Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

Evening folks. Day started with rescuing an exhausted bumblebee by using alkanet hand delivered so it could feed.

Then noticed tiny bees that love the daisies I've let grow. So many different bees if you look closely.

Well I actually got some gardening done 😲 but it was hard work because my bits hurt like blazes. The trolley carried hedge trimmer, leaf blower and all the bits and bobs so I didn't have to do lots of journeys so that's a bonus. Easier than a wheel barrow.

Trimmed the blighted box, dug dandelions out of the lawn (lots of insects in the unmowen grass. 🐞, 🐝, hover flies) cut the seed heads off the wallflowers and dead headed, pruned the tree. Etc. that rose is getting out of hand! It's supposed to be a smallish tea rose. I hope it's not feeding off the electricity cable for the street lamp and my house 😵‍💫

I didn't get round to the watering though. Must do it first thing. The pots are dry already.

Lovely colour Cistus Dusty 🙂 I can't grow them for some reason.

Been a warm day but no heatwave. Didn't notice the masses on the road but I'll still keep out of the way. More gardening tomorrow if I can stand on two feet!

Dustyevsky

I've just seen the temperatures for next week! 😲 Don't they know it's half-term? 😄

2p: Well I actually got some gardening done 😲 but it was hard work because my bits hurt like blazes.

Good on you! 😀 My bits have been better too.

Yesterday wasn't the best, prepping for the next onslaught of more family, while still trying to entertain and feed the first lot. Around lunchtime, it was like an episode of Fawlty Towers, with the cat trying to be sick, Mrs D demanding I fetch something from the boiler room, pronto, and two unaware deaf people shouting, “What's a thin-bodied arthropod….five letters and six letters?” *

Later, the deaf people went for a walk. One fell down and couldn't get up again. Cue Mrs Dusty and me in ambulance mode, whizzing down to the field in the car. Kudos to the faller-downer, though; they were unhurt and managed not to land in any sheep poo. 😇 There's always a silver lining if you look hard.😊

By late afternoon it was my turn. Having just reduced “No mow May” to mulch, I reversed the ride-on over the recycling container and created a 150 piece 3D jigsaw. 😫 Then, a quiet sit-down to think what to write on a bereavement card, but it was impossible. No pen would write on the eco paper, probably made from recycled bits rejected by compost manufacturers. Luckily, Mrs D has spares for almost every occasion. 😇

On the plus side, we harvested our first courgette, all 5" of it, and I got all the side panels opened on the polytunnel. 🤩 Packing away at 22.00 I felt raindrops, but I don't think they amounted to much.

*It's a stick insect, though in the confusion I said, “water boatman.” The cat fled, to be sick elsewhere.🙀

It's a party today for GC 3 who's one year old. His sibling arrives in August, and today we learn which flavour they'll be, although from Bluey's recent experience, it could be both.🤐 His parents' garden looks a whole heap nicer than it did at this time last year, when it was above knee height in grass and weeds. 😇

But first, more watering…..and an easy puzzle:

YoungBlueEyes

Morning all, on World Turtle Day 🐢🐢 awww 😊 Ah for gawd sake, the messers have been at it again. Why are the buttons all at the top now, what difference does that make!? Or did they float up there in the heat? 🧐 And if it's all new and back to the old ways, why are the pages loading so slow? *sigh *

Sorry I was MIA last week, it's been brutal at work. I'll have a think and round out the entirely made up stories so they're suitable for human consumption, we've had some good ones this week The he+she J person is being taken very seriously, well she is now she's moved her argument off facefook and got an actual solicitor to write a shirty letter. Turns out she's got form for it - she used to work for a well known supermarket and got a mid 4 figure payout from them last year…. Say No More. You're right she's not a Deb'n maid Dusty, she's from Cornwall ha haa! She used to go on and on about the skies down there and how the storms were so much better than up here - something to do with the atlantic breezes and moisture something something, she was very interesting and interested about it.

