Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

Ooops! I'll say no more. 😲 But hello 👋 take care.♥️

Was hot but almost pleasant yesterday with a breeze. Of course having been able to get properly organised with foil and blackouts we have a high wind from the north east and the path was freezing when I went out to feed the birds with bare feet.

I managed to trim some lavender, it's dying in clumps, and water thoroughly which it will need with wind and heat.

The apple and cherry are looking quite sick with a double whammy from the weather. The plums are coming to nothing being smothered in green fly and drought. Tiny deformed and hard. But the raspberries productive even if not a good flavour. I must get out and pick some before the birds do.

Got the fridge defrosted yesterday and found several packages of blackberry and apple and gooseberry that had been forgotten. If it stays cold and sunny I may make something with them. Been too hot to cook.

Today is an unknown.

Dustyevsky

Farway: Following my eventual success in getting a sea holly to grow, here in
same vein are alliums, never ever managed to get these before.. Not the
jumbo football sized ones, but it's a start

I think the jumbo ones are OTT. Anything above 5cm diameter starts to look clumsy IMO. Your 'start' will almost certainly lead to further alliumation, though with some species it can quickly become alliumopoly! I'm thinking of the wild garlic I let loose near the stream, and the decision taken to a few years later to stamp them out. ☹️

My best allium find was A. nutans, growing as a continuous border edge in a 'well-known' garden. None of the staff gave me a correct ID over several years of asking, nor was it available in the sales area, so it was fortunate a small offshoot dropped into my pocket one day. 🙂 Now, we seem to have a dozen pots with probably over 100 individual plants in them, so a border edging here is distinctly possible….if only we can kill off the Alchemilla first! It keeps returning…..

Speaking of micro tomatoes, 2p, we have always grown Cherry Falls in pots before. This year, planted in a deep bed, they’ve gone mad. There's no way all the flowers will turn into toms. 😮

These days of gardening very early and late aren't long enough for us to keep up, even if the grass isn't growing much. Last night, our new neighbour at the farmhouse was holding a party, and we were invited, but our arrival was delayed by watering until 21.00. Fortunately, they kept us some of the hog roast. 😇

Today's photo is of our walnuts forming on the tree at the end of the willow grove. Might as well record them for posterity. Last year, the squirrels found them. 😡

Farway

Another early start, out watering the "essentials" this time, the pots that are in direct sun most of the day & dry out quickly. Forecast is hot & sunny all next week, so best I keep up

Waves to any Blue Eyed lurker 🙋 Any takers on a newbie coming along? Old Red Eyes?

It's quite breezy this morning, sun just cracking through and cooling breeze, pleasant for now.

No gardening intended later due to heat, but the watering is taken care of at least

My posh large dahlias are budding up, not showing colour in buds yet, but high hopes.

Looking out of window this morning I spotted a visitor. 🤣

I can't quite make it out, but could well be a sheet off next door's whirligig [middle left]. If it is best of luck to them getting it down. It's snagged on my very prickly pyracantha which is well over ten feet tall

Artistic sunbow lens flare as a bonus

-taff

I did wonder why there were no acerbi witty posts from a certain person…sad sad sad smiley…

Its hot, damn hot, hotter than a something in something hot. A lot of stuff is dying in my garden but amazingly, I must jump on the sea holly bandwagon, with not one but two plants who have revived or are still alive…Must be the year for it. The hydrangeas ahave been pulled up and soaked and are looking marginally more happy. Will put them somewhere more shady next time but in my defence I thought it was going ot be shady where they were…nope.

Lotment is a bindweed haven despite me weeding for hours at a time. Need a new approach for that, sturdier and thicker cardvoard for one. My tromboncino #1 is about ten centimetres now :)

Woop for driving next week 2p!

I'd vote for a Cole Porter blue eyes…

Well spotted Dusty…

P.S I thought that was a mangled white rabbit…

wort

My guess is YBE has melted🫠🥵 she isn’t a fan of the heat .
Dusty has me singing three little birds a la Marley, and the young thrush is very elegant looking.

Less, I’ve had quite a few butterflies now including 2 red admirals over 2 days in the conservatory. But like you they are so fast I can’t capture a photo. There’s been quite a few bees on the Eringium (spelling) sorry. It’s looking hot out again, but yesterday there’s been breeze in my garden. So much so I wouldn’t be surprised to find my sheets in Farways garden 😝

2p those are doll house Toms, glad you are improving.

