He surely does.
and Neil........ those Pink building..... NOT a fan here, either.

yeah, me either with the pink walls.............. hot pink at that. but I guess to each their own. The ones who painted it that color must have had some idea what they looking for. I think they missed it though.

Maybe they were trying to contrast heavily with the garden colours?!?!?! They sure did Something heavy handed

Dear ladies, maybe they could have got away with that colour at Chelsea flower show as it is very cosmopolitan but not outside a Historic Royal Palace. It looked horrendous against the walls in the background that were built in the late 1400s, and indeed the cedars which are old as well. There are a lot of people that like pink and purple and my wife is one of them, and I fully except that. But the plants were so lovely that when you got up close the pink walls drowned them out completely, which is such a shame!
Even Sarah my wife when she saw the pictures 'went yuck, that is awful!' It was for a good cause though and raised a lot of money, so at least I can say that about it, but not much else!
I would like to thank you all for reading my Articles, although I do have a different style of writing and doing Articles than anybody else, I keep to the same format. For I wish to show you what I see through my eyes and the camera, which is very similar indeed!
My maples have gone into there autumn/fall colours so I am stocking up for a bad winter. Soup and bread making again. Pies for the neighbours and all sorts of stuff.
Please take care.
Tons of love from a windy and cold England!
Neil
+ Phoenix who is asleep in the bath as it is warmer in there than outside!

I rather enjoy your "chatty" commentary, Neil - it makes it more cozy feeling, like we're actually there, looking at the gardens with you

Dear Susan, I don't know about that as I have been called akin to a photo journalist!
However when I passed my courses at college I was told to take on the Y.T.S. which is the youth training scheme for the unemployed as there teacher had a nervous breakdown. So I had to teach them gardening.
Unfortunately when they got there benefit checks each week they would go missing down the pub for the day, or so I was told. I am ex Army and trained raw recruits so made it very clear that anybody who was late or did not turn up would have their benefit stopped, and I would bounce them. I did not have any trouble from them at all ever. They knew the rules, and they might have given there last teacher a hard time, but not me!
I am more mellow now thank goodness, and a lot of these people I taught have gone on to become good gardeners or working in Garden Centres. I still bump into a few of them occasionally and it is nice to see them doing well.
Regards.
Neil.
p.s. the smell of four homemade bread loaves cooking is immense!

Can't sniff it from here.

nor I here...... but I can smell salsa from the fresh tomato salsa I made tonight! I managed to buy 2 x 25 lb cases of tomatoes for a grand total of $20 for both! I don't have many tomatoes in my garden (1st year, and too small a garden, started too late - mid June......) so I'm really pleased to find a Fruit & Veg wholesaler that I got the 50 lbs of tomatoes from!

Thank you all for reading my Article and I have just had a post from a lady telling me she liked the magenta colour of the walls in the first bit of of it! To me it is shocking pink not magenta!
Susan mid June is a bit late to put tomato's in, to say the least. I start mine in February in my electric propagator, then they sit in the kitchen window where it is sunny. After that depending on the weather they go into the small lean to greenhouse outside then into the grow bags in the garden and ta lot o my allotment. I do the same with the chillies I grow and what you call bell peppers.
Regards.
Neil.

Now Neil I love purple you know that but even a bright bold purple would not have looked any better or worse than that hot pink. Thinking they were trying to take away from the flowers but it didn't work, My eye was drawn right to the plants and paid little attention to the walls. But to say "Yuck"

This year, mid-June was a bit late (normally it's right on time, for the frost) but this year I'd sprained my left knee on April 2nd (just missed April Fools!) and I wasn't able to get down to plant until mid-June. No (before you ask), I don't have the option of planting in raised beds. It's a new garden created this year at our friend's place as we don't have enough room for a garden in the back yard (and it's at a slope so all the watering runs off, out of the yard).
I live in an extremely small home (no basement or 2nd floor) and don't have room to put many plants in the house to start them. I only have the option of planting in pots on our deck (16'x19') and in our friend's yard.
Also, before mid-June, there's no guarantee of no snow or frost. One year we had a blizzard 2 days before the end of May! There was so much snow that tree branches were breaking all over the city! This year however, was perfect weather mid-May and would have been a good year to plant then. If only I hadn't hurt my knee.......