I love your buttercup field 2p, just wants a few yellow labs running through it to the stream at the bottom and it'd be heaven 😍 Your trolley looks properly useful, big enough to hold stuff and small enough to tuck away. It's a good yoke is that 😃 Are you clear of the lurgy now? Stop away from the masses so you're clean for your op *nodding * Your smallish tea rose is a lovely big belter eh. Does it smell as good as it looks?☺️

How about a Latin name for your shiTzu Specials Farway? Canis Stercus Lycopersicum.. not snappy but, I'll keep thinking. (Himself has just suggested aval-tommas.) Did you get full use outta your yoofs? Pots shifted and all jobs done? Congrats on infecting another grandchild with the gardening bug, you must be so proud 😄How's that gorgeous wee puppy btw? Are they sick of him yet? I'll have him no bother 🤗

Bad news the family are arriving Dusty, that's you haring about after a football all day then 😞 But good news on the oil yaay! Did you get something worked out for your tea+cake Garden Club outing?

Your holiday pics are fab wort, I could stick a lot of looking at those 😎 Palm trees and wide coral skies like that make me think of Miami (too much CSI watching ha haa!)

That's a bu99er about your table taff, can you get another one like it or will you go for something different? Or just get a piece of glass made to fit? I love your front garden, very full and jolly ☺️ And I'm not a bit jealous of your cosmos…

Lots of bees, a few butterflies, and some babby birds out here. I think there's 2 blackies - they're not very good at judging distances and how to land on stuff so there's lots of swooping and doubling back going on 😊The blue chests are better though, they can fly and land and then sit there fluffying their feathers about and doing cheerful cheeps.

OT 16' and sunny currently with a high of 23 to come, they say. I'll get the house closed up again now, it's had a good couple of hours blowing through with the cool breeze so that'll have to do it.

And whoever's in control of the suggestion box - can we have the icon button things at the bottom again please, us loquacious sorts don't wanna be scrolling up and down the place every time we need a smiley face! Or give us the function back that converts the written ones to picture ones. Either or, your choice.

Farway

Welcome back Bluey, and at least it's a BH weekend so a break from your paid work, wrt he /she, I'm not an employer but if I were I think I'd be checking references thoroughly, and check social medja. Puppy Merlin visited the other day, he is so tiny, spent his time here fast asleep

A scorcher on the way, I've been out watering already, after a restless & uncomfortable hot night I got up early as sleeping was not possible, should've be a puppy really

A leisurely BH weekend ahead Dusty 😂, International Rescue plus puking cats, and one year old birthday party can also be cue for a heave. My DS could never pass up the opportunity for a good puke or choking at parties, managed a puke near the top his Aunt's stairs once, he got most of them 🤮

Love that rose 2P, oh, and thanks, and no thanks, after looking up your invalid cart YT thinks I'm now in the market for Invalid carts and associated equipment 😁🤕

After the Dusty plum pics I checked mine, still there, but nowhere near as good. And my Sunset apple seems to have missed the fruiting this year memo, it did have plenty of blossom at the right time, just seems to have not set fruit.

My cherry is very sparse as well, I wonder if there was a bee black hole in that area of the garden?

Today is sowing some Cosmos now the dahlias are in, the plan is cosmos in same pot, sort of frilly & airy around the huge dahlia flowers. Or in reality, slug gnawed stumps.

My runners, one as been beheaded by a mollusc! It may sprout from lower down. Why would a snail go all the way up a cane just to eat the top bit when there's plenty of tasty bits lower down?

Loads of ladybirds around, guess the sun has kicked their bums into gear.

Spot the photo bomber, left it large for you

twopenny

Morning folks. I'm still scuppered leg and back wise so resting.

Busy, busy, busy Dusty! But should keep you out of trouble 🙂

Bluey, glad you survived the week. At least you have an extra day off to recover. Just wondering how he, she's reference from the supermarket didn't refer to the incident? What explanation was given for leaving that job on the CV?

Yes the triffid rose has amazing scents. One will scent a room. I usually make Rosewater out of them but giving it a miss this year.

The birds have raised their first brood and vanished. Alls quiet out there. Perhaps they knew the heatwave was coming and moved to the woods. Very quiet out there but that's good because when I'm upright again I can get out the back.

