Awful weather - typical Brits talk

wort

Farway, she’s a beauty , tbh there are buds on mine the slugs have been eating the leaves, blue sweeties now distributed. One bud is slightly open 😃

twopenny

I've added Ly- wotsit to my list of drought proof. Along with pot marigolds and English lavender. The new varieties suffer. Litm and iris so the start of a border.

I'm thinking that dahlia might go there too with that lovely flower though I've not had much luck with them.

I've been sprinkling litm seeds where I want them . I guess the birds are pleased so some in reserve for early spring.

Also thinking of changing the veg and flower beds to opposite sides as I wondered if the veg might do with more shade in heatwave era. Just in winter it's better to have veg near kitchen 🤔

I've also added Tranquility to the list as that's a beauty. I guess how the flower fares in the rain might have to wait 😔

We have cloud, grey sky. Well of course we do. It's prime stargazing time 🙄

And it's just mildly spitting bits of mist at bare flesh but I don't expect that to last. Pleasant outside but the house is stifling. Anyone's guess what comes next.

Off for a swim then making more jam or venturing into the garden to see what's survived.

Farway

Early bird again, getting a tad less humid so that's good. Early start is not garden related, off out as Gaffer to oversee DGS replace two duff wall sockets. His arms & my brain.

He's 19 and sensible but he needs to learn the correct way of doing things, then he can cut corners once he knows how to do it properly 😈😁. Lesson one is get the person who cut the power, pulled fuses etc, to stick their hand in first.

It's a tad breezy, a cooling breeze.

2P, I'm thinking that dahlia might go there too with that lovely flower though I've not had much luck with them. It's Cafe Au lait, common as muck but makes a good show. You'll spot it in lots of open to public type of gardens. They do need a bit of watching, watering & slug bait, but as a try out, like me, one or two named ones maybe? I'd buy tubers from the likes of Morries to start, cheap enough & from my limited experience, certainly at least on par regarding size & quality with mail order

Picked enough tomatoes for a meal yesterday, three varieties were ripe. One of them was the self seeder, and it is a good 'un, large cherry and not too sharp. A disappointment is Bajaja, one of the micro types I'm trying out. But not micro if left alone to grow. Good looking plant but the taste is sharp, I'll persevere but so far I'll not grow again

Star of the show was Paul Robeson. Doesn't seem to be prolific but that could be me. And heritage, should come true from saved seed. Unless I find one better i'll grow Paul again. Looks good, but maybe not for any one who thinks tomatoes have to be red & round. And the taste is unique, I can't describe it, you'd need someone like Jill Goolden for a full description. It's juicy as well, with very few seeds

Here he is

greenbee

I don't have any round red tomatoes @Farway - I started with Black Cherry, and have also got Black Opal. I know I also have Indigo Blue but I'm not sure whether that's a cherry or a large one. I need to check them all at some point (I did leave labels in most. I've also got an Orange Wellington, a large yellow one, a marmande, and I think a red plum (although those don't generally do well for me). I forgot about Green Tigerella this year, which I also like and need to get more seeds of for next year.

What I've also realised is that all these varieties have small crops, but as you say, that's not necessarily a bad thing. I've had the blinds down in the greenhouse pretty much since they all went in as it's been so hot and bright, and that has certainly helped. The ones outside have done OK, but I haven't been giving them more water than the irrigation system provides, which isn't much, so the plants are smaller and less prolific (I also haven't pruned them or fed them).

The garden generally is looking sad. I'm siphoning bathwater into the rainwater collection system that feeds the veg plot, and using washing up water on the toms and various trees, shrubs, and new areas of planting, supplementing with fresh water when I run out. I am running a hose on the new hedge as the front via a soaker hose for an hour or so once or twice a week, as it is new enough to be allowed. Technically I could use the hose for the veg plot and trees, but the bathwater and buckets are easier than dragging hoses about!

twopenny

I like the look of that Farway 🙂

I'm enjoying having different colours on my dinner plate. Here are mine, prolific but very small. The green ones were bright yellow till I put them in the fridge overnight 🤔

The plants don't look healthy. Gone a funny colour and wilting. Not producing flowers.

But that's like the flower border. No flowers apart from geraniums and a little multi coloured one.

Thanks for reminding me of Gillie Golden. I've been trying to remember her name for a week or more. The young uns on a Sunday morning aren't a patch on her.

Cloudy here so I've overslept. Tourists have overswept the place and although cooler for a moment I'm just exhausted after spending yesterday out in the heat so it's some pottering. I went out and tidied the huge English lavender and rose out front at 8.30 last night while listening to church bells because it was cold.

Dustyevsky

I see why your tom's called Paul Robeson now, Farway! 😉 Appears to have survived a long time, and it seems has worn better than your 2019 50p!

2p: I've added Ly- wotsit to my list of drought proof. Along with pot marigolds and English lavender. The new varieties suffer. Litm and iris so the start of a border.

