Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Dustyevsky

-taff said: I haven't seen any grumpies lately, but to be fair, I avoid other people like the plague so probably don't see much of it. I live in a very small social bubble, can't be doing with drama.

You all starting your tomatoes makes me want to give mine a head start but I've got to get my propagator out for any chillies.

I'm in a place with relatively few stressed-out folk, judging purely by experiences when out driving and shopping. In the little town, people still say “Hello” on the street, and the general standard of manners is pretty good. 😇 There are stresses and strains for some, though. As usual, in the last two months, farmers have missed a lot of sleep, lambing. Down DD2's way where they're mostly arable, none of the usual ploughing will be possible, and autumn-sown crops may be rotting by now. 😥Then there are the builders and thatchers, and the latter never work indoors! There are also people who cannot move on. In this postcode alone, 6 houses were on the market in '25. One sold. The others are currently off Rightmove, but their owners must be frustrated. Incidentally, the one that sold is where I've been mowing 1/2 an acre, so that's a relief, but our mower's still broken. 😥The guy we use to fix it is snowed-under with work, mainly old tractors. Some people have no worries about AI replacing them! 😁

Most of our tomatoes won't be sown till the end of the month. Chillies are different, so they'll go in earlier. I've room in the polytunnel deep beds now for those, and esoteric things, like ground cherries.🤓

2p said:

Oh and I heard what I thought was a funny story. When they built an enclosure locally to contain beavers they put the wooden posts on the inside. Think about it. The beavers chewed through them in the first 2 weeks 😄Now they are being released. There's going to be a few fence panels go down not to mention peoples garden trees.

They love applewood. I mentioned that when the ones released here began demolishing a riverside orchard. 😣The people in charge of this re-wilding aren't always the sharpest tools in the box. The correct place for them would have been in the headwaters, not the middle reaches, or below.

Back to mahonias, and here's one my walking friend wants because it's non-prickly. I took a picture for her at Rosemoor. The photo is rather lacking because there was something in the foreground which disappeared just as I pushed the shutter button…

It's called M. 'Soft Caress.' The character who vamoosed at the critical moment, was waiting for their portrait shot at the other side of the container.

Personally, I don't rate 'Soft Caress,' but at my age I know better than to disagree with a lady's choice! 😂

YoungBlueEyes

Morning all - some nonsense about that superbowl carryon.

I can see why you're a fan of Rosemoor Dusty, it looks like a place you could spend a day just wandering aimlessly looking at stuff. Probably not as appealing when the place is rammed with visitors. If I had anything even approaching a sensible amount in my pension I'd give up work and start an allotment and be a very happy bunny. Plus dogs.

Rage Bait response Farway, very droll. Folks are definitely angrier aren't they. I kinda hoped it was just at work because the process is slower than a lot of people would like, but it's becoming more everyday. Squeaky Wheel Syndrome. Anyway. How are your beans doing? Did you start some toms..? I'll have to rake out my last years smears cos they were IOW ones and I'm really hoping they come good.

2p your roses are beautiful, I can practically smell them from here. Funny you should say about it turning into a duo-climate - I was reading a thing the other day about the Japanese. They're very worried about Climate Change how the climate is changing. Their season's boundaries are changing so the Summer is hotter and longer and the Winter is colder and longer. Spring and Autumn are being absorbed into them and won't somebody think of the cherry blossoms! They're in a desperate state out there atm, snow falling at a near unprecedented rate and a few fatalities from it too. I'll have to go find the link.

I wish I could avoid other people like the plague taff, it would sure make things easier eh. How's Dead Stick Fence coming along? Hopefully you've managed to stop the other allotmenteers being 'helpful'.

That's a bu99er about your crocuses Less, can you get them lifted when they've done flowering..? Or would they die on you for badness?

Brighter here this morning, a bit. The humidity is 92% and dropping, and there's a wee breeze to make sure the murk can't resettle. Might even get some gardening done. Well I've found some trays of daff bulbs on the conservatory floor that want planted (prolly too late but better in some soil than sat where they are).