Warmer garments this morning with grey but brightish skies. Feels stuffy but not over hot.

Yesterday I was able to water my sad seedlings with some miracle grow and they've chirped up a bit already. Now I want them to put on some growth fastish or I'll have to get some from the garden centre. My cheapie place is all bedding plants now.

All watering bits and pots need to be moved so I can manage.

Need to get everything done before the op as I won't be able to do much for at least a couple of months. Maybe three 😵‍💫

wort

YBE it’s my table top that smashed, it had rattan underneath so will not bother replacing glass,as now it’s lighter and I don’t use it much, it’s never warm enough 🤣 I was enjoying watching the sparrows and little birds dip in the pool for a bath on holiday,they look so cute when they’re wet and fluffy.

Dusty you made me laugh , with the fawlty going on’s 😂 though no doubt it wasn’t funny. I hope the fallen person is ok, and Mrs Dusty didn’t make you do the jigsaw 🧩!!!! I’m hoping it stays dry so I can mow later today.

Farway, I tried the seed snail for the Tom seeds and have to report they grew much better than the ones in pots. Although silly me only looked at when to nip out the tops after I’d done it 🥹 and I think I’ve done it too soon! Well at least I didn’t buy the seed. You have got me wondering if the pot I was considering for my cafe au lait is big enough now 🧐

Yesterdays heat wave lasted till I got home from work and got changed to sit out . Then it clouded and got windy. Today is grey out not sure wether the sun will come out but the washer is on . I should probably water the pots and clean a few windows .

YoungBlueEyes

I missed your post - jeez Dusty, was everyone alright in the end? Did the faller-downer bounce? Puking cats just want throwing out the back door and it locking behind them, inconsiderate beasts. Well that's what Lovely Neighbour does with His Holeyness.

Farway have you got some cosmos started already or are you doing it from seed? I've seeds here but I thought I was too late. That's a fab photobomb, is it a clematis..?

Woohoo for sad seedlings 2p :clapping: (←— tester, cos there's no edit button) Are they the veg ones from before? Maybe they'll come good now the weather's turned the page :) I'll not ask for a payrise yet, but I will when the dust settles.

I'd guess that the he+she's cv didn't have anything on it about previous employer shenanigans, or if it did it was worded so that OMM didn't read between the lines. There's no way BBM saw it prior to her starting or she wouldn't have got her foot in the door. Think Rumpole but with straight eyes and about half the size, but the brain is the same :grin: What I would've given to be a fly on the wall when BBM confronted OMM about it :lol: Mind she's a slimey teflon one so the blame would've landed somewhere else anyway.

Farway

YBE Farway have you got some cosmos started already or are you doing it from seed? I've seeds here but I thought I was too late.
That's a fab photobomb, is it a clematis..

Doing from seed, with fingers crossed, direct into ground, or in my case, large pots. They are only half hardy anyway, soil should be warm by now and flowers in about 2.5 to 3 months, so flower sometime in August onwards

The ladybird flower is a clematis, from Morries, name lost but it's a tough one, I thought it was dead last year but, like my plum, it was resurrected

twopenny

Yes Bluey, the veg stuff that should be well grown has only got a couple of real leaves. At least now those couple of leaves are bigger 😄

Managed to try and hack back the overgrown stuff and yay! First raspberries eaten. Only little but still.

Strawberries still green and looks like they are too dry.

One bit of advice. Don't try to fill a pond with a hose that has a split stream of water. You get a shower 😊

I think I've put the hip out, something has slipped so I can't do much.👩‍🔧

Oh I forgot. Cool this morning with a northerly breeze. Coat weather . There was a hot spell in my sheltered back garden between half 2 and half 3. Not really a heatwave yet.

-taff

What a ballache about your table wort, even if it is safety glass, it's still pointy on the edges.

