[Maru]

Originally Posted by LaLaLand

Gorgeous photographs!!

The seeds I planted three weekends ago have gone nuts.

I've got 16ish sunflowers all about 2 inches tall that I now need to individually pot (donating some to friends and fam), a load of wild flowers blooming, strawberry plants coming up also as well as three cacti starting to sprout! Not bad considering they were just little 50p packets of seeds from the shop.

I've thought of adding some sunflowers to my box when I start it. We have a wildflower that looks very similar here, but I've wanted to grow "legit" ones.

[Ammi]

…^^^^… @Maru @Benjamin ….I love bees as well, I read a fiction book/story a while ago and one of the main characters was a beekeeper so concurrently to the human plot, it also had a thread running through of behavioural characteristics of a bee’s life cycle…it was fascinating….

…obviously i love that they worship a queen as well…

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Ammi

…^^^^… @Maru @Benjamin ….I love bees as well, I read a fiction book/story a while ago and one of the main characters was a beekeeper so concurrently to the human plot, it also had a thread running through of behavioural characteristics of a bee’s life cycle…it was fascinating….



…obviously i love that they worship a queen as well…

Gav wants to get some beehives in the future, I'm scared of them but like them at the same time so he'll have to keep them away from the house


Beautiful day today, I'm going to spend a few hours getting rid of ferns, it's popping up all over the garden

[Vicky.]

I pay to get mine done..and seen unable to keep flowers alive

[Benjamin]

Originally Posted by Ammi

…^^^^… @Maru @Benjamin ….I love bees as well, I read a fiction book/story a while ago and one of the main characters was a beekeeper so concurrently to the human plot, it also had a thread running through of behavioural characteristics of a bee’s life cycle…it was fascinating….

…obviously i love that they worship a queen as well…

Secret Life of Bees?

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Benjamin

Secret Life of Bees?

…Mad Honey…that’s not the book title, I'm saying that you’re mad, honey…

Spoiler:

…(..obviously that’s the name of the book…)…

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Gav wants to get some beehives in the future, I'm scared of them but like them at the same time so he'll have to keep them away from the house


Beautiful day today, I'm going to spend a few hours getting rid of ferns, it's popping up all over the garden

…we had a parent at the school one time and she was the beekeeper for one of the trust estates locally …she would bring us some gorgeous honey……whenever we had a hive on the premises, she would come and carefully remove it with all of the bees inside and in tact and safely tucked up and rehome them and the hive on the trust estate…anyways, in all of the time i knew her…?…she had no bee stings ….I mean, Gav might and you might occasionally but I think that it would be amazing to keep them…

…enjoy your fern banishing…

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Ammi

…we had a parent at the school one time and she was the beekeeper for one of the trust estates locally …she would bring us some gorgeous honey……whenever we had a hive on the premises, she would come and carefully remove it with all of the bees inside and in tact and safely tucked up and rehome them and the hive on the trust estate…anyways, in all of the time i knew her…?…she had no bee stings ….I mean, Gav might and you might occasionally but I think that it would be amazing to keep them…

…enjoy your fern banishing…

The Fern is banished, I fear I got a touch of heat stroke though, it was hot in the sun 🥵

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

The Fern is banished, I fear I got a touch of heat stroke though, it was hot in the sun 🥵

…yeah that sun is quite intense the last few days…a nice chilled evening and some cooling after sun lotion sounds like a plan…

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Ammi

…yeah that sun is quite intense the last few days…a nice chilled evening and some cooling after sun lotion sounds like a plan…

[Benjamin]

Originally Posted by Ammi

…Mad Honey…that’s not the book title, I'm saying that you’re mad, honey…

Spoiler:

…(..obviously that’s the name of the book…)…

Love that book.

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Benjamin

Love that book.

……

[Maru]

I finally figured out what the grass type in my front on the one side that looks really pretty and texture-y actually is and also explains why it was so painful to identify in the first place... (but I had some suspicions). It's Bahia grass... It's been spitting out all these little seedheads that I thought were maybe random summer weeds coming up. Nope, it's the grass!

Bahia Grass Seed Heads
https://shuncy.com/article/bahia-grass-seed-heads

Also explains why the birds have been going munching in that part of my yard of late. So yeah, I was pulling them and then realized, I was like oh sh**.. pulled it back out of the bin and planted some in the backyard. I don't expect it to thrive where I put it. I suspect it doesn't like shade very much so probably is why it's staying more or less on that side of my yard and not spreading... just have to get St Augustine (similar thick-ish/texture-ish grass) to spread on the other end to match...

[LaLaLand]

I’m having to have a mad dash to the garden centre tomorrow as my little seedlings, thanks to the beautiful weather the past week, have almost tripled and are outgrowing their pots so I need to size up!

Lovely to see though. Such a simple, rewarding hobby.

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Maru

I finally figured out what the grass type in my front on the one side that looks really pretty and texture-y actually is and also explains why it was so painful to identify in the first place... (but I had some suspicions). It's Bahia grass... It's been spitting out all these little seedheads that I thought were maybe random summer weeds coming up. Nope, it's the grass!

Bahia Grass Seed Heads
https://shuncy.com/article/bahia-grass-seed-heads

Also explains why the birds have been going munching in that part of my yard of late. So yeah, I was pulling them and then realized, I was like oh sh**.. pulled it back out of the bin and planted some in the backyard. I don't expect it to thrive where I put it. I suspect it doesn't like shade very much so probably is why it's staying more or less on that side of my yard and not spreading... just have to get St Augustine (similar thick-ish/texture-ish grass) to spread on the other end to match...

