Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

Lovely Farway 🙂 the berries and leaves that have survived have been astounding.

Dusty we have crabapple in the car parks here, all different colours but I couldn't get a good photo like you have.

I can't do much for colour but I have got plums coming and new blossom. It's truly weird as it's not sunny or warm 



Dusty, did you see that the West Somerset railway is on channel 4?
My stomping ground 😊

Been working on the house and clearing out, organising but it was cold and turned to torrential rain and freezing.
So even the little plant I was going to move didn't happen.

Dustyevsky

That's a fine Malus you have a view of, Farway. Sometimes, having a view of another's tree or shrub is almost as good as owning it, and there's no work involved, unless it's coming over the boundary, of course!  Neighbours' roses may be both a blessing and a curse. 

I did see part of the West Somerset Railway programme, 2p. Thanks for the heads-up.  Lots of drone footage there. Maybe I can catch up on the rest. Others have control of the TV currently!    .... Wow, you have a really optimistic plum tree! 

Our tractor guy did show up yesterday, and we struck lucky, dodging the showers while he was working. It's a relief to be tidy again along the roadside, especially when all the surrounding hedges have been cut.

Now I'll have to look at fence post replacement on the inside (above), and the chain saw will be needed to prepare for that, especially where there's blackthorn. We had a good crop of sloes this year, but they were small.

While Mr Tractor was cutting, I began clearing the polytunnel of tomatoes and marigolds. Hopefully, most of the whitefly went with them. I believe there were more of those on the marigolds than on the toms they were 'protecting.' 

Today, more sunshine and showers, but cooler, with a brisk wind around the middle of daylight hours. Still no sign of a Rosemoor trip.    

twopenny

They've only just been trimming the hedges around here last week Dusty so you're not late.

Sunshine this morning but 5c so another chilly one.
The garden is sodden, covered with leaves and not inviting. May wrap up and take leaves off tomato plants as there are still some desperately trying to ripen. No sweetness to them but a lovely tomatoey flavour.

Otherwise it's indoor stuff. Clouds are gathering as I post despite the 'dry all day' forecast.

Woken early by idiot son. Seems because I said 7am was more reasonable some year ago then Sunday at 6.45 from outside my bedroom is deemed ok so between no Sunday lie ins ever again and a heavy shower out there I'm going to be grumpy 😐

Farway

Woke up to hammering rain, but the sky is now blue, so I guess that lot has moved on, at least I'm now spared having to water 

No gardening today, too wet of course, but I did spot something, a fox I suspect, has tipped over a trough and the contents are over the path now

There were only some struggling muscari in there, which I was intending to move elsewhere anyway, just sped the move up a bit

Oooh, I'll have to have a look at my plum now 2P, only flowers I can see are some fuchsias and of course the stalwart nasturtiums

Picked the very last of my apples yesterday, Pinova. It's never done very well, dwarf rooting stock, in a large tub and probably not enough sunshine hours, Very tempted to move it if I had space somewhere

Here are the Pinova apples, only small, sort of tangerine sized, not tasted yet because it's never really fruited before the rats, birds, rot got them. The taste notes I've seen are mixed, Marmite reviews

twopenny

Lovely looking apples Farway. How small is small? More core than flesh?
If they're ok that's great for a pot.

Had one small bird on the feeder again today. I have heard them in a hedge near me but only a few where it used to be quite deafening.
Must top up the feeder today. They only seem to like feeding from the top hole 

-taff

And I'm six pages behind again, where does the itme go? OH has been waved off for his Thailand trip but all and sundry want to be sure I'm not lonely, which is nice but not when I want to get on with things...Today looks a good day to venture out and prune some stuff and fiish putitng in the new guttering on the lotment shed. I'm being lazy though so far...

I did chuckle at the fungi too, great timing ad lovely picture WM, those turbines should be an enhibition by themselves...

Quic, I've been making the jelly and cheese for years [I used to scrump them from the tree next to the pub beer garden] but only just got a tree of my own [ the ornamental variety didn't like it where I put it but refuses to go to the fjords.  Just sayin' Farway [lovely basket by the way]And it's true one of them will give you a lovely smell in the house, the skin tends to go a bit sticky when they're really really ripe. Mine is definitely doing it's best to sucker from the base, it hasn't got the message that's it's supposed to be a sedate size one yet. 

Shame about the completely inconsiderate neighbours...very weird the plum tree doing plums now...it's been a funny old year...god knows what the plants are going to do next year...On the plus side, my water butts [ 4 x 240ltrs] are completely full...on the minus side, wrong bloody time of year for them to be full...You can get little camping wood burners, handy for a conservatory, sometimes cheap on fbmp or whatever...

Lovely neat hedges/fences too Dusty...

Are there no if it were to happen but didn't happen stories ybe? ginormous apples! 

Love the robin bum, very sharp, loks like he was bowing to the Great Robin in the Sky...

Your medlars are massive Dusty, I have one the size of a large marble...I might put that down the allotment. the tree, not the marble medlar..I don't know why they do that with sauces, if they had to eat it, they'd rather have it on top too I'd bet. Not every day is a MasterChef day. How did the operation go to separate the twins  

Dustyevsky

-taff said:

Your medlars are massive Dusty, I have one the size of a large marble...I might put that down the allotment. the tree, not the marble medlar.. How did the operation go to separate the twins  

Although my hands are small, the medlars really are a good size this year. If I can find the time, I'll pass them on to someone who'll appreciate them, but time's short at present. Our visitors are definitely staying the full fortnight! 

We went out for a drive to DD's this morning, while Mrs Dusty got on unhindered with Sunday lunch. 

Sadly, the Siamese apple isn't worth doing anything with, especially when we have hundreds of others. Even the chickens are avoiding them! 

Speaking of fallen apples, I heard my first group of Fieldfares this morning. They'll be active for the next few months., clearing-up. Next to look out for will be the Redwings. While we still haven't many blackies in the garden, I spotted several yesterday at the field end, making the best of exceptional hawthorn berry production this year. 

PS. Replying to a query earlier, two of our small hedgehogs are back at the original Hedgehog Rescue place, and they just need feeding-up now. The smallest hog (230g) is still being treated at Hedgehog HQ. All should be OK now. The hogs we're seeing on camera every night (about 4 usually) are all large enough to hibernate whenever winter strikes. No sign of that in the coming week. 

LessImpecunious

A few pics, as usual never seem to be able to keep up and post them on a regular basis so pictorial diarrhea again I'm afraid... will see whether it's one per post or not...

Larch and lichen

LessImpecunious

New post required, drat

Hawthorn berries and lichen(today - it was sunny!)



Ooh may allow me another.... So in no way galling

LessImpecunious

Finally, oak tree by River Wye