Glad you managed to get your oil in cheaper in the end Dusty, thumbs up for real people not bots. What a lovely colour on the yew sprouties. It really does look exotic, like a bit of red hot poker. The sweet woodruff looks pretty. Liked your dianthus too but I expect the Passion refers to passion for new plants :) we all know the perils of just having a quick look in a garden centre which is why I now have a salvia, a flowering sage [ I wanted it because it was flowering, mine never have] and some more seeds [mini marketmore cucs] I did laugh at your fawlty towers happenings, including the being sick down the stairs and the deaf people tumbling down but not out…

What medicine do you make 2p? I haven't really tried anything except cooking with herbs, not even the lemon and ginger cough medicine which is a no brainer and should be easy enough [maybe not for me though…ha!] And now I have learned that old roses smell and are easier thanks to you. I have two I really like for the colour but no smell, where the one I don't like the colour of really smells lovely. Funny your geese managed to adopt a few more goslngs, they're like the child snatcher in chitty…Great trolley too, so useful [ expect pics of aquisitions from other froum users now,maybe including me if the walking on bit of the back garden was flatter. So very useful for moving stuff. Good to have an op date so soon too. And we've all been there with doing dopey stuff, it's how I shut my finger in the car door. Are the dunnocks still eating the box bugs?

Sorry you've been dispirited at work ybe, but that may also be down to doing too much of it. And not a surprise to find out they have form for it It's one way to earn a paycheck once a year…

I may well follow your example of large pots Farway, to stop the postie, I have a few not doing anything now some stuff is in the ground. Yep, there's stachys in there, as well as lovage [ oops] a camelia, a deutzia, poppies, fennel [ been all around the garden since someone gave it to me ten years ago but is now happy where it is], a thyme, heuchera, verbena bon, a geum, giant scabious, some campanula out of sight , blue and white bells, liam and some herb robert and the calla lillies. It's a tad crowded in that part. With you on the garden shows being a bit meh lately, I watched a huw richards one today about what he's sticking in to give a bit of colour in places, that did fire a few sparks in my head. He's a good sort moving your pots.. so I did an AI to look for your carnation and faied to dind one but I did find this…

Amos Perry did not successfully raise or introduce any famous new varieties of carnations (Dianthus). [1] While he raised over 400 iconic plants—including poppies, irises, and daylilies—his attempt at breeding and growing carnations was actually a famous commercial failure that changed the entire direction of his career. [1] Historical archives outline his brief history with carnations:

1. The Winchmore Hill Failure (1890–1894)

In 1890, a carnation specialist named George Beckwith convinced a young Amos Perry to venture out on his own as a commercial carnation grower. Perry and his father bought 4 acres of land at Winchmore Hill and purchased 1,500 forced border carnation plants from Beckwith. [2]

• This initial stock included 200 units of 'Mrs. Frank Watts', which at the time was considered the market's finest white carnation.
• By 1894, Perry officially severed ties with his previous employer to focus entirely on carnations.
• However, the heavy soil at his Winchmore Hill nursery proved completely unsuited for carnations, causing the venture to fail. [1, 2]

2. The Shift to Hardy Perennials

Because the carnations failed to thrive, Perry abandoned them completely. He turned his focus back to his true passions: alpines, water lilies, and hardy perennials. He moved his entire operation from Winchmore Hill to a massive 30-acre site in Enfield, where he went on to breed the 400+ successful plants he is famous for today. [1] As a result, if you look through his master record, Amos Perry's Diary, you will find hundreds of entries for Iris, Papaver (poppies), and Hemerocallis (daylilies), but you will not find any registered Dianthus or carnation cultivars attributed to his name. [1, 3]

Might have been looking for the wrong person though :) but you did find a trowel instead! Festooning sounds like fun..good to know about the cosmos too, I might sow more.

Weather has been hot last couple of days, stupid hot. I put out the runners at the lotment, bought myself one of those bulb planters but it has a raised edge like a spade at the top so you can stand on it and it won't snap. It is a revelation for putting anything in the ground, so much easier than on your knees with a trowel. It was not cheap either but so far, completely worth it. I may try to get up stupid early tomorrow to go there in the cool, and either put the rest of the beans in or the sweetcorn. Or the tomatoes…