Armchair gardening – Flighty's plot

Happy reading!

Last Sunday I was very kindly given a pristine, signed copy of Geoff Hamilton’s Radio Times Gardening Year, a 192 page hardback published in 1994.

It’s a book I’ve not read and certainly look forward to doing so as he always was a down-to-earth gardener I admired, unlike some of the present day so-called gardening celebrities.

I really must sort out my modest (ahem!) collection of books which are mostly second-hand paperbacks along with plenty of gardening books and assorted others.

It’s mainly thanks to mum that I’ve always been an avid reader, and on rainy days she would often find me in the front room on the sofa reading a Biggles book, hence the name Sofaflyer. One of my few very early memories is going to the library every week with her even before I started primary school. Now 75 years on I still regularly walk to the local library.

For a couple of years just before I fully retired I worked part-time in a small local bookshop doing some regular hours and covering for the others when need be.

Have a good weekend, take care and happy reading!

Good for pots

Whilst armchair gardening early last week, browsing through various catalogues I noticed a plant that I hadn’t come across before which I liked the look and sound of. It’s Arenaria montana Avalanche (Mountain Daisy) which has white flowers, only grows to 6 in / 15 cm, is an RHS Award of Garden Merit winner and is good for pots.

I looked at pictures of this plant on the web and seeing this one I thought that it look good in a pot on the windowsill.

Searching further I was pleased to see that Plant Genesis list it so I ordered a packet. Receiving it a couple of days later I found that the seed count was generous, 30 rather than 20, along with sensible packing and reasonable postage. I’ve bought from this small Cornwall based seed supplier before and I certainly recommend them.

Have a good week, and take care!

Chiltern Seeds

I normally receive copies of the new Chiltern Seeds main catalogue and veg book between Christmas and New Year but didn’t this year. I still hadn’t by last week so presumed that they had got lost in the post. I contacted Chiltern Seeds and they kindly sent me replacement copies which I received on Monday. Needless to say I then spent much of the day armchair gardening browsing through them.

I always find plenty of seeds I’d like to buy but common sense prevails and I only buy the ones I really need. I’ll let you know what once I’ve properly read them.

It’s been another mostly dismal and wet week apart from Tuesday when I not only looked round the plot but actually did some plotting for an hour or two. I’ll tell you what I did in my next post on Sunday.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

It was even…

colder last week with the feels like daytime temperature staying several degrees below 0 C / 32 F. Although mostly sunny there was a bitterly cold northerly wind at times. Thankfully there was no snow but the hard frosts lingered all day in the shade.

I’ve only been to the plot a couple of times, once early in the week and yesterday after lunch, to take a quick look round. The ice was thick on both ponds, which I broke up and removed before refilling them.

I was pleased to see the robin appear briefly yesterday, and that the English Daisy is continuing to flower.

At home there are still a couple of flowers on aptly named Iceberg rose outside the living room windows. This picture was taken last Tuesday.

One morning I looked out the kitchen window and was delighted to see a Grey Wagtail bobbing about on the back service road. I often see the black and white Pied Wagtails on the pavements by the local shops but don’t recollect having seen one of these before.

It looks like getting slightly warmer, but overcast, towards the end of the coming week. Meanwhile I’ll be mostly armchair gardening or sofa flying.

Have a good week and take care!

It’s been cold

I hope that everyone had a good Christmas and enjoyed themselves. Mine was very quite and I mostly spent it indoors reading, drinking tea and eating biscuits. I only went to the plot a couple of times for a brief look round and certainly didn’t linger.

Following my recent post Plot and windowsill, about tomatoes fellow blogger Sharon, My Slice of Life, very kindly offered to send me some dwarf Red Robin seeds which she had saved. I received them a few days later along with this lovely, and very appropriate, card.

I look forward to growing this variety along with the dwarf yellow Aztek that I mentioned in the post.

The weather next week looks like being much the same as it has been, except not quite as cold or windy as it has been. I’ll probably take a look round the plot some days but doubt if I’ll be doing much, if any, plotting.

Have a good week, take care and I’ll see you all next year!

(Please note that my next post will be on Sunday 4th January)

Mostly armchair gardening

The weather so far this month has been rather unsettled with plenty of rain so it’s not surprising that I’ve only been to the plot once, after lunch yesterday, since last Friday. Meantime I’ve been mostly armchair gardening browsing through some of the 20 plus gardening books I have. One I’m going to read properly is The Small Garden by C.E.Lucas Phillips, which is a 400 page paperback first published in 1952. The edition I have, revised by the author, was published in 1956. Mum was a passionate gardener and had numerous gardening books, so I’m sure that a copy would have been on her bookshelf.

I took this photo of a rose Iceberg outside my living room window this morning, and it looks the same as the one I took a week ago. The photo on the right is a view of it from indoors.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

On the windowsill, October 2025

Further to last month’s post I’ve been thinking about the two Gazania Talent Yellow plants and will probably replant the larger one (on the left below) in the plot stone feature next spring.

The other one I’ll repot to keep at home, and also start another one or two off at home.

The Common Nipplewort has been flowering continously for several weeks but the tiny, pale yellow flowers are really rather insignificent. I also mentioned in the last post that the leaves were starting to die back but so far have done so very slowly and I’ve only had to remove a couple from the plant so far.

I’ve been wondering what to grow next year and will include sunflower BigSmile, pot marigold Fruit Twist and tomato, all of which are dwarf varieties.

The past two days I’ve stayed indoors, mostly armchair gardening, as it rained all day on Friday and yesterday, although sunny, was chilly and very windy, gusting to around 50 mph at times. Thankfully all was okay when I looked round the plot this morning.

Have a good week, and take care!

Thank goodness…

for the roses, which after their initial flush back in May are flowering again. At the plot there’s the rose Pretty Lady

whilst out the front at home are the red, yellow and

white Iceberg ones.

I’ve not been to the plot since Thursday, and won’t be going there until tomorrow after lunch or Tuesday morning. It’s another dull day here with rain due later this morning, which will be welcome.

Have a good week, and take care!

Also out front

It’s been another cold, damp and dull week, and so far my only visit to the plot was yesterday morning when I took a quick look round. It’s still soggy and the only thing that I noticed was that some of the rhubarb stems are just starting to appear above ground.

The three buds on the yellow rose out front at home are still trying to grow and open, with this one being the best of them.

Also out front,nestling by the roses, is this Skimmia japonica Rubella (I think) which has been providing some colour and interest recently.

Have a good weekend, take care and keep warm!

Checking and counting

Some years ago I bought some seeds from a major supplier which included two packets where the seed count was considerably less than stated and one other packet where the seed quality was really poor. I then had further problems getting a refund rather than replacements.

Since then I generally check and count most seeds I buy, and I’m happy to say that with very few exceptions they’ve all been okay. I tend to buy from smaller suppliers or occasionally use Ebay if I only want a single packet and look for free postage, as that can cost more than the seeds nowadays.

A couple of months ago I bought a packet of carrot seeds which on opening I immediately guessed contained a lot less than the stated quantity. I was right as there were less than 700 rather than 1500. In contrast I’ve just bought two packets of seeds of a particular flower elsewhere which each contained well over 250 rather than 200.

I’ve now bought all the seeds I need for this year so, thankfully, I won’t have to do any further checking and counting for a while.

Today’s archive picture is from July 2018 and shows a common blue butterfly on a white Candytuft Fairy mix flower.

Have a good weekend, take care and keep warm!