Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Dustyevsky

Bluey: What is wrong with people?!

Maybe they have too many choices and not enough history? Everything's down to perception. 😉

I love the Tatarian scabious -taff. We used to have it in the wild septic tank area, but I don't recall seeing it for a while. 🤔 I'm deliberately not looking in there at present….gone a bit wild! 😐️ Growers in the UK can still use peat-containing compost for another year or two, but someone in the trade told me that might be extended. The workings of DEFRA are inscrutable. It's like the bracken control chemical. Hill farmers were told “You can't have it!” Then they were allowed it again. Now it's banned. 😕 I don't care. Lke proper slug pellets, I've enough to see me out! 😛

I forgot to mention yesterday, Thompson & Morgan had another cheapo seed and free postage offer over the weekend. I topped up, leaving 6 items in my basket, as you do. Sure enough, the 'have you forgotten something?' email arrived, so I clicked the link, went to pay….and all the discount had magically vanished along with free postage. 😲 That was sneaky! 😡 Anyway, I cancelled the order, and then had to go through the whole palaver once more to secure my 6 packets for about £6.50. 😉

Farway: Rain due sometime, probably around midday when the window cleaner is due

Here, I'm the window cleaner. 🙄With the drunkards promising less wind, I foolishly offered to do the front ones today. I always get soaked, so it's shorts….and at 14c as a top temp, that's marginal for old bloke in shorts. It's on Mrs D's list though, and the alternative is pushing the old Honda mower to tidy twiddly bits, so rubbish choice. 😌

As you can see from the above, yesterday was somewhat grim at times, but it didn't rain. The farmer over the road was cutting silage, and as if by magic, 3 red kites appeared, looking for injured prey. We don't usually see many, buzzards being much more common around these parts. A swallow managed to photobomb my second try. They were rather a long way down the field.

Farway

Much better weather morning, still cool but at least sun's out & warm enough to get the toms out hardening off again, along with the posh dinner plate dahlias & courgettes

It did rain yesterday, window cleaner had gone by then, but at least the newly planted runners are really watered in, and still there after two nights.!

Hope the tablet gets sorted 2P, it's always something stupidly simple once known. I had one that went Foreign on me, so even pressing Help was useless because the results were in Furrin. 🤬

YBE, best of luck to he/she in suing a solicitor, they/ them will need it. I bet somewhere in the workplace T & Cs it's covered, para 96g, sub section 25e, footnote vii. 🤡. On a not political note, some are puzzled why employers are reluctant to hire young people.

Woohoo for your pyracantha Farway, your wee birds will be happy eh. I dragged my toms in last night after they’d got the last of the evening sun, might be a while ‘til I get them out again The birds are practising at the moment, handy prickly cover just in case one of Dusty's red kites gets blown sideways. Hope it improves enough for your tom's to go out & play

I have a courgette flower opened, male, still in their pots waiting for better weather. If sun keeps going I will try and get their homes ready later today, add fertiliser etc and then wait for warmer weather, must be close by, nearly June already

Apart from that, nothing else garden planned

twopenny

Sunny day mostly and I got inspired to do stuff instead of going to the coast.

Dusty I've been trying to get a shot of birds of prey in flight. No luck. Annoying but impressive that you have 🙄

Bluey I had my share of weird at work but thankfully this is new to me. How come your firm picks them? I think they should put how do you wish to be referred to at work to the application forms!

Farway, turn off and on again 🙄🙄🙄

So I've cleaned the windows, the gutter, the facia (probably not a great idea with one leg 🤣) repainted the seat, turned out enormous pot of dead which hazel (it bloomed this spring and made leaves) pot out the back ready for apricot this winter. Cleaned the paths of leaves, gate and walls of cobwebs. Dead leaf piles in compost, cherry de bugged, beans de bugged, scale insects removed with tweezers, bird feeders, table disinfected and refilled

I'm done for but the garden looks great 👍

It's actually a peachy colour, my £2 rescue rose that has a hard life still but keeps on going. Smells good too.

