Sunday 1st April

Hello Louisa, i think if we were over doing it dave would have said so, but this is not GW and i think we have put in a good amount of garden topic, and like you say, it garden time again, so the garden chat will get better, so will the banter, its nice to be able to chat about anything, we have become better aquainted through it, so when the seroiuse garden stuff comes we will not be afraid to ask, no matter how stupid the question may sound to us, and that what DG is about in a way, informale combined with formal, and thats why daves members list is getting bigger, friendly place to be, the only place to be.

Well, it rained most of the day and I suppose it saved me the job of watering the plants however, the rain has stopped now, the sky is quite bright and we have an extra hour of daylight. That has to be a plus. I hate the long, dark winter nights. It looks like all you people across the pond had a really lovely day!

Louisa, its been a very nice wekend, got loads of work done in the garden, i see you went and said hello to ribbitcat, shes from daisys neck of the woods, she has a great sense of fun, last week though she wanted to throw me in a ditch to feed baby knats, so dont upset her, lol, she keeps playing matchmaker too, says she has plans for me, worries me a bit that does, :), seems we got the nice weather you had the other day.

Hi Alan! I haven't seen ribbitcat post before! Are you saying she has? Is Robin still there? Talking of slugs etc, I used to go out late at night with my torch and pick the little devils up and throw them into the woods. I'm sure they came back eventually, but honestly I can't kill them or put salt on them. How horrid! Regarding the weather is it going to continue nice for you now. I used to put my hanging baskets out about the last weekend in May - usually we were frost-free by then, but only just :-)

Well thought i would pop in and say hello,and Diane hope you wont be off for to long.

Well has not it been a lovely day, really warm and sunny even been able to put some washing out to dry, my cat Lucky has spent all day in the Conservatory and seeing that at the end of this month she will be 24,lets hope she has many suuny days, but i think it could be her last.But as the Vet said when i took her for a checkup, she has been one very lucky cat.

Wont be staying on too long as its nearly bedtime, and the weather for tomorrow is rain, but it started spitting here about 7pm.

Where has Jo gone i wonder if she has been kidnapped and taken to an harem or is she still getting over friday night.

So i will love you and leave you and go and potter around for a bit on the site. sheila

Alan,

Yes, I found a local garden centre (12 miles away) on the net, so I e-mailed them and asked if they had John Innes, and they e-mailed back and offered exactly the same stuff as the other people. I e-mailed back and told them I didn't want that, and in the end they did have JI, and they delivered it, and the man hadn't got any change so I got it £1 cheaper for 4 little bags. It's very expensive here, but I can't stand just peat. I've also written to the manufacturer, as I think the labelling is very misleading, as the words 'John Innes' are on a big yellow flash with writing almost as big as the words 'Multi-purpose Compost', and the fact that two places both thought it was JI shows it was misleading. Hoping for a nice 'surprise' by way of apology - or I'll report them to their local council! (Didn't say that in the letter.)

Louisa,

I meant maybe it's a bit cliquey (do I mean that?) here, so perhaps we put people off? I'm sure Alan will be highly amused at the suggestion that he's 'cliquey'! Must have been the talk about tennis earlier on. Sorry. I'll stop now as I'm confusing myself.

Sheila, good evening! A cat at 24 years of age!! That's incredible. My mum had a cat that lived for ever it seemed and she was female. Maybe they last longer than the males. I suppose you know I have a sick cat on my hands right now, with kidney disease, and I thought he was doing well at 14. I'm astonished!! Yes, I wondered where Jo had gone, must have been a party .....lol! No sign of Patty or Lisa tonight then?

Sheila, jo only posts week days in the morning, she will be here tomorrow after the kids go to school.

Louisa, no, thats the first time for ribbitcat on here, i know her from GW, i think you will like her, ragged robin didnt stay long, do we put people off ?, what time is it there ?.

Mary, I repeatedly post what I consider to be an invitation for the 'viewers' to come and join us and that really we won't bite - well, maybe sometimes!!! How do we stop it from becoming cliquey? (Is there such a word I wonder?). I would love to see more people join us and they are you know, slowly but surely. Puttyrat and Notmartha visit from time to time. Alan, it's just after 6.30 here, so we are now officially 5 hours behind you, right?

Have either of you come across seeds of Scabiosa Clive Greaves? I know someone who wants this desperately!!

Louisa, yes five hours it is, i think you ask that question before, about the seeds, i cant find it listed anywhere, if its a new genus it may still be spiecialist suppliers and not readily availiable yet, if i here i will let you know.

Alan, it's as old as the hills, Clive Greaves plant I mean...lol. There are other cultivars but I don't think they flower as long as old Clive, perhaps this is the reason why she wants it. Actually it is pretty, with a lovely boss of yellow stamens. I too, have been after this one for some time now.

[ Removed per member request. - Admin]

Good evening Patty - AJC said :-

Sheila, jo only posts week days in the morning, she will be here tomorrow after the kids go to school........

How are you and what did you do all day? I hope you had a great Sunday. It's misty and damp here for our first extended day!!

