Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

Another who's got something going on this afternoon and I can't have soil under my fingernails.

Dull cloudy and damp out there so just making plans.

My purple sprouting seems to be doing too well. Like a lot of plants fragile in the heat but making the most of the 'warm' damp autumn and heading to grow as much as possible. The dwarf kale not so much.

I find the white fly and caterpillars disappear in winter and the latter can give you a late surprise if you pick in the dark.

Potatoes are struggling but no surprise as they must have shrunk in the drought but they are trying their best.

Forecast says a couple of sunny days to come so I'm hanging on that.

Dustyevsky

That wheelbarrow at the station is super-attractive, 2p, but did someone really grow those grapes? 😏 All the produce looks very 'professional.' We did get ripe grapes here eventually, but they're not Lakemont, and very pippy. The hens are loving them! 🙄 No squash or pumpkins grown this year, due to lack of space in the veggie plot, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to buy a few from the farm shop.

Like Less, we have 'born again' courgettes, with the oldies still producing. The young whippersnappers are definitely Gen Z, so aren't doing as well as we'd hoped! ☹️ The walnuts are all picked. The final score was something like: squirrels 3 - humans 7. We can live with that.

Farway: Better luck on next seedling Dusty

I try to let self-seeded things show off their merits, or otherwise, realising most of the time they won't be special. The only dahlia 'bred' last year with a distinctive and useful trait was the one which didn't survive winter, despite being protected. 'Tis often the way….😕

Yesterday was 'dodge the showers,' but in the afternoon it cheered up a little. I popped down to the dry stream bed to begin cutting back the overgrown hazel. Larger trunks may be chainsawed later, but anything I can do with loppers before the water returns is a bonus.😉 The other reason for beginning early was to see what happens next. Mr New and his partner think they own the trees at the top of the stream bank, but title plans don't support that, so a 'discussion' may be needed. 😬We didn't have it last year, because Mr Canute was arguing with them over the same thing, and we didn't want to be associated with him! 😄

Funnily enough, I was up with the lark today, thinking I had a patient to take to the Health Centre. It turned out to be next Monday. 😖

Farway: should there be a God, the thieves died a horrible pox ridden death and are being force fed puke inducing pumpkin soup up the "wrong end" by Beelzebub. 🤮

I loved that rant! 😂 Think positively though, maybe if there is a God, they mended their ways. Seared into my brain is an image of three youngsters scaling a chain-link fence, escaping from a Colonel Blimp type character whose plums we'd tried to nick. Two of us made it, but the third had winkle-pickers that lodged in the fence, so the Colonel landed several good blows with his stick before 3 made it over. 🤣

Roll on 40 years, and 3 became the town's Mayor, responsible for many good works. 😇

And speaking of self-seeding, here is a wild snapdragon that's grown itself on a piece of disturbed ground

They can be thugs, but we have plenty of locations for those, so I'll be collecting seed! 😉

LessImpecunious

2P Love the walnut ripening Less 😋 You don't often get to see that.

Farway Well done Less on your ripe nuts. 😁

Well, it was only one nut … but I was impressed with the quality of the actual nut inside - fresh, with no hint of bitterness as you sometimes get with walnuts…fingers crossed for more next year!

Bad news (or perhaps mixed, having read 2P's post as well) re. the Whitefly, but I don't think I have a massive infestation - just the odd ones dotted about on leaves in most cases, so hoping they will wash off…after all we have the extra wet Welsh rain here 😁

twopenny

Grey cloud so the street lights were still on at 7.30! But happily mild.

Odd how it can be the same temperature on two days yet one feels cold and the other doesn't. I wonder if plants find the same?

It's been heavyish rain too but the sky seems to be clearing as promised. Too wet to garden in any way so a swim, sorting photos and maybe go and have a peek at the deer. It's rutting season and we didn't get to see it last year because the NT cull had them all in hiding. My favourite stag, my he's a beauty, is still here 😀

If it stays dry all day I may get to mow the lawn. It's a novelty this year.

