Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Farway

Morning, I looked out of window as I got up, hoping to see a Wort style sunrise, but no, blue skies with some red sun tinged con trails was all there was. Cracking pic, again, Wort.

Farway my cafe au lait is still flowering but has virtually no leaves as the slugs are eating them all🫣

No slugs on mine, probably the mildew is not to their taste 😂

Weather is set fair, they do say maybe a bit muggy. Mixed blessings really, need rain again, I was out watering first thing but the warmth is welcome by the final ripening toms [sorry Wort Dgson] and future gas bills

Removing tom leaves is a must really this time of year, mainly for sun and air circulation, the watering not sure. I heard it intensifies flavour, less watery, but no doubt a middle way between desiccated & scrummy somewhere.

2P I'm having trouble wondering about my apricot tree. It needs repotting but a bigger pot will block one or the other pathway where it's sheltered and sunny. That's the problem with a small garden

OK, stop right there! at least you have an apricot tree 🤭. Mine turned it's roots up years ago with terminal leaf curl ☠️ I do sometimes dream of getting another one to kill, but so far resisted that foolishness. Could yours go in the ground somewhere? Seeing you sitting reading and casually reaching out to pluck a sun warmed apricot

Dusty As for mobile phones, Farway, Mrs Dusty got an all singing and dancing, refurbished Samsung for under £200, and it looked new

Ta, all sorted now, coming from Up River, one of the "returns" with an opened box and slight scratches on base. Given it will spend the rest of it's life in one of those wallet things old codgers have on phones, to the disgust of young blades to who love to show they have the latest sparkly model, a few scratches on it's bum will not be a problem. £119.00 Ancient 2024 model, with 3 year g'tee and six years of software updates. Replacing a 2014 phone last update 2018,so it's all an improvement over that. And best thing is Gurgle maps has bus times & next one due etc. Amazing stuff. https://www.argos.co.uk/product/4378824 link, info only

A good outing there Dusty, mixed blessings with so many visitors, like to see them to keep the money rolling in but, but just not when you, or or I are visiting.

In one of yesterdays sunny spells I had a meander round the patch, and picked five pounds of Champion apples. The fleece had kept the birds off all but one. I had that one for breakfast, juicy and sweet, but I know they improve with keeping, so leaving the rest for a while longer.

The Lessbeans are ripening for seeds, pics here

twopenny

Perfect sunny day yesterday and I got the hedge trimmer to the overgrown Jasmine, chomped lumps out of the climbing rose without removing the cascading winter clematis!

Sanded the garden table too but that was mostly because of an 8hr party next door.

Farway look away now!

I pulled up loads of LITM seeded and some still flowering and yanked up lots of self seeded Erigwhotsit.

Today I've been exhausted so just 4 attempts to get the buckets of detritus to the skip.

Dusty, no I don't think I know that place.

Wort that photo was a lovely start to the day 😍 thank you.

Less, I went for a drive in the clouds this evening. It's a mind-blowing experience but not photogenic 🫤

LessImpecunious

Less, I went for a drive in the clouds this evening. It's a mind-blowing experience but not photogenic 🫤

That reminds me 2P that my love of clouds goes back a long way…story told by parents (which I remember, or think I do) of self at a very young age when we were driving up into cloud-enveloped mountains somewhere (well, hills probably, nothing of alpine scale, foreign trips not a thing!) and asking that the car be stopped when we got into the clouds so that I could put my hand out of the window and touch them,,, I don't remember being disappointed…

Wort, we had a similar brief sighting of peachy sunrise here too, nothing so dramatic or front-page worthy as yours though!

Well done on the apples Farway, my only crop this year was a few half-pecked and tiny Sunsets…

twopenny

Less, do you photograph clouds from airplanes? I do 😊

Dustyevsky

Farway: A good outing there Dusty, mixed blessings with so many visitors, like to see them to keep the money rolling in but, but just not when you, or or I are visiting.

It was free! 😲 All part of Heritage Open Days, but they used local hospice colours for the adverts, and that confused us too. 🤔The bods who ran it were professional sorts, but maybe lacked the experience one needs in catering for and controlling the public. No loos and no way for the disabled to feel confident of reaching all the venues were two things I'd want to change.

2p: Dusty, no I don't think I know that place.

It looks very different with all the garden centre buildings gone. Years ago, it was one of the largest GCs in Devon, somewhat incongruously located away from the main areas of population. Maybe in those days that didn't matter so much, but I worry that convenience and the cost of fuel are of more importance now. 😕

Yesterday, we had a calm, dry day, but hardly any sunshine. True to form, the mower started, but refused to cut, and with the grass growing like it does in June, I feared the worst. Luckily, AI agreed with me that in the absence of a broken belt or other obvious failure, the fault might lie with the 'operator presence circuit.' In other words, the switch which closes when my bum is on the seat could have malfunctioned. Wiring it past the switch proved this to be the case, so the grass was duly cut.😁 I'll have a look at the switch later, but sadly it isn't me losing weight causing the problem! 😥

Back to Rosemoor today, and a bed above the Hot Garden contained these stonkingly bright dahlias. The Hot Garden itself was cooler than usual….

Farway

Another sunny day here, weather map shows me in the sunny bit of the country for next few days, more watering needed. No clouds here 😉

Mobile sorted, it arrived yesterday afternoon from Up River, as per Mrs Dusty experience, it looks like new and if no one told you you'd never know. And I can't see any scratches on it's bum, they must be minute.