And tidy, bug free

-taff

I think I'll be buying Tescos this year 2p, 17 of 19 tomatoes succumbed to frost because I didn't check [ Farway, bang on the money for warnings] I've got [or had] Roma, Principe Borghese and Scatalone for paste ones, I'll put San Marzano on the list for next year.. Ah well, there's more in the greenhouse to sort out. Well done for all the hard work today too, looks very tidy, hopefully you won't be paying for it tomorrow too much…

I think if you just have one and then guerilla garden any sprouties, it should be ok ybe :) dicky ticker? Need an op to stop the arythmia that I can't spell [I refuse to autocorrect that, I reckon easiest spelling wins] and thinners in case of clots..[no one ever tells me to exercise except the bloke across the road who goes for at least a ten-mile walk every day, is 76, has just had cancer and breezed through it..He's an exceptional exception]…gosh, that's brave of him/her, fancy suing someone in the profession… Are they suing for hurt feelings, pain and suffering? Although effing off counts as gross misconduct doesn't it? I'm all for anyone being whatever they want to be, but the world is not a crèche. Just because someone shouts loudly to say it's so doesn't mean everyone will say it's so…which is why my death finger, if it worked, would be worn out in an hour or so…[the death finger is just pointing a finger at someone and telling them to die in your head]

Love the kite pics. We have three round here [ one must be last years babby] sometimes they come so low you can see the banding and colours of the feathers. I find I'm loving birds more as I get older, I couldn't give a poo before about them, now I'm really chuffed if I see something. Apparently, there's a goldfinch nesting in the box attached to my allotment shed, so I have to creep around it now…

A courgette flower? blimey, yours are advanced Farawy, you have vibrant green fingers it seems [ apart from the obvious two but we won't mention them]

A couple of hours [maybe more, ahem] weeding at the lotment, in windy and cold conditions until I finished when the sun the came out and warmed everything. Tomorrow is see what toms are available for potting on, apparently there will be thunderstorms.

twopenny

Ouch, Taff! Anyone on the lottmemt got any to spare because yours are too specialist to find in the stores? I've got a spare 26 growing in my salad tub but they're probably all tiny salad ones.

I can vouch for exercise. My friend is 84 , used to go cold swimming , played tennis and survived bowel cancer operation+ covid at the same time. She's back playing tennis now. I go warm swimming and saunas 😊 but it's keeping me going though I'm gardening on my knees 😄

Sunny, coming over black with high winds. The forecasts differ so who knows today. Windy and will rain at some point.

I can tell it will be bad weather because the birds are all at the food stations.

Probably just as well to get some rest.

Awww a goldfinch in your nesting box 😀. Just lovely.

Dustyevsky

Oh dear, -taff! ☹️ If you were near me, I could offer you some replacements, but not the paste toms. We still have quite a lot of those frozen to use up.

2p: Sunny day mostly and I got inspired to do stuff instead of going to the coast.

It must've been in the air. Mrs Dusty suddenly decided to put the shading up in the polytunnel yesterday, which is a 2-person job. So, into the barn we went, searching for the dumpy bags full of debris netting scrounged about 20 years ago, when a large Victorian station was refurbished. It's not pretty, but it was free. 😁 Here's some being sorted:

It took a long time, repairing holes, and then weaving two layers over the crossbars, but eventually it was up.

The black stuff was purloined from somewhere else and shades the bench where I work etc. We also have netting over the doorways to keep butterflies out. As you can see, that needs a repair! 🤒

We have flowering courgettes in the poly, Farway, along with non-flowering mangy toots (middle left) but no sign of anything edible on them yet. The last courgettes we had from Lidl looked OK, but they were bitter, and hens had them. ☹️

There's little hedgehog activity now, so we've moved the houses to different shady parts of the garden. Hogs are not social animals, and now they're not especially interested in visiting the food, there's no reason to keep the houses near it.

-taff: "the world is not a crèche."

That's a great line!😀 I'm all for people being authentic too, but not at the expense of others. The 3 children living next door here when we arrived were far too precious to attend the local primary school. Their parents said they'd do much better away from the bad influences other kids encounter. Now, they're adults, and none work. Two have social disabilities, which mean they only leave the house to attend the Drs and stuff like that. The other ran away at 16, but it didn't end well. They were lovely children, and what's happened borders on criminal, but it keeps the social services people in jobs. We see them going in and out. They don't drive 18-year-old cars, like ours….

OK. rant over. It's a mixed bag today. Sunny, with strong winds throughout, and temperatures struggling to get into double figures. Glad we got on with stuff yesterday, like you folk! 🤗

Farway

Mixed weather day, dull & wet but now sun out & warming up. Because of the wet & gloom my hardening off plants are still inside, but if it keeps up I'll get them out later.

