General Chat

Does anyone know about Coleus plants? They were my mums favourite so i bought a packet of seeds and now the plants have grown really well. But they are not houseplants so If I now repot into a larger pot and put outside, will they be ok?

Joan, your birth baths sound a good bargain, hope the birds will visit you often. My bluebells that my old landlady gave me have grown well this year. The bulbs originally belonged to her mother down in Oxford many years ago so they are very old but looking lovely.

It turned out to be a great day and I still have washing out which should be nearly dry so shall get it in soon.

oh dear Linda, your poor ears! be glad though you didn't get flooded how, how dreadful for those that did. Cant imagine how they feel.

Right off out to get the washing in and then make me coffee and see what's on the box tonight.

Florence in the hebrides

Florence -
Coleus should be OK outside in the summer, but they're not hardy in the UK, and will have to be brought indoors in the winter.

https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-grow-solenostemon-coleus/

ArgyllGran, oh ty for that info. I didn't realise they wouldn't survive a winter though as I'm sure mum's plants stayed outside all year round. We didn't have a conservatory and cant remember where she put them??

Well in that case, think i shall keep them in the pot they have grown in and bring that in during the cold months as the pot fits on my window sil in the lounge and likes the light.

Morning all.

I did get up much earlier today and then disaster struck. I fell in the shower!!

In the bath we have a non slip mat, the sort that sticks when wet to the floor of the bath. We have a shower overhead which is what I use. as I lifted my right leg over the bath whilst holding on to my cupboard for support( what I normally do as its safer) the mat wasn't stuck and slipped so right leg went one way and my left leg, the bad one slammed into the side of the bath.

I now have a large lump and bruise inside the bend of my knee, the worst possible place. I have never felt pain like it in years and yes it reduced me to tears.

I did mange to carry on and shower and wash hair but was wincing in pain.

I am now dressed and hair is dry and sitting with a hot coffee and lots of sugar as I started to shake. Think the shock set in. I will recover and the lump will subside and a lovely shade of purple will appear later on I'm sure.

I guess I should have checked the mat was stuck before I ventured, but usually it is but daughter isn't here so shower wasn't used before me. In future, I shall now check the mat is secure to avoid any further mishaps. I am very careful in general and can manage but in this instance, think I was rushing too fast!

Anyway, today is very windy ,overcast and not a nice day at all. i know someone going on the ferry to the mainland and really don't envy the choppy crossing at all.

The clothes I ordered arrived yesterday but so much disappointment. The tops just hang, no shape so baggy looking. The trousers are enormous and several inches too long. The red jacket is cheap material and looks awful. So after waiting all this time, I'm back to where I started.

Lets hope if I have time when I'm away to Glasgow. Sparkles or the other shops have something I like.

Not sure I will manage the chores today so for now, i'm sitting reading all the news online.

Florence in the hebrides

Ouch florence that does sound painful. those mats don't always stick, I use one as well.

Will you be able to return the clothes if you washed them?

No I guess not and also they came from a company in China so i would have to pay loads probably to return them. maybe daughter can sell them on her FB for me.

What a fright for you, Florence! Baths and showers can be so slippery.

That's a shame about the clothes, too. I seem to remember that you had trouble returning something to China another time, quite a while ago.
If ordering clothes online, I only order if I know they can be returned easily - ideally free of charge, though that's not always possible.

It's surprising that clothes from China are too big! They often tend to be on the small side.

It's both sunny and cloudy here today. We're expecting rain tonight and tomorrow, but I hope it will stay off long enough for me to cut the grass later this afternoon.

Hello to all.
Florence the result of your accident sounds nasty, i hope it's not too serious.

Well now we have a lovely day here, sunny & much warmer than of late with a bit of a breeze which keeps the heat down a bit.

I have managed outside for a short while, swept the drive, clipped back a small tree thet groaws against the old steading ( now garage) wall.
I have managed to cut back a few more Daffies as well.
I have had to water some of the Primroses I put into the borders last winter & this spring, also the various pots needed a good soaking.

I do have to take regular rests inbetween jobs as my back soon starts aching.
I have come inside now, I have done enough gardening for today, the afternoon film will be on soon so will settle down & watch it with a cuppa.

I hope all is well with everyone.

Joan.

