Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Dustyevsky

twopenny said:

Lovely to see you back Dusty

I've been avoiding the road with the restored second hand minis in. I don't like the people who own the garage anyway but my friend bought one there. Had to take it back 3 times - but it's desperate times.

Cars are pretty simple: Toyota, Honda and Suzuki for reliability, provided there's a good service history. Ford and GM for cheap repairs. Avoid old diesels and anything turbo. We run a purple petrol Ford Fusion, as it's easy to get into, and being high off the road means no scraping the underside in the lanes. Sure, the Fiesta it's based on is faster through corners, but how important is that day to day?

It's rather like growing borderline hardy and fussy plants. Of course, people will envy your banana  or Echium pininana, but that's if you are willing to cosset them, or just happen to live in the right place. For everyday garden impact, the old trusties are best.

Speaking of which, here is a Geranium I picked up locally. Not fussy and copes with dry shade. I like the name too:

"Fielding's Folly."

Farway

Welcome back Dusty . I was going to post something similar to Taff re conspiracy, but that sums it up.

2p, add Hyundai to the car mix, dull & boring but easy to fix and go on & on. 

Unsure about old diesels, it depends, mine is a 2006 Citroën C2, so old it doesn't have particulate filters or sensors to fail! With lots of dead Polar bears, around here.

It's going in for MOT next Friday, so I'd best keep my head down, or I may be joining you on the Great Car Hunt.

I like the tomato banana legs name, tempting but unless on offer etc I have enough to get on with now. 

I've realised that this year I don't have bog-standard, red, round & eight to the pound variety., probably one of the floor bound casualties earlier this year

Love that geranium Dusty, sounds ideal & care free. The young Roxanne I got from T & M are picking up, still in pots until they get larger.

I do have runner beans , spotted this morning, the weather not only sorted Dusty hay out, it is just the job for my beans. I'll try for photo later.

Today's photo is my hibiscus, weather also gave this a boost. Grown from seed that stuck to me years ago.

Working_Mum

I've had a super busy week what with one thing and another but I've managed to keep up with this thread and I feel as if I am making a little progress in my garden.

I have sorted bags of old roof tiles for @YoungBlueEyes and I'm dropping them off on Sunday so she can let her sitootery  creativity flow 

I planted a cut flower bed this year in my garden - I love flowers and having them in my home but have found that supermarket flowers have lost their scent over the years/ So I bought a tray for £8 from The R@nge and then popped a load of bud vases I'd picked up for pennies from charity shops and have had them filled with flowers cut from my garden for week. Thought I'd share a pic.
 
I've cleared another ton of gravel from the middle bit of my garden and Fre3cycled it so it's getting a second life! I've ordered the bricks for my new growing area and they should be with me next week. I am now planning how to make my vision a reality 

I've got flowers coming on 4 of my tomato plants so I feel the recent sunshine has boosted them

Wishing everyone a fabulous Friday and weekend

WM

Farway

Love the colour of those roses WM, is there a matching scent to them? Or a matching dog?

And congrats on getting on with the vision

ArbitraryRandom

Welcome back dusty. Glad you manage to get your grass cut in the end  

BTW I think talking about a ban can lead to another ban/threads being locked (it used to happen on DT fairly often) and I like this place so... 



Another hot day, but supposed to rain tonight, so I've only watered the desperate plants. Also scavenged the very last of the peas and picked (yet another!) four courgettes. I'm thinking this weekend I might make some pickle or chutney as the freezer is getting a little full, but I need to source some vinegar and jars... Some of the pea pods look a little worse for wear as these were the ones hidden by courgette leaves or against the fence, but the peas inside largely look fine and will make another few servings  



Speaking of which, potatoes, leek and onion sauce, mixed peas and beans, and salmon en-croute (from the freezer section as life is too short to make pastry ). This is what life should be all about for me - a lovely simple meal, in the moment, with people you love - could only have been better with a few of @Working_Mum 's beautiful flowers decorating the table  

twopenny

I love that bit of creativity WM, not enough of it around I think. I did something similar with the purple prunings from my tree and a deep pink purple orchid I was given. Love them together

I also love your kettle

And you have a free standing gas cooker - I've been mooting that for a couple of years as I prefer a gas oven. Just stopped because it's not the norm and I have my first 'built in ' cooker in the place I bought. But I miss being able to stick a rice pud in the oven with other food and warm the room at the same time.

We should have a thread about flowers that 'do' without attention I think as this weather seems climate now.

YoungBlueEyes

Morning all. Welcome back Revenant I'm glad you got your hay sorted. Triple turned and baled in 4 days? Yous must have been working dawn 'til dusk were ya? Pity about the guy who misjudged and went early, hope he's got deeeep pockets The smell of your first picture makes me heart smile I love your old photo. My cousin Carol had a mini like the one on the left, we used to call it the spine cracker - christ you felt every stone  

Everyone's got such pretty flowers, I'll have to look for something to take a pic of.

