Garden waterlogged again

This photo will show just how big my garden is. It does go to where the trees are.

I thought I might take another photo of these geraniums, it does show better the size of them. Last year I did buy some ready plants. They were so small and didn't flower at all until late August. Hopefully these will do a lot better

These are Auricular an alpine plant that really don't like wet weather, something that I get plenty of here. In fact with the recent heavy rains my garden has been waterlogged. It has never really recovered from last summer when along this small area of coastline we had about 4" of rain in 24 hours while the rest of the Country was basking in sunshine. Even today we had some torrential downpours together with a few claps of thunder. Tomorrow does talk of it being warmer and somewhat drier. More soon.

Mixed

The weather over the May Bank Holiday was mixed. Sunday was a cold windy and wet, well until late afternoon anyway. The Bank Holiday Monday was much better also much warmer too. The sun shone for much of the morning although it did turn hazy around 2.00pm and gradually got much cloudier. Overnight the rain came down in torrents. This morning it had just about finished but my garden had puddles all over. It was a little muggy to start with but gradually it brightened up a little and the wind began to blow. It eventually blew the clouds away although we had a couple of light showers but with the wind getting to be more or less gale force it helped dry the ground a little.
 Yesterday morning the young Man from next door called so we went round and set the tomato plants in the greenhouse. I have only given them a couple this year as last year they ran riot. The young Man asked me to show him how to take the side shoots out.
The pictures shown are first the geraniums I set from seed, they are much better than the ones I bought last year as plants. They arrived about 3 weeks later than this and they were 25% the size of these I have now.
 The other picture shows my Narcissus flowers. I think they are called honesty. They have a very pleasant scent and flower about 3 weeks later than the daffodils.
 I have also taken a few shots of the Auricular plants I have in my garden. I intend to give some to my Best Pal's Wife. She did get me some Munstead Lavender plants for me a few weeks ago.
 Finally for now I must mention this. My American friend is travelling to South Carolina, a distance of around 650 miles and he is nearly as old as I am.
 It makes me wonder if I am alright? I get absolutely worn out travelling to my Sister's in Grantham, a round trip of about 120 miles. I go there do some shopping call at my Sister's have a cup of coffee and a chat then off back home. I try to get back before 1.00pm. Incidentally I leave to go there about 7.30am. I guess I am getting old. More soon.
P.S. Don't look to carefully at the camera angle. I know I am useless at taking photos.

Cool weather

Last year I took out the Leylandi trees  dug up some of the smaller stumps out and set some daffodils. Unfortunately by the time I managed to get this new camera, the flowers have all but done. It does give you some idea of how nice it did look. I did this primarily to make life easier for me. No more cutting or trimming the Leylandi which seem to grow as you look at them, anyway hopefully life will be a little easier from now.
  The fruit trees had a disease called Apple Scab, the fruit were not good, in fact my apples called Sunset didn't last till Christmas, my Bramley  apples were also poor quality, mind you I mustn't grumble really as I have, this last week used the last apple. I am now starting to spray each 14 days to try to rid them of this disease. I hope that it improves the quality of fruit a little.
 By the way you can't help but notice the fence, it is next door's responsibility. The Young Man said he would do it, that was last year. To be honest I don't expect to see it done in my lifetime. I no longer give him any fruit.
 The other week I cut down my Oulin's Golden Gage plum tree. It has never produced much fruit and last year it had about 10 on but when I went to cover them up the Blackbirds had eaten them so it is no more. Incidentally it was one of the most expensive trees I had ever bought. Well over £40 not including delivery. .
 Incidentally the camera I have now is a Nikon Coolpix, plenty good enough for me to use. More soon.