The Lysimachia comes in several varieties. Another is 'Robert,' but the self-seeded wild ones are OK too. It prefers water, so if we get a flood next, it'll still be fine! 😄

No problems here with slugs currently. I believe they've gone deep down, or the hedgehogs and Turdidae have had them! 😊

Yesterday eventually brightened-up, leaving Mrs Dusty and I exposed without sunscreen till we got hold of a squirty bottle of kids' stuff. Our mission, to view a well-priced 4x4 I'd spotted, without getting snarled in A30 holiday traffic, or Exeter's major roadworks, was achieved. 😁The car was way better than expected, but Mrs D didn't like the driving position, or the colour, but the killer was simply…. no Isofix. Doh! 😣 With DD having 2 children under 15 months, that should've been top of the list. 🤒 My bad.

Never mind. We then sat in many cars, and thanks to Select Cars, allowing us the run of their place, for 2 hours, unhindered by sales pitching, we might have a good idea of what comes next. 😇

If I had to pitch a plant that fits most gardens this morning I might choose this one: It's not a great photo, but the bronze leaves of Crocosmia 'Solfaterre' are what makes this smaller variety a little different:

Dustyevsky

Yesterday evening we had another swift ingress of cloud, but it didn't amount to any precipitation….

(I lost the bottom of my picture 🤔)

The skies are still grey, but we're promised unbroken sunshine anytime now, possibly for the last time this week, as the weather pattern breaks down. Well, it would, now the GCs are imminent! 😄

Yesterday, with potential chaos this coming week, we decided to get our planning application completed.We want to have our rear garden officially recognised as domestic curtilage, because currently it's classed as an agricultural field.😮 The land grab happened long ago, and the deeds shed no light on it, so we're entirely nearly innocent!😇 However, while enforcement's impossible now, it's prudent to clarify the legal position. And it goes without saying, our community of suspicious neighbours will probably wonder what we're up to!

We wondered what Mr King was up to last week, apart from sitting on his bench and staring as usual! Every night, we could see a tiny light glinting through the trees at the boundary of his land. Eventually, curiosity got the better of us, so we took binoculars to the willow grove after dark. There are actually two lights on the ground, illuminating Mr King's metal sculptures of a fox and deer. I suppose he can just about see them from his house. Now we know what they are, he's welcome. 😎 The wee trees he planted on our side of the hedge back in the spring appear to be dying, or already dead. While that's no surprise I hope we don't get the blame. It's been a bad year for planting and "letting nature get on with it." As gb says, new hedges need nurture. I've watered the new one close to Mr Canute regularly and still lost 3 saplings. 🙄

However, being corms, I'm sure your crocosmias will return, Less. Here are ours:

'Paul's Best Yellow' looking the worst we've seen. 😟 They flowered for about 10 minutes!

Farway

Cloudy and cooler this morning, but only a slight respite, forecast is sun breaks thorough and off we go again

Had to get the watering out when I got back yesterday, runners & rhubarb had wilted despite watering on Friday. I'll probably have to do the front later today

Dusty no Isofix. Doh! 😣I had to look that up. I would have taken it as standard in all modern cars. I can understand the need for it. My two, and maybe yours, started out in a carry cot on the back seat. Seat belts were for racing drivers, all others were loose items inside the car. Not saying it's right, just never occurred to anyone at the time, we all assumed we would just "brace ourselves" or hold the baby tighter, if we crashed.

I've trimmed some leaves and topped off the tomatoes in the conservatory, times pressing now & want to get all ripening.

Same here, no slug problems, shrivelled up I'd guess, and surprisingly very few aphids or blackflies,maybe the birds find them extra juicy in the heat?

OT, my loo has gone back to continuous flush, looks like I need to do a proper job and not just bodge it. I think it needs a washer, but of course there are as many sizes of washer as sand grains on a beach. YT says take old one to shop to match it, nah, that's too easy 🤡

Here are some of the ripe toms, with names

Just refreshed, very arty sky Dusty

Dustyevsky

Just refreshed too Farway….

Dusty no Isofix. Doh! 😣I had to look that up. I would have taken it as standard in all modern cars. I can
understand the need for it. My two, and maybe yours, started out in a carry cot on the back seat. Seat belts were for racing drivers, all others were loose items inside the car. Not saying it's right, just never occurred to anyone at the time, we all assumed we would just "brace ourselves" or hold the baby tighter, if we crashed.

The car was a Honda CRV from 2010, just before they introduced ISOFIX to that range.😫

When we had our two in carry cots and early child seats, our car was a Renault 12 estate, with nowhere to attach straps etc. Nevertheless, it was possible to buy a steel bar for the purpose, and Mrs Dusty, being sensible, made me install one. Our current jalopy isn't ISOFIX either, which means a lot of hassle with the ancient child seat we use. A swankier ISO-only model that swivels is in the loft, awaiting our next vehicle. Sadly, it won't be a Honda now. 😪

Still overcast here. Your toms look fine to me. 😊

twopenny

I have a bean! Just the one 🙄

As Farway said - sun come out now and too hot to do anything.