Gifted seedlings

[Paul Narramore]

Our friend Lindsey has given me a small tray of seedlings - Honesty (Lunaria) and Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens balsamina) a really attractive plant which can, I'm told become a bit of a pest. However it's so nice I'll try it. We used to have self sown Honesty in pink and purple down our lane but it's seems to have gone these days.

Incidentally I stayed with two friends Maggie and Brian in their doll's house of a cottage near Lampeter in Wales last week and I'd never seen so many primroses in their garden. Hundreds of them. What was particularly nice is that over the road from them and their neighbours is a grass bank about 5ft tall in which they've planted over the years a number of primulas and primroses amongst the grass. And that is just what I'm going to do here especially after finding a bucket of shooting daffs which sadly never got planted.:)

After the recent rain, I must pull my finger out and buy a lawn aerator and try to get it in better condition this year.

[carl]

Paul.
Regarding keeping your lawn in condition. I have had two of my customers neighbours last week ask me about the "tufted grass patches" growing in their lawn and what they can do about it. Well of course its Woodrush and two of the causes are lack of feed and compaction.

There is no Woodrush growing in my gardens I am very pleased to say. Which just goes to show the importance of aeration / spiking and feeding has to the health of the lawns.

I know your lawn is a bug bear to you Paul (reading from your prior posts) but you really must get cracking. Come on "Chop ,Chop".;)

[Paul Narramore]

Well Carl not so much a bug bear but in all honesty, I've never followed my own advice as to lawn care. I might scarify but then fail to aerate. I might aerate but not feed. And so on. Actually after my weed & feed efforts last autumn which left scorched 'stripes' across the lawn, it's now looking better than ever. Still some moss in there though.

Last year whilst browsing on this contraption I came across a hand lawn aerator which had about twelve hollow tines. Excellent, I thought, but I failed to make a note of the website address and have since failed to find it.

Our local pub gave me free of charge an old whisky barrel which all but disintegrated once I got it home. Both of the ends had rotted. The other day I made new bottoms out of tongue & groove, cut them into discs, glued and screwed them in place, sawed the barrel in half and now have a pair of usuable half butts.

The same landlady gave me a wooden garden table from the pub garden. Yesterday I undid every (loose) screw, re-glued all of the joints, drilled and fitted No10 x 2 1/2" screws and gave the table a coat of Cuprinol 'Garden Shades' Somerset Green stain. It should last for years now. This is by far the best stuff to use to paint your shed/summer house as it's very dark green and much better than the ghastly orange these garden buildings come in. It also seems to last for years. I've used other Cuprinol fencing stains which was like painting with water and took coats and coats to cover.

But I digress, as usual.

[AnnaDyne]

Our friend Lindsey has given me a small tray of seedlings - ....and Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens balsamina) a really attractive plant which can, I'm told become a bit of a pest. However it's so nice I'll try it. ....Oh Paul, I'm glad you added the latin name as I began to panic at the sight of "Himalayan Balsam".

Here is the RHS page about the wild version, in case anyone doesn't know what an invasive, suppressing plant that is:
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Advice/profiles0705/himalayanbalsam.asp

It appeared on our river bank about ten years ago but we cleared it over a couple of seasons by pulling it out early. You have to avoid it once the seed pods form because they explode at the slightest touch and scatter.