Awful weather - typical Brits talk

LessImpecunious

Grew borlotti this year and last - and have been eating as green beans - they are like flat french beans (in fact they ARE flat french beans ) - useful as my other frenchies were either eaten by slugs - climbing Cobra or - dwarf french (Castandel) - sown late when climbers failed but supposed to produce a quick crop - didn't - well, they've started but weather and slugs suggest we won't get very much more from them. The borlottis still going strong though! Getting dried beans sounded like a good idea, but we eat a lot of those (tinned, supermarket), and think we'd have to have a whole row (at least - rather than c. 4-8 plants as we have now) to produce a worthwhile crop - and they make very nice green beans

Farway

-taff said:

Great minds think alike farway I bought them before I even knew about the allotment

That's my this years haul,about a third of what i bought last year, looking forward to the pumpkins now too all 1.50 or 1 euro...

I'll be interested to see how you do your grape cuttings too, there's one in Italy that has the most fantastic smell and I'd ove to give growing it a bash, so any tips and tricks gratefully received. Also will do your rose cuttings trick with two of mine [ really the only two] and see what happens

Ha Ha, sounds like the beans will be good

Grape cuttings, really, are easy, of course, getting an Italian one to grow well & fruit here may be another matter.

I've used two methods, cut bits off in winter & stick in ground /pot until they root.

And one I just never believed was so easy, horizontal cuttings

With the latter, get your dormant grape stick, with plenty of buds. 

Remove the bark from opposite side of bud, leave rest on.

Lay flat on compost, bud up, may need weighting or pinning down

Lightly water, cover with poly bag, put somewhere frost free, window sill in spare room? & wait

Roots will form & begin forcing the cutting up from compost, pot up & away you go

Never tried, but I bet green shots would take in water as well

Dustyevsky

Cuttings, grape or otherwise, I just stick in a frame, anytime. Some grow, some don't, but it beats “getting around to doing it properly” by a mile.  Back in summer, I stuck a tiny bit of a grape (possibly Vitis cognitiae, an ornamental) into the frame. It did nothing and I almost forgot about it. Now, it's begun growing and making a new leaf.

Last autumn, I put Berberis darwinii bits in another frame. Half died, but the others are now planting out sized.

My frames are just made from someone's throw-out wood they asked if I'd take to the tip recycle. Well, I have. The tops are old secondary double glazing units, put on in winter time. Total cost = some screws.

YoungBlueEyes

Up and out this morning, the forecast isn't showing signs of relief so I thought I'd better just get on with it. Sat now with a coffee wot I made with my new kettle. #It'sTheLittleThings

Welcome back taff! I was wondering if you'd gone for a visit to the motherland "I've apparently got an allotment now" that made me giggle. What, did they stick it through your letterbox or summat? "Darling! The gas bill's here! Oh and an allotment!"  That's a bu99er about your eye.. hopefully it didn't damage your eyeball or nowt? I can't imagine how painful that must have been 

Quaint charm sounds lovely pp, bit like Filey then? I'll stick it on the list   I can't remember how many plants I had cos it went a bit wrong really. I had a few that I was growing for the tom bag things, then the Hanging Baskets of Barbylon. But the Baskets failed so they few that survived got squidged into the two grobags. So I'd say I had probably 10 or 11 plants in 2 grobags. I had the same number of plants in 2 grobags last year and they were fine, but the weather was different so I'll blame that. My toms are nothing like they were last year, and I preferred their performance last year. They all ripened a few at a time so every time I went out to scowl at my mare's tails etc I could harvest a gobful. Perfect. This year they're all over the shop - hardly ripening at all but still producing diddy wee hard green things and then some flowers again So I snipped them all off and they're sat in my front window on some newspaper to keep their bums warm. I suspect it'll be quantity over quality this year.

Hopefully the carp weather is meaning you get through your paperwork nonsense 2p. Good luck deciding which photos to get rid of... or will you just buy another card?   Do you go swimming in the rain? One of my favourite things is that.

My sig Dusty, this one's not AI's fault. Remember when Stephen Fry gave up doing QI? He did a list of his 50 favourite facts so I stashed them away and I'm rolling them out one a week. So if anyone's got his number I'll give him a ring and tell him he meant 'aerated' not 'irrigated' MrsD wants a stern talking to, looks like (Or is she the sort that that would make her worse..?) 

Jeez that rose carparkii is a goer Farway, all that growth just this year Lovely colour, is it fragrant too...? Looks well with your fuschia. 

OT raining. Rained all day yesterday, and all night, and it's still raining. Not cold mind, 13' says my phone. Brightness coming tomorrow, possibly.

