Awful weather - typical Brits talk

YoungBlueEyes

Short post this morning. A load of us from work went on a staff night out last night, to Bongo's Bingo at 'Ull uni, and Oh My Christ.  Vids on ootoob probably. 
Weather is cloudy and it's warm. Might do gardening. Will probably lay on the sofa seeing how far back into BG I can go. 
Sunflower has resisted the Sirens Hydrangea is turning pinker  

Farway

Dull, could rain, or then again could be a scorcher. Very mixed right now. Warm enough though.

Up early, no more sleep was left in me. 

Watered the back garden already, hose squirts

My fig has been scoffed  , the only one to survive the lurgy has now been munched, chickens were counted prior to hatching, and I was earmarked for a glut this year, now I "may" just have a couple of little 'uns on another tree

On a happier note, I have a ripe tomato at last  , Balcony Yellow, my old faithful. Too awkwardly placed to get a photo.

YoungBlueEyes said:

Short post this morning. A load of us from work went on a staff night out last night, to Bongo's Bingo at 'Ull uni, and Oh My Christ.  Vids on ootoob probably. 
Weather is cloudy and it's warm. Might do gardening. Will probably lay on the sofa seeing how far back into BG I can go. 

Will we be reading in the Daily Wail about your employment tribunal appeal in a few months?   

Hope sofa gardening on BG goes well, mine was fine

All being well, I hope to pick more blackberries this afternoon, and carry on apple tree pruning for a short while

Farway

Figgy fail 

twopenny

Ooo that's not good 😕

Monty had something to say on GW last night and I thought of you. 
He gave a maybe reason for a number of fruits with the same problem.
I'll wizz through and see what it was.

Picked a small Bramley today, had first plum yesterday but everything is hard and not wanting to leave the tree.
Very hot again. Made the mistake of going to a village fete, mile car queue in the sun, very hot, tea room heaving and hot so came away with 2 bunches of garden flowers and took the scenic route back.

Cool in the garden so may do some tidying to try and make it look less of a disaster.

twopenny

Something for the garden

GW he said blossom end rot on tomatoes is a result of too much water or too little. either means they can't take up Calcium.

Don't know if that's the same in your case but it might be worth a try.

Time to read some ingredients lists  

Dustyevsky

It's not been The Year of the Fig. I began with one, and I still have one, unripe, and for the most part, unnoticed. At least it doesn't look like something out of a horror movie! That's a great photo, Farway.  

Absent yesterday, due to working on two sites, 12 miles apart, disposing of surplus laurel. Somehow I've ended-up with another old toilet and washbasin set, this time in pink. Once people know you've plans to build a hard track, they soon see ways to reduce the volume of bought-in hardcore you'll need! 

Ah, but will we build a track? That, and many other questions, await yet another consultation with the planning advisor, who may know how best to approach the problem that most of our garden is still, technically, a field.  There's no doubt it's been a garden for over 20 years, so regularising the use is not the main issue; it's where the property's curtilage begins and ends which matters. I thought garden and curtilage were much the same thing, but it turns out I was wrong. I won't go into what the ramifications are....

Anyway, having briefly examined Bongo's Bingo  and decided I'm at least 50 years too old for what it involves, a chat with a reasonably inexpensive planning expert looks the better option. It's a far cry from the Catholic Church bingo Mum and I played in the 60s, where God revealed there would be no easy route to riches for me.  

I'll show 2p's picture above to Mrs Dusty, who's returning from a week away, helping her folks' in the next door county.  She has the square base carved out of her bay bush tree, and she's trying to create a ball above it. However, a pair of legs would be simpler, not require an eye for symmetry and might create a talking point for people passing.   

What else? Oh, I've solved the sack truck wheel problem. Unlike cars and bikes, the wheels come in two halves, so you can separate them to install a new tyre and tube. That's the theory. We'll see. 

What else? I haven't seen a Comma yet, Farway, but there are plenty of other butterflies around, mostly favouring the buddleias. I don't remember anyone posting a Peacock, so I'll find one. The early ones we see have overwintered. Meanwhile, here's a self-seeded buddleia I allowed to grow, because it had a noticeable upright habit and wouldn't flop on the pathway. Didn't know it would be a good colour too. 

OT Edit: It's grey, windless and eerily quiet out there. Sunshine and showers later, the sots near Sowton say. Suits me. 

YoungBlueEyes

On better form this morning Gawd but I looked rough yesterday. Lack of sleep and whatever they put in smoke machines did not agree with me. I'm becoming sensitive in my old age Didn't win a prize either, but if you saw the prizes and what you have to do when you go on stage to collect them you'd know how happy I was about that  

Farway employment tribunal appeal is not a worry. I was sat/stood/dancing on tables next to the gardening solicitor - I'll call her Lily - who was throwing her self about like she was being electrocuted. She absolutely loves Bongo's Bingo. Big Boss Man knows what she's like though - Before we left I went up to ask him if he was joining us and he ...said words that indicated a really very firm no... and then told me to keep my eye on/don't end up anywhere near Lily  
Sofa Gardening was alright but they don't give you many back episodes on iplayer so I had to do it online on my laptop. There are certainly worse ways to spend a day. I was looking for a channel/website that would let me go all the way back to the beginning and let me watch them in order but I couldn't find one. but ootoob gave me enough to fill most of a day    That's a full-on figgy fail eh Will the other babbies have enough time now to grow and ripen..?  

