Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Dustyevsky

2p said: Love your tricks with AI Farway, they always make me smile. You're darn clever with it.

Me too 😃, but shouldn't Paul Beetle be left-handed? 🤔

I must say you're brave, planting-out tomatoes with Storm Dave imminent, but with a name like that, he's probably only meant for those working class people 'oop norf.' 😆 Down here, he'll probably be just a few puffs, BBC style. 🤓

Yesterday's lovely sunshine was certainly tempered with northern wind chill, making me look slightly very silly in my shorts and T-shirt.😲 The composted bark I donated to my friend's new front bed also looked embarrassingly inadequate, but we dug it in, concluding another 6 bags might do it. 😕There are still no plants purchased, fortunately. That's for another day, touring the local GCs. Neither of us fancies a serious walk yet awhile. 😟

This morning, the forecast rain is due to lift. Even if it doesn't, there's plenty to do in the polytunnel. No matter how good the compost, by now, plants overwintered outdoors in pots need a re-charge if not being planted-out.

I'm admiring the forwardness of your apple, 2p.😮 Nothing much doing with ours yet. I'm relieved to see the saplings Mr King planted in our hedge (status confirmed with a copy of agreement with the National Grid) are hawthorn, not blackthorn. Whew! The latter are a pain, often travelling into the fields by runners. ☹️

If it's April, it'll soon be time to visit a garden over your way to see the Erythroniums, 2p!!!

Farway

2P forecast of rain came true, I woke up to rain and it's still sodden, but supposed to clear for this afternoon, to take a breath before Storm Dave bits arrive.

oooh, Cox buds, fingers crossed for you, and the cherries. If you do get some setting I found the only sure way to get some for yourself is cover with fleece, with netting the blighters still sneak in or under. I drape over the tree & peg the netting to the branches with clothes pegs. Never had rat problem with fleece cover either, maybe they feel vulnerable or summat?

Like 2P, i have loads of apple blossom just waiting, it's looking like another bumper year but early days, even the one I moved to a new pot is covered in buds, hopefully it will be an improvement on previous years, never had a decent sized apple off it, no larger than big plums most of them 😒

The rain is good for me, I planted out some of the mange toots yesterday, now nicely watered in for me, along with the broad beans I had planted out

My seeds & dahlia tubers arrived once I whined on here about non arrival. Looks good, I'll get the dahlias into compost this afternoon to start sprouting

There was a free packet of Cucumber in with the seeds, I was not going to bother with them this year having such poor results in the past, but free is not to be sniffed at, and who knows, maybe these are the bees bendy bits? https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/500543/cucumis-sativus-suprina/details

Sorted my runner bean seeds for this year, now have six Painted Lady on damp kitchen roll to get going, only used PL because packet was open, if she fails then I'll open up a fresh packet. I was going to use climbing French beans, but I think I must have binned them since last year, old seeds & never grew

Dusty, just refreshed, 2p said: Love your tricks with AI Farway, they always make me smile. You're darn clever with it. Me too 😃, but shouldn't Paul Beetle be left-handed?

I did know, but then thought it's only AI cartoon so I'll leave it alone, and who says the Lily Beetles guitarists are not all right handed? Actually doing it was a bit odd, the AI was critiquing it's own work as it went along, first attempt had them like lady birds, with spots & rounder bodies and it started "talking" and picking holes in it's work, then corrected it's first attempt without me intervening. I guess had I pointed out left handed it would've put it right

One for Dusty, my grapes have buds 😁, could this be the year we get a decent, or any, crop of grapes?

Taken in yesterday's sun, and now battered by todays rain

twopenny

Reminds me I saw a potted pear tree at Tesco's called Cornish Gold which sounds nice.

And Meloumber seeds which looks like a melon but is a cucumber with hint of melon. Why?

