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Plants

Pic of the week 5/5/24

At last, yesterday the sun shone. It has been a very long, wet autumn into winter into spring, the sky has been seemingly permanently leaden grey, with rain constantly tumbling from the skies. And Spring has been cold, too. Yesterday was the first day I wore shorts – and today I’m back in my jeans, after the early promise of an alright early morning gave way to drizzle.

But I do think it has warmed up enough to start introducing my over-wintered geraniums and spider plants to the out doors, to start hardening them off.  I wrote about them here in November: http://aboutstuff.co.uk/garden/indoor-gardening/ – I started with six geraniums and twelve spider plants that I bought of ebay. I’ve learned a  lot about how much or little water and light they have needed over the winter, and I have enjoyed my regime of nurturing and watering.  Five geraniums and eight spider plants have made it through the long, dark, wet winter and will, in the next few weeks, take up their summer residence outside. (I tried to keep a few geraniums alive outside, this was not successful.) The geraniums are looking particularly healthy, with plenty of new green growth – will they flower, that is the next question?

We’ve also purchased a lot of geranium plants – with going away for a month in July we need plants that will be tolerant of neglect in our absence – and they are now waiting for planting up. I won’t be planting lobelia this year, I’m not sure they will survive our absence.  The plan is to sow Cosmos in the front bed/trugs to go with the geranium and spider plants, and to also plant nasturtium seeds which so also, hopefully, survive (thrive) on neglect.

The alliums are now coming into flower and the garden is looking good.

And I’m including this photo (below) as a bit of a guide to see where there will be space to plant some more bulbs into the lawn come September (gave it a mow yesterday)

 

This morning I ran 10K – the first time since January. The weather was still (and dry!) and, although I wasn’t running swiftly, I felt I was cruising comfortably, so it was (relatively) easy to add the extra 3K loop onto the end of my run to make it a 10K run. Ran it 49m 30 sec.

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Birthday boy!

Pic of the week 31/3/24

Its been my birthday week! On Thursday I turned 55 – no getting away from it, I’m definitely mid-fifties now – Sophie and Sam both came home for the start of Easter on Wednesday so it was been nice to have them home for my birthday tea, and it was nice to finish for the Easter hols at lunchtime on my birthday; a couple of tough weeks at the end of term made it a bit of a slog, but now I’m on holiday, all is well with the world.

Its been a busy week. On Wednesday I went for my blood tests and on Thursday I got my results – another nice birthday gift as I have been given the all clear as my levels are all within limits and I’m signed off from the docs “Normal, stable or satisfactory – no further action required” for all test. Here are the numbers:

  • Serum cholesterol 4.6 mmol/L
  • Serum triglycerides: 1.0 mmol/L (normal is range 0.6 to 2.0)
  • Serum cholesterol/HDL ratio: 3.7
  • Se non HDL cholesterol level: 4.1 mmol/L

Wednesday also saw me get absolutely frozen on the football pitch at Kingweston. It has been a wet winter, and rain was forecast for the afternoon, but after a huge downpour that morning, I headed over in sunshine, hoping that we’d escaped. But no, on arrival it started to rain, but by the time I trotted down to pitch 5 it had stopped, and we started the game. 5 mins in, the heavens opened with a biblical hail storm that lasted a good ten minutes. It was painful and cold!  Eventually the storm passed, and the sun even came out, but ten mins from time, the hail returned, I blew for full time early, much to the delight of everyone. A truly miserable experience!

The previous half term ended with the red shed dying at Kingweston, this term ended with me buying its replacement – “the silver dream machine”, “The Beast” or “The Asbo maker” depending on your view – or, more appropriately, hearing.

The Silver Dream Machine, aka The Beast

It is a 2003 Honda Civic – I really like it, drives and stops well, circa 102K miles, some good service history, but it is loud, very LOUD! I think that until 2023 it was well looked after then, for a year, was in the hands of a boy racer who added a “sports” exhaust and external air filter and some big sub-woofers in the boot (the speakers have gone, but the wiring is still there). Even Sam – and the car is earmarked to go to him in August – thinks its too loud.  I have a normal exhaust on order (£61) due to arrive on Thursday – should be a simple replacement fit and I’ll stop terrifying the locals as I cruise the streets of Street.

