Poor Tango!

Tango was attacked (again) by the Feral Cat!! He (feral cat)is a pain in the proverbial and has cost us alot of money in vets bills!! I cannot seem to get it through the heads of the Cats Protection Society, that this cat needs dealing with!! No one will loan me a trap because I want him put down! Is that cruel of me? I don't think so, for those of you who reguarly read my blog will know that he used to attack Chimarni, my old cat that died the year before last! For the past 4 years every visit to the vet, other than innoculations, has been becuase of this Feral Cat. This time Tango was lucky not to lose his eye, he has puncture wounds to his leg and has to be confined to the house until he can walk properly again (thank goodness its cooler).



The Feral cat is getting really 'cocky' too. I heard the fight at 01.30, shot out of bed as fast as a bad back allows, came down the stairs , switched on the kitchen light, the fight still went on, opened the curtains, the fight still went on, switched on the outside light, the fight still went on. The ginger & white bu*%er only ran off when I opened the door and then only a part way down the patio, so I had to chase him the rest of the way!

Can you tell I'm mad???????

Think calming thoughts, go to the garden.......................................


Bunty & Bree having a dust bath!



Just look how much the tomato plants have grown!



The Gunnera taking off



its like having your own Jurassic Park Plant in the garden owning one of these!

Just to prove there are one or two flowers about....





I can't go without showing you this......



Off to have a calming weekend!! Oh thats not likely I forgot my mothers coming!!!

Finished! Well maybe not!

Its all done and planted, bless my hubby, what a treasure! Just one or two things to go in that have still to come out of the greenhouse, but now we wait for the growing to begin!!!



Tango in his supervisory position, on the warm coal bunkers



More crozier's



these are so much fun to watch, they literally unfurl infront of your eyes!

Just to prove I do other types of gardening, although I believe not very successfully .....................



Sweetcorn just planted, Heritage peas on the right and at the end a new tomato for me Sweet Olive



Sweet peas on the left, chard in the middle and French Beans on the right.



Here we have garlic all around the edge, big bunch of chives, blackcurrant bushes
in the soil closest to you is supposed to be carrots, they've been in for ages and nothing showing, new pack of seeds as well!!! Under the frame I am supposed to have beetroot, spring onion, pick and come again lettuce and radish. I only took the cover off yesterday and the only thing to come up is the radish. I do not have much luck with salad stuffs.



Now this has been emptied of most of its brugmansias, I now have 3 different tomatoes, at the far end peppers. Once the final brugs come out I am putting some aubergine plants in that space.



The small greenhouse is full of brug cuttings and various other seedlings, my cucumbers will go in here as this is the cooler of the two greenhouses.

Finally, my current 'sitting down job' painting the graden furniture


I have a nifty little sander I use. The table top propped up on the right has been teak oiled. I have my coffee and was ready for a session of painting, but when I opened the tin it had gone all manky, so finished my coffee, changed my clothes and off to the shops for some more!!!

Quick Update!

I have not blogged or been blog watching much as having seen a physio I can only sit in certain chairs and in a certain way!!! I 'nearly' had a slipped disc!!! How you 'nearly' have a slipped disc I don't know, and I don't care I'm just glad it hasn't done any serious damage and for once I'm doing as I'm told!!!!!

My hubby is a treasure, I knew I married him for a reason!!!! It is major planting time in the jungle garden, and days count for these type of plants. Plant too late and they don't show themselves to their best before they have to be dug up and brought in.

So last night he arranged, today he plants, under close instruction from me!!




Another pic of my tree fern, unfurling



The advantage to having jungle plants is that planting them out during the summer empties the greenhouse leaving room for tomato plants




I know it doesn't look like it but there is alot of room in there now! Probably fit in about 12 tomato plants!



No not these ones, these I shall sell, I have another huge tray of them, plus the ones I put aside for me in the other greenhouse!

Talking of selling, I have had quite a bit of luck selling my Brugmansias on Ebay I'm now selling a couple of these


Ricinus New Zealand Purple, I grew one similar to this last year which said it should hit 4ft, do you remember



Well this one reckons it should hit 8ft!! I will keep you posted!

and finally before I dash off to stretch my back some more tulips




these where a late planting and are so sweet with there red stripes on the outside and the most beautiful creamy yellow on the inside!

Arising!

Not alot happening in the garden due to my back. It is soooooooooooooo frustrating as it is a major planting time for me!! My mum and B are due to visit in 9 days and I always like to show off my garden when she comes, so poor old hubby will be having the whip cracked at him this weekend!!!

Just something to wet your appetite

7 days ago my tree ferns looked like this
The big one



and the small one



with the warm weather now looks like this




The big one has had plenty of water started waking up and yesterday morning looked like this





Last night



and this morning



Just like me rolling out of bed because of my back, but a far prettier sight!!lol!!!

Warming Up!!!

Well it has warmed up so much that we will let the Rayburn out today. We lit it in October so will have to organise the chimney sweep for this week if possible! I expect 'T' will complain she hates it when it gets cold. I miss it too, but it gets just too hot to keep it in!!!

I went down to let the chickens out, walked back up the garden, put my hand out to open the door and my back went!!! Its a muscle thing I believe, so I lie abit, sit abit, move around a very little bit and take an awful lot of pain killers!!

This has happened at a crucial time of year as alot of my tropicals need to be pulled in and out of the greenhouse to harden off. I need to pot on my tomatoes etc. etc. Plus all the watering!!

I thought I had been good yesterday, as I had to dig out all the old bedding from the chicken run, lime it and put in fresh new bark chippings. I only part filled the bucket and took plenty of rests cos its a long time since I did work as heavy as this and doing it this way took me 3 hours.

Anyway the chickens are happy, with there fresh bedding


the old bedding I use as a mulch on the flower beds


the veg patch is pretty organised, although a bit behind and now will be even more so!!!!


now a view looking back up the garden


All the while my friend, had made himself comfortable in my chair

Now he does this I make a concerted effort to make sure water is available, in large quantities in the greenhouse, just in case he gets shut in, as its not always me that closes the doors!!