Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Farway

2P Grey and cloudy with useless dribbles of rain. But warm Snap! Same here but glad of even useless wet if it helps my newly planted fuchsias just a tad.

What is the little blue flower behind the pretty poppy Farway? Looks interesting I don't know, I liked it as well.

Just asked my Chatty AI chum, how about Common Chicory? Wild flower, so it's in right place, just a bit of a change from dandelions. https://thelostherbs.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-chicory/. I will try & save seeds and sprinkle around, my Pet Poo border would be good location. Close up of the flowers below if anyone cares to comment on identity

Managed to get another clematis in yesterday, and add more ties to the posh dahlias, still no sign of flower buds yet, but cafe Au lait has sprouted a new branch.

And I did get the Japanese japonica [Quince] planted as well, the soil is real carp, about couple of inches of soil, then it's clay filled rubble. The hole would not win any points for preparation, more of a scrape & the plant just bunged in and tamped down as best I could manage. If any roots find their way down all will be well, and may help control too much vigour

If the wet eases later, it's due to, I will sprinkle some of the new white foxglove seeds on the disturbed area, will look good if they grow there, the japonica is salmon pink blossom

Again, if wet eases, I will pop some beetroot seeds in spaces among the new fuchsia, red leaves among the flowers, and maybe a meal as well. I'll be sowing Wodan, to remind the plants of the fiords & Norse gods https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/107288/beta-vulgaris-wodan/details

Here's the blue flower close up, chicory or not?

twopenny

WM, more creative than me obviously! Not sure a cone is going to work for this one. Obviously very hungry. Thinking cap would go on if my brain wasn't still half fuzzy. Done your exercises yet? I obviously overdid it yesterday. But it was working. Probably would have been better if I hadn't stopped talking to new neighbour about gardening. Had the whole life story 😵‍💫

Farway that's an interesting site. Bookmarked to read more. I'll look in my herb books for more information. One is very through but takes some determination to get through. My one concern is it seems to be good for everything. Suspicion raised.

Dustyevsky

Farway: Sunny & warm, no rain due, Dusty's rain all goes Northwards once he is wet enough.

Ha! The rain didn't arrive here, so I finally got my bonfiring done. ☺️ A few dribbles after dark, which continue today, but as you hinted yesterday, it's scorchio from Sunday onwards. 😮

Wot I wrote yesterday that disappeared was an appreciation of Bluey's Lidl dahlias. I didn't spot any on our Lidl's windy corner site, but saw some chocolate hydrangeas, like wort's, in Asda, which looked surprisingly large and healthy. 🤔

Squirrels are a no show here so far. However, horse flies have been biting us before midsummer's day, which is very unusual. Maybe they know about El Nino…. I wonder if he's linked to El Money? 😉Best not go there …after all the MSM don't. 😏

Hedgehogs may safely nosh here again now our anti-fox device is deployed. 😝 Reynard didn't even bother to call last night. 😊

I'm just back from visiting the physio about my dodgy knee. Apparently I'm strong and fit for my age, so why am I struggling to walk more than a mile or so? She's prescribed a series of exercises on video, so I can suffer alongside one of their super-fit practitioners, Heather, who's reassuringly plump. 😥 If that doesn't work, I may have to go down a more 'interventionist route.' I don't much like the sound of that, so it's high hopes for Heather. 🤩

On the subject of walking, this is a good time of year to find waterproof walking boots (gardening footwear 😉) on the Bay. I find all brands only last about a year of punishment.Two new pairs from Cotton Traders for £20 so far. 😃 Mrs Dusty also has to wear a special kind of trainer which cost about £140, so finding those for £10 -25 to go gardening in is extremely welcome!

Locally, I've noticed the blackberries flowering prolifically. Of course, if there's a drought…..but let's hope not.

Here's the blue borage I 've grown in the hope of mixing it with the white one in our herb garden. I think I know what the blue flower is in Farway's photo, 2p, but ours are nowhere near flowering yet.

LessImpecunious

Farway Here's the blue flower close up, chicory or not?

Looks like chicory to me (mine self-seed in the veg patch, so no sprinkling may be necessary), but Dusty is being mysterious, so maybe I'm wrong?!

middlewife

This is our anti squirrel device with resident woodpecker

Think the blue flower is chicory too, forgot to pull some up last year and it flowered all summer

2p, also overdid it yesterday, but forget I'm no longer 21, physio stirs it up then I try to walk a mile or two...... Or swim or get on the spin bike. Ignoring physio advice to only do one thing a day, but my muscles aren't cooperating!

