Moan, moan, moan----get it off your chest or have a chat

[David Shaw]

Becoming aware of my ability to mis-type words, usually hitting two keys at once, I have taken to using the 'spell check' facility provided by the forum. Can anyone tell me what a 'fermale' is?? The spell checker was quite happy to accept it!

[David Nicholson]

In Lancashire, David, it might be a blond gentleman

Angie, don't ever think about moving away from home Maybe heating part of your greenhouse for very tender plants, lined out with bubble wrap first, would be more cost effective.

[Michael J Campbell]

David,don't depend too much on the spell check, this will go through it with no problems.

Eye halve a spelling chequer.

I halve a spelling chequer,
It came with my pea sea,
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye cannot sea.

When eye strike a quay, right a word,
I weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar wright
It shows me strait aweigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
I nose bee fore two late
And eye can put the error rite
Its rarely, rarely grate.

I've run this poem threw it
I'm shore your pleased two no,
Its letter perfect in it's weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

[Anthony Darby]

Microsoft Word has a lot to answer for. I regularly get emails with wrong spelling, no punctuation or even capital letters because these are flagged up or even inserted on Word.

[Gail]

I suppose I look at everyones plants on this forum and wonder where I go wrong, but I am only a novice and people on this forum have so much knowledge so I suppose I cant expect to grow plants like they have.
Angie

Angie - these pictures are for your eyes only, don't let anyone else look or I shall probably get drummed out of the forum for cruelty to plants or something...  Just so you know that we are not all experts on this forum I'm posting pics of my lean-to as it is pre spring clean (and actually hasn't had a good spring clean for ?? years!).  The plants inside are not all as dead as they look but I do tend to get irrational obsessions with things like brugmansias which really need cossetting not leaving to take their chance under a leaky and unheated glass roof.  The lean-to is against the dining room French doors and they don't have curtains so it gets the lost heat from the house.  It got down to -4 C in here over the winter (-8 in the garden), normally those few extra degrees and protection from the wind/rain are enough to keep many things going but this winter was cold for so long I've probably gambled and lost with many things....

[Ragged Robin]

Angie, as Gail says, we all are on a learning curve whatever stage we're at or whatever our foibles    So I am really looking forward to seeing some photos of your South African bulbs and Meconopsis when they start to grow and will undoubtedly learn a lot from you as I have never grown either  

[Tony Willis]

Angie

its nice to have a young lady on the forum. Costs are important to me too and I have put a heating cable in a plunge. The plunge is lined at the bottom and sides with polystyrene and I have constructed a box on top which has the sides and top made of bubble wrap.The top is hinged and I only put it down when it is frosty. The thermostat on the cable is set to 5c and rarely comes on. I have two of these and attach pictures.

Elegant not very,effective very.

[angie]

Becoming aware of my ability to mis-type words, usually hitting two keys at once, I have taken to using the 'spell check' facility provided by the forum. Can anyone tell me what a 'fermale' is?? The spell checker was quite happy to accept it!

David
I am not a brainest of people and I have heard that from 50 onwards the brain and body slows down really quickly so I am trying to learn so much now while I can as for spelling here is what happened to me. My late mum and I was so happy when I got a computer we thought we could read and see all the plants that we had and also learn how to look after them, one plant was Xanthorrhoea which I never new how to spell so I said to my mum well its common name is black boy so I put this name into the computer and i think you can guess what came up, my face went so red thankfully it was my mum I was with, we laughed about this for a long time. I am a bit more carerfull now.

Angie

[angie]

Gail
I like your greenhouse and to think that you don't even have to go out in the cold to see if your plants are doing ok. I have been reading your posts and I think that you are more of an expert than you say Gail. I just wish I had got a greenhouse years ago. Thanks for posting pictures of your greenhouse.

Tony
I like the set up that you have. I think this would work for me .Another job on my husband list thanks for taking the time to show me your set up.
I read plenty of books but nothing beats being shown something that works. Like I have said many times before its great that everybody is willing to share there ideas and knowledge, thanks everyone.

Angie

[Darren]

Hi Angie,

As has already been said: 0-1 C is adequate for most South African bulbs. One mistake I made was to buy a cheap fan heater which has a thermostat with a minimum of 6C. This is far higher than needed so I bought an external thermostat to control it at 1C. This unfortunately means the air circulation fan does not run unless the heater is on.