YoungBlueEyes

That took some finding!

https://blog.gaijinpot.com/is-japan-really-losing-its-four-seasons/

I didn’t realise it clicked to an outside site. The original site is JapanToday, which is quite good for news that isn’t USA centric.

twopenny

Good link Bluey 🙂

So I went from there to the positive news site and seems there's an appropriate days saying "the rose and the thorn, sorrow and gladness are linked together" Sadie

And the first article is about wild hedges bringing a host of wildlife

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/numbers-of-rare-butterfly-eggs-are-best-on-record-after-hedges-allowed-to-grow-wild/

I said about the volume of bird chatter from the hedge down the road which is a mix of all sorts including ivy. A bungalow I went to see also has a nearby hedge like that and also shouting with bird chatter.

So that's on the list 😊

Farway

Dull & misty, still damp & squidgy as well.

2P said "How are your beans doing? Did you start some toms..? I'll have to rake out my last years smears cos they were IOW ones and I'm really hoping they come good"

The beans, some have sprouted with roots now showing. Some dry time next week I'll try & get them planted out.

The toms, sowed two seeds and they are now in the airing cupboard to get going

Cracking robin photo Dusty, I think I would've cheated and got my AI chum to put the robin back where he should be 🤫

Isn't there a problem with beavers and the blighters having legs they wander off despite fences? I'm sure it will end in tears one day. I sort of follow the Beaver news because of the River Otter and my ancestors coming from that area [Hint, Farway]

YBE, Japan cherry blossom, brought back memories, I was there courtesy of Her Majesty, late 60s, at cherry blossom time, a real pleasure to see, somewhere I have photos but not to hand

I have a pic for today, not the daff, still damp out there, but it's my neglected, but lives on, Christmas cactus

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

I sort of follow the Beaver news because of the River Otter and my ancestors coming from that area [Hint, Farway]

I'm familiar with Farway, as I recall looking for property around there when we first tried to escape the city. It was back in the internet's infancy, where you got a few tiny pictures on Rightmove. Sadly, we soon found all we could afford there would be a wee Woolaway concrete bungalow on a precipitous slope! 😐️

Your Christmas cactus is doing well on neglect. Ours has been watered, but no sign of flowers. 😕

Bluey said:

I can see why you're a fan of Rosemoor Dusty, it looks like a place you could spend a day just wandering aimlessly looking at stuff. Probably not as appealing when the place is rammed with visitors.

If I had anything even approaching a sensible amount in my pension I'd give up work and start an allotment and be a very happy bunny.

Walking friend and I try to visit one of the further flung parts we don't see on every visit, simply to vary things. It's also a decent leg stretch if we walk both woodlands on the outside before going into the middle. The variable weather on Wednesday meant we only walked the wood nearest the river, and then, only some of it. I've said before, the last hour before closing time is usually very quiet, except maybe summer hols. Then, hopefully, we're out exploring in the wilds. Hmm..I dread to think what some Exmoor trails are like just now! 😮

As for allotments, I believe they'll become ever more popular, if 'supply chain friction' continues to increase.(acceptable language 😥) Should that occur, Mrs D and I would hive off an area of the field for our immediate neighbours (Mr C excepted - he has 0.5 acres. 😝) We already have a mini seed bank….that's another way of saying I fell for more of T&M's 89p seed sale this weekend! 😳

OT: It's been a mixed, mildish day here. Everything's squelchio, but I've been tied-up with compiling tomorrow night's garden club quiz, so that's not mattered much. By Tuesday, we'll get back to proper gardening in some form or other.

twopenny

I'd like to announce that it's been a mostly dry, sunny, mild day with a real spring like feel to it 🙂🙂

Even the showers were gentle warm straight down showers and ended with a couple of blackbirds singing.

More of the same please.

Apart from finally getting one wash load almost dry I resisted trying to deal with a damp garden and sat in the sunshine and read a book.

In order to get some seeds potted I'd have to drag the wet bag of compost into the garage and my bits aren't up to that today. Been looking for a small bin of some sort to put compost in but they're either flimsy or too big.

