Awful weather - typical Brits talk

-taff

WM, that greenhouse looks fab, I'll show it to the OH, he's insistent on painting mine and does look much smarter black! I would say if you are taller or your toms are taller, to find somethn you can put it on. Mines on railway ties, gives another 8 inches at least..bit of a !!!!!! if you don't remember the step though...

Yes Arb, do you have tattie poisoning? Thanks to ybe I now have visions of you stuffing them very slowly into your mouth on your sofa scattred with bits of mash...

Dusty, monster tomato!

sorry ybe, no, they decided to have a day off, they were only coming today to clean and tidy in prep for the steel and roof, then tomorrow they had a job somehwere else and they were coming back Wednesday...I don't mind, it's nice to have some quiet and not be on call making tea until it comes out of their ears...Over 200 cups made in the last three weeks...

LessImpecunious

-taff said:

Less, I did not know this, about one is edible and one isn't, perhaps I will get some sm seeds and scatter those to see if mine are different.

Well, I wasn't sure, having spotted some warnings when searching about a toxic ingredient in damascena - but the Plants For A Future website (and many others, inc. the likes of T&M) list them as edible, so guess all is not lost!

On the topic of green tomatoes - my notes from last year tell me I cut down my last greenhouse toms in early October, and one year I remember picking still-ripening fruits until Xmas, so think there is plenty of time yet, especially in warmer climes than here (Welsh hilltop...)

pink_poppy

Your tomatoes look more like pumpkins, Dusty, the size of them!!
Lovely hoss pic - I love the whiskers too.

Well done on the fig, WM, I hope it tastes nice.
Your greenhouse looks brilliant so far. I've seen mention of raising them up, like taff suggested. It's really making me think again about getting one, so I'm going to have to make a decision on where one could go.

YBE, another lavender oil trick is to put some on a cotton wool ball and put in the bag or non-bag area of a vacuum cleaner. You can also use neat Zoflora. I'll have to have a look for your wall thread as I've obviously missed that.

Lovely pics, Farway, so clear. Hope you enjoy your GC and cafe trip.

Yes, where are you, AR?? Hope you're okay. We ate the last of our tatties last night - it was a mix of all the little diddy ones left.

The weather is pretty rubbish here and we had the fire on a couple of nights ago. I was feeling cold and was trying to decide whether to light it or not (it was already set up from a few weeks ago) and then noticed a neighbour had theirs on (smoke from the chimney was the giveaway) so that made my mind up. It is ridiculous that we're lighting the fire in the middle of August, but this Summer has been dire. It wasn't too bad on Saturday though, so we went out for a walk and I spotted this lovely clump of Crocosmia...

Farway

Back from GC & Cafe, no plants bought, gawd the prices really are eye watering.

Came back with free, give away, flower pot carriers which I find very handy come the hardening of stages or stuff in pots, like tomatoes

Well done on fig WM, they always taste lovely

YoungBlueEyes said:

Question - (your toms have reminded me Dusty) what do yous do with toms that are too far behind then? My ones are a sprawling mess, they've got diddy wee fruits on a few arms but there are still loads of useless non-opening flowers? Will I chop the extraneous nonsense off so they can concentrate on the few fruits they've deigned to produce...?

Have a good time at the sale rail  garden centre  cafe/shop F-meister

Yes, cut off all the useless stuff now, winter draws on and all energy must got to ripen those that stand a chance of making it, realistically only a month before tomato season is over for us ordinary mortals

Even Monty has taken the tops of his toms on GW this week

Nice big one there, Dusty! While I was over GC I found something for your WD40 , old times eh?

And canna envy triggered

YoungBlueEyes

Your mugs made me laugh wm That's a brilliant beach screen jobber - I'm envious of people who can sew and make things. Like 2p's knitted gardener I couldn't produce one of them in 1000 years. Your greenhouse looks spot on, and I like the colour too. 

200 cuppas in 3 weeks taff. Bob was here before 9 on Sunday morning and left at 12, he drank 11 builder's mugs of tea I was gonna ask him if it'd be easier if I just set him up a drip So how far along are your doings? Have you picked kitchen cabinets etc?

Ooh lovely crocosmia, that's one I always think looks very exotic. Like the kind of thing you see on roundabouts in Spain  

I'm pinching your lavender oil hoover bag trick pp, that's right up my street. I've verbena oil too and it smells beautiful. 

Right I'll get the detritus removed from my toms today, thanks F-Meister. It's been a weird year for toms here, or maybe I just had beginner's luck last year. The Hanging Baskets of Barbylon were a bust - they decided to keep their backs ramrod straight and didn't droop at all, so they're now having a second chance in a shopping bag with my good soil. But the rest of the toms in grobags are sprawled about like boneless hippies, they look a right mess. I'm sure I was much farther on than this last year. A week Sunday it'll be September and I'm yet to taste my first one! I think I need to start them earlier next year.