Farway

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81948592#Comment_81948592

Just looked up Cornish Gold, interesting history and sounds like it would be a nice one if room,

The Meloumber sounds similar to the Cucamelon craze a few years back. As to why? like dogs licking their bits, it's because they can 😂

-taff

So I've just discovered firefox has a split view now which makes it a darn sight easier to read and reply instead of scrolling madly between two tabs…

Loved the 1000 bees and his naming convention, it was both odd and lovely to see his naming convention [ same one I use for my cats] and his relationship with them. this has prompted me to decide to take a log to the allotment and drill it with holes…doesn't have to be a log either, a bit of sleeper or chunky wood will do, or some bamboo canes. I watched an Als Fowler thing once and she had basically a kitchen bowl type affair filled with compost and chucked a whole packet of peas in there for the tops of them…I think they go kind of cut and come again when you keep pinching out the tops. Well done for making the cemetery look prettier too. I was telling my allotment neighour none of my tomatoes had germinated despite me taking them out of the greenhouse and putting them in the heated propagator. Came home, they've all bloody germinated…must be a thing, you say they're not, then they sneak up and do it when you're not looking. Fingers crossed for your toms and storm dave.. Beautiful blossom, fingers crossed for cherries…meloumber…in agreement, why…

That's a lot of birds to be hearing in the morning ybe..I can counter with a heron [first one I've seen round here] flying about, landed on the roof, looked around a bit and then flew off again. I was suitably impressed with the size of it, it was higher than the chimney!

Just mr C then Dusty who's a wrong 'un :) love the crown raised berberis, it's such a good idea..morries is my new go to for meat, had a lovely piece of beef form there a week ago? or two…half price and two half price loin joints too..and bark or woodchip definitely does not go far. I've been to the secret pile again, taken another bootload and was reprimanded by a local but not the parish council guy so I'll go again..I've got my WWDD head on [ what would daddy do - in reference to my occasionally Del Boy father] OOO hogs coming back! I hope they find your place improved :) your erythroniums are very pretty, I thought the foliage looked like lords and ladies for a second..

wort, same with my dahlia tubers…they might be like the sweet pea/tomato debacle, you tell people it isn't, and then it does…

I've put my own compost in the greenhouse beds Farway, which contains a lot of uncomposted eggshells so hoping for no blossom end rot this year. Going to have a look at their plants now, I could do with more soft fruit.

Weather is windy and cold with picking to rain rain, nothing doing in the garden today. Have mentioned to OH needing help with stones, he's on it now :) Allotment looking much neater in the sense that I've dispensed with a lot of grass [ really can't see the point of it besides looking green, I don't know how people spend so much time and effort on it] Now that I've watched the bees programme it reminded me that I can do whatever I fancy, make it look like whatever I fancy and grow whatever I fancy. Sometimes I get stuck in a thought and can't get out of it…stay safe in storm dave in a teacup [ is that one for you Farway? ] :)…

twopenny

No storms yet. Sunny spells, mild breeze and no forecast rain so I've been clearing the badger run. Tough job, bought a charity shop back pack to carry the tools round there. That worked well but can't get the fork and rake in it 😉

Glad you enjoyed it Taff. Didn't think you would but it's an eye opener just how agile they are. One came and sat on my bench in the sun yesterday. I watched it cleaning itself. The back legs cleaning up the hair and underbelly and wings, then the front to clean the antenna. Was really thorough. Then turned and rested in the sun at the end of a working day.

Think it may be a Flower Bee . A Fork Tailed one But the more I look at to identify the more confusing it gets 😵‍💫

Fingers crossed 🤞 for your grapes Farway. Perhaps research more and see if there's something you can do.

Dusty I haven't been to Greencombe for a couple of years because I can't walk up that hill. He did say to ring and he'd open the gates for disabled to let them drive up. Not sure where you'd turn round. Still the same price

https://greencombe.org/

Maybe get rain tomorrow as forecast but so far it's a clear starry sky.