All this cloud talk, plus aeroplanes. I was surprised to discover that some clouds are physically bumpy when 'planes hit them, nice soft cotton wool far below, then once you get near it's fasten seat belts time.

Farway look away now! I pulled up loads of LITM seeded and some still flowering and yanked up lots of self seeded Erigwhotsit.

Sighs and gently sobs ☹️

Taking advantage of the sun I have picked most of my tomatoes yesterday. I noticed some fruits had collapsed like a leaky balloon, presumably over ripe? Any way, collected al the red & not far off ripe ones and now safely indoors. One Paul Robeson had gone past it in parts, but I have managed to get a seed smear so set for 2027.

General tidying up and disposal of the old tom plants. I still have some left, Divinity being one. Plenty of fruit on it to come. I think Dusty mentioned last year the flavour was not up to much, having tried again this year I agree this year. Nice looking dark green, blight resist etc but flavour could be better.

Here are the large mystery toms, I thought they were going to be orange, but now red.

The label says Caniles, which if true is amazing because I grew using seed smeared from Asda tom. The taste was very good which is why I saved seed, despite being F1. Not tasted yet, hoping the taste carried across. The shape has not, the F1 is pear shaped. My one seems to have at least turned out to have inherited some good bits regarding size from it's parents

I will of course see what happens in 2027. It was near Paul Robeson, maybe a dusky one next year?

Large are the Caniles off spring, small are Bajaja

twopenny

Cloudy here, expected throughout the day but warm enough.

Yes more watering. Despite the rain bits it's dry as a bone and my hydrangeas have suffered terribly. So have the goosegogs. The cherry doesn't look happy at all.

I have to go out this morning but am thinking about a quick foray into the badger run which must be in a terrible state by now. See how the energy is holding up.

Farway I'd swap the LITM for decent tomato plants. Those look good. My best one seems to be the self sown, from a supermarket tomato via the compost heap but I guess they are bred for vigor. Still don't taste any better for being grown in soil.

Dusty I should mow the lawn too. Try and invigorate the green stuff.

I've just been listening to the cloud program again while sticking my fingers together with super glue and it says says why there's turbulence but it's so stuffed with facts I've forgotten 🙄 I'm going to have to listen in parts and see if the information stinks too

wort

It was a foggy start up here, quite the surprise! Couldn’t see past my garden , it’s burnt off and the sun is quite hot. I went to dd2s to do some gardening as soon as my washing was on the line. I’ve filled her green bin, the skim is and hypericum or half the size now. I got rather scratched up, but it was to warm to leave my fleece on .

Back home now and having lunch, dgson wanted a roast dinner for tea , and of course it’s not the weather for it now. So I shall peel the veg and get that ready then might do a tickle around in my garden .It’s green bin day tomorrow my bins almost full but has rotted down a bit, since I chopped the other day.

2p a cascading winter clematis sounds lovely, what colour is it? Like you I’ve lots of self seeded Erigeron, but as I love it I’m leaving them be.

Dusty I love the contrasting colours in the dahlia but not keen on the name. It sounds like an interesting day out, shame they let other people in.😂 We say the same at work .

Farway, maybe we should stick to Tom smears, mine have tasted fab, from the piccolino smears.

Less what a lovely memory, I have a bad memory,my sister remembers loads of stuff I have no recollection about.

twopenny

Wort, it's white and called Jingle Bells. Here's a little bit from last year but it's gone mad this year and survived no water. Leaves went brown but are sprouting new green ones.

It looks better as a cluster hanging over something which is what happened when I saw it on a neighbouring fence one January.

Brightened up. No gardening done. Other daily nonsense instead.

Dustyevsky

2p: Cloudy here, expected throughout the day but warm enough…..Dusty I should mow the lawn too. Try and invigorate the green stuff.

Turned out sunny here. 😁 No more 'invigorating' of the grass is required here. The field is already thickly covered again, and I can't keep up with what we call lawns! 😟 Had to do the grass verge along the road too, as it was making the place look scruffy. With 3 houses on the market, we mustn't let the side down! 😄

wort: Dusty I love the contrasting colours in the dahlia but not keen on the name. It sounds like an interesting day out, shame they let other people in.😂 We say the same at work .

I'll try to grow something like those dahlias next year. The seed comes with a nicer name:

https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/dahlia-black-forest-ruby-seeds/wkf8338TM

I only paid 99p for mine! 😉

Although the walled garden 'tour' was supposed to be 15 people at a time for Elfin Safety, there were about 40 in our group. All were extremely well-behaved, though, and there was no problem hearing the site manager.

Though very large, those are proper shaped tomatoes Farway. My 'Lulu's Best Ever' might be a tad larger, but they're odd-looking things! I'll get a photo. We agree here, 'Divinity' looks healthy, but the taste is unremarkable. 😞

If it's any consolation our 2925 LIAM produced about 3 babies, and the erigwotsits are still where we put them, and nowhere else….yet! 😆

I swear this is the last of the Lego photos.😏 It did look good, but it's here to share the fact that 1/2 a second after it was taken, the piece my pal's examining fell off! 😱 We managed to put it back OK 😇…and yes, it had been glued, several times by the look of it. 😎