Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

Farway, your round yellow courgette is on front page 😃

twopenny

Technical hiccup 😏 will be with you tomorrow properly properly.

I took have fridge problems, just can't get low enough to deal with them but I don't think it's terminal.

Dustyevsky

Farway: Is there a Bosch owners club Dusty? Like MG owners, can we wear leather gloves? 😉

There ought to be. At least Robert Bosch GMB hasn't been taken over by a foreign conglomerate, unlike MG, now Chinese owned. 😐️They're welcome. The rubbish that came from Longbridge in its dying years was inexcusable, like the square steering wheeled Allegro, and my favourite, the Rover 25, for people with no left foot. 🤡

I'm reluctant to say much, but we have a Miele washing machine purchased in 2005/2006. It needed its first repair last year; two shock absorbers were replaced. The service guy said, " Whatever you do, don't change this for a newer model!" 🤓

I would collect the seeds, wort. Mallows are quite large plants, so you want them in the right place.

Congrats Farway on cheering-up the front page with your golden ball! 🤩 Where's -taff with her tromboncino when we need her?

Some things are not growing so well at Dusty Acres. 🤔 The toms in particular are lacklustre. Fortunately, the kale is OK. I'm just beginning to appreciate how much we'll have to eat to keep up with it! 😮

With Erigwhatits on the D notice list, I've had to stoop low to remain controversial. Here's something that was blooming blooming early in my friend's coastal plot last week.

Hope you are back with us soon 2p, and with a cold fridge. Meanwhile, I shall put up an appropriate image for you….

OT: Grey and drizzly with a promise of sunshine soon and maybe 22c. We might visit a garden, depending on how wobbly Mrs D is….or I might dig some post holes….in the right place this time. 😫

Farway

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82058538#Comment_82058538

Thanks, for the tip. And OT, I have more golden balls on the way, just starting to swell.

And sort of OT, Premier seeds have clearance 99p seeds, including One Ball. Have to pay P & P though, but you may find other stuff there, couldn't spot Taff Trombones but not looked very hard

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82058689#Comment_82058689

Oh dear, never rains etc. Getting low enough can be a big problem, I was just toping up the dishwasher salt yesterday, hard going, my knees were creaking & cracking , the fill hole is inside, right at the back. Eventually I will just have to skip adding salt & use the 3 in 1 tablets, but my water is so chalky extra salt is far better.

Hope fridge gets better, especially if you are going to get the heat we are due here.

The rubbish that came from Longbridge in its dying years was inexcusable, like the square steering wheeled Allegro I had one of those! Never had one, but supposedly the Rover 75,under BMW, was good, but too little too late to save them

Dusty Canna, that's early, I was just looking at mine yesterday, no sign of flowers, but looking healthy & loving the sun

Some things are not growing so well at Dusty Acres. 🤔 The toms in particular are lacklustre Mine seem OK so far, but the outside ones are looking much better, more robust, than in the conservatory

I have a peculiar irregularity, there are three hanging wall baskets on my steps handrail. Two upper baskets & one lower. All have same seeds sown & growing, Alyssum, lobelia & beetroot [My Far Right baskets]all in same compost. But top two are growing fine, the lower one is struggling. may be light levels?

I have ordered a pot of growing parsley with my Asda order, so may well bung some in the lower one, just for a bit of life

My dishwasher is on it's way down River, awaiting jungle drums on delivery timing, but no gardening is planned anyway.

This is my heavy scented tree lily & the dwarf buddleia. The scent is heavy, and of course, next to front door & right in the way of dishwasher lugging later, so i'll have to try & keep them clear

LessImpecunious

It must be mallow season - saw this in a nearby (ish) garden this morning - Gargling suggests it's a Sidalcea (which I'd not heard of, nor seen anything like before), rather than a Malva, suspect Dusty will be able to name sp. and var. ! Must remember to go back for seeds! I have another Mallow in flower in the garden, will try to get a pic later…

greenbee

I've got Sidalacea remarkably like that ☺️

twopenny

Lovely combination Farway 🙂

I like the laverwhatsit that's upright like a cross between hollyhock and delphinium neither of which I can grow. Might be the answer.