Another warm one here, but it was cool ish earlier so I was up and out. Helped by the fact that my really nice etc neighbours decided just before 0400 it was the right time to break up. Well, break the house apart and then break up. I was all for getting camping chairs out and sitting across the road watching them with a coffee and tabs, shouting "g'wan ye gyirl ye!" but himself didn't think that was wise. She was hurling stuff out of windows and everything, jeez it was like something off the telly!
Bob the Builder isn't coming today, but he hopes to next saturday. Did the weather improve in Portugal or summat... 

For the first time in my life I'm sorry I didn't take a pic of the dinner last night cos we had the same Arb Well, salmon fillets and wee tatties and peas in the steamer, gawd it was good. Simple and yummy, I could've ate it twice  

Take care of your robin pp, you know what they say about robins  

Glad you like the car pic 2p I'm waiting patiently for unusual heather pics. One of my heathers has bluddy died on me the swine, so I'm down to 3 now Seems it took offence to abject neglect and shuffled northwards. I don't know why cos the rest are fine! Fingers crossed for your car.

Nigella seeds from the herb section, thanks taff. It's not like I'm short of seeds... it's just I don't want the ones I've got and now I want different ones Your work seem to be cracking on, seems like you'll have a new kitchen in no time.

That's a lovely arrangement wm, I particularly like the tray they're sat in - very Moorish Nice parquet too. I'll have to get me erse in gear and make space for the tiles. 

OT the thunderstorm yesterday did not live up to any part of it's name. We got no thunder and it was not a storm. It drizzled a bit for maybe 10 mins about 0800, then a couple of hours later it rained a bit, for oooh 20 minutes, and that was it. But the sun came straight back out again and burned off whatever moisture hadn't managed to seep in, so it was useless all the way round really.

Working_Mum

Farway said:

Love the colour of those roses WM, is there a matching scent to them? Or a matching dog?

And congrats on getting on with the vision

The scent is gorgeous @Farway - first thing in the morning when I open the door it's lovely. I met another cockerpoo last night who looked like ours and she would have matched the roses as she was a gorgeous tan colour with bits of white.

Speaking of which, potatoes, leek and onion sauce, mixed peas and beans, and salmon en-croute (from the freezer section as life is too short to make pastry ). This is what life should be all about for me - a lovely simple meal, in the moment, with people you love - could only have been better with a few of @Working_Mum 's beautiful flowers decorating the table  

Your meal looks delicious AR. Summer on a plate. The door sign is hilarious too 

twopenny said:

I love that bit of creativity WM, not enough of it around I think. I did something similar with the purple prunings from my tree and a deep pink purple orchid I was given. Love them together

I also love your kettle

And you have a free standing gas cooker - I've been mooting that for a couple of years as I prefer a gas oven. Just stopped because it's not the norm and I have my first 'built in ' cooker in the place I bought. But I miss being able to stick a rice pud in the oven with other food and warm the room at the same time.

We should have a thread about flowers that 'do' without attention I think as this weather seems climate now.

I use prunings too during the autumn and winter months @twopenny - I realised I like having a bit of nature in my living space throughout the year. Makes me smile so I make it happen!

I ALSO love my kettle - I've only ever had 3 kettles and all the same brand. I've had this one about 18 years. We moved house about 4 years ago and really knocked the space around to make it ours. We knocked the kitchen into the lounge/dining area. I had 3 criteria which we had to meet - 1. the kids wanted an island (tick), 2. the fridge freezer had to fit in a space 69cm wide (tick), 3. I wanted a freestanding range with a gas hob but it had to be no more than a metre wide to fit!! (tick) I had to buy everything online during the height of the Covid lockdowns but the range wasn't super expensive and fits perfectly in my space  It's got 3 electric ovens and a warming drawer and I love it. I know it's not environmentally friendly but I much prefer cooking on a gas hob.

I planted sweet Williams in my cut flower bed and they've been romping along so will cut some of those when this lot fade. I dug in some lovely orange crocosmia from a Fre3cycler and they've really started flowering so next year I'll be cutting those too!

Just heard my bricks will be delivered Tuesday or Wednesday next week - am super excited. Simple things bring such joy eh.

Have a smashing weekend in your gardens everyone 

WM

YoungBlueEyes

A bit of prettiness - 

A something has come out on those bulbs I finally remembered about in the conservatory. I’ve no idea what they were called but the bulbs were hands of bananas like a dahlia and the packet assured me they’d be yellow and cream and white. From them drunkards at morries 🙄



…..and my ‘Blue’ Angel, also from morries



The price of drink needs to go up, before this nonsense becomes endemic  It must be extremely annoying to proper gardeners… 

Farway

YoungBlueEyes said:

The price of drink needs to go up, before this nonsense becomes endemic  It must be extremely annoying to proper gardeners… 

At least on here we can smile at it because it is so common, and not linked to the price or supplier either

With flowers, it's not a biggie, unless you're at Chelsea perhaps, but growing fruit trees is very haphazard

I can mix up my own fruit & veg thanks

The clematis looks OK though, even if not as per the label

Just been out to water the pots in the back, so hot out there now.