Dear Susan we have had snow in June as well but that is the UK for you! Last February was the worst as it was the coldest winter on record so I am glad I had a stock in with garden produce. For my neighbours are elderly and could not get out in the ice. So as I grow leeks which are extremely hardy, it was a case of making them leek, cheese and ham, with homemade bread, plus other things of course. There is nothing like homemade vegetable soup soup with proper bread to keep you warm. Especially if you have grown the vegetables yourself, then you know where they came from.
I had to go to my mothers today to get some plants she had ordered, only 240 pansies and I have already grown some. What a nightmare pansies everywhere, Well at least they are hardy, for the ice covered them in in February and they still came up beautifully.
Mother had made some shortbread to my grandmas recipe and as usual it was fantastic.
Regards.
Neil.

mmmmmmmm homemade veggie soup and homemade bread - nothing better as comfort food!! If not homemade bread, then it should be the kind with all the nuts/seeds and 100% whole wheat!

Dear Susan, I grow my own mushrooms as well as I love them! All my bread is granary or malt apart form my favourite Parmesan and sun dried tomato's.
We luckily can grow spinach here all year round as well, and that I adore. It is little known fact that if you put some nutmeg in spinach whilst it is cooking it takes the acid out of it, which can sometimes cause the bitter, irony taste.
Adorable stuff and very good for you, especially from your own garden!
Regards.
Neil.

Dearest Neil - hmmmm never thought that about nutmeg - I shall have to try it, as I love spinach and we're planning on having some for dinner tonight! I don't have any from my garden, but I do have swiss chard - will it work for that too, do you think?

Normally on Swiss Chard I use summer savory as that is herb and adds flavour to it and any cabbage or green vegetables. You can also grow winter savory which does the same and is hardy here.
Be careful with nutmeg as it is hallucinogenic and your DH might be reaching for the whisky bottle, or indeed yourself!
I used to grow Swiss Chard, but the rhubarb swamped it, and rhubarb is more important to me.
Regards.
Neil.

NEILMUIR1 said:Be careful with nutmeg as it is hallucinogenic and your DH might be reaching for the whisky bottle, or indeed yourself!
I used to grow Swiss Chard, but the rhubarb swamped it, and rhubarb is more important to me.
Regards.
Neil.

I use nutmeg on apple pies..... hmmmm ya think the church ladies love apple pies because of it?
I love rhubarb too - I have some in the freezer that I should make into pies.....

Dear Susan, the finest rhubarb in the world comes from Yorkshire. It is called pink Champagne rhubarb and what they do is ito put lots of manure in these totally dark massive barns. The Rhubarb then comes up very early as it is 'forced' as we call it in gardening terms. The stems are supposed to actually make a noise as they come up so fast. Although I have never heard them do that, my granddad used to grow it and told me about. Then the BBC did a documentary on it and put a microphone into one of the barns, and it is true they do squeak as they grow. The actual rhubarb stems are quite small but are a light pink like pink Champagne, hence there name.
You do not need any sugar with them as they are so sweet, and the taste of them is incredible in a rhubarb crumble with proper custard!
There is one problem as usual, they are very expensive!
Regards.
Neil.

I bet they would be!!! Been ages since I had rhubarb. i like the tangy taste...

I have the original rhubarb growing in a pot on my deck - comes up every year, and when I have a yard of my own (the home is ours, but the property belongs to the City, and we'd like to move to a yard of our own). A friend gave us some "Strawberry Rhubarb" and it doesn't need sugar either - it's a deep red inside - very tasty. I'm going to mix it with the regular and some strawberries to make a Strawberry Rhubarb pie!