Dusty, hope the physio sorts you, I have an entire drawer of resistance bands all colours of the rainbow if you're in need.....

Dustyevsky

I'm not being mysterious, Less.👹 I just didn't want to wade in like I usually do! 🤣 I'm sure it's chicory, but it appears much smaller than the version we have, originating on the side of an A road, somewhere in Wiltshire. Our Chichorum sideofroadii grows as tall as me, though it was only half that height in grassland. Perhaps it adapts to conditions?

Conditions obviously weren't right for our Elephant garlic, some of which I exhumed today. They would have been a brilliant size for ordinary garlic. 😐️ Next year, they'll get special treatment. Meanwhile, I'll also grow the little bulbils on that come attached. It's a 2-year process, but results in free Elephant garlic if one is patient. 😉

Thanks for the offer, middlewife, but I'll be using Mrs Dusty's resistance bands. She isn't so happy about me commandeering the smart telly, though! 😄

Since a long distance walk is out, I must plan a garden visit or similar for Friday. I quite fancy one visited before in late summer/early autumn, especially as we can do a twofer, but it's not open on Fridays/Sats.😩 At least I remembered. The Club trip is on Monday, when 29c is forecast! 😲

LessImpecunious

Dusty Our Chichorum sideofroadii grows as tall as me, though it was only half that height in grassland. Perhaps it adapts to conditions?

Mine get pretty tall if left to flower in the veg plot, though all are (or are self-seeders derived from) cultivars (e.g., Pain de Sucre or Rossa di Treviso) so that might make a difference too?

Rain in the night and drizzle in the morning which meant the bits of lush and very wet grass not yet cut have to wait another day😕. Hopefully I'll get round all the worst bits before the next lot of rain arrives and/or I have to start the next round…

YoungBlueEyes

Morning all :)

2p I’ve got a lovely bright blue heart shaped polished stone thing on my desk that’s got “I love the Isle of Wight” on it, cos himself wants to retire there. (He’s wrong - if we leave England it’ll be for Ireland or Scotland, or France.) I’ve also a magnet on the side of my screen that says “Let me check my giveashitometer….. nope, nothing” 😎

There’s another chapter in the Forsythia Saga. They give it trim the other day and it was in great shape, and I thought I’ll get a pic of that on my way back (which I forgot to do) so this is from when I came home last night -

They trimmed it the one day and dug it up the next! 😲

Here’s it’s trimmed mate across the road before they dig that one up too -

I’m going in to the council tonight cos they’re open late. There was birds nest and all sorts in it and I Am Properly Cross 😡

greenbee

YBE - if there were birds nests then that's an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (I know this, as I used to quote it to my neighbours when they complained I wasn't cutting my hedge in the summer), and you should report it to the police (non-emergency number as it has already happened). We have an online wildlife crime reporting service here as well - your search engine may find yours for you.

I have to set up my solar irrigation systems today. The greenhouse one is tedious, but I know how it works. The veg plot one is new and I've been avoiding dealing with it for nearly a year… so I have to get the boxes out and read the instructions and take it slowly.

Farway

Dull but due to get hotter later, and burnt to a crisp by Sunday

Thanks to all on chicory ID confirmation. Size / height difference may be due to my one being driven over pruned when I park the car, so it leads a hard life, as Dusty says, maybe adapts to conditions

What a bummer on the Forsythia Saga, I bet Road Safety [obscuring driver line of sight] will trump Nesting birds. Standard response, it even works with flags up lamp posts and hanging on bridges👿 Could you try some slow revenge, chuck flower seeds on the bare patch?

Hope all physio is working, I remember the resistance band exercises after I came out of hospital, had to do steps on & off stairs as well, and sideways steps along the kitchen holding onto worktops. It did work at the time

Yesterday's half hearted rain worked as well, it was not much wet, but enough o get the missing Alyssum up and showing, now I have Blue & white in the Far Right baskets

Sprinkled the white foxglove seeds on the disturbed rubble where Quince has been planted. Not many in a packet, and like dust. If they grow, a stem of full seeds pods will be worth more than my house.

Managed to sow beetroots in bare bits with the new fuchsia, hope it works but even leaves will be ornamental

No gardening today, I'm Hospital transport later, a friend is having eye drops so no driving allowed

Back to Chicory, the memory cogs rumbled and I remember, way back in the 50s we used to have a drink, like Instant coffee, but made from Chicory roots. called CHICO As a rite of passage we collected the labels and sent off for our badges. Same with jam labels, but perhaps best keep quite about that bit 🙊

Found my badge! Still a club member 😂

So long ago, used to get a bag of chips for