Oh and RIP Kris Kristofferson, you were my ma's favourite  

wort

Oh Taff an Italian wedding sounds wonderful, bet you’re feeling the cold now. Good luck with the allotment,should be good time to sort it ready for next year.

I think we had everyone’s rain yesterday, the noise on the metal roof at work sounded like being under a waterfall, and of course all the usual roads flooded. I had to put the heating on when I got home as Dgson had walked from work placement to mine and got drowned I had to dry his shoes and coat out for morning.
I’ve washed all my work stuff and put it out it’s not looking bright but it’s not raining. I need to sort my packing out, and tidy up.

I love a Robin and that one is so cute Dusty,a lovely pic. Glad Mrs Dusty didn’t do herself a mischief whilst you weren’t in. 

A great haul of toms and grapes all round not bad for a year of unpredictable rain.

wort

You just reminded me, I stuck a couple of stems of lavender in a month or so back, they’ve not died do you think they’ll need bringing inside over winter ? Or do a Bluey ?😆

pink_poppy

Well done on Rosa Car Parkii, Farway. It's a lovely colour.

That was so naughty of Mrs Dusty, Dusty, but probably something I would have done as well, truth be told. I have been known to climb a high structure after a few glasses of wine and then cry because I couldn't get back down again (I was trying to view a castle that had closed for the day...)
Gorgeous pics of the robin  

Welcome back taff, how lovely to have 3 weeks in Italy. Sorry to hear about the fall, but woohoo about the allotment. I could do with a tree app to identify things like walnut trees.

I'll be round for a cup of coffee now that you've got your new kettle, YBE. Make it a decaf though after my reaction to the homemade mocha   

When is it you fly off to warmer climes, wort?? We are sailing off on Sunday (ferries permitting).

It's a lovely day today, but chilly again. It was quite starry again last night (10/10 if you can make out The Plough in my pic   ) I saw posts about the Aurora being visible again, but it clouded over just at the wrong time)...

Dustyevsky

Just remembered, today's the deadline for registering your chickens.    It's now a legal requirement to tell Auntie Defra if you have chickens or similar birds, so you can be fined, or even imprisoned, if they spot any unregistered fowl in your garden. Apparently, lines to Defra are red-hot at present, but then, people can't be too careful, can they? No doubt some poor, unsuspecting souls have had pheasants casually strolling through their back yard, or the odd duck or three land in their pond today. It's going to be tough on some landed gentry, like the folks where we eat our fish n' chips. Early in the morning a few hundred Canada geese land in their lakes, but by tea time they're off, heading for the estuary. I mean, how will old Arnold the butler possibly keep tabs on them all?

Love the Plough in your photo pp, or as the folks across the pond call it, The Big Dipper. I assume they mean a ladle and not a fairground ride, but then, what do I know? I read this business of seeing shapes in the brighter stars is called Asterism, and there was me thinking they were a Japanese heavy metal band.

I agree, Rosa carparkii is well-deserving of an AGM, so I'll award it one. (Award of Great Moneysaving )

Mrs D might need a stern talking-to, Bluey, but it won't be me giving it. Remember where I was when she was doing her balancing act!!  

It's been Mrs Dusty's turn to go out today, but only to the larger village a few miles distant. There they have a food bank and cafe where we advertise things like the garden club. I predict they'll be making tomato soup this week! We're completely tomatoed-out now. No more freezer space.

greenbee

Does this mean we can call the local landowner and demand that he remove his s*dding partridges from the garden? Or do we just report the feral partridges to DEFRA?

Farway

Just a quickie, T & M seeds on offer + free seeds P & P, in case anyone needs seeds for, say, an allotment

offer ends midnight, 2nd October 2024 or while stocks last. Offer valid on specified packets of seed only. Please note, free delivery applicable on seed orders only. For all other items standard delivery charges apply. Use order code TM_TN5260W.

YoungBlueEyes said:

Jeez that rose carparkii is a goer Farway, all that growth just this year Lovely colour, is it fragrant too...? Looks well with your fuschia. 

Ta, not fragrant, but it is a doer so worth a spot in my garden. I intend oiking out one of my floppy sedums near front path & sticking this rose in

PP, nice Plough, I saw same last night but no camera to hand. I'll keep one hardy over the next few mights, just in case. Cue thick clouds & rain.

wort said:

You just reminded me, I stuck a couple of stems of lavender in a month or so back, they’ve not died do you think they’ll need bringing inside over winter ? Or do a Bluey ?😆

Nah, they are tough, do a Bluey, but hedge your bets and move near house walls just in case Beast from East arrives

And, Toot Toot, picked two of my corn cobs , well cobettes really, Five minutes in boiling water, they were Gorgeous and sweet. Photo to follow.

Rushing off to T & M site just in case sweetcorn, which I was never going to bother with, are on offer blush: