Awful weather - typical Brits talk

pink_poppy

That bit of garden looked lovely in early Spring, but it has got completely out of hand so the butchery continues... I have managed to save two daffodil bulbs and some aquilegia seed heads.

I also managed to salvage these alpine strawberries 🍓 

And DH relocated a couple of lizards 🦎 he spotted, thank goodness.

Forgot to say welcome to Ted 😊 good to see you and I’m glad to hear you’re on the mend, just don’t overdo it.

Anyone seen phoebe??

Beautiful rose photos, MF.

It’s worrying about the amount of pings people are getting, especially late ones. We had a spike of cases here, thankfully on the downturn now.

Last but not least, no sign of Kermit for a while, but the water lilies are doing great.

pink_poppy

Just one more thing (as Columbo would say... showing my age there 🙄) Is this friend or foe?? I do recognise it, but can’t think what it is??

twopenny

Just on the pinging front it was discussed today that it will record through house walls if your neighbour has symptoms etc whicch makes a nonsense. One couple on a boat got pinged. Hadnt been near anyone for days.
Very hot here.37c in the sun, 27c in the shade so no gardening for me. Usually there's queues at the recycling centre but nothing today. Shame because I have all those giant brambles to get rid of 2 large piles but even after a shower I'm gently glowing again.
Got divebomed by a seagull in my own garden. Got the water pistol out but they're not easily threatened. It's likely because the ants were flying yesterday. That's the time to get the ant traps out because they will be thinking of new nests.

Davesnave

pink_poppy said:

Just one more thing (as Columbo would say... showing my age there 🙄) Is this friend or foe?? I do recognise it, but can’t think what it is??

It's Helleborus argutifolius. Tough as old boots. As for Columbo, he was obviously before my time!

For those who think they had it tough today, I was trapped in Lidl's car park for over 2 hours in the full glare of the sun, having locked the keys in the back of the van. I'm not normally so daft and I checked the keys were in my pocket before slamming the door, but those were the car keys! A nice ex Royal Navy guy from the rescue service treated breaking into the van as a personal challenge and spent ages trying to pick the lock, but to no avail. He got into the front easily using air bags to bend the door and a long wire stuck through the gap, but the back, where the keys were, defeated him. Eventually, he said, "OK how would you do it?" and I suggested removing the front passenger seat and poking his wire through the bulkhead air vent. This was eventually achieved, with him guiding the wire using a remote camera thing through another hole, and me, outside the van over 6' away, twirling the wire under his instructions. It was a very long wire. Anyway it worked and I think he was almost as pleased as I was! "Never failed yet!" was his last comment before heading off. I can believe it too. 

DD2 has been pinged, but I was keeping out of circulation until today anyway, as she was here on Monday and had been to several dodgy places. Haven't heard any more. I should really have waited till tomorrow, but it's holiday season and Saturdays are bedlam at this time of year.

pink_poppy

Thanks Dave, I thought the leaves looked a bit holly like. It’s in an odd place so I’ll attempt to move it somewhere else. It’s a good job I was weeding that bit of garden or DH would have dug it up and chucked it!!

Sorry to hear about your keys drama, but good on the Samaritan for helping you out.

twopenny

Dave that sounds dreadful! But at least team work got the job done.

Not sure what to do about my apples. Any thoughts please?

 

The tree only has 4 branches and most of it's leaves are around the apples. Looks like a pom pom at the end of the branches despite pruning and only 5ft tall.

alt80

@Farway just had a look at that - can you start 17th July or later or is the point of it you have to observe from same spot for 15mins everyday starting 16th July? Appreciate you may not know the answer ha but thanks. 

Davesnave

No idea about apples twopenny. We have about 25 trees, so apart from a bit of hacking-about in the spring, they just have to get on with it!

Here's something else that has care in the spring and then just gets on with it. Hopefully, it will be cut today.....

The buttercups must still be in there somewhere, but it looks a lot better than I expected!

Farway

Sun's shining again, get out here & make hay Dave, rather you than me in this heat

alt80 said:

@Farway just had a look at that - can you start 17th July or later or is the point of it you have to observe from same spot for 15mins everyday starting 16th July? Appreciate you may not know the answer ha but thanks. 

I think any one day between those dates, but that's only from what I garnered from a newsletter. There's also an app for mobiles to do while walking, no doubt some magic algorithm sorts it all once the results country wide are in  https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org/

Plus is a long option on the web site for all year I think https://gardenbutterflysurvey.org/

HTH

With the hot forecast I was out watering & feeding the pots in the back earlier, then as it was still cool enough made a start on lopping the Judas tree, looking better & daylight now getting onto the blackberry, there's more to do but the bit I did manage has knackered me for a bit, so co -codamol & onto the computer

At the moment the branches are just stacked on the newly cut grass, once leaves have dried out a bit I'll cut up & get them into the garden waste wheelie bin

The yellow sticky traps I ordered arrived and are doing the job, they've caught a few white flies already

I'm a bit concerned yet again about my tomatoes. The Shirley ones are setting but the size so far is more cherry than Shirley, maybe they'll put a spurt on and TBH any tomato will be a bonus this year

And at long last my lilies are starting to open, just one so far but plenty of buds colouring up. Be photo time soon

Davesnave

Well it's all happening here! Our conservatory floor is being tiled as I speak; our guy having made a very early start because of the heat. The hay is also just about to be cut, so I'm off now, looking for any 'alien' objects that might have been placed within it. I hid a suitably smelly object on the assumed perpetrator's boundary yesterday, but sadly the wind is in the wrong direction for the next few days of barbecue weather , so I'll have to cut the comfrey hedge and stick it in the barrel up there for a more long term retaliatory pong!