Oh dear Florence, that sounds very painful. I rarely use the bath these days because I hate getting in and out. I do use the shower cubicle every day, so I don’t smell :-D

I pulled some more dead ivy out of the top of the hedge this morning, I should have had a long sleeved top on instead of a t shirt because I have scratched my arms :-(

I also planted some lily bulbs. SIL has ordered quite a few plants from an online site. He signed up for newsletter which tries to encourage him to buy more, but it also gives him special offers. The latest one was thirty lily bulbs for just a pound. The catch was that they had already sprouted so needed planting immediately. Some of them had sprouts about fifteen cms long at a crazy angle to the bulb. He gave half of them to me , so some are in a pot and the rest in the garden. I don’t know if they will survive, but it us worth a shot

Joan, you must have taken my sunshine away lol as we now have rain & gales! But its ok, the sun was made for sharing. My you have been a busy bee and quite right to have wee breaks. Bending in the garden is back breaking for anyone.
Hope there's a good afternoon film on for you to watch.

Im feeling a bit better now and yes the bruising has come out, black and blue with a bit of green, very colourful.

Yes clothes I have ordered in the past from Temu and others have come up small but these trousers and tops were really huge!! I only ordered them as the prices were so good but there we are, thats how it is,

daughter will be back later as she had a hospital appointment shes been waiting for for 4 months but its a buy clinic where she went.

I'm still waiting to hear about my cataract surgery from January, another busy clinic here.

No phone call from Estate Agents yet but still time today to hear something.

Jacket potatoes for tea and ill make some coleslaw and a bowl of salad and that will do us tonight.

Florence in the hebrides

Florence, what a shame your weather has changed.

I feel a bit better for getting some outside jobs done, but my heart isn't really in it !
Life has changed soo much for me now.

We don't have a shower & I am not able to get in & out of the bath so bathing is a pain nowadays, I can't afford to get a shower fitted & to be honest this old cottage wouldn't enjoy the upheavel !!

Linda let's hope your bulbs do take, it's worth a try.
When I was going round the garden today I noticed several new Primroses have appeared in places where I wouldn't put them, obviously self seeded.
I won't be moving them as I like plants that self seed & trying to get them out of the gravel would likely damage them..

Joan.

Morning all.
Another misty, windy and rainy day, no good for washing!

My bruise is awful but thankfully not visible to anyone except me. There is a huge lump and it looks like I burst a blood vessel as it looks like its bleeding under the skin. I am feeling my left shoulder and upper arm aching today as I guess, I strained myself.
However it could have been a lot worse as i could have broken my leg or hip so a lump, a bruise and some pain is minor really.

But some good news. The clothes I ordered I can send back free of charge. Yay :-D :-D
When I went on the site to request a return, it said I get one free return. So as daughter was going to town, I quickly put all the clothes back in the little bags they came in, printed off the returns form and found a thick black refuse bag and packaged it all up securely with half a roll of parcel tape lol

So hopefully refund will be back in my bank account within 7 seven days.

Gentle pottering about today, nothing strenuous anyway.

Hope everyone looking in is well and ok

Florence in the hebrides

Good afternoon.
Florence the lump & bruise on your leg sounds nasty, i do hope it clears up soon & there are no after affects.

A nice dat here so far, no sun but it is bright & warm, no breeze today.
It rained during the night so I needn't have watered various plants or filled up the birdbaths yesterday !!

I was out for the weekly shop this morning,I don't have much to buy now but I still like to cover what I need for a week.
Our daughter got the 2 birdtables for me yesterday,they are really lovely, I have just been placing them in the garden, one at the front & the other at the back so that I can see them when in the L room & kitchen.
The 2 old ones are still ok to use & so I have placed them elsewhere in the garden, I can't see them from the windows but they can be seen if sitting on the garden seats.

My B12 jab is due tomorrow, not looking forward to it but I have to have it, maybe I will get a bravery sticker, lol.

Joan.

Good Afternoon everyone looking in.

It has been lovely weather again so done a bit more in the garden . Moved some of the pots around and sorted out the ones that needed it. Still need to clean some of my ornaments that are looking grubby and a few need touching up with some stone paint. I have quite a lot of ornaments as had some from my late sisters garden one is a large bird bath with a owl on which is very heavy and really nice to look at. I have a lot of dog ones in various sizes as well.
The lilac has been lovely this year and also the lavender , the lavender in the front hasn't flowered yet but it is usually a good show.

Glad you are out in your garden Joan and sounds like you had a good bargain when you went shopping .

Sorry you had such a bad fall Florence hope the lump goes down soon.
Lucky you were able to return the items free of charge that you brought, always a risk when you buy on line from China or anywhere really. I saw a programme a while ago where Gloria Hunniford was speaking about the sites that have a lot of sellers that are copying genuine designers and selling below standard items. Not just clothes but accessories as well. We have to be so careful now.

