Awful weather - typical Brits talk

wort

Hope all those with lurgy are feeling better.
The talk of caves reminded me of the birds were they sand martins that they bulldozed their homes. Who was it had the pic ? Have they rebuilt it? 

I’m here YBE been busy with real life rubbish. Get some whisky in ya, and rub goose fat on your chest or some such.
Im all for the 3rd house, those balconies with sea view 😍 wisteria around beautiful maybe the railway could be diverted, or it may just be steam trains once a day at the time to remind you it’s time for a g and t .
Less well done 👏🏻 front page.

Today is supposed to be best of week so washing is out, quite windy and occasional sun .SIL hopefully on way for my garden dig. And Friday sees my nephew coming for the stuff out of my garage, been storing it whilst he remodeled his first home. Only been there 2 years 🫣 so best wishes to him and yeah to getting my garage back may have a good sort out when he clears his stuff.

I’ll try remind myself to go to Lidl Thursday to check out the seeds .

Farway

I have sun! 

Too late for clouds to have cleared, so no Aurora for me  :'(

-taff said:

There are penguins? News to me....

How did the plant pick up go Farway? That's a lot of things to be taking but you said loganberry, what are they like? the previous lotment holder put some by his shed, I keep meaning to move them because they've not fruited yet, but they do struggle and grow. 

Penguins, reminds me of joke, bloke rushes into a pub and asks how tall penguins are

About 3 foot says someone

"Oh, then I've just run over a Nun"   

Plant pick up is later today,all lined up ready to go

Loganberry, easy and productive, but not for shade, maybe too shady? 

They do need to be really ripe, very dark red, to eat off the bush, otherwise it's sugar, cream or pies etc.

Lovely in crumbles and the like, and of course you will never be able to buy them fresh from a shop

Birds love them, so will need nets, or fleece

Worth keeping on

One lurgy in, Dusty, and one Lurgy out, Bluey. Nicely balanced

Hope the "Linctus" works if needed Dusty. I see from Wiki it has a sweet & delicate nature, ideal for breakfast 

No gardening planned, but tempting with the sun, I do need to pot on my apple from it's frosted & crumbling pot

And I found the "missing" Jap Quince, which has buds on, that could do with potting on as well

-taff said:

Hedge#3 is being made, some branches have been lopped off apple tree. I mean, I like apples, but I also like to reach them without needing Reed Richards superpowers, so while I may be the pariah of the lotment, at least I'll have apples..

When I tackled my big apple tree it took a few years to bring it down to manageable, shoulder, height, and now trained as cordon.

It still wants to leap into the sky though, and needs a good summer prune every year, but at least no ladders required

My root tip cutting of Boysenberry, for DD, amazed just how much root it has made since summer 2025

Never grown BBy before but seem to spend a long time, like a year, making roots before top canes

Here's the plant, rooted in a wall basket for my convenience

Dustyevsky

wort said:

The talk of caves reminded me of the birds were they sand martins that they bulldozed their homes. Who was it had the pic ? Have they rebuilt it? 

It was pink poppy, and the birds did return. Sadly, poppy hasn't, her last visit to the Forum being on 9th November.  :'(

Farway said:

I have sun! 

Too late for clouds to have cleared, so no Aurora for me  :'(

One lurgy in, Dusty, and one Lurgy out, Bluey. Nicely balanced

Hope the "Linctus" works if needed Dusty. I see from Wiki it has a sweet & delicate nature, ideal for breakfast 

Looks like you'll have had a dry day.....until about now!  'Our' rain seems to be heading for Wales. Sorry, Less.  People in Devon were waxing lyrical about the Aurora on the radio this morning, so my observational skills must've poor at silly o'clock.  I was better sleeping, because there were no sniffles whatever this morning, just sore arms from chainsawing. No excuse for linctus, but as I was seeing nurse, that was off the menu anyway! 

After nurse, I had to take Mrs Dusty to Barney Rubble for her podiatry + specs appts. By then, along with the wind, the rain was hammering down, which is why I decided to go. That road is becoming nightmarish, and when the potholes fill with water, it's hard to be sure where they are. 

Luckily, Mrs D got fresh feet and new specs in double quick time, so we were heading home before the worst effects of the rain were apparent. Once water starts pouring out of the woodland in the river gorge section, it brings rocks and other debris with it.   One tree was leaning at 45 degrees across the road when we went past, and it might be down by now. That was the only extra hazard we saw. 

More rain tomorrow for us, probably when the sheep arrive.  It doesn't look as if you guys in the norf will escape then either, so I hope you got washday in. 

That Boysenberry has an intricate root system to go with its complex parentage, Farway.  I searched, but I've only these to show. They're Honesty plants which won't flower until 2027; another reminder everything that bears fruit must start somewhere, sometimes even in the middle of winter when the natural world seems to be sleeping   

LessImpecunious

Dustyevsky said:

Looks like you'll have had a dry day.....until about now!  'Our' rain seems to be heading for Wales. Sorry, Less.  People in Devon were waxing lyrical about the Aurora on the radio this morning, so my observational skills must've poor at silly o'clock.  I was better sleeping, because there w

Hmm, wasn't exactly dry today, so lurked in woodshed, and battened down greenhouse against wind, which was a little blustery! But looks like worse (rain only, thankfully) coming, thanks Dusty! So maybe lurking in potting shed tomorrow, inspired by your lovely seedlings to sow something myself...haven't felt the urge yet, this year, tho I have aubergines, onions, etc, which I know would be best started ASAP...