Saturday was a lovely day and Becky and I grabbed the opportunity to enjoy a few hours sat outside in the sunshine, Sunday remained dry (until the biblical rains returned Sunday night) but grey and cold.  On both days I took the opportunity to do some gardening – Saturday hacking back the box bush out front – it has suffered due to caterpillar action – and on Sunday I cut a lot of the top off the bush on the top deck that continues to grow and grow and, unforgivably, was casting shade when we wanted to make the most of the rare appearance of some spring sunshine. It will grow back, I’m sure, I just hope the same can be said of the box bush.

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A busy week

Pic of the week 24/3/24

Its been a busy week, definitely compounded by not having a day off last Sunday due to football house matches, and I feel I’ve just been grinding out the days at work until I’ve reached the weekend.  With Easter being early this year, thankfully the week to come is short – 3 and a half days, seeing us finish on Thursday lunchtime – a nice birthday present for me!  Work has been busy with numerous different challenges, but I think I’ve just about got on top of them.  I have a busy teaching day tomorrow (4 out of 5 lessons, and meetings at break and lunch time) but I’m hopeful that it will be my last big day of the term, and I can then begin to cruise towards the end of term.

Today has seen the sun shine, although a strong wind has kept it feeling “fresh”. I’ve been busy in the garden, clearing the growth on the top of the shed and filling the brown bin with cuttings, then I’ve been building IKEA furniture (desk and a set of drawers) for Becky. The trugg out front has looked magnificent, with the red tulips coming into bloom (although curiously, only on the side nearest the door, on the other side they are poking up, but not yet flowering) but did take a bit of a battering on Friday and Saturday in some strong winds. But signs of life everywhere – trees greening up, celandines beginning to flower in the lawn, although the temperatures could be higher, and the threat of (yet more) rain is always just around the corner, spring does feel like it has arrived, making everything seem better.

On Thursday, EasyJet opened their December flights and we bagged two seats to Madeira for the Christmas hols.  Seems like a long time away (it is – we’ve got summer to enjoy first) but looking forward to it already.

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Jesus Christ, Superstar

Pic of the week 17/3/24

On Friday evening Becky and I went to see Jesus Christ Superstar at the Bristol Hippodrome. I enjoyed it, a good bit of musical drama, probably helped that the story was familiar (!) And, on an old man note, it was super convenient, being able to sit, and then still be home before 11pm were all bonuses.

Julian Clary had a guest/cameo role as Herod and was, no surprise, excellent, as were all the cast.

It has been a busy weekend – I use that term a little loosely, Friday evening through to Sunday is the weekend, but they are not days off work for me. On Saturday night I had the Year 10 social (Formal Dinner), which went well, and then this afternoon I have had House Football from 1pm to 4pm.  At least the sun came out and I felt some warmth (unlike refereeing yesterday when it was normal Kingweston cold) but I I don’t feel like I’ve had a break this weekend (and my legs ache !)  At least it should be downhill from here, a little over a week and a half until the Easter hols – that is an encouraging thought!

In the garden, it is also encouraging to see things poking up and greening up. The Magnolia is pretty over (I always think they are an overrated flash in the pan) but out the front the bushes are going green, the tulips coming up in the front trugg, and in the back today I noticed the first forget-me-not flowers and the hostas are beginning to poke up through the soil in their pots – both signs of better days to come.

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Mothers Day

Pic of the week 10/3/24

Today’s is Mother’s day – Becky’s first not working Mother’s Day for seven years!  At lunch time we had a family Insta chat which was nice , the bambinos had sent their cards, and had instructed me to get some flowers, which I did on Wednesday.

Today has been quite chilled – we’ve not done a lot, I think Becky is enjoying her new job in the gallery, but is also then enjoying doing not a lot on Sunday, having worked on Saturday.

The weather has been dryer this week, but I wouldn’t say its (yet) been a warm March, it has been chilly in the mornings and nights, and the days plagued by a brisk wind. But the extra light makes a huge difference; this week we have seen some sun and the fact that it is still light as we approach six o’clock just makes everything feel better. Daffodils are in bloom, bushes are greening up and this last week we do seem to have – at last-  emerged from the grey grimness that descended in late October. Whilst its not been a cold winter, it has been a wet one, and that means the skies have often been leaden grey and oppressive. But I think, at last, Spring is here, or coming soon at the very least and one’s mood has lightened like the sky this last week.

