Awful weather - typical Brits talk

-taff

Thanks for info re geranium [ok ok pelargonium], I'll try it later on..It's one of the few things doing well. A jade plant growing outside! I put mine out in the summer and it seems to like it, not sure if it would survive the winter though, what kind of minimum temperatures do you get in the winter? And your anti frost pocket?

It's nie when you see something different being planted for all to see. I'm tempted by a pawlonia but not sure I have the space :) I saw Huw Richards making a ciruclar one out of sheep fencing, such a good idea, and a semi one even better because you can pick from them without contortions.

The fig tree [more of a small twiggy bush] did marvelously this year, about 25 figs on it, couldn't believe it…but your grapes are impressive, this must have been such a good year for them. I like your pet tree dog story :)

gb, that's a couple of thoughts constantly on my mind…watering and soil improving. Mines really heavy clay, that holds water and gets sticky when wet, cracks a foot deep in the dry..I've been trying to think of how I can get hold of enough muclhing material to put on top of it without breaking a bank, and how to get more water on the plot to hand. dilemmas….I like the idea of auto watering, my lotment neighbour has his greenhouses set up for it but I have a brain blank about the nitty gritty of it [ it's probably super simple but you know how it is when you think somethings going to be complicated - not that it would actually be, I mean, I used to take apart and put things back together for a lviing so tubing systems shouldn't be a mystery..] But now we hve the double whammy of I really do need to actually dig this year, to get bindweed down, but the ground is too hard now and will be soft and sticky when it rains [ ha!]

Weather still warm, did rain last night for about twenty minutes, still not enough. I've lost a deutzia out the front, the lilac bush is going a similar way, lost almost all geums, but a pinky salvia is being the star, for ease of rootting cuttings so that will be appearing in as many places as I can put it next year. Roses have been good, the more modern ones anyway, the old one has had one flowering, the ther two have had three..…

Dustyevsky

2p: My thought at seeing the river was Simonsbath but the building is no help 🤔

You were bang-on with the location. 😊 The building is Simonsbath House, the former home of Frederick Knight, the loony eccentric person responsible for many 'projects' on Exmoor in the C19th. It's now an hotel.

Yesterday, we found out our phone wasn't working after the switch to fibre. We could ring out, but no one could ring us, So, the log man wasn't risking business by failing to respond ! 😣 We're back on copper with the phone, and all's well.

With rain on the way, I did sweeping and tidying outdoors, leaving myself more hoover action today. 😦 It hasn't rained, but we awoke to a thick mist, indicating little wind, so a foray to find and annihilate the docks in the fields is on the cards. They stick out like a sore thumb against the yellowish dry grass! 😄

2p: Pah! To 13yrs 😀 my favourite little yellow fiesta had its 21st birthdayand then some. In each case of my 3 old fiestas it was only the difficulty of getting spare parts that made me change. I'd have another like a shot if I could find a reliable one. Much easier to service yourself too.

Our car is essentially a Fiesta with a slightly larger engine, and it's been fine. I'm not sure why it has an OAP image. The extra ground clearance is perfect for the lanes, and on all weather fat tyres, it's the best I've had for local trips. Your i10 is mechanically simple too, which is why they usually sell quickly. 😉

Did someone mention Ergywhatsits? Always happy to oblige! 👿 This pheasant thought their magic power would render her invisible! 🤣

Well, you started it with those Lakemont grapes! 😛 Nothing like those here, and anyway they're full of pips. 😥

But we do have plums….😍

twopenny

Yes Taff, not a frost pocket. Low temperature used to be above zero, 6c was the usual but I remember that was warm last year 🤔 but now it's anyone's guess.

Wor t, don't bother with the bags of compost. Been there, done that. It dries and blows away immediately.

I did well with a cheap old carpet on the beds in my last place. Tempted to try a blanket cover in spring when the soil is wet.

Dusty you must have been inspired by the river location by me waving at you on Sunday 😃 I was collecting stones on the moor (not many) and could see Dartmoor almost to the Devon coast.

Farway wonderful looking grapes 😀 now I'm tempted again. When the school holidays are over I must take a trip to the big garden centres and see what's for sale.

Just a few spots of rain yesterday, just spots, but enough to make today's 32c sticky and exhausting. I've watered the veg and dying plants. The thrill that doesn't end is seeing the butterflies and dragonflies in the garden as there wasn't even a fly when I came. Amazing what a couple of small ponds will do 😀

Too hot to get out there and I think I have a bug of a different kind so sitting and reading today and watching garden activity.

Dustyevsky

2p: Dusty you must have been inspired by the river location by me waving at you on Sunday 😃 I was collecting stones on the moor (not many) and could see Dartmoor almost to the Devon coast.

We were inspired by DD catching numerous American crayfish on her last trip home from here. She claimed they were going to Simonsbath, so I assumed they did, but in fact they went to Withypool. 🙄 Not that the GCs were any help. They couldn't remember anything useful! 😖 And the photos of that view, all the way across to Dartmoor didn't come out as well as I'd hoped either, but it was still a lovely afternoon.

As predicted, I've been out and zapped all the docks and a few wizened thistles in the fields. It's tedious, walking slowly for about 2 miles, looking for them, and actually going nowhere!

-taff: It's nie when you see something different being planted for all to see. I'm tempted by a pawlonia but not sure I have the space :) I saw Huw Richards making a ciruclar one out of sheep fencing, such a good idea, and a semi one even better because you can pick from them without contortions.

Our Paulownia died this year. It was on its way out last year. Theoretically, you can stool them down, almost to zero, and they shoot up with leaves about a foot across. It's never worked that well for us though! But what on earth do you pick from them? 🤔 All you get is a brittle, two part shell full of seeds like those of birch. Have I missed something? 😧

Here is one of the less successful Lego sculptures at Rosemoor. Guess what it's supposed to be….

No, not a penguin! Answer tomorrow. 😁

LessImpecunious

My guess is Peregrine, though was going for Penguin until I scrolled down to the feet…

Blood moon due in early (ish) hours, but it was doing a practice run while rising this evening through murky haze and cloud; half an hour later we had a normal moon-coloured moon. It will be cloudy and raining (purportedly) by the time the real blood moon appears, so no need to feel guilty for not rising from bed to observe it…

-taff

I meant your half circle pea structure, sorry! Pigeon?

Love the pheasant trying to hide…