Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

One experimental plant a year Less, that sounds good fun. Any outstanding winners/losers? I always thought loofahs were like sponges in that they grew in warm water oceans Well at least I don't look ignorant

I'm sure my Mum told me loofahs were a type of sea creature too!   Maybe, without the huge benefits of the interweb and AI, our parents confused loofahs and natural sponges? They'd never have lied to us deliberately, would they?    It's also possible Mum found me, Moses like, under a gooseberry bush, or thought she did! 

LessImpecunious

YoungBlueEyes said:

One experimental plant a year Less, that sounds good fun. Any outstanding winners/losers? 

I've tried Cucamelons (in greenhouse), good, but not liked much by anyone but me ; Tromboncino squash (outside) - great crop one year, very poor the next (though that was last year which was rubbish for all squash); Tomatillo outside, similar, great if you like salsa, and am growing them again this year, but was a bit late planting them out so no salsa yet; Gigantes beans (a runner but you eat the beans like butter beans) - crops earlier than any other runners I've grown, so you can get a few early green beans, then leave the rest to fatten up - but only produced the equivalent of 3 or 4 cans of butter beans (from c. 4-6 plants), so probably need a whole row of them to be at all worthwhile...; aubergines, GH again - hmm, was late sowing these too, which I know is not good, but I do have two small - medium fruits on one of 4 plants which might make it to a reasonable size before it gets too cold...; field beans - (like baby broad beans) - well, these do crop well (too well, so we may be eating some of theses as dried beans too!) and they overwintered from autumn sowing too, which I can never get broad beans to do successfully, but they are darn fiddly to shell...; Okra (GH) - hmm, similar fail to loofah, but might have had a better chance this year...

As there's often more seed in a packet than one year's worth it tends to be one experimental plant over two or three years (which is a better experiment at least), with a new experimental plant each year...

Farway

Wet & dull, it's gone from summer to autumn in a week, the garden is looking very bedraggled, one spot of colour are the sedums just colouring up.

twopenny said:

Hope you get out for your apples Farway. Are these eaters ie squirrel fodder or cookers that will stay safe from wildlife.

I did get them picked yesterday, good job I did with this rain. They are eaters, but I cook with them anyway. Unknown early non keepers.

I've never had room, or inclination, for a cooking apple tree.

This year the rats etc seem to have left them alone, possibly because of all the windfalls I CBA to pick up I've left for them.

I also picked some Santana apples, they are small with the drought  , but it’s the first year I will have tasted them. 

Bought 2021, first fruit last year, which the rats / squirrels ate 

Hope they taste good, I'll let you know

https://www.orangepippin.com/varieties/apples/santana

In all, I collected a bulging carrier bag full of apples yesterday, so the next few days will be busy freezing them down because they do not store well.

Am I the only one who has grown a loofah? 

Years ago, in my try anything days, along with spaghetti squashes.

Grew OK, but 

 I never went to the rot flesh etc stage, just the curiosity of growing one.

I may try one of them there trombone squash things next year if I spot cheap seeds.

Just refreshed, and I see Less has grown them.

https://hub.suttons.co.uk/gardening-advice/how-to-grow-tromboncino-squash

YoungBlueEyes said:

I used to like R4 during the night too Farway, so much so I had World Service as my all day main station on the kitchen radio. I can't remember now why I changed it back, not jolly enough I think. 

 Everything else is dull or dying. Well except my apple tree but I'm waiting on good light to get a pic of that. They're big and red and lovely looking but they want to stay on so.... good job I've patience galore... 

I find World Service too much pushing The Message for continuous listening, but a few nuggets appear

Those apples sound lovely, ideal for Snow White. Hope all the toothy creatures keep away this year.

Great hydrangea pics Dusty, if only I had room

With the rain, only gardening is freezing some apples, plus horizontal GW & Emma's allotment

twopenny

Beauties of hydrangea Dusty 🙂 mine went brown from rain last year and brown from heat this.
In fact since I bought a wreath base to make my own wreath they've rebelled 😟

Farway that's a lot of apples 😲 but of course an apple a day keeps the doctor away!
The allotment prog, I'd forgotten about that. I'll have to look it up.
Spaghetti squash I tried to replace pasta but it's no match. Tried to grow some from the seed but they weren't cooperating.

