Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Dustyevsky

twopenny said:

Is that Dunster castle? 
You were down here and didn't buy me a coffee? Hurruumph!

Yes, it is Dunster Castle. We thought we'd give the walk through the deer park and up to the earthworks a go, before the main tourist season. As for coffee and cake, we're tight Devonians, so we bring sandwiches and biscuits to eat en route, or in the car!

Anyway it was lovely, if more energetic than expected. Here's a proper view of the Castle with a cat wee tree framing one side:

That long slog, out of the park and up to the ridge, was tough! There were some lovely trees as a reward near the top:

And the view from Bat's Castle was superb.

I'll post some garden photos from there tomorrow.

Sorry, no idea about protecting cherries. We only have the wild, sour ones, and the trees are huge.

Farway

Sunny start and due to warm up again

twopenny said:

The T&M strawberries are coming on a treat. They have doubled in size since taking this and strawberries growing.
Even my old ones are looking amazingly healthy as though they've been shown how to do it ☺️ 

Anyone know how to let cherries ripen?
I'd like to cover them with fleece or netting. Fleece preferably but do they need light? Google is increasingly useless because they are always trying to sell you stuff and not answer the question 😬

Congrats on the T & M strawbs, be nice if they work out and ripen to yummy berries, a proper bargain for once

Cherries, fleece is fine, but the trouble I've found is if it gets wet it helps the damp, snail nibbled, cherries to rot

They get enough light & sun under fleece

Birds always find a gap in netting to peck through, or get trapped in it

Fingers crossed that we both get to eat some of our cherries.

PS, and OT. Ditch Google & use DuckDuckGo. You are allowed to Google that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuckDuckGo

They, Duck, also have forwarding e-mail that hides your real one and strips out hidden trackers, or generates a one-off use

you@duck.com for instance

https://www.howtogeek.com/829693/how-to-use-duckduckgos-duck-dot-com-email-protection/

Planted out my Kelvedon peas yesterday, not as straight forward as I thought. I imagined the cells popping out and just transplanting into holes, like wot they do on TV.

Nope, left half the compost in the cell , finished up more or less yanking the peas out and just planting whatever I had.

Anyway, they are still alive this morning which is something

I still have one half tray of pea shoots that I want to bung in & use for pod peas

Large pots made ready for the courgettes, today's job is planting those, only got two so not an onerous target.

Spotted curly leaves on my pears , gloom, checking I found black aphids under the leaves, so out at crack of dawn and sprayed with a systemic killer

Plums getting larger every day, a bit worrying, some are going bent, which can be sign of maggot inside, boo hoo

twopenny

Blimey Fairway, you're up early!

Thanks for the info. 
If it's any help after 3years of battling black fruit bugs 🐛 I sprayed last year, thoroughly, this year I got out early and picked the affected leaves off before they got hold, squished the bugs and put all in the bin. So far so good. 
The research I did suggested they come from rapeseed and it does go with the time of flowering. Thankfully that's going over now. Seems we all get snuffles and throats those living in the vicinity. 

Bad luck on the plums. I've so few this year the bugs haven't found them.

Having a rest today but must get that compost in and cut back the thug that is the sage. Seems every week. I was thinking I could make a tree of it. Might try with some cuttings this autumn.

Interesting about the email. I know duckduck you can play YouTube without all the annoying ads.
And watch the trackers being removed top right.
It's a really improved search engine now too.
I'll check out those links.
Also if you stream ch 5 mute the first ads, unmute for prog and it will automatically mute every time the ads go on. Don't spread this on social media as they may just stop it.

Dusty, the spot up at Bats Castle is one of my favourite. It's so peaceful up there.

Dustyevsky

twopenny said:

Dusty, the spot up at Bats Castle is one of my favourite. It's so peaceful up there.

I'm not surprised, given the effort required to reach there! In fairness, it's no worse than other steep climbs, we've done, and I prefer climbing to descending nowadays.

Down on the edge of the village, I was amazed how far forward plants were. Just look at those Arum Lilies, for example:

And a wonderful Laburnum in the Castle grounds:

This guy may have been experiencing hysteria over his wisteria, or perhaps just fixing the window. It was hard to tell. "It's a pity his posterior is in the way!" said my friend, (or something like that. She refused to take a photo, but liked the colour of that one. More another time.