Surprise

Thank goodness, after all this time I am now able to post some photos, mainly thanks to my mate who managed to get hold of it for me and by setting it up.
 On Monday evening I asked him to get it from Curry's in Skegness which he did so this morning I went over to pick him up as arranged some time ago to give him respite so that he could have a chat and rest. Mind you we didn't get much rest for as you can see with the last photo we, mainly him by the way, managed to get the driveway gates removed. They were becoming unhinged and really not safe. I knew he would have a better idea than I had, this of course was true. He suggested that we disconnected the bolts and hinges, he intends to get some welding done from a Blacksmith he knows. His idea will make them much more secure. Hopefully I will take a photo to show what they will be when in situ.
 Anyway back to this morning. I left home around 7.45am. mainly because he had informed me that there were road works on the main A52 on the outskirts of Skegness. Although there were I had one of the smoothest of journeys and the traffic was very light.
 I arrived at his Partner's home before 8.15am. saying that I would try to get there by 8.30am. I didn't bother to go and call on him so waited. After  a few minutes he came out saying his Partner had told him a red car was outside. Off we went to Morrison's then to Tesco, after that Home Bargains and finally to Wilco.
  We then made our way to mine, the traffic being good so we made good time to mine. We had a cuppa and after he sorted out the camera we went and did the gates.
 We had our main meal and had another cuppa then off back to Skegness. He asked me if it was possible to stop off at a shop to purchase some onions. That indeed was no problem for me, by the way I forgot to tell you that he gave me a small cucumber plant which I have set in my greenhouse. I hope that it will grow well, it certainly looks healthy enough. Anyway I took him back to his Partner's home and set off for home.
 Once more the traffic was light so had a smooth journey home, incidentally I did notice that the progress made on the road works mainly resurfacing was surprising and I expect the road to be fully open for the Bank Holiday week end.
I find it increasingly hard to go all day without a break, I am tired out although have done no manual work at all.  Still we carry on.
Finally for now, the top 2 photos show my garden still in some sort of bloom, not quite as good as it was but does show the colours of the flowers  mainly polyanthus. More soon.

Improvement

With regards to my hand there has been some improvement, so much so that yesterday I decided to write again on my blog. This was not to be.
 I went or should I really say, I tried to go online yesterday sometime before 5.00pm. I could at once see I had no Internet connection. As I have had problems, quite a few in fact, I knew the obvious things to try before contacting my ISP. I did all of the things I would be told to do so I called them. There was a delay of 15 minutes the automated call informed me. After a few minutes I thought about my filter, although it was almost new I decided to change it for a brand new one.
 In doing this I had to disconnect so of course when I called them once more I again had to wait about 15 minutes.
 Eventually I was in touch with a Guy from Technical Services. Before he had chance to tell me what to do I informed him what I had done. He then told me that I had lost connection about 12.45pm. that day and they had no contact with my router. He asked me the usual questions about loose connections then asked me what my router was showing. It confirmed that there was no connection to the Internet so he asked me where the connection was I told him it was from a B.T point so he asked me if I could unscrew the cover. Now remember I have a bad hand, my right hand as it happens. My eyesight is very poor and I told him I would have to get my magnifying glass to assist me with what I was doing. Before that he asked me if I had a mobile phone because when I took the front cover off I would lose my telephone connection. I told him that I had a mobile but rarely used it. I turned it on and found I had a text message. I gave him my number and he rung me. I then proceeded to take to front cover off, with some sort of difficulty may I add but eventually I managed it. To me there was nothing there at all but when the Guy told me that there was another connection there. I must admit I hadn't noticed it but when he told me this I could see it and connected the router and computer, telephone connection etc. so we once more had the connection. I tried to see if my telephone was working, it was but the Guy asked me to hold on for a few minutes so that he could check to see what was happening. After a minute or so he let me know that there was no improvement and he would now contact Open Reach so as to make an appointment.
 It didn't take long for he was soon back talking to me saying that tomorrow morning between 8.00am. and 1.00pm. someone would be at my home to sort it out. He finally warned me that if B.T. found it was my fault there would be a call out charge of £50 +VAT.
 This morning soon after 8.00am. I had a phone call from Open Reach, he asked me a few questions then said to me that he was going to do a few tests and would than make his way to mine.
 Around 9.20am. I saw his van pull onto my drive. We passed pleasantries then he told me that the fault was not at my end but at the Exchange and he had already fixed the problem.
 He went on to explain how he was so quick. A colleague had the day before a call from a customer from my Village informing them that he had no connection so when I received the call from my Provider he immediately went to check and found that there was a fault at the exchange.
 He checked out the system thoroughly and then went and checked my Broadband speed. He finally used my telephone and informed me that all was once again perfect. He asked me if I would sign with my finger to say that he had arrived at the prescribed time and that he had completed the task to my satisfaction. I used my finger nail first but he told me to use my finger to sign. Mind you it was nothing like my signature but I was well satisfied with what he had done also he was efficient.
 He left me about 25 minutes later saying he had another job to go to.
 Finally for now, last night, because I had not sent my mate an e-mail he phoned me up. I was pleased he had because I told him I had no Internet connection but we made arrangements for me to go and pick him up on Wednesday. I did send him a short e-mail earlier today letting him know that I was once more online. More soon.

