Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Farway

2p I have a bean! Just the one 🙄

That looks as bad as my two Lezzbeans. Mine looked possibles but turned out to be tough, stringy & case hardened by the sun. No more have even bothered to grow beans, flowers & that's it, the flowers fall off in despair.

twopenny

One bean in the pod Farway. Not even enough for saved seed so it's gone on the compost 😭

I've spent the day cutting off the dead leaves on plants that I kept to shade/keep moisture in which was fairly pointless. Now I want any moisture to get straight in.

Made a pond with handles yesterday (and resized a free fireplace surround) and moved pots with bulbs or empty which made muscles that haven't been used for a while, complain but tidying up today has made it look like a garden again, though still a half dead one.

When I went to change I was cheered by the window filled with colour.

I moved the struggling geraniums into the struggling lavender bed (easier to water) and it looks better.

Guess that's more than enough! The muscles are aching. Day off tomorrow.

Cloud came over and very cool wind so that's a relief. 🙂

Dustyevsky

We have rain! 😁 Not a lot, but it's a start. I expect you have some too, 2p. 😉 Enjoy your day off. 😍

Might there still be time to sow some kind of beans, to get a quick harvest in a benign autumn? Asking for a friend. 🤔 My second tranche of courgettes is coming along nicely, just as the oldies are getting lanky and mildew creeps in.

Had to laugh at the facial recognition story, where AI identified a 'problem shopper' in Sainsbury's and got him ousted.😮 Mr Canute looks very similar…. I can't imagine him doing the weekly shop, though! 😕 No sign of anyone buying his house, so I expect we'll have him for another winter of stream-blocking. 😣

Anticipating the rain, I took a quick snap of our 'lower lawn' yesterday, with the results of 'no mow June.' Also, anticipating children playing football, I mowed the wild patches with the push mower and went over them again with the ride-on.

Of course, it looks immaculate now! 😇

Farway

Cooler at last. More sun & heat, no rain, is the week ahead

Colourful window there 2P, beats my leaning lezzbean view..

Another restless night with heat, I'm worn out. Only gardening will be a spot of must do watering. I should cut back the buddlias and clear the crispy crocosmia but it's too hot & uncomfortable for that sort of thing

OT, replacement loo cistern washers arrive from Up River today, so there will not be any Idle Hands around to do devils work or lolling about in front of tele.

Back OT, while checking on possible alternatives to Paul Robson tom I came across lots of recommends about Rose de Berne, Anyone tried that one? Low yield but great flavour so they say.

Painful bit of gardening to do, pay for the garden waste bin service £130, no free or subsidised bins here, except the food one which is coming soon. I don't think I could smuggle buddleia cuttings in there

Dustyevsky

Farway: Painful bit of gardening to do, pay for the garden waste bin service £130, no free or subsidised bins here, except the food one which is coming soon. I don't think I could smuggle buddleia cuttings in there

This is not advice, but we have been doing the food waste thing for years. I always bag ours, so our bin stays clean and maggot-free. 😇 Bagged stuff goes into the wagon unchecked. It's an automated process which eventually smashes the bin. (We're on our 3rd or 4th) I leave everything else to your imagination, but bagged or unbagged, no one looks. 😊

twopenny

We've got a hosepipe ban at last but it's annoying when we have a record number of visitors to the area and car washes still being used.

Text arrived this morning after a night of heavy rain of course 🙄 I've 5 tubs of dead stuff out in the open because the weather forecast said half a chance of light rain.

I might have to get my trolley and bucket out again as I'm still not allowed to carry heavy weights 😬

At least it's cooler and darker. I've sown some more kale seeds in pots and they've germinated almost instantly 🙂 so get on there Dusty. Your grass is like mine.

The San Marzano have developed beautifully (yes Farway they are mostly flesh for preserving but good for salad too) however for the second year in a row they've developed blossom end rot which I see some others have had. Forgotten what causes that but it will be the dry weather with watering probably.

Still aching in new muscle so jam making today.

LessImpecunious

2P Blossom end rot supposed to be due to "uneven watering", but my watering has been fairly uneven and I haven't spotted any yet…

Dusty Might there still be time to sow some kind of beans, to get a quick harvest in a benign autumn? Asking for a friend.

I've just sown some dwarf french beans, following recommendation on no dig gardening fb group, that they should be OK now if they can to be grown on undercover (just have to find space in my greenhouse, which means the toms, cucs or veg spaghetti will have to make room…)

We had light drizzle early this morning briefly, but with some actual rain forecast for next few nights and all day Thursday, so hopeful for (now empty again) waterbutts - and maybe should think about mowing my no-mow remnants before they are flattened by any potential downpour, but that might invoke sod's law and send the rain elsewhere…🤔

twopenny

Uneven watering eh Less? Not much you can do about evaporation and heat in months of drought 🫤 it's only been the last 2 yrs I've had the problem and both were extremely hot.

Ditto the small reds on one plant only aren't ripening around the stalk.

There have been heavy clouds over the Welsh coast. Seems they aren't making their way up.

Hot again from lunch time but at least the evenings are cool as the sun sinks lower on the horizon.

Everything looks chirpier for the rain but apart from a small bit of mackerel sky it doesn't look like more.

On the blossom side the autumn cyclamen are blooming even if it is a month ahead.

Dustyevsky

I'm tempted to try a few dwarf beans, but common sense tells me I shouldn't overdo planting. There are plenty more useful things to do this autumn, which either didn't get done last wet winter, or were shelved in the many over-hot weeks we've had. 😐️

On blossom end rot, I agree about consistent and sufficient watering, but suspect a nutrient deficiency too. We've only had it on larger varieties, Moskvich being one. It's one reason why we mostly grow the smaller types. Being brutally honest, we always grow far too many toms for our modest consumption, and we've done it again this year despite 'cutting down' and bad husbandry! 🙄

Monday was a no gardening day. I shopped for stuff GCs eat, and then visited my coastal pal, ostensibly to complete the guide wires on her pergola, but as 2p said, it was hot again, so we chatted about old times. We go back well over 60 years, and it's interesting to compare notes. It's said each of us creates our own reality, and that's what we find when remembering at the schools we attended etc. Hmm, she was well-behaved! 😏

Back at home, Mrs Dusty discovered a Magpie Moth, so I muscled-in and took a picture too. 😄

They aren't rare, but you're unlikely not to notice one.

It's raining just now, after a damp, muggy night. A fair day to follow. ☺️

Farway

No rain, maybe a dribble sometime tonight. Just dull and warm.

Unlikely to be any gardening today, although i have watered a few dry pots at the front

My car should be in the G World record book for items failed on MOT. 😮 The lights worked and that's the best bit. Both rear coil springs broken, exhaust shot, emission kills Polar bears stone dead, seat belt fixing corroded, WD 40 Gold medal for rust & corrosion. I'm waiting for it's return and then ring round scrap yards to see if anyone will give me any money for it. I know it varies but I need it gone.

Update, had a look, seems still buying so that's something

Still OT, but Karma or just weird? The A & E stuff last weekend has left a 2011 Hyundai, with years MOT, without a driver. That is now my next car, once insurance etc sorted.

2P The San Marzano have developed beautifully (yes Farway they are mostly flesh for preserving but good for salad too) Nice to know, I'll add them to my wish list.

Have to properly check, but I think I spotted some runner beans, if so, unless looking wonderful, I'll leave for 2027 seed. Next year can't be as bad as this can it?