Less your garden sounds exciting.
Photos please 🙂

Bluey, yes. The forums for the UK are very good. And quick response. I've used them for lots and they've helped find the good stuff and avoid the bad. Hoping I can use them again when I get walking. My plans were pre covid and hotels closed, bus stops changed, even one place burning down so I need to start again.

I must have loved plants from the start judging by this photo....... don't think there's any chance of recognising me now 😁

LessImpecunious

twopenny said:

Spaghetti squash I tried to replace pasta but it's no match. Tried to grow some from the seed but they weren't cooperating.

Less your garden sounds exciting.
Photos please 🙂

Spaghetti squash is one I haven't tried, but my parents (adventurous veg gardeners) did try, successfully, in the late 70s - not really a pasta substitute, but I remember the innards being tasty slathered in butter and pepper... maybe that should be my next year's experimental plant!

Garden not that exciting as I haven't had all those things growing at the same time, and some of them have not progressed very far... Photos:

Rather small aubergines (excuse unhealthy-looking leaf!)

One I'd forgotten about - this was a Bottle Gourd which flowered and then died! 

First baby Cucamelon...

Can't seem to find any pics of others, but found a lot of photos I'd forgotten I'd taken, and many I should have deleted...time for a sort out!

OT, odd weather today, after torrential showers in morning and sunny blustery afternoon yesterday, today was grey and dull and eerily still ... another storm on the way?

YoungBlueEyes

I was impressed with myself for thinking Compostbag Carparkii could be a squash too Dusty, they must grow them on BG or summat. I don't know where else I would've got it from. Unless it yous lot, insidiously worked your knowledge into my brain without me realising   Your hydrangeas look lovely enough to me, even if they are going over I'll have to get pics of my ones, which really are going/gone over. They're still attractive, in their own way... That's a shame about your cold frame cuttings, would you not plant them outside and let them take their chances..?  I think lying parents did used to to be A Thing, but it's prolly against Hoomin Rites now or summat. One that I still remember whenever I'm slugging cough mixture straight outta the bottle having a carefully measured dose of cough mixture is when we were little and needing Gee's Linctus. If we'd forgotten to shake the bottle first daddy would make us jump and down or do star jumps or go outside and do handstands to recreate the shaking :rolleyes: #MoreStuffWotKidsTodayWouldNeverBelieve

That's a cracking selection of experimental plants Less, mostly successful too I can't decide if cucamelon sounds wondrous or disgusting... if you put one in front of me I'd definitely eat a bit though I like the flowers on your Bottle Gourd, unusual state of the petals being relaxed backwards like that. Tomatillo for salsa - are they not normal eating tomatoes then? Cissie never said anything to me about a storm so we're alright Which, in a world of fake news and twiddled data, is about as reassuring as it comes I'd say. 

A carrier bag full of apples Farway, bluddy nora. I bet your kitchen smells good though does it? Fingers crossed for your Santana apples According to Cissie you should eat an apple a day for your gums, they've something in them that helps your gums along. That is not legal advice etc. Anyway, speaking of GW, does anyone remember what Monty said about fig trees? I've more figs on my tree now, having removed the split-ersed ones, and I can't remember if he said we should remove them cos they'll not ripen now. Or will I leave them be..? 

You bought a wreath base and your hydrangeas rebelled 2p! I don't know why that's so funny but it is Aye that forum really is good, I'm only lurking really but I'm putting together a list of good + bad and building a trip. Aww look at you in your pic, you look a right little sweetie with your Princess Leia buns It's a wonder your parents never called you Flora ha haa! 

OT well it rained like bu99ery yesterday evening, not that they gave us warning obviously. The wind dropped for it too so it just fell straight out of the sky. More to come all day today, they say, it's raining now even, according to them. Well only if you count humidity as rain :rolleyes: 15'c currently and Feels Like is 12', a high of 20 to come, possibly.

We've a new girl started at work. I've be given the job of training her up as a phone answerer, and I've upset her already. I say "her", both she and her boyfriend use the pronoun 'they'. So. First question they asked me was - what's this company's policy on climate change? Me - ooh ummm is there anything about it in your contract? Not that they could see. Me - I'm not sure I can articulate it as well as OMM could, so nip through there and ask her. Isn't this something you should know, and be implementing every day!? Me - ooh ummmmm absolutely, most pertinent, very important, great question, I'll just answer this phone. FGS, I'm only on minimum wage, how much are you sposed to tolerate? Are you reading this, gummint? This is why the dole queue doesn't get any shorter. 

