Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Woolsery

I don't think we shall see much rain in the next week. So much dry weather means some of the least passable footpaths in this county will be easier under foot, but right now I'm unable to take advantage of that. Yesterday the river cam I linked to showed many youngsters having fun in the Exe, so at least some happy summer day memories are being created. We may need them soon.

While I'm not going far in this comment, it's fair to say the attempted reduction of food production, particularly in the Netherlands  Belgium and Germany, doesn't make sense or augur well.The technocrats are using curbs on nitrogen fertiliser as leverage and the farmers are responding with protests, but you'll not see much in the main media about it. There's a quiet rural war going while people's eyes are on Ukraine and Taiwan, so a gentle word to make sure your supplies are well up before winter. We have been building ours for 2 years.

There are rumblings from South West Water about a hosepipe ban 'soon' if more rain doesn't fall. The flowers are starting to flag here, but a few like these heleniums are still reasonably perky:

Sorry, not sure of the variety. A gift  from MiL's garden.

Farway

2P, very sorry to read about your drying out garden, with you having spent a lot of time & effort on it, vert disheartening. Ref the drinks bottles funnels & your lavender, I did see a tip about leaving the top on but making a small hole in the top, that way the water dribbles out and may just have a chance of soaking in

Woolsery, by coincidence I was just thinking about my apples & the need for rain to get them swelling, I've written off the Merton Thornless blackberry for this year, without rain they are just black pippy bullets which the birds may as well enjoy

Your mentioning food supplies, hearing on radio the farmers are also suffering with drought and reduced crops and same on the continent, plus ground too baked & dry to sow for next year. I think there may be tougher times ahead

Hot & dry forecast for next seven days, I was out earlier and watered the large volunteer pots, no hose ban here so far, but the cosmos is showing signs of stress despite the watering, just so hot & dry air

More toms are ripening, spotted a yellow cherry type, label lost, a bit of a weak spindly plant but the fruit looks OK which is the important part

Today's pic is the self seed white buddleia, it seems to have more of a horizontal growing habit, so I'll keep my eye on this one

twopenny

Self seeded....one plant thriving is a self seeded candy tuft! Stunning.
And a foxglove both in gravel.
Now what's that all about? 

Yes Farway, it would always be distressing but 3yrs of work making a garden from scratch during lock down and lack of supplies for it to bloom beautifully and then collapse in a few short months is depressing.

The lack of stock for freezer or consumption makes it ongoing. I've been to the moor for the few small whortleberries and a plethora of black berries out the back but they aren't great in isolation.

But we know things can change with a good downpour. No rain forecast for the foreseeable future though.

I never thought I'd say this, but I'd take your slugs if you toss them this way Apodemus.

Apodemus

twopenny said:

I never thought I'd say this, but I'd take your slugs if you toss them this way Apodemus.

Might be easier for you to send me your hedgehogs!  They used to be a frequent visitor to the garden but I've not seen one around here for years - the badgers have seen them all off!

twopenny

We have signs all around this area 'slow down hedgehogs in road'
You could drive down and kidnap a couple.

Apodemus

twopenny said:

We have signs all around this area 'slow down hedgehogs in road'
You could drive down and kidnap a couple.

Hmmm...pick-your-own hedgehogs...    Tempting, Twopenny, and I could deliver your load of slugs and snails (I'll hold back on the puppy-dog tails!).  But it looks like a 1,200 mile round trip, and at current diesel prices, they would be expenisve 'hogs! 

Besides, I suspect I would only be feeding the badgers a fresh supply of hedgehogs, so it might be simpler to find a way of encouraging the badgers to eat more snails directly, cutting out the middle-man!

Farway

Early start on feed & watering the pots in the back, get in before the sun gets too strong. Once the sun gets round there it should nicely warm up the now ripe and soft fig for me, so I'll scoff that once it's sun warmed

And more climbing beans are ready, both the purple French and white runners this time. That'll be more beans in a fortnight than in the past two years, wish I knew why, maybe it's a Brexit bonus?

Found the variety of my small yellow tom, Sungold, tried one yesterday that I managed to knock off the plant while doing "things" It was still yellow and a bit sharp, probably not really ripe because I see they should be orange colour when ripe. Not impressed with taste of the one I tried

Years since I've seen hedgehogs round here and this weather will not help any that are around

2P, now you mention candy tuft, great little plants, which reminds me to try some next year.

Woolsery

Just finished my watering and noted that the pressure is well down today, so SWW is tightening the screws. I don't blame them, though I suspect they waste a lot more than me!

At last, I've started to concrete-in the new foundations for the polytunnel. It's with some trepidation, because my SiL uses different methods of surveying from me and neither of us has a laser level. Still, if it's wrong and the thing won't fit together, I might have to buy a posh greenhouse instead.

Speaking of new greenhouses, a lady in the village had an old wooden thing decades old that sagged in the middle. She didn't hesitate when Eunice struck havoc with it, but got on to the claims department of her insurer straight away. They baulked at the cost of a wooden replacement, but persuaded her to 'reluctantly' accept a compromise....a brand new aluminium Rhino!

Keep an eye on that buddleia, Farway. If it doesn't go brown quickly as the flowers fade you will do even better than the woman with the damaged greenhouse! 

Paspatur

I love my Rhino greenhouse. It survived Arwen, Malik and Eunice in the NE of Scotland when trees were falling left, right and centre and one sadly killed a woman a 2 minute walk from my house.
White buddleia is the worst thing I ever planted, 3 days of white then yucky brown. I don't like killing plants but it had to go

Farway

Woolsery said:

Keep an eye on that buddleia, Farway. If it doesn't go brown quickly as the flowers fade you will do even better than the woman with the damaged greenhouse! 

My potential fortune has vanished, the white has gone brown, curses !!

A couple of gardening highs though, my ripe fig tasted superb yesterday, sun warmed and yummy. It's the first one off that 2019 @ £2.99 Lidl tree and there are some more ripening. The label says Carica which is common fig according to Professor Google, so guessing it is Brown Turkey. My other one is Brunswick which is nice but not as nice as BT, at least in my garden

The picking of my climbing beans gave me a good handful, enough for two meals anyway with more to come

Up and out early, continuing pruning my large apple tree, nearly done now but with new neighbours coming in I think I'll remove a bough come winter to stop any chance of it getting wayward over the wall

With new neighbour coming my departing neighbour has allowed me to take cuttings of her lovely old rose, unknown variety, so some in pots, some in water and fingers crossed

And finally, sampled a ripe Sungold tomato, unless I've got it wrong I think that's a no from me, much prefer my Balcony Yellow