…Bahia grass looks very, very sturdy and strong and so excellent for little Miss Maru to fun and tumble on all day long…I’m not really up on grass types that we have here, we have lawn grass……I mean, there’s fine quality lawn grass for things like bowling greens and the like so there are grades of lawn grass but that’s all an un-knowledgable gardening person like me knows…we have planted a lot of new grass seed this year so it’s still quite delicate in many places atm and still a little patchy…

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by LaLaLand

I’m having to have a mad dash to the garden centre tomorrow as my little seedlings, thanks to the beautiful weather the past week, have almost tripled and are outgrowing their pots so I need to size up!

Lovely to see though. Such a simple, rewarding hobby.

…it really is such a rewarding thing to have that feeling of successfully nurturing something we’ve planted……like being a parent to our gardens……enjoy your sizing up, that’s a great reason to be re-potting…!!!!…

[Benjamin]

It’s all starting to bloom now. Jasmine in full swing and filling the warm air with its heavenly smell. Lily’s about to burst open. Tomatoes growing well. Olive trees flowering.

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Benjamin

It’s all starting to bloom now. Jasmine in full swing and filling the warm air with its heavenly smell. Lily’s about to burst open. Tomatoes growing well. Olive trees flowering.

@Benjamin …do you get any brown or yellow leaves on your olives at all…/…do you get any aphid activity…?..and also, do you feed them…?…/…lots of olive questions, if you please…and yeah, the jasmine season is magnificent atm, isn’t it…..

[Benjamin]

Originally Posted by Ammi

@Benjamin …do you get any brown or yellow leaves on your olives at all…/…do you get any aphid activity…?..and also, do you feed them…?…/…lots of olive questions, if you please…and yeah, the jasmine season is magnificent atm, isn’t it…..

My olives are doing well atm, (touch wood). I gave them olive tree feed at the start of spring and put down some more last week.

No aphids on them, but lots of small spiders (they can stay and eat all the bugs).

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Benjamin

My olives are doing well atm, (touch wood). I gave them olive tree feed at the start of spring and put down some more last week.

No aphids on them, but lots of small spiders (they can stay and eat all the bugs).

…yeah, I leave the spider webs all there to catch the bugs…I had some little bubbles of white fluff-like stuff which I looked up and I think it’s Wooly Aphids, I think they’re called…and they love the olives…I also had some yellow leaves so I was a bit worried about them…anyway, I went to speak to the olive man this week and I think they’re all ok and healthy…I bought some Olive Focus feed which seems to be good as well…they’re my babies atm……

[Benjamin]

Originally Posted by Ammi

…yeah, I leave the spider webs all there to catch the bugs…I had some little bubbles of white fluff-like stuff which I looked up and I think it’s Wooly Aphids, I think they’re called…and they love the olives…I also had some yellow leaves so I was a bit worried about them…anyway, I went to speak to the olive man this week and I think they’re all ok and healthy…I bought some Olive Focus feed which seems to be good as well…they’re my babies atm……

Trick is to not overwater them either (but still give them water haha). I tend to water mine once a week if it’s been dry with no rain.

Last year we got olives too for the first time! So I’m hoping the same this year.

How old are your olive trees?

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Benjamin

Trick is to not overwater them either (but still give them water haha). I tend to water mine once a week if it’s been dry with no rain.

Last year we got olives too for the first time! So I’m hoping the same this year.

How old are your olive trees?

…yeah the watering is tricky and my olive man did say that the yellow leaves sound a bit like over-watering…?…but I actually hadn’t watered them for a while but we did have huge rain downfalls recently, didn’t we…?…I gave them a little water yesterday because of the weather atm but only a little sprinkle tbh because I know have watering anxiety ……I don’t know how old they would be overall because my olive man goes over to Italy/Sicily regularly to purchase them so they’ll have had a life over there first for however long…?…but I’ve only had them since last autumn because it’s a new garden being developed…and more than anything I want all of the plants to feel safe and healthy….I have two trees, they’re twins and I think quite young but they could also be quite old and lived a life in Sicily first…

[Benjamin]

Yeah we have two too.

What types of pots do you have them in? I’m guessing well draining ones if you have an olive man who gives advice.

My problem plant this year was all the bamboo. It looked like it was struggling but seems to have picked up now and looking healthy.

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Benjamin

Yeah we have two too.

What types of pits do you have them in? I’m guessing well draining ones if you have an olive man who gives advice.

My problem plant this year was all the bamboo. It looked like it was struggling but seems to have picked up now and looking healthy.

…pits/pots…?…we have them slightly raised in the lawn, they went meant to be raised but that’s another story……we did research all of the drainage/mix to give them a good foundation so I think that’s all ok but they can get shocked in their new environment for a bit before they settle as well, can’t they…we have a very sunny/south facing garden so it’s perfect really for their Mediterranean upbringing …we bought them from a specialist specimen tree place that we have locally, he doesn’t just have olives but Italy/Sicily is where he travels mostly to find his plants so he does know his olives…

[arista]

Originally Posted by Benjamin

Now the weather is improving and the last frosts look to have passed, have you started your gardening?

92F today

too hot.