The Magnolia is in full bloom – in fact, it is already starting to shed some flower petals (I often think the Magnolia is overrated – fantastic for five minutes, but lacking in the staying power to really earn its keep.) Its been a busy week, but a good week. Another busy one to come, I think …

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Leaping into Spring

Pic of the week 3/3/24

Thursday was Feb 29th – making this a leap year – and Friday, 1st of March, was the first day of metrological spring …

Thursday night into Friday into poured with rain. It has been a wet February, one of the wettest on record, although (supposedly) warm. March began damp and grey, yesterday I did the line for the 1st XI and I’ve never known pitch one so wet. But by the time we kicked off it had, thankfully, stopped raining and one the couple of occasions the sun came out it actually felt quite pleasant.

This morning we woke to a frost, and it was cold as I went for my run (7K) but the sun was shining, the sky was blue and the air was still; it has been a beautiful day and I have spent quite a bit of it outside doing some garden jobs.  I cut the Miscanthus back – the swishy swashy brown stems and seed heads have been a boon in the barren winter landscape, but everything is now starting to green up, so it was time to cut it back and look forward to lush green growth in spring and summer.

The daffodils in the lawns and pots look magnificent, bursts of yellow that brighten the day and generate a sense of optimism whenever you see them. The magnolia tree out the front is in flower, the days are longer, it just makes everything so much better.

I have performed major surgery on the big box bush out front – in late August Maureen told us that she had lost a number of plants to box blight, and feared ours had succumbed too. It did look to have taken hold and I began cutting out some of the affected stems. But then it started raining, and whilst rain stopped play I did some research and Monty (Don – the BBC gardening guru) suggested that you might be better waiting until the new growing season to cut it back, so that’s what I did.  The other day, walking home, I noticed some new green tips on the plant, today I had a good look: a mixed bag – some areas pretty badly infected, but plenty of new green shoots. So today I took out quite a bit of the plant – hopefully the increased light and air will mean the good will win out over the bad … We’ll just have to wait and see.

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A Cornish Adventure

Pic of the week 18/2/24

So half term has come and gone – its been a busy but enjoyable week which all began with a Cornish adventure …

On Sunday, we drove down to Cornwall and went to the Eden project en-route. I must say I loved the Tropical Rainforest Biome: the warmth, the humidity, the lush planting – the sense of being in another world. I am definitely going through a “plant phase” at the moment, enjoying my garden and getting into houseplants, and the rainforest biome really tapped into this. It was spectacular, particularly ascending the steps to the ceiling of the biome. We were some 30 metres up – with apparently, another 20 metres to the roof – looking down on all the planting.  It was hot – 32 degrees, with circa 82% humidity – we were lucky, they shut access to the stairs whilst we were on them: 5 mins later we wouldn’t have been able to go above the canopy. (We were up there at about 1.30pm , when asked, staff said access would reopen if the temperature fell a little, possibly around 3pm)

The Mediterranean biome was good, but not as good as the rain forest biome – it didn’t seem to contain so much, it didn’t have the same “wow” factor, but perhaps that’s because we’ve seen the real thing?

On Monday we went to the Lost Gardens of Heligan – impressive, peaceful (when we escaped the families and kids!) and inspirational.

I particularly liked the mass of tree ferns – it did feel like you would see a pterodactyl swooping through the value at one point .

And the formal gardens were beautifully presented as well

On Tuesday we came home, via IKEA, where, inspired by our visits, I bought some house plants. Our garden didn’t match those we’d seen but the daffodils in the lawn are giving a much needed burst of colour.

This photo doesn’t do it justice – it already looks better than that, but I include for future reference.

Wednesday I was at the dentist and they have recommended a filling (one of my current fillings – back right) is cracked and needs replacing. Have booked it in for May half term for the princely sum of £192! Shocking!

Thursday saw the Corsa – the red shed – taken away. I got £150 quid for it. On the Saturday I got it to start by taking off and refitting the battery, but that was the last time I was able to get it started. So the 205 is now my daily runner!  It had been a nice day on Thursday, but by late afternoon, when he arrived to take the Cosa away, a mizzle had set in, giving a somewhat melancholic feel to the sad farewell to a loyal servant who had led a tough life. Three and a half years we’d had the car – it was not the best I have ever bought and I did save it from extinction on s few occasions (exhaust, jumping teeth on the timing chain, water pump, rust in a sill) but this was its time.

On Friday we went to the cinema, at Strode, to see the Holdovers

A little sad, and not the greatest of movies, but I’m glad we went.

And now its Sunday, time to gear up for the return to school for six weeks until the Easter break.  The weather is improving, days are getting longer, I often think the first half of the Spring term is the toughest of the year – I hope it was the case this year and the next half of term is not so exhausting.