Brief everything at the moment due to injuries. All my joints hurt like blazes. For what reason I don't know. Never happened before.

Garden depressing with flowers gone AWOL with the constant heat and dry despite watering.

Have thinned the apples so the squirrel can reach them more easily when they ripen. Deadheading everything and watered. Picked a handful of raspberries and my three (used to be 4) apricots. Bit small.

And put my scallop shells all in a row. You can see the soil is like dust.

Dustyevsky

Less: Gargling suggests it's a Sidalcea …..suspect Dusty will be able to name sp. and var.

No he's not able! 😫 I have nothing against the plant, except for the fact that it damages easily, and doesn't travel well in a pot. Once I realised that, when we had our business, the few I raised were firmly the last. 😥

The one in the photo looks well-supported, which may be deliberate. 😉

Mrs Dusty still felt wobbly, so no outing to a garden today, just a visit to our DD2 who lives 12 miles south of here. Going there, along our 'interesting' lanes made her somewhat more wobbly!

Later, when the sun was less fierce, I finally began the annual battle with the thistles. These usually pop up over a period of about 2 months, so several skirmishes are required, but this year, my tardiness means they're probably all present at varying stages of growth. I'll need to return to get those I missed in a day or two. One thistle does look very much like another! 😆

At least you have some apricots 2p. Nothing like that would survive up here, unless we had a suitable wall. We don't.😥 I've stared hard at the figs, and watered them daily, but no joy with any ripening yet. Plums are still looking good, but apples are well down. Not surprised after last year's insane crop.

Lots of swallows and house martins swooping around tonight, but I was bitten at least 6 times in the field by the horse flies, which are definitely more numerous than usual. 🤬 I don't react, so it's just a small nuisance, compared with having to wear long socks and heavy boots to keep the ticks at bay. We only seem to see the big fat ones, though. Couldn't really miss one of those on your leg! 😕

PS. That wee buddleia's a cracker, Farway. 😇

LessImpecunious

Less: Gargling suggests it's a Sidalcea …..s

The one in the photo looks well-supported, which may be deliberate. 😉

Oh, maybe not such a good idea then…😕 On the other hand, my other mallow (sorry, omitted to take pic this afternoon) does flop as well….

it's just a small nuisance, compared with having to wear long socks and
heavy boots to keep the ticks at bay. We only seem to see the big fat
ones, though.

Oh, I thought the big fat ones were just the small ones that had been missed for long enough to "fatten up"…🤔 Have noticed a lot of horseflies here too this year, and the midgies are definitely worse (or better? - for the swallows etc) than usual…

Dustyevsky

Less: Oh, I thought the big fat ones were just the small ones that had been missed for long enough to "fatten up"…🤔 Have noticed a lot of horseflies here too this year, and the midgies are definitely worse (or better? - for the swallows etc) than usual…

You're correct that ticks swell-up, sometimes by enormous amounts, but there are 22 different types in the UK.

AI says:

The four most commonly encountered ticks in the UK include:

• The Sheep or Castor Bean Tick (Ixodes ricinus): By far the most common tick across the UK, typically found in woodlands, moorlands, and tall grass. This is the primary species that bites humans and is the main transmitter of Lyme disease. [1, 2, 3]
• The Hedgehog Tick (Ixodes hexagonus): Often found on hedgehogs, foxes, badgers, and domestic pets that frequent undergrowth where these wild animals nest. [1, 2, 3]
• The British Dog Tick (Ixodes canisuga): Typically found on dogs and foxes, usually clinging to the fur or in their sleeping areas. [1, 2, 3, 4]
• The Meadow or Ornate Cow Tick (Dermacentor reticulatus): An increasingly common tick found in specific coastal areas, grasslands, and marshes (such as parts of Wales, Devon, and Essex). It is a major concern for dogs as it transmits canine babesiosis. [1, 2]

We usually find them when bloated on the cats' heads. None on us, so far. 😊 We have a close relative severely impacted by Lyme, though the bite was treated quickly. The symptoms worsened considerably a year or two later, after he was given treatments for something else, but the mods won't wish me to be more explicit about that.☹️

OT: A very misty start gave me the chance to make the garden look better than it is, but there was a problem!

We are forecast to have 24c later, so I must push on…….