Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Davesnave

pink_poppy said:

Talking of big birds, we had an eagle fly overhead yesterday....it was getting mobbed by crows
Hope your mum is doing okay, in_my_wellies. What big bird are you watching??

Thanks for that, Farway, it sounds pretty straightforward. I remember as a child I used to put carrot tops in a saucer of water to see if they would grow, I think I must have seen it suggested somewhere. I never got to see if it worked because my mum would always throw them out 🙄

We usually get buzzards here and the crows do the same. I've heard red kites are moving  into the area, but we've not seen one yet.

As for fig cuttings and  others, I have a bed of gritty soil in the corner of the polytunnel and just push the cuttings in there, then keep them moist through general watering. Sometimes cuttings fail, but mostly they grow. A shady spot outside could be used instead. At my last garden I had a cold frame behind a tall fence and it did the same job.

 I've recently experimented with tomato cuttings in small pots. One tomato plant may yield maybe 5 or 6 others, rooted by this stage in the year, so theoretically, a couple of early sown seeds could supply a family with a dozen plants!

Farway

And more rain, with gales last night, neighbour's fence is down but not on my side, I've got walls

Birds, I'm hoping to spot the Sea Eagles released on the Isle of Wight, they are fitted with trackers and make huge journeys, I sometimes spot Red Kites if I venture towards the Sussex border, otherwise it's magpies, gulls & Chinooks this year

Tomatoes & cuttings. I seem to recall a growing method where they train up but also along the ground to root & then go up again, sort of layering with many uprights and one huge root, I'd guess in a greenhouse where they have 15 foot monsters that require a crane to pick them it would make sense

2P growing against a fence & training is working for me as well, not quite a fence but restricted in area to and not just left to get on with it.

My gooseberry is trained and I get far more off it now than i ever did just letting it grow. If it stops raining I'll try & take a photo of it

Farway

Rain has stopped for now, I managed to get out for a quick garden check yesterday, most seems OK and I think there may be some grape flowers forming but will have to wait a few more days to confirm that

My plum tree seems a bit short of embryo plums after the gales , not had a close look but fingers crossed they're hiding under leaves

We had loads of rain, which has topped up my pond that was dry after April,. one plus from a full pond is the damsel flies have appeared from nowhere, here's one I spotted resting on my Cosmos seedlings

MovingForwards

Mind if I join? I love a good natter! 
Moved up to Scotland coming up to 5 years ago and purchased a flat with a private garden last year, with gorgeous water and views (Pentland Hills, but looks like a mountain range from the flat). I did want a smallholding, but my salary isn't enough. Instead I've made the most of my 8x11m garden and a neighbour is letting me (us) use his for crops too, I've also got my name down on the local allotment.
Another neighbour has said we can extend into his garden, but he likes using it in summer for those cold beer relaxing evenings. Instead my OH and I are transforming it into a low maintenance, flowering, cottage type garden for him. Doing it on a budget.
All in we maintain 5 out of the 6 gardens in the block and also assist OH's sister with her allotment. I get a lot of seeds on as the flat can be like a greenhouse.

Most days I'm in the garden, health and weather permitting. Planting, sowing, thinking or just reflecting. My OH does the lifting and shifting, I get to swan in afterwards. He's very possessive of the homemade composts as it's his ongoing projects. We're hoping to go fully organic this year by making comfrey feeds etc, but aware we have no outside influence on what others do.

It's the two of us and a cat who takes resting seriously.

While I refer to 'I' a lot, it's a joint effort.

Davesnave

Yesterday I was in a garden about 80 miles from here. Although the weather was glorious, there wasn't much opportunity for photography as I was sharing it with 6 children under 8. I did manage a quick snap of the shuttlecock ferns unfolding, with what''s left of the 'black' tulips and the fritillaria seed pods in the background:

I miss the damselflies emerging, Farway. Maybe in a year or two....

twopenny

That's dedication MovingForwards! But fun. I was eyeing up my neighbours garden when her fence came down and thought it would make a perfect mini orchard and veg patch so I could have flowers outside my house. It'll never happen.

I did manage to mow the lawns and get the box hedging at the side of the new steps as well as widening the 'bed' to make it easier to mow.

I'm quite pleased with the outcome and looks (accidentally) like a mini stately home

I need to reduce the size of the flower bed at the front, preferably by cutting the only inherited plant a Seneico that rooted many times into the soil over the years. Ultimately I;d like to get it out as it's too big and provides no scent or cut flowers but it's a crowbar job and whatever is wrong with my pelvis I now, as of yesterday, can't walk so that will have to wait.

Still raining, coming down in buckets occasionally but just steady mostly. Working up to getting out there to pick the greens for my dinner.

The bonus is that greens haven't got the blister and mildew that was a problem and so far the broad beans are fly free.........will they harden enough before the sunshine? Already flowering even though they haven't grown much.

quirkydeptless

I'm enjoying watching the birds visiting my garden in pairs, having a snack themsleves, and then filling their beaks before getting back to their nests to feed the little ones.

Also nice to see hear the blackbirds and robins sing whilst their partners feed. I wonder how many of guys do that?

Davesnave

quirkydeptless said:

Also nice to see hear the blackbirds and robins sing whilst their partners feed. I wonder how many of guys do that?

I think I'm on dinner duty tonight  but I doubt if DB would want me to serenade her!

Managed to work till lunchtime, when it finally began to rain more continuously and plundering the muck heap was no longer sensible. Managed to get the deep bed for the toms ready, so now I await the civil engineer to construct a space frame with her bamboo and twine. I also coaxed her Dicksonia out of its pot and replaced some of the soil before returning it for another few seasons. It's touch and go if I will live long enough to stand under it like the ones at Trebah or Heligan. Maybe if I can still crouch at 85.....

RAS

MovingForwards, welcome

Need a little advice on acers, not my usual sort of plant. 

Been working at an event and today the rain was replaced by high winds. So there's a couple of pieces of acer that have blown off two varieties onto the track, semi-ripened, 20cms plus long. Any idea if I can get them to root? How?

Just to add, both a little wind desiccated so have bunged them in some water overnight.

MovingForwards

@twopenny I was going to ask the neighbour if he wanted to sell it.  Just have to wait and see what happens when he does sell his flat and if the new owner uses it. Overall I want to pay the flat off, work PT and then throw myself into being more self-sufficient, hence wanting the allotment; then I can have chickens at home.

@RAS take most of the leaves off, put it in compost and put a bag over it, keep moist and it should root. 

Weather has been in our favour today, I was sowing seeds and OH doing more on the borrowed one. We've got a couple of robin's who watch everything we do, nipping down to rummage for bugs when we step away. They seem to be getting quite confident as we don't have to move far now.