So, I am slowly going through my dahlia tubers - I started planting up a couple of weeks ago.
Some of the tubers I got from the dahlia farm last year were huge so I've been cutting them up. Not sure I can plant them all. Anyway - some I can't ID yet - the flowers were too far gone. Feel free to have a go ?maybe they will tell us who they are when they flower late Summer.

What varieties are you growing?

The best way to carry a compost dalek    







   

I went for a walk round Lip na cloiche this afternoon. It was a risk with the strong winds & snow showers. But it was lovely while we were there. And it was the most beautiful garden. Buy no means huge but on a steep slope so not easy gardening. Got some ideas for my new garden and I learned that there are so many different hellebore colours & sizes. I had no idea     .                  

I highly recommend a visit if you’re ever on Mull. This is the view from the top of the garden 

   

The view from the bottom of the garden, looking over newly planted trees & wild flowers (well it will be later in the year)

   








https://www.lipnacloiche.co.uk/

Evening Folks

I grew a lot of courgettes at the plot last year. These were sown indoors however I wondered how much success people have had sowing direct?

I assume the pro for indoors is you can sow earlier but the con is space requirements.

We see a lot of these, they're much more common than the common swallowtail. Called le flambé in French the caterpillars feed on blackthorn and fruit trees and there are plenty of those around.

   

I've just rescued a load of broken slates from a client's house that is being re-roofed and MrPP reckons he can cut/break them into strips to make labels. None of the pens or pencils I have work on them (or at least is visible!) and chalk won't survive long (they are labels for permanent plants) so I wondered what else I could use? 
Happy Easter!

I found this very interesting.

https://youtu.be/Xs5TLaByfbk

I'm starting to come round to this Fella's way of thinking..

I received some plug plants by post today, they are ivy leaf geranium, the plants look ok, I know that you are supposed to plant them in there retaining net, and with the ones I got today the retainer looked like a bit of fleece like material, in the past I had planted them as directed but at the end of the season most of the roots were still retained in the net so I now remove the net before planting, now thinking I should have left a couple to see if what is used nowadays rots away, also wondering what others do

Evening Folks

As some of you may remember from previous posts I've been layering my beds with whatever I can get for free(grass, cardboard, leaves), plus manure and compost that was bought.

Anyway, the grass clippings my friend has provided this time are about 60/40 moss/grass, I've used this as a layer without really knowing if this is suitable or not, what do you folks think?

It's probably worth telling you the order which is cardboard, grass/moss, and leaves. I will then put a thin layer of MPC on the top when I plant/sow.

Thank you....

I want to buy an oil sprayer/mister to mist frying pans etc.  Not too expensive, (you know me, I don't spend lots of  money if I don't have to). The web is full of different types, mostly from China and I suspect their robustness.  I was wondering if any of you brilliant cooks out there had any favourite to recommend. At the moment I buy the preloaded unrefillable ones from the supermarket.