Take care all
Ginnie

I have bought things from Temu Florence, knowing that they are always going to be cheap Chinese knockoffs . I wouldn’t buy clothes though.

It has been a glorious day here, it got up to twenty one degrees. Our hedging plants arrived this morning, so OH planted a hundred Hawthorn whips this afternoon. Luckily the pathway is in the shade, so it wasn’t too bad. There is an outside tap here, something we have never had before, so we had bought a hosepipe knowing we are going to have to keep the hedge watered. Of course when OH tried to connect it to the tap, it wouldn’t fit. :-( He had to go to Home Base to buy a fitting, but eventually the new hose was working and the hedge was watered. Hopefully most I’ve them will survive

No sun here, just raining all day! I have just had to put on the heating grrrrr but its cold.

Linda, glad yo got your Hawthorn whips but wonder what happened to the others?

Yes I shall only be ordering the crafts stuff from now on, def no clothes!

I managed to do a small basket of ironing earlier but left the bedding as leg was aching, another job for another day.

Glad you are ok JG, you have plenty in your garden to keep you busy by the sounds of it.

Daughter not home until 8.30 so its been a very quiet day, not seen or spoken to anyone. Soaps starting soon. Wish they would wrap up the storyline on Corrie re lauren, its now dragging on far too long!

Well the Hawthorn whips are still in situ and look OK, if a bit droopy. When we first moved into our last house, the now very tall Copper Beech hedge across the front of the garden was just a single line of straggly whips, not doing very well because the previous owners hadn’t watered them. We bought more and made a double row which eventually turned into a lovely hedge, but I digress.
There was a strip of soil inside the hedge, so I bought lots of nice heather plants and put them in there. When I came out the next morning, they had all been carefully dug up and taken away :-|

I am going to have a morning in the greenhouse planting lettuce seeds

Some people are in believable. Bet you’re going to have some interesting walks checking out all the front gardens.

Morning all
Linda, are you saying that one of your new neighbours has stolen your heather plants??? hard to believe that :-S

Well the sun has returned but it is very windy grrrr. There is a mist over the hills too. We have planned to have our evening meal alfresco tomorrow so hoping, the wind dies down as looking forward to it.

I have a bottle of Non alcoholic Pimms, well the equivalent, as not made by Pimms.
But mixed with Sprite in a jug, sliced fruit etc and its a pretty good alternative if you cant drink alcohol. Not cheap at £20 a bottle but that will make several jugs and daughter and & i will only have 1 jug between us anyway so plenty left for another time.
Strawberries and ice cream for desert....oh yummy
:-D

We are not going to use a portable BBQ as the lawn is quite bare and tinder dry even after a couple of rainy days. One spark would set it on fire and it would spread to the neighbours so quickly. So shop bought, chicken wings and drumsticks, veggie grills and sausages cooked in the oven etc.

Making myself so hungry talking about all this food lol

I'm feeling better today and the bruising is fading a bit and the lump has gone down which is good. So i have just managed to vacuum the whole house and behind the 2 sofas with the hose so all dust free now.

So coffee time now and a break before any more chores. better to do a bit, rest and then a bit more as that way, i dont get so tired.

Hope anyone else looking is is having a good day with the sunshine :-D

Florence in the hebrides

Hello.
Oh my it's warm day here, the sun is shining & no breeze, I am not able to do anything too physical in the garden today.

I have had a busy morning I was out for my B12 jab first thing & thankfully it wasn't too sore this time, it was a student nurse that did it & sge was very good.
Daughter & I then went round to the stone mason re the headstone details, looking forward to seeing the finished stone but not the price !!
We did get a price but I have tweaked things a bit so I have likely added to the cost !

We then went to our local B & Q,I was needing some new shed paint,I was very surprised to actually foind the one I wanted in stock & at a "reasonable" price !
And so on getting back home I have made a start on painting 2 of the wooden seats,
there is one more wooden one to do the other 3 seats are metal so I don't have to do them.

I am also going to paint the 3 OLD wooden birdtables (not the new ones) leaving the shed till last.
Next shopping trip is to the local Garden centre. I am looking for a particular Climbing Roses but if they don't have it I am going to get another Bird bath, I have a Gift Voucher to use up that daughter bought me for my birthday.

I am currently taking a breather as my back is aching, it doesn't take much to get a sore back these days.

Joan.