the moan but what a day of torment again; inside the bungalow I'm tormented by the TV outside the bungalow I'm rained on by my personal cloud Blackie and blown around by his sister Gale. I can look forward to more tomorrow?

Everyone locally seems to be growing cannabis but I'll stick with the rape then I can make margarine or convert it into lamp fuel? Oh um another day in paradise.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Hi,

Many thanks Fat controller.

This TV problem has been ongoing for a long time but last night it was really bad. What is strange though is that I can set the TV up running a YouTube old movie leaving Bron to watch it but later if I approach the thing dies and this is a regular occurrence; it also happens with traffic lights that turn amber then red when the queue in front of us has been allowed through stopping us; my imagination; well no; there are traffic lights in the center of Flockton that we can approach when there is no other traffic around and they stop us but as soon as we stop they immediately change to green; I'm convinced my guardian angel passed away many years ago. Last night after so much TV frustration the movie on the memory stick played without problem. Oh well today is another day and I had done the supermarket shopping being back home by 7:20 so I hit the ground running again this morning.

Your two cars; diesel and electric are brilliant; we run a 2.0L diesel Skoda Yeti and now we are running diesel we are treated like criminals; years ago whilst running petrol cars we were treated like criminals with the government saying we should be running diesel cars; if we wait a few years perhaps common sense will kick in and we'll be running Hydrogen cars?

Yesterday at 5:55 pm I was watching three Suffolk Colt mowers on eBay with an auction starting price of £50; Last Saturday I had bought a Colt at Rufforth Auto Jumble paying £20 and I fancied these other three Colts; at the last minute though I let the three Colts pass; I already have three mowers but I'm forever restoring something and although these three Colts would have kept me busy for weeks I'm keen to do a bit of woodturning and metal spinning; the Colt I bought I'm about to restore so I'm looking forward to it. The three Colts remained unsold. The days are so short though now I'm retired; I'm about to take Bron over to Boundary Mills in Catcliffe for some well deserved retail therapy and when we return home I'll head into the workshop before another day slips quietly by. Life sure is interesting.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Hi,

I'm sure you're right regarding YouTube problems Fat Controller; no end of hassle last night but during dinner today Bron and I watched a full episode of "Holmes on homes" without the slightest problem; this make me wonder if YouTube is being overloaded during evenings and at night when most people are home from work?

I keep reading where members are struggling to water their gardens; may I suggest these members move to near where we live; we must be fish living in a pond the way my personal black cloud Blackie puts down so much water;



Sunny intervals for today doesn't mean no rain and with no rain forecast for Wednesday what's going on; good job we don't have two dry days together otherwise it would be a disaster. Blackie's sister Gale is here as usual today blowing everything around making it most unpleasant outside.

I'm just having a mug of tea then I feel a Suffolk Colt mower coming on as I wander down to the workshop.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Well the short videos are ok, but haven't watched any films on YouTube.

 

Hi,

Thanks Fat Controller and Logan; Bron and I have been watching Holmes on Homes and once again it's died on us so the YouTube problem persists and this is an example in the picture;



We don't blame YouTube we blame standard TV which is a load of rubbish; had standard TV shown programs of interest to us we wouldn't need YouTube?

Kind regards, Colin.