Awful weather - typical Brits talk

YoungBlueEyes

Plum Crazy - 

Does that make sense? The U is too busy, and the branches on the right I was for bending into an M. It would’ve looked great but not for ages and then not for long. Ah well. 

twopenny

Dark and cold here......they said 90% chance of rain all day so I replanned.

No rain or sign of it yet

There's a goodly amount of wind got up though so that must be keeping the rain away.

Little birds, a few, in the garden again these 2 days so that's a sign of poor weather but even they seem confused.

I may just put a wash on that's been waiting awhile. Over done the 'I can walk' thing so need a rest.

Spelling the name of a tree seems a tad extreem but I'm interested to see how you do it.

I won't be copying, the apple for £5 from Tescos is waving goodbye, never produced leaves and the branches are dying. Wrong time of year for a tree who's roots have suffered to plant before our dry summers. Should have known better but got carried away by the price.

Oh more birds. The news has spread that I've filled the feeders again

No riots here unless it's the locals against the tourists - I say tourists as opposed to holiday makers. Come out in hoards to walk up and down our high street with no concern for anyone else. The driving is like bumper cars at the fair, all over the place.

See if the car works and I'll head for the hills!

BTW we crossed posts

Clever Bluey, but you'd need a sign next to it to explain - possibily.

I was reluctant to look at the house. Pretty, I'd like shares in the garden but the inside looks like too high maintenance.

Besides, the river bank is crumbling. I reckon that's why they're selling, before it floats down the river.

Farway

Dull & windy still, I was thinking of putting the anti bird socks onto the grapes but too cold for old bones right now.

The “new” Rottery Acres could be a bit too Norf for me, looks cold, but I suppose I could ponce about in a Range Rover and take photos of deer and wave disdainfully to the staff

I do wonder about Energy Performance certificates on these properties, a bit like Ferrari buyers asking what’s the MPG?

I see a handy Premier Inn for a nice riot, plus a malehen lakes to send filters into a frenzy  

Handy for Gretna though, stayed in Gretna once as base for Borders coach tour, and quite like the area TBH

Plus near Barnard Castle for my eyes tests

Shame the Plum Crazy never worked out Blue, presumably you'll keep the tree, but just not as planned shape

Fingers crossed for car 2P, get out in them thar hills

The red & white fuchsia name, I looked at the faded label & think it's Swingtime

Here's Rozanne geranium, I'm pleased to see it, only a small plant bought this year, but shows it's a doer as promised.

ArbitraryRandom

Same here 2p - the gardener rescheduled on me because it was forecast to rain and I'd asked him to do some painting... so far not a drop and I'm considering going out to water as I didn't yesterday! 

Did pick another three courgettes, and my first 2 patty pan, so the day's not completely wasted. Smaller one is about the size of a tennis ball and the larger a grapefruit. The seed packet led me to believe they'd be UFO shaped with scalloped edges, so I'm not sure what happened there, but hopefully they still taste good...  



I've not grown summer squash before, but from what I understand you don't need to let them cure the way you do winter squash, so I've roughly chopped a couple of pots, courgettes and the squash into the bottom of a dish and it's currently baking in the oven with some chicken thighs on top. Should do an easy meal tonight/tomorrow  

Quick question re potatoes. I've still got some vivaldi and charlottes in tubs. The top growth has more or less died away, but I'm not really wanting to harvest them as yet. Am I right that they'll be okay standing in a shady spot as long as there's a decent layer of soil over the tubers? 

pink_poppy

Busy and wet few days here. I'm still feeling a bit off and nearly keeled over in the church yesterday, saying goodbye to a lovely relative. Another busy and wet one today - we're at an outdoor event later and the forecast is for heavy rain. It looks like the worst of it is when we're driving, but we've bought rainproof ponchos, just in case. They look ridiculous, but hopefully they'll do the job.

I love the PLUM idea, YBE. And how lovely to have all of those birds around, although I too did wonder about the kingfisher, unless you're close to a river maybe. Btw, I googled the old diabetes test thing and wished I hadn't... have you had any feedback from your blood tests??

I like those flowers, wort. The white ones at the bottom reminded me of pom poms. And for anyone who has a cat, actual pom poms are the best toy EVER according to my cat. My DD bought her cat a toy that fires pom poms and she accidentally left one behind at Christmas. Our cat found it and he absolutely loves it and still goes mad with it now    

Another one struggling with the tourist invasion, twopenny. We were driving on a dual carriageway last week and came to a junction with the set of lights on red - as my DH pulled into the right hand lane, someone from the set of lights on green to the left of us turned right and headed straight for us, completely missing the fact that he should have gone into the dual carriageway to the right of us. Scary stuff and unfortunately all too common at this time of year.

We always mention eye tests when we go past Barnard Castle, Farway    

Cool Patty Pans, AR - never heard of them, but it sounds like you're going to have a tasty dinner tonight. As you know, I'm no tattie expert, but what you said about leaving them sounds sensible.

LessImpecunious

Just think of summer squash as funny-shaped courgettes. The potatoes should keep fine, as long as no slugs or rodents likely to invade your tubs If the dying-down tops look at all blighty might be best to remove, otherwise just leave to max any tuber growth...

Dustyevsky

I'm not sure if we can discuss the riots here, unless we point out the likely disfigurement of municipal planting schemes.  Throughout history, riots have occurred, and the results haven't always been seen in retrospect as a 'bad thing.' Take the formation of the United States, that began with a riot and ...hmmm .....maybe not the best example I could have chosen! 

 I don't think the potential Rottery Acres is such a good buy, Bluey. It's all Grade 1 so they won't let you change anything, even the gardens, and as 2p says, high maintenance interior. Where are we going to find ultra low paid, non-pensionable personnel for that?   While I wouldn't mind getting my rod out by the river, I can do that here, and nobody minds! 

Funny you should mention eye tests, Farway. I've just spent an hour or more devising a way for a couple of older folk to reach a big city eye hospital without falling foul of emissions charges or getting lost forever in the notorious one way systems. Barnard Castle wasn't on the list of parking spots, but I recall it being a place where 'It's a Knockout' took place, with that fine fellow, Stuart Hall, compèring... Mm, I think we'll keep looking for Rottery Acres a while longer.

wort, I can't guarantee all the IDs I gave you were correct, but the Telkia and the Lemon Queen are safe enough, as is Farways, 'Gerwat' (the trade name for G. Rozanne!) The jury's still out on our G. 'Bloom & Away,' which is supposed to be even better. I suppose planting it would help decide!

Meanwhile, from the same nursery, here's a dahlia we purchased on Monday:

pink_poppy

What are the chances of three of us all posting at exactly the same time?!

Nice dahlia, Dusty, it's a lovely colour.

Farway

Raining, just about, that's put paid to any thoughts about grape socks.

Dustyevsky said:

 While I wouldn't mind getting my rod out by the river, I can do that here, and nobody minds! 

wort, I can't guarantee all the IDs I gave you were correct, but the Telkia and the Lemon Queen are safe enough, as is Farways, 'Gerwat' (the trade name for G. Rozanne!) The jury's still out on our G. 'Bloom & Away,' which is supposed to be even better. I suppose planting it would help decide!

Meanwhile, from the same nursery, here's a dahlia we purchased on Monday:

What a beautiful dahlia Dusty, a quick search tells me Happy days is a series of dahlias. I'll try & remember that when the catalogues start appearing.

Another punchline from Richard Emery right there Dusty

I'm thinking of putting one of the Rozanne in a large pot at the volunteer spot this Saturday, I think it will look good there, and ideal because it's baked and open

Of on tangent, I grew Happy Days tomato last year, from memory it was a good one, but F1 and expensive, of course my seeds were on offer clearance.

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

What a beautiful dahlia Dusty, a quick search tells me Happy days is a series of dahlias. I'll try & remember that when the catalogues start appearing.

Another punchline from Richard Emery right there Dusty

I'm thinking of putting one of the Rozanne in a large pot at the volunteer spot this Saturday, I think it will look good there, and ideal because it's baked and open

We bought 3, all told. The cream one is still to flower, but here's the other one:

The other startling contrast dahlias to look out for are the Mystic series.

https://planthaven.com/collection/mystic-dahlias/

As for the piscatorial quip, it's essentially true. The river here runs through some wooded, isolated and rough terrain, with no mobile signal. You'll see no one. After a couple of accidents and too few successes, I decided to hang up the rod and find a partner or group to explore the countryside with more safely. Mrs Dusty used to be good, and still does the well-trodden stuff, when able, but she doesn't go much on barbed wire, mud and getting lost!

I think Rozanne will give about 3 months of colour if treated well. The offsets I took from our big clump this year have really romped away.