The only dog I've ever owned was a beloved golden retriever and when i saw that Nigel had died, I just sat down and cried. I loved watching him on GW and followed him on Twitter. Sad day.

You remind me of some long ago neighbours. The lady of the house and her son were Chinese and he was learning English. He came home from school and told his parents he had eaten "man get out" peas at lunch.

I never think them as anything else

As gardening is exercise and our allotment is a 5 minute walk/one minute drive away, we intend to go there and take lunch. We can safely spend time there with some hope of staying sane!

I had one like that last year. I gave it every chance but nothing came of it. A blind seedling I believe.

What a fabulous day on the allotment. Arrived and cooked breakfast at 9am and home just as the sun went down. Exhausted but loads done, seen lots of other plot holders, all at a safe distance and sunshine all day.

It makes you believe that things will get better, however long it takes.

I'm using our allotment to social distance and if necessary self isolate. We have individual plot fences and gates so it can easily be done. I retired two weeks ago, what a start to the easy life

I am very concerned that locals find out we have two toilet rolls up there though

I'm very willing to take on a sackful for "composting". I could guarantee I'd recycle them...

Shortly to be dead, I would think!

oldherbaceous wrote:Probably kept the plants warmer....

I do recall that the wool had very good water retention, compared to the other baskets...

Gardeners world had an experiment with a woolly jumper versus regular hanging basket liner a few years back, I think in Titchmarsh days. Wool came out on top for all sorts of reasons.

How beautiful

We always buy ours from Centre Sales Gloves (CSM) at shows like Malvern. Always a special show offer on and always the same guy selling them!

We also got some "pond" gloves from them which are fabulous on wet days as they are waterproof and long so tuck right up your sleeves.

I agree Monika, wool does catch on rough hands. Until I wore gloves I could only knit or do my embroidery because of the state of my hands. I now wear Showa gloves that are like a second skin and I love them.

Happy birthday Peter

Why has Alan posted you an image of someone planting out a cannabis plant?

My husband and I spent half an hour yesterday, in a force 9 gale and horizontal rain (sleet at times) unloading 25 large bags of manure out of our van and onto our allotment compost bins. We were cold. We were wet. We couldn't have been happier.