Sorry I was right on the frost Taff, supposed to be cold for a bit yet, well into next week, bummer 'cos my toms & courgettes are growing away now. Actually I'm quite pleased with my toms so far this year, some actually look sturdy, green and like wot you see being planted on tele. Others, as per school report, "Could do better" 😉

Dicky ticker, Snap, A-Fib, but no op for me, they did the stop & start procedure [ Cardioversion ], but that failed to reset my ticker, and only allowed three goes. Bit like starting car with a flat battery I guess, bump start not allowed

It was all during Covid and perhaps too busy making Tik Tok videos to get ablating on me 😁. Actually I suspect with my other ailments I was not a good candidate & I think I would have refused given my age and the odds of success versus grim reaper. So it's pills and happy enough to wake up every morning without any regrets.

Lot of work there in the tunnel Dusty, shading is sure to stop any chance of sunshine now. However once the super El Nino arrives you can thank Mrs D for her foresight. My Manky Toots are like yours, outside, no flowers yet, but a looking sturdy

Sun's still out, time to get the toms etc out hardening up, plus pick some rhubarb

The male courgette flower, behind it you can spot tiny yellow round embryo courgettes waiting in the wings 😋

Dustyevsky

We seem to be neck and neck where courgettes are concerned Farway, but one of mine has the advantage of being in a dep bed.😊 Later, that may change, as I've never found courgettes long-lasting in the polytunnel, even planted close to a 'window.'

Oh, and I have a flower on my mangy toots. Yes, one! 😄

It was so blimmin' cold and windy yesterday, I resorted to more don non, with the prospect of a day out today for good behaviour.😉 However, today looks like a re-run of yesterday with a 'feels like' of 8c and more wind, though possibly under 40mph. 😩 Well, it won't be a leisurely amble on Exmoor then.

I'm not sure now whether I posted a 'proper' picture of the hedgehog houses we made, so here is one, re-sited under a hydrangea.

Having moved the houses due to a lack of hog activity and social interaction, last night the trail camera took a flurry of photos, including some of two hogs apparently enjoying each other's company:

Perhaps absence made the hearts grow fonder, or maybe they were just swapping flea jokes? 😉

twopenny

Awe that's good news Dusty 🙂 lovely to see them again.

Chucking it down here and very grey which we desperately need but I doubt there's any chance of gardening. Most of my jobs involve going out somewhere but it's definitely time to rethink and regroup because it's due to last all day.

At least the wind has stopped.

Farway

Still cold here, but wind has dropped so plus for that. Rain due, maybe, they said showers, it was hail yesterday, luckily I had just got the toms etc inside for the night so no harm done. The runners are still there, one purple mange toot has been decapitated by a pea gnasher, but hopefully it may re-sprout from the stub.

Dusty Perhaps absence made the hearts grow fonder, or maybe they were just swapping flea jokes?

Don't know any flea jokes, but I do know old one on Hearts growing fonder

Bloke goes to doc's complaining that after a night out, when he pharts it sounds like Honda

Doc asks when & how it happens, what was he eating, drinking etc?

Just normal food, burger, few pints and glass a of Absinth as a nightcap

Aha,says doc, a well known condition, Absinth make the fart go Honda !🤣

Before it slips by, free P & P until Monday at Browns & Fothergills, same owner, but slightly different stock & prices. Get your Mange Toots & courgettes in, on offer £1.49 😂. Free P & P applied as you shop. Could save trip to GC for last minute items, including seed spuds reduced if you've space. No connection or commission etc.

Planted up five toms into final pots in the conservatory, Paul Robeson, Bajaja thingy Sungold. plus two Balcony Yellows. My Sungold is a poor thin thing, rest are fine. If I spot a plant going cheap I may buy it. Could be skinny because it's my own seed & they are F1 really. I may yet bung a last minute Bloody Butcher in it's place

Only gardening in the cool weather is emptying a load [C50] small pots out, did have streptocarpus [sp?] cuttings in but last year's laid up spell, with my back meant nil watering & a one way trip to the The Fiords. I have one survivor, which by coincidence or spooky has same name as Horticultural DGD, Charlotte 😍

Today it's a fig, not very many this year for some unknown reason