Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

Nice neighbour Farway 🙂 it's something people used to do but seems to be a thing of the past. Friend has offered to do mine. Says she misses cutting grass but think she'll change her mind due to dodgy knees and the slope 😉

And yes, I had a sturdy wasp in yesterday. It left of its own accord. They look for protein at this time of year for breeding so a bit of meat or cheese will keep them out of the way.

Less I read that article about bees. Very interesting. Need to read it again.

Dusty, like the soldier like leaves in the sun. Using textures is something we should do more of but you don't get advice on how to do that. Only colour. Guess that's easier.

No gardening today. Exercise from 10 -4.30 mostly because of traffic 🙄 but while waiting for the queues to clear (already in town) I looked at plants and pots in supermarkets and garden centre. My pond is difficult to clear being membrane and the frogs don't like it but the birds do! so looking for new ideas. Also my favourite plants are out growing their pots. No inspiration yet.

But I did notice that the GC plants weren't that much more than the supermarkets and the GC ones are healthy. It might be something they give up when people realise.

Cold and cloudy today. Really chilly tonight. But the rain never happened.

I reckon Bluey is absent because she's feeding Cissies lambs 😉

Oh me too. It seems to be here unposted 🙄 so I'll post it now and reply later. Darn cold here.

Farway

Colder, chilly breeze and dull. I was going to water the pots at the front, but not only too cold for my bones, it may rain, or not, later. Of course if I fail to water, no rain, if I water, tips down

YBE said Happy even more belated now Birthday Farway and many more to come 🎂🍻 Your portrait is a belter, more pleasing than an actual HRH type painting 😁Is there not room for some dahlias in there too…?

Ta very much, I forgot dahlias, and vine weevils. The spying continues, no sooner had I mentioned posh dahlias on here than my FB feed is stuffed with ads for very same variety I mentioned here. More dahlia news, one of the posh tubers has sprouted, this one is Karma Bin Bini, looks a cracker and a pop eyes out if it works. How long before I get FB ads for it? Any bets? [Link info only, not my supplier and others are available]

Good blossom pics YBE, hope weather holds to get them pollinated, and love that puffy cherry blossom tree, shame the blossom is so short lived. Is the ladybird bum flower a blackberry or similar?

but is petrol also a good thing to destroy/mask their scent trails… Not for a smoker 😁, I have visions of a fag end leading to a trail of flaming petrol snaking it's way to a house wall sprayed in petrol, with crispy fried ants every where 😱

DeadStickTree is in Oliver! mode (It is reviewing…. the situation) Maybe I mentioned before? I think it's a pear, give it ten years and you can join me & Dusty in the Rotten Pear Club

If sun ever appears I have more pirking out to be done, last of the toms and pot up a couple of Desiree runner seeds that have at last sprouted. The rest are slimy mess, so if these grow i'll try & save seeds for next years efforts

My apple blossom, opened at last. The sneaky white blossom on right is my Lazarus plum [back from dead]

twopenny

Lovely sunshine but cold with strong gusts of wind so not welcoming.

I agree Farway, leave the garden for today. You need to be bright and good looking for your birthday lunch tomorrow.

Bluey that's lots of blossom you have around there. Makes you feel positive and cheerful for the coming year.

Yet again, not sure what the day holds. Saturday school and public holiday it's going to be as much of a nightmare getting anywhere as yesterday and not nice enough to potter at home. That leaves more of the ND stuff I've been avoiding.

Picked up the first Gardens open booklet yesterday. Our local hospice ones. Usually big and uninteresting (to me) but the tea and cakes are worth going for. I'm hoping for the one in the back of beyond that sold 4 leafed Clover. Mine lasted but caved under extreme weather. It has the cottage mix of flowers and veg that Taff would love. I like the gardens that are small and rambling, more about using them than looking smart. We'll see. Like the fish, chips, tea and cakes the entrance fees have gone up.

Oh! High winds and rain came in as I posted 😐

LessImpecunious

Alternating between glorious (and not too hot!) sun and dark skies with brief heavy showers of rain, and, just now, hail….