How was first plum 2p? I hope you get cooler temps and some rain soon :fingerscrossed: Your car journey sounds hellish, are you looking for houses in non-grockle infested areas? You could move up here near me - everyone heads either to 'Ull/Posh Town or Brid/Scarborough, no-one cares about our village Those legs are brilliant, good to see a bit of fun about the place  

Good luck getting your curtilages properly defined Dusty, the ramifications of getting them wrong aren't worth the world of bother you'd be in for getting them wrong. I've never been to Catholic Church Bingo but I think I can safely say it was Not Like Bongo's. There were plenty of people there older than me though, one woman was celebrating her 70th birthday there I didn't feel old until the DJ played Oh Sit Down, Sit Down Next To Me by James and I said I loved this song, I was 16 when it came out and it was fantastic year! Lily said it was the year before she was born "oh my god, you've lived your whole life since I was 16?!" I'd say it was a sobering thought but I wasn't even drinking  

OT warm again and the sun's out. It's a bit cloudy mind, and I'm hoping it doesn't break up much more or it'll be too hot to debride my other manky tree. 16'c currently and a high of 19'c to come. They say. Need to get more weeding done, again. 

wort

Bongos bingo 🫣YBE ,I said something like your boss and then after years of wrangling went in, I’m not a bingo person anyway and it was an experience!!!  Let’s leave it at that. I wouldn’t have minded the Henry Hoover prize though.

Yesterday was grey and v.windy again, tried sitting out for an hour but kept seeing things to do , but nowhere to put it. Until bin emptied next week.
Farway shame about the fig, but good photo op. Yeah for balcony yellow. Hope the back is behaving now.

Dusty hope the planning man is open to persuasion. That buddleia is the lovely colour my one the builders planted in my front garden was that dark colour so I moved it to the back when we moved in , I mean who wants giant buddleia in front of your front door !!! 

Though some neighbours got a row of laurels in front of theirs . Sadly my buddleia has gone now ,it got moved a few times and in the end think it had had enough, and took itself to the fjords.

I m recovering today, had some family round for a drink or two last night, and a little delicate this morning. I have wedding Dd calling this afternoon, so need to load up on carbs so I can converse with her.
looking grey again today and the forcast is rain , who knows .🤔

Farway

Sunny again, supposed to keep dry, no change there

Out watering my carpy courgettes first thing, the bushes are fine, just the fruits. Not too bovvered because I'm not a great lover of them. Being older, that sort of veg comes under foreign stuff, like aubergines, peppers etc. Must have been 1980s before I was aware of them.

YoungBlueEyes said:

 There were plenty of people there older than me though, one woman was celebrating her 70th birthday there I didn't feel old until the DJ played Oh Sit Down, Sit Down Next To Me by James and I said I loved this song, I was 16 when it came out and it was fantastic year! Lily said it was the year before she was born "oh my god, you've lived your whole life since I was 16?!" I'd say it was a sobering thought but I wasn't even drinking  

Pah, call that old. I had to look it up because I'd never heard of that song. No wonder, file under Courgete decade. I had raised a family by then and was into work drudgery, where gardening was one bright spot.

Age 16 is a fantastic year for many 

Careful with buddleia pics Dusty, was it Taff that is getting tempted despite hating them?

It does look a good one though

Managed to get most of the apples pruned, still have pear to do, and some thicker apples branches which need loppers now my hands don't have the strength they once had. Jam jar tops anyone?

Nice to see a bit of humour 2P. I've got some Sofa gardening due, this week's GW, last few weeks it's been of zero interest so hoping this week's is better and back to gardening, sounds like it may be.

Figs & plums, both poor here this year

You've seen horror fig, here are two that I have hopes for, on a different plant

Plum, looks lovely, but it is the only one I have, all the rest fell off or are wizened wrecks 

YoungBlueEyes

Pic time. Nice things first.

Not to worry about your refusnik dahlias Farway, Aldi have some in 



My bird-sown sunflower has decided it's alright here actually, and is giving it a go



Not to be out-yellowed a poppy has sprung up from somewhere



Not so nice things next

I've a lovely big apple growing but when I gave it a tickle to see if it wanted to come off it ....didn't feel right :boak:



Moving my rose to give it a dish of drink+feed there was this beastie there looking up at me (honestly, it did actually swivel it's eye-sticks to look at me) *shudder*



I wouldn't have minded the Henry Hoover either wort, but it was the pink one and had been ....decorated Hope you shift that hangover soon. Full fry-up, that'll see ya right  

Jam jar tops Farway - I got daddy a thing that does the work for you. He had desperate arthritis in both his hands and it was a godsend for him. I don't know if I can explain it right but you hook it across the lid of the jar and pull upwards, and it's 2 'teeth' lever the lid up a tiny wee bit so that the airlock breaks and you can unscrew the lid easily. I'll risk upsetting the mods with yet another pic so you can see what I mean.