 

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Films and thermostats

Pics of the week 4/2/24

Last night was cinema night.  Becky and I went to see the film “Next Goal Wins” at Strode studio we both really enjoyed the film. Based on a true story, it was about the American Samoa football team – the worst in the world – who were still licking there wounds after a record 31-0 defeat by Australia. They hired a new coach to try and turn around their fortunes, and it was a film about him, rather than football, all set against a back drop of green mountains, blue sea and even bluer sky (I think I could be happy living on that island!) The film was light hearted, funny at times and suitably uplifting to have made it worth dragging ones tired body out of the house on a Saturday evening, when a comfy sofa on which to snooze was the alternative!

Also this week, Becky came home on Tuesday saying that her car had made a “pffft” noise – not unlike me, asleep, she said – and then produced a lot of smoke.  My initial diagnosis that a coolant pipe had burst or come loose was correct, I found that one of the pipes from the thermostat had broken – the plastic insert that joins the body of the thermostat to the pipe had broken, necessitating removal and replacement of the thermostat.  As ever, the trickiest part was getting access – in the end I removed the battery and battery bay, I also removed the ecu, but probably didn’t need to, replaced the thermostat (£20) and the job was done.  Did rather enjoy the whole process.  This is the offending part (the black plastic insert had sheared at the joint with the body):

Sophie came home on Tuesday – fed up with the noise of the railway repair work going on outside her flat at night and it was nice to see her, although she was not feeling 100%  I think I’ve got over my cold, but am tired – I need half term to come in four and a half days ….

Not one that I planted, but the first daffodil is flowering – in the stone trugg outside my room, I don’t think it will be too long before a number of others are in flower as well. I hope so!

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10K!

Pic of the week 26/11/23

Today I ran my first 10K of the year!

I had been losing my love of running at the tail end of last year and had stopped regularly running 10K – running 7K instead – in October ’22 (although I did clock up two 10Ks in Dec ’22) and then with my plantar fasciitis my running dropped off significantly this year.  But in April I got going again, but 7K was still very much my limit – I lacked the energy or inclination to go any further.

But over the last couple of months I’ve got my running mojo back, my times have improved and in this month (November) I’ve been adding an extra 1k onto my seven K run as I felt I had a little bit left in the tank.

Today, I did the extra 3K loop after my 7K run to complete my first 10K of the year. Wasn’t too bad at all, took it comfortably within my stride (pun intended) Annoyingly, map my run was playing up, so I didn’t get any splits, or an accurate time, but I ran it faster than I did last December. Am pleased with myself, now need to build on this and make it a more regular occurrence.

In other news, the temperature dropped on Friday night and we had our first frost of the year – quite a hard one.  I had bought some agricultural fleece and cocooned some of my geraniums and nasturtiums under it – my aim is to try and see some of the former through winter and spring to bloom again in the summer. So far so good, but I will now be a slave to the nightly weather forecast …   (I kept the fleece on over Saturday night as well, another cold one.  Its been cold all day now, but the temperature is warming (but still cold!) – typical grey, damp and cold late November: not nice!)

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Indoor gardening

Pic of the week 19/11/23

This year, I have really enjoyed the garden and, in particular, watching plants grow (obviously over a period of time, rather than as an instantaneous spectator sport!) It started in the spring with the bulbs in the lawn, bringing a sense of hope when all was brown, grey and drab; moved through the summer with as the sunflowers reached for the sky, then the pumpkins, large and small, and still the nasturtiums and cosmos valiantly burst forth in colour, continuing to flower into mid-November.

But despite the best efforts of those plants that refuse to give up despite the falling levels of light, incessant rain and howling winds, winter is coming and soon there will be little cheer outside. The best we can hope for is the frozen  form of white frost covered seed-heads against a brilliant blue sky, but days like that are few and far between. (We’ve yet to have anything close to a frost – hence the nasturtiums soldiering on.)

So I decided to bring the outside in, and try my hand at over-wintering some geraniums and also nurturing a collection of spider plants – the latter in part inspired by my Mediterranean travels where they can be seen as part of normal outdoor planting. My hope/plan is that mine will spend the summer outdoors reminding me of sunnier climes.

So I put up a new shelf in my room, and also moved an Ikea shelf, and have filled them with six geraniums taken from outside that I hope to over winter, my four cacti, and twelve baby spider plants that I bought of ebay and have potted up.

I look forward to watching them all grow over the coming months, (hopefully) providing an oasis of green and a source of interest over the dark months to come.