Hand injury

Last Friday around 4.00pm. I went up the garden carrying a couple of tools. Climbing over a small fence I suddenly felt a sharp acute pain of my right hand which was holding on to the rail for my balance is not so good. I naturally thought the initial pain would go but it didn't. It seemed as I had dislocated a finger because what  could see when I tried to see was the bone lifting but when I shoved it back the pain was not too bad.
 Needless to say the swelling got worse so I decided to get a bandage that I was given several years ago to hold in some varicose veins I have. This certainly helped and over the week end I gave it complete rest.
 Yesterday I tried to do some work but the discomfort was there so I had no alternative than to e-mail my mate informing him that it was not possible for me to go and pick him up, bring him to mine, then take hi back later after giving him a meal. I knew that it was impossible for me to drive well over 50 miles just to give him a break and a meal. With a bit of luck, next week will see me able to bring him here for a break.
 I had a call from him a few hours later checking to see if I was O.K. I told him  that it was not easy living alone and having the use of one hand only but I had no intention of going to the local Surgery just in case they sent me to Hospital. I was dreading having my hand in plaster of Paris.
 Today though, once more I have seen some improvement although my Postman friend had a look and informed me it was swollen but the pain is not there as long as I am careful and don't use it much. I went to see him as I hadn't seen him for a while. He told me that this morning there was a sharp frost, white all over at 6.00am. I told him I was up soon after 7.00am. and the frost had gone. Today though has been the warmest day so far although the breeze off the sea took the edge off the warm weather. Tomorrow is forecast to be mainly dull along the East Coast and it is expected to be cool. Nothing new there then as the Easterly wind is always cool along this Coast. More soon, hopefully.

Most unusual.

This time of day is most unusual for me to write here but today is somewhat different.
 My Best Pal called yesterday and bought me 3 Munstead Lavender plants. He also gave me the news that the Hardstoft Pink Lavender that his Wife, Daughter and Relatives had all died. This didn't surprise me for I had taken 3 cuttings a few years earlier and it looks as if all those too have died. They were called Hardstoft because his Daughter had a Herb Garden there. Incidentally she had appeared on T.V. with the late Geoff Hamilton on the BBC gardening programme.
 I had given his Wife a couple of names of Lavender I wished, the other being Hidcote, a more delicate Lavender which I do believe Gertrude Jekyll cultivated. I had seen a few plants for sale for at least £7.99p. each but yesterday morning I received the latest offers from a Mail Order Company which incidentally has a few Garden Centres also. On one of the pages were Hi9dcote Lavender 6 for £6.99p. Needless to say I have written my order so that I can post it on Tuesday when I go to Town. I also ordered some old fashioned Daffodils called King Alfred. They are the large trumpet variety. I told my Pal and he drooled over the thought, I guess we are growing old quicker than we realise.
 We had a turn round the garden, he noticed that I had lost many plants but commented on the Polyanthus, the variety of colours and just how many I had. He told me my Broad Beans looked good and in the polytunnel my New Potatoes are coming on nicely. I have 2 sorts this year, Foremost and my usual Arran Pilot. We had a quick look in the greenhouse and I showed him my Geraniums, some that I kept in there from last year and this years that I grew from seed. They definitely look much better than the one's I bought last year. He also noticed that I had set my Tomato plants, they are small but I think they will be O.K. now that is well into April. I did show him a couple of tubs of Potatoes I set in early February. They look good but if previous years are anything to go by, the yield is not as good as the tops suggest. Still we live in hopes.
 This morning I planted out my Lavender and also potted up a few Primula Auricula plants for his Wife, I hope they take because they are a pretty Polyanthus type of border plant, the leaves being nothing like Polyanthus. They are waxy and the roots are hard to describe but the easiest way to explain is that they are like fibrous roots of a young tree. Incidentally I have had them in my garden for several years. To be honest I haven't taken particular care of them, they don't like it to be too wet. Something that they have had plenty of here. More soon.