YoungBlueEyes

Morning all, on the Day Kennel Club started it's purebred register :)

Most important thing first - BG was on last night! And it wasn't worth the watch tbh. They're deffo making that lang streak the main presenter now 😏 Carole was putting daffs + primroses in big pots, and the Loppa was planting alpines in his garden. I'm sorry I waited all that time for it cos it was a disappointment 😔 They're still in the same location though, so himself was wrong *phew *

Gawd I've missed too much to properly catch up really. Wort good luck with your tom seeds, they'll come good :) I like your Berberis Dusty, and the Beetles Farway 😃 2p eat the sprouty pea things and then when they grow back eat them younger yum yum ☺️ I reckon I'd find room for a Cornish Gold pear tree no bother *nodding * Is AnonyDog flea-free gb..? (Try saying that 10 times fast.) Woohoo for your seedlings deigning to make a start taff 😊 Less be extra kind to your Merlin - mine turned against me this morning, for absolutely no godam reason. It does the "hearing a bird" thing but doesn't identify them without my location (which it has) but I put it in again anyway and it's now on a 'computer says no' loop 😣It's got one more chance then I'm deleting the whole thing, recalcitrant ersehole that it is 😠 Has Merlin got a competitor do we know?

OT mild and calm and lovely, but desperate winds to come overnight. Literally the calm before the storm. Evidently the storm naming team didn't understand the joke - if it was a girl they were going to call it Sigourney, after the american actress Sigourney Weaver. But it's a boy so they're calling Rodney, after Dave 😆

greenbee

Stinky appears to be flea-free thanks YBE!

it looks as if it’ll be a nice day today, so I’m hoping I can make good progress on the garage clearing and possibly sneak in a bit of gardening. Clearly both will have to stop when the winds get up, but that might be an opportunity for some seed-sowing.

Lots of stuff going (briefly) on FBMP and then evicted to the CS next week if it doesn’t sell. Lots of solar AND cheap electricity, so electric heating on and as much laundry and other energy-hungry activity as possible being shifted at the same time.

Dustyevsky

Farway: One for Dusty, my grapes have buds 😁, could this be the year we get a decent, or any, crop of grapes?

Ours are being blasted daily by 40mph winds, so not much going on as yet. The big elm hedge is leafing-up, so the west side garden will be calmer and warmer soon, hopefully! 🙂 I intended to get some cuttings from my friend's garden, as her grape (variety unknown) does so well, but forgot. It's too late now. 😔

2p: Dusty I haven't been to Greencombe for a couple of years because I can't walk up that hill. He did say to ring and he'd open the gates for disabled to let them drive up. Not sure where you'd turn round. Still the same price

I think people can do a twoferone at Greencombe, either with RHS membership, or the Gardeners' World deal.😉That reminds me, the yearly twofer ticket is in the current Gardeners' World magaazine. It's worth the £10 if you visit lots of gardens. ☺️ I forgot about the slope at Greencombe, but Mrs Dusty managed it before her new knee.They're really accommodating folks, so I'm sure they'll let you drive in and use their turn space.😇

-taff: Just mr C then Dusty who's a wrong 'un :)

Not quite. There's Mr Uphimself, who only lives here in the warmer part of the year. In winter, he basks in European climes. Due to return any time now, he has several unpleasant character traits…..but hey, it's Easter, and we should always allow for the possibility of people seeing the error of their ways, eh? 😉 And maybe, this year, his flat will sell….🤣

The erythroniums are lovely, but they need quite specific woodland conditions, as do the trilliums at Greencombe. Rosemoor has both, but even they can't grow them so well. Here are some Greencombe Trilliums:

The rather wet, extremely windy weather yesterday kept me in the polytunnel, pirking-out and potting-on. In the conservatory some of our seeds were also waking-up late after we'd given up on them. A batch of ground cherries popped-up. I've not grown these before:

https://seaspringseeds.co.uk/shop/vegetable-seeds/physalis-tomatillo-and-ground-cherry/ground-cherry-seed/

It sounds as if they might fill up all the beds in the polytunnel if we keep them all! 😮 I hope they don't turn out to be another Cucamelon or Meloumber ! 😂

twopenny

That's so pretty Dusty 😍 wish I had room.

Dull white cloud this morning and chilly but it's brightening up now with a light breeze. Perfect lawn mowing weather and clearing the garage. A positive joy as opposed to the heaving masses out there.

Only predictions of wild weather is strong gusts for an hour tomorrow or tonight. But then they said rain yesterday and it was sunny and sunny today and it's cloudy so hey ho.