O.T. Today we're beginning cloudy and calm We may have some light rain in an hour or so, which will do no good at all. Yesterday, I put 3 courgettes in the ground, and I've one almost producing in a large pot in the poly. A cucumber's gone into the old tomato bed in there....but the new bed still isn't built.

pink_poppy

Bertigo is still lingering, twopenny, but the dizziness last night was more alcohol related 😂

What a lovely looking village, Dusty. I’m envious of those lilies and the wisteria.

Hope you don’t have magotty plums, Farway 😳

Wort’s ducklings were very sweet. There’s a mother hen here with a very cute brood, but they’re impossible to photograph.

Pic of the beach we were at yesterday (courtesy of DD’s boyfriend’s drone) it was absolutely stunning - white sand and turquoise water 🩵 and the view from where we’re staying - idyllic and peaceful…

twopenny

Dusty those lilies have been established for decades and always the stream is running.
Maybe an idea for yours. Mine in dry soil keep being hit by drought but keep coming back. They are tough doers.

Farway

Dustyevsky said:

Yesterday, I put 3 courgettes in the ground, and I've one almost producing in a large pot in the poly. A cucumber's gone into the old tomato bed in there....but the new bed still isn't built.

I'll see you two courgettes and two cucumber plants, and raise you two mystery yellow plum tomatoes from greengrocers' tasty yellow toms

All planted this morning, due to my early rising, just couldn't sleep, not bursting to get going, well I was bursting as well IYSWIM

2P, I did think about taking the buggy pear leaves off, but decided to spray first, which played a part in my early beat the bees start

Still looking for a home for my half tray of peas

I may clear off the dead daff leaves & use that pot. I can't remember if these are purple podded Manky Toots, be good if they were, decorative at least.

A job for tomorrow, sun is baking there and my back is twinging

Dustyevsky

pink_poppy said:
What a lovely looking village, Dusty. I’m envious of those lilies and the wisteria.

It's 2p's territory. We'd to drive for almost an hour to get there, but it was worth it. The place you're visiting isn't so shabby, either. I love that empty beach!

twopenny said:

Dusty those lilies have been established for decades and always the stream is running.
Maybe an idea for yours. Mine in dry soil keep being hit by drought but keep coming back. They are tough doers.

I'll try a clump by the stream now I've let more light in. We lost them there before. It's something of a frost pocket, but nothing ventured....etc.

Farway said:

Dustyevsky said:

Yesterday, I put 3 courgettes in the ground, and I've one almost producing in a large pot in the poly. A cucumber's gone into the old tomato bed in there....but the new bed still isn't built.

I'll see you two courgettes and two cucumber plants, and raise you two mystery yellow plum tomatoes from greengrocers' tasty yellow toms

2P, I did think about taking the buggy pear leaves off, but decided to spray first, which played a part in my early beat the bees start

Still looking for a home for my half tray of peas

I'm not planting any toms outdoors. I bought 'Divinity' to try there, but forgot to sow them.

My useless pear has set more fruit than usual, but now I see it's flowering on the other side! I've a suspicion there are two varieties planted together, or something like that. It's a tangle of grasses and rabbit netting at the base, so it's hard to know what's going on.

Coincidentally, I've used a pea and bean germinating tray from Lidl for the first time. No instructions, and I've not seen another since, but at 99p it was a steal. I put peas and beans in a 'sandwich' of kitchen roll. The germinated  peas went into a growing-on tray this morning. The beans are slower, and some have rotted, but they're old seed I was given for free.

Close up of the label:

We had some heavy rain this morning; just enough to wake the weeds and make the grass grow!

twopenny

Got the rain too - just as I'd got 3 bags of compost in then back gone 😬

The garden has just looked shabby after the rain and overgrown. Busy till Wednesday so no chance to thin out the overgrowth.
The roses are crowded everything out.
Ho hum

wort

PP that’s my kind of beach 😍 what beautiful scenery you have.
Dusty that is a great walk ,the picture postcard village at the end too.
Farway well done getting your jobs all done, I hope the plums are ok.

Still hot and dry, work all weekend , would love a pound for all the customers who tell me I’m missing all the good weather. 🙄