Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

We get bell ringing on Friday evening which makes doing the watering a bit more pleasing.

I envy the rosehips, I'll just be glad if my roses survive. I've barely watered those. In fact a lot needs a good soaking, I keep hoping for rain but none seems to come. Only once in 4 months now.

Is it green down in Devon? I'd love to go for a walk but it's unpleasant here with very little wildlife and scratchy grass right up to the Mendips and beyond. Being school holidays and the world on holiday because of the good weather everywhere is heaving.

Farway

Hot sun again, and now officially in drought, also official, not rained for 60 days, guess the few dribbles we had did not event touch the sides of the measuring vessel

Wise move on the starter motor Dusty, gone are the days of two bolts, bit of a wiggle, and it's out. Mine had intermittent internal short, but with the magic these days it's possibly lost it's connection to Beijing

2P And thank you both for the fig information. Completely different to what I thought I knew. I think I'll stick to waiting for roadside figs to drop off into my pocket because I think I've killed off my Morrisons twig I bought. The little pot kept drying out daily 🙂 If any fig twigs drop off at same time, they root readily if bunged into soil / compost or even water. Hope the Morrie twig recovers

Oh No, rose hip time already! None round here, there used to be some in the volunteer border but wiser heads have improved it & removed those to leave much more elegant and nature friendly bark chips. 😠

Too hot for gardening, not much to do any way, except my leaning Runners made a dash for it & are on the conservatory roof. Still zero beans

Dustyevsky

2p: Is it green down in Devon? I'd love to go for a walk but it's unpleasant here with very little wildlife and scratchy grass right up to the Mendips and beyond. Being school holidays and the world on holiday because of the good weather everywhere is heaving.

We hung onto the green longer, but it's yellow here now too. There's no good grazing, so farmers are already having to feed cattle and sheep with the winter fodder. 😯

We don't see the holidaymakers in any great quantity here, and if I time things right, they're not much of an issue if I stray closer to the coast. In 3 weeks or so, that pressure will end. By then, I expect we'll have had some rain and the land will green-up a little. Until then, it'll be a case of staying close to home and prepping for what's to come. 🤐

Here are some of our more 'sensitive' subjects, sitting behind a yew hedge, waiting for me to plant them out. Some are very tough once they're in the ground, but they don't like being fried in their pots on a daily basis!

twopenny

You are so good to your plants. No wonder you have a beautiful garden.

So not exactly garden related though they do sell home grown plants here, but pertinant to the weather I have been able to capture something special.

She's about the size of a wine glass and basks, has a good look around in the early morning. They hunt during the day.

I know it's a she because of this nearby, a warm summers evening waiting for mum and dinner I guess

Just shows you can be mse and entertain yourself for no money 😉

Farway

Well done of getting the Owl pic 2P, and also MSE.

Boiling hot already, just back from Morrisons, bread & milk but the blighters have Bell flower pots feuced from 32 to £1, so just had to get a couple. Just right size for something like peppers, chilli, bush tom, fig cutting, that sort of thing. No immediate use but will be handy next year

The dry & heat is shrivelling up my cherry tree, it's in the ground and been there for a good few years. No way I can physically water it, so it's on it's own. There are a couple of street trees looking the same, they are large, about twenty feet or so. Once this is all over there will be a lot of dead 'uns around

Quickly watered a couple of pots, with the heat due and they dry out so quickly

No gardening with the heat, plus I'm on shopping Taxi service due to A & E visit over the weekend

Dustyevsky

What lovely Little Owl pictures 2p! Nature may be free, but there's often much effort in getting the best from it, and photos like those! 😇

Late today, and no doubt off shortly to some high place for a glimpse of the eclipse. Trouble is, an old van's all we have for transport, as the car has gone in for repair. Otherwise, we'd go way up on Exmoor and look over Bideford Bay. You see our courtesy car this time is another van, and it's so horrible, I'd rather use ours! 🤣

Lucky find with the pots, Farway. 🤩 I stayed away from any retail experiences today, plunging instead into the murky world of car insurance. It was painful, but worth it. Reduced an initial quote from old insurer of £437 to £232, and with a company I'd rather use. Well done, MSE's 'other side!' 😊

No watering till we get home. It's still blistering hot! ☹️

Here's a phlox that's done well. No idea of the name. It has been watered, unlike some others that are 'over.'

twopenny

I've lost a whole post! Too hot and tired to repeat so - it's blistering hot again and tonight

LessImpecunious

Well done on owls, pots, tomatoes, phloxes, etc all…I keep forgetting to take a pic of our abundant mountain ash/rowan berries (despite drooping tree), need to do it quick because once the blackbird/thrush decided berries are ready they disappear in a flash - contrary to all sources which suggest installing such a tree in garden will provide berries for visiting and resident Turdidae throughout the winter…🤔

Instead, a pic of the eclipsalypse will have to do (only learnt after taking that I shouldn't be pointing my phone at the sun, but that's how I like to take a lot of my pics!) After two days of smelling/seeing smoke haze around our horizons, apparently drifting up to us from fires far to the south, a welcome breeze sprang up late morning, quickly clearing the haze, though not sure whether it got cooler or warmer on balance… Eventually so hot I had to retreat to shade of potting shed, to sow some hopeful seeds for autumn/winter cropping, but when glancing out to check on progress of eclipse was greeted by pyrocumulus clouds apparently originating from much nearer fires to west and north… Thankfully, smoke, and presumably fires, had disappeared shortly after re-emergence of sun…

twopenny

Found it!

It's all very weird. We've had huge clouds this morning, more little ones this evening and it's gone dark though the sun is going down.

Been 38c in the sun and 35c in the shade with no breeze so feeling exhausted after 2 days of this. The house is a cooker. I may be sleeping on the garage floor which for some reason is cold.

The plants did better unwatered . I'm thinking it's so hot that they've had their roots in hot water.

I went to Morrisons looking for the pots but none here. Our lovely lady that watered the plants properly and on delivery left with I'll health and the plant sales have plummeted. In the words of one of the staff 'the store is a shambles '

I have a renegade tomato plant growing from the herb pot. Plum ones, whether miniature or San Mazano we shall see.

Dustyevsky

2p: The house is a cooker. I may be sleeping on the garage floor which for some reason is cold.

I've appreciated our bungalow's attributes much more this year. Indoors rarely strays above 25c, even in the middle of the day. The highest I've seen is 27c. Being at 500' means a good breeze most days, and we're well insulated, so that probably helps.

It's funny you should mention rogue tomatoes, because I spotted several plants last night, with baby toms forming, on our woodchip/chicken poo heap. I'll swear they weren't there a month ago! I'll get a photo. 😉

Your eclipse and pyrocumular photos are very welcome, Less. 😇 I'm still processing our underwhelming experience last night, probably the result of being unprepared.😕 Mrs Dusty and I pulled the van into a newly-harvested field on high ground, armed with no special specs, or even a colander. 😞 Last time, I recall filming the whole thing and livestreaming the pics into our living room, without apparent damage to the school's video camera. 🤠 This time, I fired off dozens of shots on loads of different settings, but nothing really worked. 😥

I did get a nice picture of the posh village I wouldn't mind living in…..

Comment on phone from DD1, who was in Plymouth for the spectacle: "It was better in 1999."

Reply from DD2: "Everything was better in 1999!"

😅🤣😀