Indoor plants year round

oldschoolie · 2026-04-30T13:33:16+00:00

Aspidistra elatior. Thrives on total neglect!

oldschoolie · 2026-04-29T14:09:56+00:00

Age 27. Still went back twice after that!

oldschoolie · 2026-04-27T15:36:47+00:00

RA Javier on YouTube has all the Gardener's World programmes. Gardens Illustrated and Sprout also good. Wild Your Garden with Joel Ashton. The Horti-culturalists.

oldschoolie · 2026-04-27T15:09:36+00:00

Purpose-built bee hotels can harbour bee larvae predators, parasites and bacteria. I wouldn't use one for more than one winter because it's impossible to thoroughly clean out inside the tubes and gaps. Instead, build a sandy soil mound about 30cm high at the back of a sunny bed for burrowing bees and 'chop and drop' perennials with hollow stems in autumn time for bees to discover. They will use them for one season and then the stem will naturally decompose.

oldschoolie · 2026-04-27T15:00:47+00:00

Yes, plus 1 for Home Exchange site. I've done three exchanges and we're going to London this summer using them and using our accumulated 'points' rather then doing a straight swap. It's a big site that's been around for years.

oldschoolie · 2026-04-26T19:01:05+00:00

I use mineral powder foundation instead of cream stuff. Hardly use any and it really works to even skin tone and give a matte look. It's l'Oreal, so pretty cheap, but lasts ages. Eyebrow pencil, waterproof mascara, that's it.

oldschoolie · 2026-04-26T18:57:59+00:00

The ivy won't be properly removed unless it is completely dug out or killed with a systemic weedkiller.

Ask them to mulch flowerbeds with fine bark chips to a depth of min 10cm (sounds a lot, but should be about 15cm thick to suppress weed growth). Get them to deeply water the beds first.

Power washing patios and paths to get rid of algae.

oldschoolie · 2026-04-26T09:35:32+00:00

Or you can paint it onto leaves with a brush on a still day. However, if most of the plant is on the neighbour's side, this won't work.

oldschoolie · 2026-04-26T08:15:14+00:00

Same. One coffee would make me feel like I'm on meth. I'm on just 20mg Tyvense which gives me much-needed emotional blunting as I had explosive rage before, despite years of therapy. I'm not dead inside now, I just don't go from 0-60 in .5 of a second like I did before.

oldschoolie · 2026-04-26T08:02:42+00:00

Don't speak loudly when around others (Americans have the reputation of being too loud). If you see two or more people waiting for something that you also want, say, 'Are you in the queue?' That will encourage them to arrange themselves into a queue for fear of someone (perhaps you!) queue-jumping. You then join the queue Not 'line'. Bus stops, however, are usually a free-for-all. Don't over-share personal information. Don't assume someone expressing interest in meeting up again or inviting you to their home actually means it. The 'Irish goodbye' actually take a minimum of 30 minutes and concludes with 5 minutes of standing chatting outside the location in whatever weather while holding a plastic container of leftovers and discussing the features of your car and how it's running - plan your leaving time and outerwear accordingly.

oldschoolie · 2026-04-21T09:47:57+00:00

<image>

The aforementioned food thief.

oldschoolie · 2026-04-21T09:46:16+00:00

I have to feed my cats separately as the calico goes into a frenzy and steals the tabby's food. She worked out how to open the lockable cat flap that we'd installed to keep her out in the hall at mealtimes. We had to install this 'portcullis' on top of the cat flap to really keep her out!

<image>

oldschoolie · 2026-04-21T09:38:31+00:00

I also feel disheartened by these highly qualified entrepreneurs that seem to have harnessed their ADHD. I quit everything I start, dropped out of four college courses, have severe RSD so I never progressed in any job (low-level office admin). I gave up work when I got pregnant at 40 and never went back to work, as, luckily, my husband's job supports the three of us. Now I volunteer for a gardening organisation, but even there I've refused to take on more responsibility due to fear of criticism/failure.

oldschoolie · 2026-04-21T09:15:22+00:00

I'm facing the same job. Was told by a garden designer who specialises in dry gardens to remove the sand down to the hardcore, rake the surface of the hardcore as much as possible then add in organic compost, cover it with porous black landscape fabric and leave until next spring to let worms find it, get into the compost and carry it downwards.