Have found a small foldable trolley thing though and a kneeling stool with bag for tools. Most of the kneelers seem to be a couple of inches off the ground which I'd find uncomfortable but this sits flat. And I'm going to get a grabber thing from the shops not for picking stuff off the floor but picking apples from awkward spots maybe dealing with dead leaves on brassicas so I don't have to climb over soggy soil.

When's the quiz Dusty? I think a gardening quiz would be stressful except for you both.

Farway I've never seen a Christmas/Easter rose look so pretty. What a lovely colour ♥️ I can't beat that but for curiosity this is what happens to the jingle bells winter clematis after its flowered. I thought it was blooming again but it's the???seeds?

Dustyevsky

twopenny said

When's the quiz Dusty? I think a gardening quiz would be stressful except for you both.

Farway I've never seen a Christmas/Easter rose look so pretty. What a lovely colour ♥️ I can't beat that but for curiosity this is what happens to the jingle bells winter clematis after its flowered. I thought it was blooming again but it's the???seeds?

The quiz is tomorrow night. Compiling it is much more stressful than taking part! 😧 I try to gauge what 5 or 6 people in a team might know between them, and then tailor most questions to that, adding a couple of stinkers! People enjoy it more if they have success 70% - 80% of the time. But it's an inexact science, and there's the chance I'll get something wrong….or AI will! 🤣 Half the rounds aren't gardening; there's film, music and 'general knowledge.' People say, “I'm not coming if it's all blooming gardening!” 🙃

I'll be secretly glad when it's over, but after the third glass of wine, I probably won't care too much how it goes.😛

Lovely large seed heads on that winter clematis; so much classier than Old Man's Beard. And what a stunner of a red rose you posted yesterday. 😍

Here are some RHS snowdrops. They're classier and less bedraggled than the ones at home.

twopenny

That red rose was a almost dead rescue for £2 😊 Dublin Bay.

Love the tall straight stems on those snowdrops! I'll pop some bonemeal down tomorrow and see if it will give mine some self respect 😏

Have a good time tomorrow.

Farway

Wow, I have a bright looking day outside, even a pale blue sky with some sun, however it's not going to last, right now my next rain is having test runs over Dustyshire way

Allotments, for those of us oldies, takes me back to the 70s, with rocketing food & veg prices [nothing new is there?] and a sudden explosion of people deciding to "grow their own", and sadly watching it all shrivel under the sun during the Great Drought and hosepipe bans. No change there.

Those clematis seed heads look nice and ghostly, do the birds take some for nest material?

Good idea on grabber thing, some have nets to catch fruit but I've not used them. A few years back I decided to train my trees to sort of espalier & maximum head high,so no high or difficult grabbing required. In my dreams, but not reality, similar to picking fruit from a greengrocer shelf ☺️

Good luck with the quiz Dusty, and the 89p seeds offer, hard to resist, luckily I seem to have missed that offer.However I was watching YT and saw one that had a Scottish tom grower selling unusual tom seeds she grows way up near the top endlandia, so they are used to shorter & cooler days. Tempting, but I really do have enough tom seeds.

As it happens one she has is Bajaja, which is the one I sowed a couple of seeds of the other day. Great minds!

My broad beans, now I have 5/8 germinated with root shoots, intention was pop them into final position if the sun keeps out, but I'm having second thoughts and may pot up and nurture them a bit longer, until I get green tops. Or go 50/50, 4 outside, 4 inside in pots? Decision time this afternoon

Today is Daff Day, taken yesterday. I've left the pic as is, so you can see, in the background, the large pots I intend bunging the broad beans in. Come summer bush toms will be in those, along with an ornamental gourd, or two. The grey hanging baskets will have basket toms & nasturtiums, unless Morries tempt with something else

In my ideal world Love in a Mist would also feature, with erywhatnames tumbling down & over the steps 😂

PS, the stick with leaves on is dwarf buddleia, from a pruning I stuck in to support last year's tomatoes, sods' law in operation.