Alan, I've been looking at my old Practical Gardening and BBC Gardeners World magazines and I'm like a bee around a honey pot. I forgot how fantastic they were/are!!! Have you ever bought plants from Devon Young Plants? That's where I used to get my tender perennials.
Patty - Something came as a nice surprise today!! I have a list of people who I trade with and stuff and I came across a post from you!!! When I first came on the scene here I was asking about mimosa trees. Do you remember - because you promised me one and said you didn't particularly like them! I didn't realize it was you, but then its difficult to remember stuff initially because there is so much to see at first glance!! Did you remember this, or like me, forgot all about it? :-)

Hello Patty how are you today.

louisa, perhaps thats why they cant get it, its so old no one has its anymore, a lot of old plants are only availiabkle from specalist seeds suppliers, and they cost a small fortune.

Mary - have you gone already? I wanted to ask you a question about Ireland? OK Alan, I guess you are right about speciality seeds!!

[ Removed per member request. - Admin]

[ Removed per member request. - Admin]

Patty, what will you do if they decide to stay, lol, round em up on horse back.

[ Removed per member request. - Admin]

How lovely to have neighbours who don't mind your critters straying onto their land. I suppose you all live in harmony eh? I think that's nice! I know you have quite a few acres, so I guess it's all pretty much farmland all around you. Sounds wonderful! What is your nearest town?

patty, do you actually do that yourself ?.

Patty,

Cows are nosey things, aren't they? The farmer behind me had his in the field behind me one year, and some of them crashed through the fence and I found assorted cows, calves and a bull rambling round my front garden, stumbling over the rockery and wading through the pond! I was so glad they hadn't wandered into the house - I dread to think what I would have done if I'd come face to face with one in the kitchen or the hall! As it was I rushed round closing doors and waved my arms and shouted and threw a pot at them from the bathroom window, which had no effect at all.

I phoned them, and his sons climbed over the fence and rounded them up and drove them all back through the hole in the fence and across their field with lots of mooing and shouts just like in the westerns. They did exactly what the boys wanted them to, but I can't get even one to do what I want, and I HATE them - they are so big close up. Like steak, though.

OH Mary - too funny. But how could you possibly hate cows? I think they are beautiful and those eyes - I melt at the sight of them. I have a mental picture of you shooing them out of your garden....LOL

Mary, whereabouts in Ireland are you? Which reminds me, it is Mike isn't it, that has gone on holiday - the bat man!!

This message was edited Sunday, Apr 1st 7:18 PM

[ Removed per member request. - Admin]

Your mental picture couldn't be as funny as the real thing. I had just two come in once, and I spent over an hour chasing them - I'm overweight and have short legs, and at one point I ran after them pushing a wheelbarrow with a bucket in it to make a noise - they just looked up from munching my grass and the occasional apple tree (which they didn''t like, but they do like ash) with a slightly puzzled look and then returned to their munching. I did wonder afterwards if they were used to a similar sort of noise meaning feeding time.

Oh my lor!! They are big! Do you breed them for beef - you are not dairy are you? I guess you have to be up pretty early in the morning for milk if you were eh? Even so, farm work is usually for early risers!

Yes Mary, I bet they thought you were calling them in for dinner...lol. You never did answer my question about Ireland!! :-)

[ Removed per member request. - Admin]

I'm in Carlow, middle-ish to south-east - 'The Sunny South East' the sign in town says. Mark's the batman. Wonder if it's sunny in South Africa.

I remember when i was about 10,i was with a freind of mine, Steve, his uncle owned the farm just up the road from us, we were always messing about on that farm, it was hold ing for the slaughter house which they owned too, at that time time all the live stock fields were surrounded by hawthorn hedging, on time we went into one of the fields to get some apples,we had seen the cows at the other end of the field, but by the time we came out of the tree they had moved around to the gate, so we walked around the edge of the field along the hedge row,to get around them, we were ganged up on by a bunch of dopy looking cows, they were not affraid of us that was certain, i chucked an apple at one, hit right between the eyes, it just ate the apple, it turned out that these were bullocks, i said bullocks :), the only way out was through the hedge, brings a whole new meaning to "draged through a hedge bacwards" that hurt, we were both scratched to bits, cos of those stupid looking cows.

ROFL - You guys kill me!!! My late husband was from Dublin Mary and my dad was from Belfast - and ne'er the twain shall meet! They were great pals - I miss them both. Anyway, my dad was stationed somewhere around Belfast and I went to school in Down Patrick (have I told you this already?) I was taught by the nuns, I think I was probably about 4 or 5. They made me drink pink milk - I hated it! My poor mum, we had to share a house with my dad's mum and she was a real tartar. I can remember the mice in that home. My mum was scared to death and we would all walk around on tiptoes. She would tuck me into bed so tight, just in case the mice got in there with me! I'm glad to say we have both come a long way since then :-)

[ Removed per member request. - Admin]

Just going to feed the cat! Back in a jiffy!

Mary, isnt Mark due back soon ?, i bet hes had a whale of a time out there, did he go to give a leture or something wasnt it.

Telling them how to look after their bats, I think. I suppose (if you like bats) they probably have some quite interesting ones over there. Furry brown fruit bats, instead of rubbery black ones?

Bye, all, I'm off. It's tomorrow here.

good night mary, see you soon, i hope leaves a few there, i know he likes them,

Night Mary, sweet dreams - not cow dreams I hope!!!

[ Removed per member request. - Admin]