Relapse! Coping, Symptoms and Tips.

[Darksky]

Well she did say if my back got significantly worse I could get the doctor to hurry it along. But it’s not done that thank God. But yes, just sit back and wait…and wait. There was talk about scans being sent to Australia for their radiologists to look at them to speed things up. How come they have plenty and we don’t? Although I did hear that a lot of our trained doctors are going to work there anyway. Less stress and better working hours etc. I can see that as a good idea for the individual but it becomes part of the problem here. I don’t know what the answer is and I’m damn sure the politicians don’t either.

Spring flowers. Well apart from numerous clumps of snowdrops, I have primroses arriving in quantity and the daffodils are all up some with buds not far off opening. The wild garlic…and you know how I ‘love’ that stuff, is forming a carpet in the woods.

I buy those bunches of daffodils that the supermarkets sell for £1. They make a cheery vase in the kitchen. I used to buy a bunch a week for my mother and she, without fail told me off, saying they should be left to grow naturally. As if I was nipping to the local park and cutting them by moonlight. She could see the point eventually, that they are grown commercially and better they bloom on her window sill than shrivel and die in the boxes. Stumped on that one, she then resorted to telling me every week that I was wasting my money.
You could never win with her, contrary was her middle name. It’s also mine….apparently.

[Carnation]

I buy those £1 bunches of daffs too.
Tulips flop and it irritates me so I don't bother with them.
My favourite is narcissus, they smell gorgeous.
Nothing up in my back garden yet. I've got pots of potted daffs that will eventually be planted in the ground,

Darksky, we all know how the NHS is broken.
We pay in to all our working life and it's worse than ever.

[YoullNeverWalkAlone]

Nothing coming up in my garden either yet, but it looks like the frost as killed two of my lavender plants, I hoping they will make a recovery when it gets warmer cause they were only newly planted last summer but after looking at them I'm not holding my breath....

Your right the NHS is broken....Gp's have gone ridiculous and heard yesterday to get an NHS dentist could take 10 years on the waiting list....so we're is all out NI money going to ......

[Carnation]

Lavender is hardy YNWA. You'll be surprised how it can pick up.

I've given up with Dentists...
All they seem to be interested in is making big money and with only the 'Private' option available now your talking big money. Saying that, my Dentist was private (no other option) and they have a waiting list. I've always used the old remedy of a warm salt water swirl in the mouth and spit out for any infection or pain.

Talking of pain..
I have pain around my eye today. The aftermath of an ocular aura. This happened after midnight (stayed up to watch a film), went to bed and boom, there it was. As always, 20 minutes of kaleidoscope patterns and distorted vision, then the pain came around the eye. I don't always get pain after but this time I did. After 8 hours of sleep, still there but manageable.

Going back to flowers and the garden...
I can't help wondering if your Lily of the Valley has made a show Darksky? Do you know, it's so rare I never see it around people's gardens. Such a pretty little plant.
I bought some wallflowers the other day, a few days before we got the strong winds and below freezing weather. They seemed to have survived. They are one of my favourites. I'm excited about my garden this year, having a blank canvas. I planted a few things when we arrived in October.... A couple of tea roses, hot lips, a lavender bush, hydrangea, lupins. and a magnolia tree. Still got plants in pots.... Clematis, jasmine, agapanthus, Geraniums, mind your own business (yes, that is a plant) and of course, my carnations.
Oh, and nextdoor have provided me with passion flower and honeysuckle with the overhang.

[Darksky]

I bought a few wallflowers plants in the autumn myself. Then the slugs came I waged war against them but I think they won, damn them. I started off environmentally friendly in case I got told off by Monty Fishman, with crushed egg shells. They didn’t work. So I got some copper tape and put round them. This only works on pots imo. Then salt…. Anyway I was on the point of slug pellets when I remembered my eldest’s puppy is at the eat anything stage. So I gave up, I think they have won.

Nothing yet from the LOTV. After the show of leaves last year I was hopeful but Mr.D removed his rhubarb from the same pot. I fear he may have disturbed the temperamental little devil but we will see.

Honeysuckle is lovely. Keep training it over your side.

[YoullNeverWalkAlone]

I hope they come back Carnation, they were a different variety of lavender and looked pretty but they don't look very healthy, in fact they look dead...
My ordinary lavender looks ok....
Slugs are a pain in the backside, you spend pounds on plants only for the little buggers to feast on them..
Must admit I do use slug pellets.... can't stand the little blighters.....

[fishman65]

Snowdrops up here, daffs and crocus showing leaves. Have gone through my seed box, chucked out the past sow-by dates.

Guys, I'll say it again. Dig a small pond to encourage frogs into your gardens. And when I say small, it really can be something like 2ft x 2ft and 12 inches deep. That's enough for frogs to spawn. Before our pond I remember going outside in the evening and picking up masses of slugs and snails. Now with the frogs, we do get some molluscs but nowhere near the amount we once did.

It's simply restoring a balance that was lost through habitat loss/chemical use. You know it makes sense.

Slug pellets contain metaldehyde. Highly toxic. My brother worked for Anglian Water and he said they can't get metaldehyde out of tap water, it's there for good.

[Darksky]

Ok but here my question. So if you put in a small container in the garden as a pond. What’s stopping it going stagnant?

[fishman65]

You would get an algae bloom first Darksky. The algae would feed off the nutrients in the water. Some garden soil would kick start the pond’s ecosystem, helped by some native pond plants like hornwort. You could also add a water lily depending on the pond’s size.

They take very little maintenance if any at all. Once it’s established it looks after itself. It’s a win win. You know it makes sense

[Carnation]

Darksky, I'm lucky because the honeysuckle has rerooted in my garden. One of the first things I did was bang a few nails in the fence to trail it in the direction I wanted. It's near the bins so nice perfume for those hot smelly months. We're shortly going in to 3 week collections which is a bit concerning.
You never know with plants whether they'll make it or not and a good example was a chrysanthemum I planted outside after having it indoors it wasn't doing so well. Nothing happened, it just sort of disappeared. Then last year (4 years later), there it was in full bloom, about a foot high, healthy and producing more and more flowers.
Si don't give up on your lavender YNWA, it may appear dead but if it doesn't pull through this year it might at some stage.sl Same with your LOTV darksky.
Slugs are so irritating and can get to the most isolated areas, munching their way into your most prized Blooms.
I agree, copper tape works well on pots and saves my crop of beans. But the bedding plants gets it. They love Marigolds so some people plant them as a distraction from their other plants but in my experience they eat them as a starter then go on to other plants for dinner and pud. So greedy. They also climb brickwork, can suck themselves on to any surface. So I tend to go for stuff they don't like and they can bugger off somewhere else.
I left behind my array of snowdrops, bluebells, crocuses and forget - me - nots. Although still natural meadow land, there is definitely no sign of anything like that. Dandelions in abundance when we viewed the house. It will be interesting deciding what to plant and I'll have to watch the pocket because I can get carried away. Lol.
Fishman, you know we respect your gardening knowledge but my question is. ... Why would frogs just suddenly appear out of nowhere to a 2ft area of water? I'm curious.