Awful weather - typical Brits talk

-taff

I picked my apple

I shined it up too so it would look pretty

Dustyevsky

twopenny said:

Dusty I don't think it's the camera. You need to know when these things will happen and be ready. I have some smashing ones once I realised that sunny spells and cloud make great light effects on beaches and skies and then you have to nip out quick.

I agree about that, but we were taking pictures of the same scene at the same time, and hers looked good. 'My' sky was rubbish....and here's the proof:

'Tis all AI alchemy and digital enhancement nonsense, I tell 'ee!  (Plus spending about £700 with the Necromancer in the Apple shop!)

 I managed some hours in bright sunshine today, attacking our wayward laurels again. It's come over cloudy now, with rain on the way, but substantial progress was made, and quite a lot of firewood for winter '26/27. They will either have to come down to around 9' for ease of management, or alternatively, be poisoned and replaced with something nicer; I can't decide which. They cannot be pulled out by digger. We've discovered the village water main runs where they are, and it might come with them!

Keeping fingers crossed for you and your rescheduled Wisley excursion, Farway. It will be proper autumnal tints by then. We're saving Rosemoor for November. There, it will be sculptures everywhere, and at the end of the month, glowing; not that we bother with the latter. When they switch the lights on, we decide it's time to get home before dark! 

Dustyevsky

-taff said:

.The dubious tone neighbour also made a very big point of telling me I had to mow the pathways...I can see me wanting to be violent at some point in the future...Mybae I should grow more 'herbs' to deal with that

Ah, yes, camomille tea. Mmmmm....most calming!

Off to the Garden Club in an hour. Tonight's subject : Compost. I can see a day soon,  playing with pallets.

Just spotted your apple; it's very.....bright. Made me want to go out and put some dubbin on my boots!

-taff

Plot...warn me two posts ahead of saturation, otherwise I will become [ or am already] an allotment bore

There's an apple tree right by the entrance and my shennaigans dislodged many that I then stood on because I am clumsy...

Dustyevsky

A good-sized plot there, taff!  I can't see perennial weeds, so knocking it into shape over winter should be pleasurably possible. I'm sure you won't become an allotment bore. Allotments have been underrepresented here since greenfinches began clearing her weeds, before vanishing into the virtual undergrowth.

Little to report here. Composting was interesting enough last night at the Garden Club, though not possible with my current huge piles of laurel branches. They'll have to sit untidily through winter where they lay. With luck, all the leaves will have dropped by next April, and with the sheep gone, I'll be able to bonfire them. Sheep and laurel do not mix; the laurel containing cyanide.

We are in sunshine and heavy showers today. There hasn't been much sunshine yet and the ground is now saturated. I'm pleased, because one of the people instrumental in holding-up our groundworks last year is having some of their own this week. So far, no action; just a silent dumper. If there is, things will get extremely messy!

Here's a 'before' picture of the out of control laurels, up to 15' high and no sign of stopping. Besides hiding the commercial junkyard behind, under them, our own scrapyard has sprung up! (embarrassed smiley)

Farway

Sunshine & showers here, good job Wisley cancelled, although it's OK with showers they do limit things.

Dustyevsky said:

Keeping fingers crossed for you and your rescheduled Wisley excursion, Farway. It will be proper autumnal tints by then. We're saving Rosemoor for November. There, it will be sculptures everywhere, and at the end of the month, glowing; not that we bother with the latter. When they switch the lights on, we decide it's time to get home before dark! 

I think November will be right for us as well, proper leaf colours, I don't think Wisley has sculptures this year, hard to tell because there are some permanent ones dotted about. Could be Halloween display leftovers.

Never seen the light display, we are back down A3 way before then, needing to avoid Guildford bypass work chucking out times

Toddled into back garden, apple patrol, had to pick three, the birds beat me to them, near the house, so I thought they'd be spared. Picked the others ready to drop. These are Elstar and will ripen indoors.

Stewed the windfalls & pecked ones

One has been stolen by squirrels, net bag & all, no sign of it, little blighters. It is was Santana. I've been patiently waiting since 2021 to taste one, grrr. https://www.orangepippin.com/varieties/apples/santana

Well done on your apple Taff, looks good, properly Snow White tempting. Hope it tastes excellent. And some on the allotment as well, I foresee jam & crumbles for 2025

My one & only pear, Beurre Alexandre Lucas, is still on the tree, netted and rock hard. Another one from 2021 I've never tasted.