If temporary night frost down to -3C is forecast I will not even switch the heater on, just close the greenhouse up at dusk. The glass will keep out anything this low for a little while at least. The greenhouse is permanently lined with 5cm thick polystyrene on the north side - with mirrors on top to reflect light back in, though the white polystyrene would do a good job of this on it's own. The north side of the roof has permanent bubble plastic The gable ends (east & west) have permanent bubble plastic too. The south side is kept clear to let in as much winter light as possible. If frost below -4 is forecast then I put up bubble plastic here too. Basically you can mummify every part of your greenhouse except the south side.

During the worst of this winter, even at 6am when it was -9 outside, the heater did not run constantly and I have not now switched it on for over a month. Our winter electricity bill arrived last week    but neither of us died of shock. 

Tony's option is a good one. I once had a heater fail at -4 and woke to find the foliage on everything frozen solid (I touched a lachenalia leaf and it snapped!). But everything recovered because the pots and bulbs did not freeze through. A soil warming cable with the extra protection of a blanket over your plants on the colder nights would suit most things. I don't use this option myself because I don't like to freeze when I visit my plants!

Other options I have considered: A thermal screen - basically a horizontal blind pulled across above bench level so you are not heating the roof space. Sounds a fiddle plus I don't like to think of what might happen should it dislodge and cover a fan heater during the night..   There has been a mention on the BCSS forum about air-sourced heat pumps being adapted for greenhouse use and in the long term this may be a good option but the initial capital outlay would be significant. Ground-sourced ones would be better but even more expensive to set up.

Things to bear in mind:  I cannot be sure that plants are unaffected by constant low temps. I am now sure that I don't get viable seed on Gladiolus maculatus because it flowers at Christmas and my temperatures are too low for proper embryo development. Also you must avoid excess moisture if temps are constantly poor - some Moraea especially will rot at the neck given the slightest excuse! A plunged clay pot is best for these. 

Hope this hasn't confused you further and best of luck!

[Anthony Darby]

Becoming aware of my ability to mis-type words, usually hitting two keys at once, I have taken to using the 'spell check' facility provided by the forum. Can anyone tell me what a 'fermale' is?? The spell checker was quite happy to accept it!

David
I am not a brainest of people and I have heard that from 50 onwards the brain and body slows down really quickly so I am trying to learn so much now while I can as for spelling here is what happened to me. My late mum and I was so happy when I got a computer we thought we could read and see all the plants that we had and also learn how to look after them, one plant was Xanthorrhoea which I never new how to spell so I said to my mum well its common name is black boy so I put this name into the computer and i think you can guess what came up, my face went so red thankfully it was my mum I was with, we laughed about this for a long time. I am a bit more carerfull now.

Angie

Angie, I find that I get the letters of words correct, just not in the correct odrer.

[angie]

Hi Darren

Thank you for all this information.  I am glad to hear that your winter bill wasn't to scary for you both.
My husband took a roll of silver sheeting home so for next year I could cover the north wall which is concrete blocks with polystyrene sheeting and then put the silver sheeting on top of this. I did double wrap the roof with bubble sheeting.
I know this has been a really long and cold winter this year and maybe it wont be as bad next year but just in case I will be more prepared for the minus temperatures next time.
I think maybe I am trying to keep the temperature a bit to high for my South African bulbs and sometimes I go into the greenhouse and the fan is on and the temperature is reading 8c, it was set to keep at 5c. I will purchase a external thermostat.
I hope after all this I will get my south African bulbs to flower there would be nothing more disappointing paying to keep them cosy and they don't pay me back by flowering.
Thanks Darren and everyone else for the advice.
Angie

[mark smyth]

Just saw the rant about litter. The school kids gather at the shop across the way before school waiting for the deli counter to open. They buy sausages and sausage rolls. Outside the shop there is a bin and up the steps there is another. First thing they do is take the food out of the bag which gets dropped on the ground. As they make their way towards my house and the path that leads through the estate they drop the wrapper of the food and the polystyrene burger box. Any item can be thrown in to the gardens. I told the headmaster but the b*****d wont come to see the problem.

[tonyg]

Litter - we have much the same problem Mark.  But I guess it goes with the territory and hopefully all the folk passing by makes us a lower risk for break-ins than if we were in a quiet cul-de-sac.  While picking up the litter I also weed, which means the front garden has many fewer weeds than might otherwise be the case  AND I have TWICE found a £10 note while picking up the litter which makes it all the more worth while!

[Lesley Cox]

If you're really bothered by it Mark, gather it up every day for a week or so then deliver it to the headmaster's office at the school.