Yet another lovely morning here, cool and breezy and lovely soft air. I heard it rain last night after bedtime but you wouldn't know it this morning. Strengthening wind this aft, they say, but bright and just nicely warm with it. I'll take that  

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

Nice big one there, Dusty! While I was over GC I found something for your WD40 , old times eh?

Ah....a Hillman Super Imp, just like mine, which was British Racing Green. I don't believe WD40 is singularly responsible for the immaculate presentation. That front bonnet area was prone to water ingress and rusting. Still looks OK as a design, though!

pink_poppy said:

The weather is pretty rubbish here and we had the fire on a couple of nights ago.... It is ridiculous that we're lighting the fire in the middle of August, but this Summer has been dire. It wasn't too bad on Saturday though, so we went out for a walk and I spotted this lovely clump of Crocosmia...

Shhh! Don't suggest there's anything weird about the weather this year!  ; It's all perfectly normal, and you can stand in the warmth radiated from those crocosmias; appropriately 'Lucifer,' by the look of them.

Nowt to report here, apart from the house being taken over by guests on a different time schedule from us. And why are the kids so grumpy when they have all this tech? Aye, when I were a lad, we had to make do with a hoop and a bent stick for entertainment!

Luckily, despite the wind and stupidly low temperatures, I saw a Painted Lady butterfly t'other day. So, as the rain batters on the window behind me, I can supply images representing summer, even if the reality is somewhat different....It does look somewhat battered, poor thing.

127 days till Christmas! Hopefully, there won't be any won't be any 'monkeying-around' with that.

pink_poppy

I'm not surprised you had canna envy, Farway, they're spectacular. And with the same plant as Dusty's butterfly pic - Verbena Bonwotsit?? They've been on my wanted list for ages.

I need to trim my one outside tomato plant too, YBE It was relocated from inside the house because it only had one fruit on, compared to the 20 odd on the other plant. The last time I looked outside plant had another fruit coming, but the way our weather is I doubt it'll amount to anything. I've had 4 ripe toms from inside plant. Could you have bush tomato plants in your conservatory next year??
Did you see the latest episode of Yorkshire by the Sea last night?? It made me feel quite nostalgic as these are all places we used to visit regularly when we lived in England, especially Whitby and Saltburn.

Lovely pic of the butterfly, Dusty, even though they give me the heebie jeebies. I was once stuck in the shower with one fluttering around the bathroom - I was shouting to DH to come and rescue me, but he ignored me because he thought I was singing!!   

I've been bringing logs inside this morning, in preparation for the thundery showers and cool temperatures we have forecast (no change there then)... I'd been back inside for less than two minutes and the heavens opened, completely unannounced, as it hadn't even looked as if it was about to rain. My DD messaged a bit later to say she'd been caught in it on her way to work and got a soaking. Bloomin' weather... (I do seem to be saying that a lot this year)   

Farway

Sunny at the moment but showers due, allegedly.

Cracking butterfly pics Dusty, I've never managed that, the blighters fly away. 

I've heard that “professionals” stick them on the fridge overnight, which makes them sleepy, come morning, stick them on a flower in the warm & they wake up & stretch their wings, which is when you get the photo.

pink_poppy said:

I'm not surprised you had canna envy, Farway, they're spectacular. And with the same plant as Dusty's butterfly pic - Verbena Bonwotsit?? They've been on my wanted list for ages.

Lovely pic of the butterfly, Dusty, even though they give me the heebie jeebies. I was once stuck in the shower with one fluttering around the bathroom - I was shouting to DH to come and rescue me, but he ignored me because he thought I was singing!!  

I've wanted, tried & failed with verbena, another supposedly dead easy plant, except in my patch

LOL at "singing in shower"

No gardening planned for today, but I may take my own advice & take the top of a couple of outside toms, if the rain holds off.

GC pics below

First is in the plant / café area, below that is the border connecting GC to Historic House grounds, where tree is, red roof is Posh Family's Church

pink_poppy

Just happened to look outside on my way downstairs and I spotted one of the robins in the Hydrangea   Not a bad pic considering I was upstairs looking out of a very grubby window. It's zoomed in and cropped...

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

Cracking butterfly pics Dusty, I've never managed that, the blighters fly away. 

I've heard that “professionals” stick them on the fridge overnight, which makes them sleepy, come morning, stick them on a flower in the warm & they wake up & stretch their wings, which is when you get the photo.

I've wanted, tried & failed with verbena, another supposedly dead easy plant, except in my patch

LOL at "singing in shower"

  I think mine was puffed-out fighting the wind gusts.

Verbena bonwhatsit self seeds here so much I have to spray it, but I canna grow Cannas!
My walking friend has hers in bloom now, but not like the ones in your pic! 

Posh churches: There's one near Barnstaple where the Lord built a tunnel so that he'd not have to witness or be seen by the peasants on his way to commune with the other Lord.