You'll see from the description it has a tendency to decay while looking perfect. I can vouch for that

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/58489/pyrus-communis-beurr-alexandre-lucas-(d)/details

Picked a couple more Rubylicous toms from outside, blight has now arrived at the plant, but it's done well resisting this far. Still have two more trusses to pick, maybe tomorrow.

It was clear night, Plough etc, no other lights, but photo failed . I was using my mobile, may try camera tonight, if clear.

greenbee

My tomatoes are still ripening but unbelievably slowly. I think the outside ones need binning as they've mostly split due to the rain and several of the plants have fallen over. Not sure what to do about the ones in the greenhouse. 

YoungBlueEyes

Short post this morning cos I'm typing one handed. I rushed out yesterday to get the wash in when I heard it start raining and tripped out the back door and came down on my wrist  Jeez I was cross. I think it's just muscular and not boneular though. The boiler man couldn't fix the boiler, it wants parts - something to do with electrodes and the muffler (?!) so he's getting a price for them and letting me know. Hold off sending the bad weather please St Fiacre! 

I've never had a proper camera so I don't know how it'd compare to my phone, but I know himself's phone is older but better camera-wise than mine. He has a Samsung something something and I have an iphone 13. Oh and the new iphone is dreadful apparently (himself's nieces both got one for their birthday) the camera makes everything look smudgy and it's always hot. So there you go. 

Scrambled eggs and tea sounds positive Farway, hopefully you're on the mend now from whatever it was. It took me a second to work out why you'd put a naughty on the end of your neighbour's letter sentence :rolleyes:  

That's a brilliant prize 2p, very swish looking. Did they taste as good as they look? 

Ditto your shiny apple taff? I could stick a lot of allotment posts meself, I've never had one so I think it'd be interesting.

Dusty did you get your laurels fettled all in one go or was there a lot of resting going on...? 

Gb could you pick your toms and fetch them inside for a bit of warmth?

I wonder if pp got to see any aurora last night. There was something about solar flares last night on the news but I half missed it.

OT cooling off today to be cold tomorrow. Raining a bit, windy a lot, and generally yuck.

Dustyevsky

In a word, “mist,” today, but not according to the Exeter imbibers, who say we're having sunshine and occasional cloud. I suppose we're in the cloud bit!

No gardening yesterday. It didn't stop raining for long at any point, though there were some merely damp interludes. Seeing the forecast, Mrs Dusty and I had already assigned the day to a trip into civilisation. I need new specs, so we chose frames. Mrs Dusty also had a faulty bank card....all stuff impossible to tackle in the village.

I've nowhere near finished the laurels, Bluey. Being poisonous, they can't be put in the field like a normal bit of hedging would be, and the evergreen leaves won't burn well, so it's a case of leave alone for 6 months. I might not be able to complete the job in one go, I'm already waist deep in cut branches. They take up more room on the ground than they do in the sky! Let this be a warning to those, tempted to hide a neighbour's detritus with a rampant evergreen!

I hope your wrist soon recovers, Bluey. Likewise if scrambled eggs have gone down OK, fingers crossed for Farway's escape from Covditz. My legs haven't quite returned to normal since last week's strenuous hike, so the second phase in that area will have to wait a while. It will be all squelchy now, anyway.

I wish I could say these were mine, but this was another photo walking friend sent to annoy me. Her vine has been in situ since 2018/19 and this is the first year it's fruited properly. She's no idea what variety. Apparently they were, "nice, but pippy."

pink_poppy

Hello from a wild and windy Harris   

I didn't look outside last night for the Aurora as I had a very bad day yesterday (full-blown panic attack on a scary road ), but I saw it on Monday night (pic to follow).

Hope your wrist heals quickly, YBE. Would strapping it help?? Hope it's just bruised and not broken.

Lovely photos from you all over the last few days - sunrises and butterflies

Glad you're feeling better, Farway. Sounds like a wise decision to give Wisley a miss yesterday.

A quiet morning planned for today (still feel a bit wobbly from yesterday) and a visit to the Calanais (Callanish) Standing Stones later.

Here's one of the many Aurora pics I took on Monday night (I think I probably took hundreds!!) I also saw a shooting star (Draconid Meteor shower) and a satellite going over...