No aurora/s/e spotted here...

twopenny

Very windy and wet. 3c seems ok as it's gone on so long it's become normal.
Saw nobody out on the street.
Supposed to be the same tomorrow, just with more rain 😬

No outdoor buildings to potter in so I did some clean outs indoors.

When it eventually stops I need to thin out more of the plums off the tree because they are still swelling.
Truly weird 👻

Strikes me as I write that it's nearly time for outdoor sowing of seeds in pots for brassicas at least down here.
Need to get them growing and in the ground before the drought starts 😂

A less successful note, the potted pyramid bay that started to recover is looking awful again.
Same for the Viburnum. I'm tempted to cut that right down a foot from the base and start again.

wort

Dusty it will be a shame if the tree ends up lopsided, it’s what put me off chopping bits off my birch tree. Yess PP took those photos, hope she’s back soon.
Taff the mushrooms were sizable no idea how they got there. I was not trying them, as years ago as a teen saw a murder film were they killed someone using mushrooms, I only ever buy from supermarket now 😂

 2p I gave my viburnum a good chop and it’s looking good now, not quite that low but they seem quite hardy, it survived a big move years ago.
Farway that’s an impressive root system on that boysenberry, your dgd is lucky to have you passing plants on. I noticed my evergreen hydrangea cutting that I shoved in has taken, so I’ll offer that to someone in the family.

SiL did a stirling job, all digging done,some chopping of stuff that is at the back of my fence and keeps popping up . Also put some hooks in for extra washing line space 👏🏻
I cleared the rest of the roots after he left,  then planted the phlox I’d bought to go in 1 space. Did a couple of hours ,then brought in the dry washing . Just time for quick shower before dgson arrived hungry for tea.

Its rained overnight and grey and windy at the moment. 

twopenny

Morning Wort ☀️ some sun for you.
How nice to have someone do those jobs for you and kind. It makes you feel all kinds of better and able to focus on the fun stuff.

I've realised why I feel uneasy with Farways rooting Prodigies. Decades of fighting blackberry and brambles from taking over. It brings it all back.
Should wizz off though with roots like that!

Dry today, almost bright so far the opposite of the predictors. They need to polish up their Chrystal ball.
No gardening predicted for today except plans in my head. Sodden, chill and soggy so not even suitable for clearing up.
Just as well, about better enough to feel like I should be doing something but still coughing and unfit.

Farway

Back to rain, and more rain, it's just rotten out, so no gardening today, but like 2P, plans in head

Talk of seed sowing, now thinking about mustard,  after the talk of watercress, Hmmm, scratches head and starts daydreaming 

At least in yesterday's sun, I did get the bird bath reassembled after it was hit by an Iceberg last week

The parent Boysenberry has buds that are swelling, don't know if flower or foliage buds yet 

DD arrived yesterday as planned, and the plants have now Gone West [Southampton  ]

And, during sunny garden prowling I found the Rosa Car Parkii rooted cutting, planted out last Spring time, and presumed fried by the summer sun, has decided a Zombie life is best option and has fresh leaves sprouting. 

The Jap An effect, it is in same scorched patch at the front

Dusty, Your pic of Honesty seedlings has helped identify some seedlings I have popping up at the front.

I thought they were bird dropped sunflowers, but, Doh, blooming obvious now, with honesty plants only a few feet away.

They started as seeds heads from Horticultural DGD in 2023 and flowered 2024 spring

These ones must have lain dormant, because I have others from same self sown 2025 seeds that are large, having grown all summer, & I expect to flower this spring

Spring has arrived here, saw a couple of magpies collecting nest building twigs

Hope the lurgy improvements continue to those stricken, or with near misses

Old pic, but even if LIAM fails at least I get Honesty

twopenny

I opened a bag of shallots today from the discount baskets and they have grown a mate.

If I separate the smaller bulb and plant do you reckon it would grow into anything or just bolt?

Dustyevsky

LessImpecunious said:

So maybe lurking in potting shed tomorrow, inspired by your lovely seedlings to sow something myself...haven't felt the urge yet, this year, tho I have aubergines, onions, etc, which I know would be best started ASAP...

The Honesty just come up when they feel like it. Theoretically, they should seed around, but eventually we have to give them a helping hand. Tough old things, they'll go out around March. 

In the pot behind the Honesty, a few other shoots are just visible. Those are Allium siculum (used to be Nectaroscordum siculum.....one of the better re-names!  ) Mrs D doesn't much care for those, so I expect they'll end up in the wild garden.

Picture courtesy of Waitrose. Other supermarkets are available, but their picture was better than the real thing! 

It's not been a great day. Our printer's failing. The ink arrived for a more modern one that came free with DD2's house, but I think it's been dry for too long. Despite going dutifully through the motions, head cleaning, and so on, only clean paper emerges from it. 

I didn't mind fighting with the printer too much this morning, as the rain was fairly thrashing down again. It was nothing like 2p's dry start.    At about 11.00, I took an old chap to the surgery, which used up another hour...and it was still raining.   The sheep were due to arrive in the afternoon, so I was relieved when the clouds parted just after lunch, giving me enough time to drive in 3 posts where old ones were failing near the road. We need many new ones, but those were essential. Also essential, was clearing-up the hellebore foliage I dumped in the field next the bonfire, just before hearing the sheep were coming! Doh!!   They ignore foxglove foliage, but all the same, I won't take chances.

 At 16.00 rain threatened again, and with no sign of sheep, I picked up the logs and made my way indoors. It's Market Day tomorrow, so maybe the sheep won't be here till Friday now. 

OT: Wet, windy, then dry and reasonably calm for a while. Now light rain, and mild for a January evening. Tomorrow looks similar.