Tag Archives: clematis montana

Lidl and soul

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We made a nice purchase from the centre aisle of Lidl this week, another Clematis Montana (Cheers to Nancy B for the original recommendation a couple of years ago). It went in yesterday with a good bit of water. Let’s hope it can stand the weather over Monday and Tuesday next week where it may be down to minus 1! It would be very nice to think that the variety was named after the great Vincent Montana too, you never know.

And talking of of soul and good vibes KSOL “The sound of sunshine and soul on shortwave” takes to the airwaves in a couple of weeks time on 9670 kHz at 1500 UTC (2pm UK time) on Sunday April 18th and repeated on April 25th 2021. There’s a mix by One Deck Pete called “A bit of sunshine and soul” which’ll feature tunes by Jackie Lee & Delores Hall, Cat Stevens, George McCrae, Carl Bean and Love Unlimited. Tune in for some so(u)lar warmth and after next week we reckon we’ll be needing some! #soulonshortwave #shortwavesnotdead

The lockdown lunacy has kicked in already

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During lockdown, things get you down a lot easier than normal and the cabin fever sets in hard at times but a walk down the garden gives us a bit of respite from that.

Our new thing is why wait until you got a dishful of teabags to bring down the compost heap at once when you can bring each tea bag down separately. Is lockdown finally making us lose our marbles? Or is it making us go out and appreciate the garden more?

On our single-tea-bag-compost-bin-trips we’ve seen a few things that have cheered us up:
(Top) The broad bean seedling we pulled up by accident the other week and hastily replanted into one of the raised beds is now flowering.
(Below) The clematis montana on its way flowering-wise with an old clock dumped beside it for no reason than to hide a housebrick coming through from next door.
(Lower) The lone anemone in the pot near the house that makes us smile! #lockdownlunacy #gardeningduringlockdown

Do we still have to put our bins out during lockdown?

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The last couple of days have been cold but a few quick trips down the garden have been in order for a nice bit of sanity from a self-isolating worldview. A big shout to our good friend Nancy B who a short while back, suggested we get a Clematis Montana for the back fence. It’s now woken up and is starting to show a few flowers. The plant will be getting some of that comfrey feed when it’s ready!

Thanks to Thompson & Morgan (and Shannon’s and all the other plant and seed sellers of the world who are working flat out keeping gardeners supplied!) for sending us an order which included some Peas (Jumbo) and Lettuce (Little Gem) that have gone in one of our “Blue Peter” style, cut-price budget cold frames.

Earlier this year we mentioned we were going the “rest” the back bed and fill it with some wild flower mix. That idea’s gone out of the window now as we stuck in a row of peas behind the spuds we put in the other week. Best laid plans and all that!

But the question on everyone’s lips here is something we heard a passer-by the other day say into his mobile whilst on his daily exercise regime “Do we still have to put our bins out during lockdown?”

Good companions?

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Wow! It clocked nearly 19 degrees here in London today and what a pleasure it was to be back out in the garden! The newly transplanted silver birch (originally found in a carrier bag in the street two years ago post here) is now surrounded by a circle of broad bean seedings (masterpiece green). Cleverly inspired companion planting or just plain daftness?

Weeds were taken out and beds tidied up with a hoe. The grass was cut, some seeds were sowed: a row of white borage and some night scented stock. Whether they’ll take as you never know what the weather will bring over the next few weeks but it’s worth a chance.

Thanks to our good friend Nancy B for recommending the lovely clematis montana to go against the grey fence (this fine specimen was bought from Shannon’s last year) which is now making a bit of a growth spurt complete with flower buds! There was plenty of splashing around of comfrey liquid around all of the garden too so all of the plants could get a spring feed before the gardening season properly kicks off.

And indoors there’s a few varieties of tomato seedlings on the kitchen windowsill suprisingly not as leggy as they’ll usually be if we’d have sowed them at xmas which is customarily for us here at Weeds. Here’s hoping they grow up strong!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv7-vi5yao4

The big question is though, will the sun be out tomorrow? And do remember to adjust those clocks tonight.