Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Woolsery

Farway said:

Nice early bird pic there Woolsery, my cultivated primroses at the front have a few flowers on but looking very battered and weather-worn, they are really this year's crop not fresh flowered ones..

Ah, we have those and their flaccid state indicates they're suffering weevil damage already, so it's touch & go, but I'll save the shrubs they're in pots with..... And I'd do it now, but it's raining again!!!

No sign of Tractor Man. Apparently, digger was used at night and I missed it  , but I was correct about where and why.

Farway

My online visit to T & M for tinged Friday deals worked out, sort of.

My original intent was some named dahlias, duly chosen, but when I added in some Amaryllis the dahlias shot up to normal price and I failed to find a way to get both items on the BF offer, must've been one of them thar algorithms stopping me

In the end, I decided Amaryllis delivered before Christmas is worth more than Dahlias maybe delivered next Spring

I also ordered some on offer hyacinths, which I think will make a nice show out the front, or maybe I'll pop them near the entrance of volunteer place, depends on size of bulbs really, I tried to get another pack but only allowed one on offer, fairy nuff I guess

If the Amaryllis arrive in time, some are destined for Christmas presents

Vine weevils, little bu66ers are in one of my indoor cactus pots, found a plant rootless this morning. If it ever stops raining, I'll empty the pot outside over the wall onto the council reservation roadside verge & let the bugs there deal with it

Woolsery

After a very grey start, it turned into quite a passable day. Very little gardening done, but moved more plants under cover in anticipation of some potentially chilly nights in the week ahead.

DB made it as far as the chickens this afternoon and seemed to think my care regime had been adequate in her absence. Personally, I believe their upbringing has given them too large a sense of freedom and entitlement. Put it another way, they're the only chickens I know which need a light in order to roost reliably. Three stay out far too late, return disorientated, and then don't make it onto the perches. If we didn't have the light, these self-centred examples of Generation Egg would just creep into a corner and give up!

YoungBlueEyes

Generation Egg 😁

I’ve started reading this thread from the beginning, I’m not very far in. But it’s funny how things don’t change - November is warm, bulbs are coming up, then too much rain to be out, T+M being unreliable, takes of the polytunnel…..
I’ve just seen the post of the pic of the ‘haemorrhoid’ that is now you profile Farway, I’ve often wondered what it is 🤔😁

Farway

Woolsery said:

After a very grey start, it turned into quite a passable day. Very little gardening done, but moved more plants under cover in anticipation of some potentially chilly nights in the week ahead.

DB made it as far as the chickens this afternoon and seemed to think my care regime had been adequate in her absence. Personally, I believe their upbringing has given them too large a sense of freedom and entitlement. Put it another way, they're the only chickens I know which need a light in order to roost reliably. Three stay out far too late, return disorientated, and then don't make it onto the perches. If we didn't have the light, these self-centred examples of Generation Egg would just creep into a corner and give up!

I think we've all been there in our younger days, and if lucky older days as well And nice to hear DB is getting around a bit more

YoungBlueEyes said:

Generation Egg 😁

I’ve started reading this thread from the beginning, I’m not very far in. But it’s funny how things don’t change - November is warm, bulbs are coming up, then too much rain to be out, T+M being unreliable, takes of the polytunnel…..
I’ve just seen the post of the pic of the ‘haemorrhoid’ that is now you profile Farway, I’ve often wondered what it is 🤔😁

It's a Shaggy ink cap, it was growing in the grass at my volunteer place, so I snapped it. I later found out it's name & also edible

The morning started dull & damp, but it's brightening up now but far too soggy to do anything outside except look

Woolsery

Farway said:

...nice to hear DB is getting around a bit more

Thanks. Yes, it's tough enough waiting a long time for an op without suddenly losing independence. She'll battle through it as usual, but it's a rubbish 'reward' for losing a lot of weight and maintaining an exercise regime while the NHS Wheel of (mis)Fortune spins. 

Didn't do much outdoors today, although I tried. The promised sunny spells were mixed too strongly with wet intervals, damp interludes and dropping temperatures. Nothing seems to stop the 'lawns' growing, though! Oh for some of those Ouessant sheep!

Next year....maybe.

twopenny

It's wet and cold here - still so no gardening. 
My bird table is rotting and trying to decide should I try and mend bits or just buy new. Think trying to mend will be a thankless task tbh. 

Farway, use Vaseline on the stems of dahlias about 2" down from the flower. It stops earwigs. An old trick from GW in the dark ages.

Woolsery

YoungBlueEyes said:

I’ve started reading this thread from the beginning...

There's a beginning? I thought this thread was like Coronation Street or Genesis. Y'know, always there, with its origins lost in the mists of time. So, was there a Big Bang? Careful how you answer that!

I believe there are folk tales in Somerset about a Black Cat.......???

Not quite lost in the mist is a connection which goes right back to the days of that photo I put up last week; namely, occasional correspondence with a well-behaved young lady forced to sit beside me in Year 6. Her name's Ann, and she was the good influence the Head thought I needed in that final year at Junior School.

 Ann's lived in British Columbia for decades now. She hikes, rides mountain bikes, skis, canoes and still looks about 50, so the psychological trauma of coping with me did no lasting damage. She's recently sent over a photo of a gardening problem I'll share with you:

This is Ann's side slope beside the house, and it looks pretty steep. She's obviously gone for a bit of everything, but feels that’s not working so well, especially with summer droughts and winters down to -12c. Soil's about 12cm deep over rock and probably acidic.

The iris, hydrangea, hostas and anything taller are to be removed and Ann just wants reliable, easy maintenance ground cover. The geraniums are a given, so I'm suggesting, Stachys byzantina, and Ajuga 'Catlin's Giant' for contrast, but what other dense plants might she use? I guess a few prostrate Junipers might work, but they might take over too! Any thoughts?

Black_Cat2

Woolsery said:

YoungBlueEyes said:

I’ve started reading this thread from the beginning...

I believe there are folk tales in Somerset about a Black Cat.......???

It's all a vicious rumour... 😹 x

YoungBlueEyes

There is a beginning, of the bangless variety! Seems to be a lovely circular motion to this thread, your sheeps made an appearance very early doors woolsery. Your grass was in better shape then though  
I was going to give you a full run down of what to do with the slopey bit of BC but it's too easy so I'll let others pick it up ha haa!  
I'm amazed when people keep in touch from such a young age. I can barely remember anyone from my junior school. Actually the only one I do remember is a lad called Owen McGuinness who was forever telling me he was the heir to the Guinness empire and I should marry him while I had the chance! When was the Zebrugge disaster.... that was a couple of days after we came to England. Teacher made the whole class write to me so I got a big parcel full of letters all saying "wasn't it terrible about that ship going down, and were you on it?"
I'd forgotten about that. I wonder if I still have them.....

Weather wise - it's dreich here today, and it was yesterday too, and will be 'til the weekend they reckon