Dustyevsky

wort: My guess is YBE has melted🫠🥵

You may have missed something over the weekend. 😕 To continue the musical theme, she appears to have done the MSE equivalent of playing Stairway to Heaven in a guitar shop…..😱

And your breeze is a full-on, buffeting, 35mph wind here, drying stuff out even faster.😖 Like Farway, I'm out early and late, trying to keep up. Perhaps I shouldn't complain, though; no hosepipe restrictions. It's still been challenging, getting water to my new anti-Canute hedge. That's over 200m from the house, and growing fast, but not fully settled-in.

I'm hoping the local forecasters are right, and we get some thunderstorms soon. It was all going on in the Bay of Biscay last night, but not coming to us. Possibly it'll happen tonight, or more likely, Tuesday.

Meanwhile, we have a shock MOT to negotiate. Last year, the garage messed-up, so we had it done one day too early, and the date jumped from August into July. 😭 This wonky Mullein sums-up my thoughts on the matter perfectly! 🤣

Farway

Another one with full on buffeting winds, which keeps it a bit cooler but still dries stuff out. Next door's sheet remains marooned & unclaimed on it's pyracantha perch

Taff My tromboncino #1 is about ten centimetres now :) Of course I had to look on a ruler to see what 10cm was, we used to chant about furlongs, chains, rods, poles & perches when I was learning measurements. Now I know what it is, still a long way to go then, but it's on the way. BTW 10cm is 0.00497097 of a chain. Unsurprisingly I had to look that up 😁

While on cucurbits, my golden ball courgettes at last had boys & girls out together yesterday and a suitable introduction was made, perhaps I should've filmed it for Only Fans? 😯

Dusty, good luck with shock MOT, seems to come round so quickly. I think mine is next month, must check. Just checked 22 Aug, thanks Halford's. I don't use them but somehow get reminders from them since I bought a battery, harmless but useful spam.

Out watering first thing I spotted what could be a plum, a bit too far my eyes to be sure, I'll check next time I have the gardening clogs on

Today is carrots, not many but a start.

twopenny

Busy day getting the all clear hopefully and taking friend who's taking me and her dog ( 👋👤) out for lunch .

Pots I picked up from garden centre awaiting planting in bucket to stop them blowing off somewhere but I'm all clean and nice for the doctor so can't do it this morning.

Had another little yellow tomato twice the size of the last one so hopefully on the way to real grown up ones.

Congratulations on your carrot Farway 🏆

Slept till now as the temperature is 18c 😃 with the same high winds as Dusty. Fingers crossed for the MOT. I will find out tonight if my car will start after 6 weeks sitting in intense heat. The drivers door was glued shut with melting rubber when I tried to open it last night.

Dustyevsky

I hope your personal MOT goes better than ours has so far, 2p Enjoy your lunch. 😊

I dropped our car off at 08.45, getting a cranky-looking Peugeot 107 as a courtesy car. It ran out of petrol three miles from home, and 7 miles short of the nearest petrol station. 😰

Long story short, a very kind lady in a big van offered to rescue me, provided I held the large cake taking up the passenger seat. 😃. No problem! ☺️ My feet also had to rest on a large bottle of Jack Daniels. 😮 But it's the thought that counts…..and I think she was headed for a pretty good time! 🤣

Armed with petrol from our ride-on supply, Mrs Dusty and I returned in our van, got the Peugeot going again, and I made it to the filling station OK. When the garage phones, do you think I'll get sympathy points and a few bob off the bill?

Farway: we used to chant about furlongs, chains, rods, poles & perches when I was learning measurements.

Snap! "Five and a half yards equals one rod, pole, or perch.." I remember it well. Load of cobblers, even then! 😄

Postscript:

MOT passed with just one weld to an exhaust mounting. Yearly service done, so we're all sorted. It may look like a bag of spanners, but it's surprisingly sound. And after that courtesy car, it feels like a Rolls! 😁

OT: Still wearingly windy and some plants in pots are losing the will to live. 😐️

Dustyevsky

Late, and we have visitors….😮 so here are some slightly better pictures of those mystery birds Less thinks are female Blackcaps. I’m inclined to agree now!

Went to a gardening talk last night and Mrs Dusty bought a white Thalictrum like this:

https://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/thalictrum-splendide-white-fr21034-pbr/classid.2000024640/sku.RH30003248/

It wasn't the first time! Say no more. 🤐