YoungBlueEyes

Pics from yesterday. Snow White apples and my honeysuckle. It’s got dead and living leaves, and flowers and berries. Still smells fab though  

My hydrangeas just now. Lovely blue jobber at the top. (I’ve only sat them together for the photo.)

I cut all the manky and ugly bits off, and it decided to keep going. I think it’s dying properly now  

Dustyevsky

Glad to see both your hydrangeas turned out to be Norway resistant, Bluey.   As for mine, I could show you a really !!!!!! one, 2p, that's definitely on my 'Consider carefully!' list. This is H. aspera, which spends much of the year looking like half-dead twigs, only saving itself by flowering later than most. This year, that flowering was so brief and restricted, I missed it. The plant really needs a damper, shadier place, but nowhere was damp this summer. 

Cucamelons made a brief bid to take over our polytunnel some years ago.  While fairly bland as a salad vegetable, we weren't keen enough to keep up with production. My friend Dave makes a quite passable Indian condiment with them, but again, it's not something you'd want in large quantities, especially with all the salt involved. One unusual vegetable, not mentioned by Less, is Chinese artichokes. Those really did take over one corner of the poly, and they returned with a vengeance the following year, as we failed to exhume them all. We failed miserably at digesting them too.  I'll keep that description vague, seeing this is before the watershed.    After their second coming, I stripped out their deep bed and returned the results to Dave, who didn't seem particularly pleased. After all, he could hardly have dug a hole and buried them!  It occurred to me later, Dave had never sold any Chinese artichoke-based condiments, just the white tubers. 

Your wokey newbie's left of field question about climate change was unfair, Bluey. If you'd seen it coming, you might have told her, “Well, as a responsible workforce, we have agreed not to put on the office heating system until winter indoor temperatures fall to 9c.” After all, that would only be a degree or two below what kids used to endure in 'temporary' classrooms! 

OT: Apparently, we have a yellow warning for rain in place until 14.00.  :*Right now, the sky's blue and there's a warmish wind, but the water in the wheelbarrow suggests it was pretty wet overnight. That's my pile of newly-cut logs soaked, then.   Yesterday afternoon, the blobs finally found me, and log cutting was abandoned, but not before a goodly pile had been made. Our 25/26 main winter supply is arriving in two batches this month, long before the U-turn allowance. A new chainsaw would be nice, but Mrs Dusty's hedge trimmer is toast, and this time I didn't run over it with the car! It just died.  Good while it went, but only two years of use, so in my opinion, a load of bosch.  

It's rather late for geraniums, and this once certainly takes its time establishing. However, it's almost justified its place in the main border:If you're after long flowering and quick results, look elsewhere. Did I say 'Rozanne'? Other good blues are available: Orion, Brookside, Johnson's Blue (may lie awkwardly  ) and Mrs Kendall Clark (though she falls over frequently) come to mind. 

Edit: Didn't realise I swored. I thought what I wrote meant "fairly ugly."  Every day's a school day....

pink_poppy

I'm good at getting interviews, twopenny, just carp when I go for them   
Very cute pic of you as a toddler

I didn't go brambling again on Monday or yesterday, YBE, although I'm thinking of having a quick look after I've posted here. The weather has been pretty rubbish though, so I can't imagine the brambles will have improved much.
Btw, we are having problems finding accommodation for our trip up North in October - ridiculously expensive (for self catering) and not much availability, considering it's supposedly not peak season. Ferries are booked, just nowhere to stay yet    

Lovely hydrangeas, Dusty and YBE. My blue one hasn't done anything yet this year.

I think I must have seen squash/curcubit wotsit type plants before, probably on here, which is why I thought of it for carparkii plant.

I've just spent nearly £4 on 12 smallish apples, Farway, so you're quids in with your homegrown ones

Right, I should probably sign off if I'm going bramble hunting - we're forecast light rain pretty much all day, but it's dry atm...

pink_poppy

Quick pic from last night, taken out of the car window on the way home…