Ladybird bum reminded me that I spotted this in GH t'other day (the hot one):

And another one of something I made earlier (last week) - my new Sweet Pee Planter😁

Blossom is appearing now here and hopefully not disappearing instantly in gusts...🫤

Dustyevsky

2p: Oh! High winds and rain came in as I posted 😐

Yes, these gusty days are a pain. I go to let the hens out at 07.00, and it's calm. By the time I'm out it's hoolie time! 😬

And I've still got the lurgy. So has Mrs Dusty. 🤧 We're not that bad, but energy levels are lower today. 😐️Yesterday, I felt good, despite the coughing, so down came another tree! 😉 I planted one as well, so that made it OK. 😇 Torrential rain in the night must've watered it in nicely.

Petrol for ants, Bluey? Cissie must've told you what's going on across the water, surely? 😮That'll be here soon, so save your petrol. I'm not wishing to be alarmist, but I think this one will be a lot worse than Convid, hence all the prepping we're doing. A whole winter's worth of heat stored already….

Farway: The spying continues, no sooner had I mentioned posh dahlias on here than my FB feed is stuffed with ads for very same variety I mentioned here.

I don't do FB, but perhaps if I mention scantily clad young ladies my YT will improve. 🤣 At the moment it's full of doomy economics, exercises for dodgy knees and the odd vid from Geoff Buys Cars. At least the exercises seem to be working. 🙂

No apple blossom here, though not far off. I saw the totally useless pear that produced nothing at all was completely covered in blossom yesterday. Maybe a picture later. 😶

In hedgehog news, all have now left their boxes for the real world.😀 Last night the camera took 81 pictures, and on Thurdsday into Friday, 120! Only a few were of cats. 😅

wort

oh YBE that photo reminded me of the similar weeping blossom that was in my garden when I first got my own house. It was the only thing I was sad about leaving there 😂

Farway I bought the cafe au lait from sainsbury, it’s still to show signs of life . It was a twofer or maybe 3 . Think I got ranunculus not sure where I put them though 🤔 We had a a wasp or maybe a slim bee stuck in the conservatory at Easter, I managed to let him out the window too. Just seen a fat bumble bee on the grass. I went out to see about gardening but although looks sunny there’s a strong cold wind, and showers .

My love in a mist and cosmos arrived so I put those in after work yesterday. 🤞🏻

Less I like the pea pot 😂

I miss fish and chips ,being coeliac means I can’t buy in a lot of places not even the chips. Even chips and peas is nearly a fiver.

Dusty those flag iris look great with the sun on them. I noticed my tiarella are flowering now.

Farway

Wort said Farway I bought the cafe au lait from sainsbury, it’s still to show signs of life

Mine was from DT Brown. I may have to get to Specsavers PDQ, the dahlia growth i mentioned ealier turned out to be a self sown nasturtium 🤡

Dustyevsky

I missed Less's post. 😐️ However, picking salad greens an hour ago, I spotted the same, or a very similar insect, hiding in the foliage. Is it a solitary wasp of some kind? There are a lot of those! 😕

I've returned to show off. Our first tomato flower has opened! 😁 As predicted, it's 'Jimmy Improved.' Several others, including Sungold and Cherry Falls aren't far behind.

To counterbalance that news, one of the other Jimmies has recently keeled over and appears to have rotted at the stem/soil junction. I suspect overenthusiasm overwatering.😞

twopenny

Aw Dusty. That's a treasure. When did you put them in?

My contribution to gardening is watching Geoff Hamilton Cottage Gardens. So gentle and different to today's Mish mash.

Hai, rain, sun and wind outside and I've had the sneezes and shivers because I don't want to be left out 😉

Dustyevsky

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81958869#Comment_81958869

I don't know when the seed was sown, but not stupidly early, like January. I fired-up the propagator in February and planted a few seeds earlier than usual. Then, if something had gone wrong, I'd still have time to catch-up.😉

Even now I'm getting late germination with some seeds. Two chillies popped-up yesterday. They must've been sown in February, because they take so long to fruit.

I sincerely hope your sneezes & shivers don't morph into anything nasty. 😲 This lurgy is sapping my energy, but I've finished the last deep bed and lined it with polythene, so there's 'only' filling it left. It's 3.25m long, just over a metre wide, and it needs 0.2 m depth of soil and compost inside. That doesn't sound much, but I know it'll take a while to prep and move the materials. Luckily, we won't need it until maybe the end of May. 🤔

wort: Less I like the pea pot 😂

I see what you did there…. Lathyrus odoratus bogstandardii, eh? 😆