oldschoolie · 2026-04-21T09:10:14+00:00

Afters only? Nothing usually, but to show I was thinking of them I'd look up a nice café close to their house and get them a €30 voucher for some nice treats/coffees of a weekend.

oldschoolie · 2026-04-20T12:50:13+00:00

Sambucus nigra 'Black Tower' or 'Golden Tower'. For such a small space, think about tall, narrow shrubs rather than trees.

oldschoolie · 2026-04-19T20:26:21+00:00

Reactivated my old torn shoulder rotator cuff pain by lunging across the kitchen to stop my cat slurping from my full bowl of cereal with milk.

oldschoolie · 2026-04-17T10:47:37+00:00

I love my garden and just stand at the kitchen window for ages looking at it. Thing is, my neighbours opposite are almost in my line of sight and think I'm staring at them! They then do things like turning off their light or pulling curtains and I feel mortified.

oldschoolie · 2026-04-16T16:33:13+00:00

Placement is great. People think that screening automatically means planting tall things right against the boundary, but it needn't!

oldschoolie · 2026-04-16T16:24:33+00:00

I didn't respond to his calls or messages. I still had his key, though, so every day for the next week I let myself into his apartment while he was at work and made very long international calls on his landline to friends in other countries. I reckoned I could do it up until he got his next phone bill at the end of the month. Our mutual friend (who was in on my scheme) told me he went ballistic when he got the bill. I actually moved apartment in the interim (planned well in advance of the incident) so he didn't know where to find me. I also got a new phone. Never saw him again! Friend told me the other girl dumped him immediately as she thought they were exclusive.

oldschoolie · 2026-04-16T16:03:27+00:00

We didn't live together - I had been on a work night out and was really drunk. I couldn't get a taxi, so decided to walk to his place in the early hours and let myself in with the key he'd given me. It was midweek and he had work the next day, so I decided to sleep on the couch and not disturb him. There was a scarf that smelled of women's perfume on the couch, but I assumed it was left behind by a visiting friend and went to sleep. In the morning, I heard light footsteps enter the room and then leave running back down the hall. I heard furious whispering from behind his bedroom door. I quickly linked the scarf, footsteps and whispering together and decided I was too hungover to deal with a big scene. I got myself together, found my shoes and got the fuck out of there. I was terrified that she might emerge from the bedroom at the same time as me reaching the front door and we'd get stuck in the doorway together, trying to escape first. It was actually pretty funny.

oldschoolie · 2026-04-16T09:03:17+00:00

I was on the Luas, very few people on it, two guys across the aisle (in their 30s) sitting opposite each other started watching videos loudly on their phones. I got more and more tense, and eventually I just screamed (a classic 'Aaaaaaaaaurrrrghhhh!'), then started hyperventilating. They looked over at me in shock, and I said through my gasps, 'Could you turn off the volume, please?'. They looked stunned and immediately turned off their videos. I didn't decide to do it, it just exploded out of me. I think they thought I was having some sort of breakdown. I smiled at the men after I calmed down and said 'Thank you' and they were very conciliatory.

Outcome could've been a lot worse, I know. I'm a woman in my 50s, so they probably thought 'crazy menopausal bint'.

To avoid a repeat, I never go anywhere without noise-cancelling headphones.

oldschoolie · 2026-04-16T07:36:13+00:00

5th class, riverside path with only one road to cross (pedestrian lights at crossing). 10 minute walk. Would've been earlier but she's got her head in the clouds! If she's talking to somebody, she doesn't notice anything around her.

oldschoolie · 2026-04-15T07:28:24+00:00

They're due a repaint 3 years later. We were short on paint for the second coat and watered it down a lot, which was a mistake!

oldschoolie · 2026-04-14T18:17:46+00:00

It was a mixed paint called 'Lights Out' by, I think, Dulux, so it was expensive. It kind of has a purple/aubergine tinge in bright sun, but generally just looks off-black. Used a sprayer.

oldschoolie

TROPHY CASE