Less English walnuts and sweet and fresh and they have some goodness in them that don't come from the imported ones. Can't remember what it is. Must look it up tonight.

Dusty, love the wild Snapdragon. I've never heard of such a thing.

Hope the driving went well Farway and everyone that needs to be has been painlessly jabbed.

Dustyevsky

A particularly wet and dark morning today, but we're promised sunshine and 17c later, along with no reduction of VAT on heating oil, possible breaches in our cyber defences, and a storm-ridden autumn.😢

My latest cyber experience with AI was interesting. We discussed a potential 'new' car for Mrs Dusty, and the conversation ran to 20 pages of PDF.😲 It produced a shortlist almost identical to the 6 or 7 vehicles jotted down in my notebook, and all about as rare as an NHS dentist. 🙄 People who own good cars are hanging onto them. Who knew? 😮

I've mentioned whitefly before, 'cos there are millions in the polytunnel, blasted daily with the hose, in the belief it must do some good. To be fair, apart from going up one's nose occasionally, the main problem is sooty mould on the tomatoes, but that's easily washed off. Once we have a frost, the polytunnel flies will die off, and those on the elm hedge will blow away with the leaves. Outdoors, it's late caterpillars causing the most problems.

Despite muggy, dry weather, I didn't get much done yesterday. 😔 Finished off the pallet compost bin and pirked out more oriental salad greens for the troughs under cover. The deep bed made almost 2 years ago incorporating dead branches Hugelcultur-style, now needs about 6 cm of top-up. I'd guess a good amount of that is due to the wood rotting-down. In the other beds, cardboard has gone in the bottom. They all seem equally productive.

The wild snapdragons should live near you, 2p. I can recall seeing them in coastal hedgerows around Hartland, and they're so widespread they've a huge number of local names:

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/10295/linaria-vulgaris/details

Totally unrelated to present conversations, but still relevant to autumn gardens, salvias will keep making an impact till the frost arrives.IMO this was the best one I saw this year:

Goes under the clumsy name "So Cool Pale Blue." 🙃

twopenny

Ah Toadflax 🙂 yes there's bundles of it at the roadside at the moment.

More light now the hedge cutting has been done and the rain. Campion is blooming too. I wonder what next?

Farway

A particularly wet and dark morning today, but we're promised sunshine and 17c later, along with no reduction of VAT on heating oil, possible breaches in our cyber defences, and a storm-ridden autumn.😢

Ditto here, except the sun arrives a bit later. So dark I slept in and never woke up which is unusual. I may be having post jab flu side effects, achey sinuses, sneezing and a bit more lethargic than normal

2P Hope the driving went well Farway and everyone that needs to be has been painlessly jabbed

Driving OK, jab was painless for me, but yesterday's patient said it hurt, I think she has such scrawny arms the needle went right though 😂

There are the wild snapdragons round here, pop up from crevices, like Ergy whatsits fail to.

Seeing the Dusty Salvia pic, I tried to get a pic of my flowering cutting yesterday, but rain etc stopped play. It's blue type, from a bit that fell off next door's as I looked at it. If rain ever eases I'll try again

Still being spied on, after mentioning Jerusalem artichokes on here a video on Sun-chokes [the US name] popped up on my YT feed, totally random you understand. I may not be around later, I want to look into Glide Bombs which may trigger gawd knows what alarms.

Burying wood at the bottom of beds, somewhere recently i seem to recall it has now become Bad Idea. Never followed up because I never started. Update, just asked AI, it's OK, but over hyped and as you found out, beds need topping up later. Sinking beds are also the give away for buried bodies as any who dunnit will testify 😮

No gardening today, too wet, will try for Salvia pic and then wait for knock on door from the Bomb Squad and Frank Drebbin now I've also mentioned buried bodies