Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Dustyevsky

Had to get up at silly-o-clock, as Mrs Dusty is having her knee op today.... 80 miles away. Fortunately, I was able to get her a lift with someone going that way, and at 05.00 too! Having arrived on schedule @ 07.00, she's now waiting for a few hours, or maybe a bit longer.

Tempted to go back to bed as it's dull, cold, and looks like it may rain. I've another monster bonfire to do, but the wind is wrong until Sunday. Maybe I'll pot-on more tomatoes in the conservatory.

We saw an unusual bird (for here) on the feeders yesterday. I'll put up a picture and leave you to do the ID.

pink_poppy

Good luck to Mrs Dusty - hope the op does what it’s supposed to do.
Is that bird a female blackcap??

YoungBlueEyes

I've just done some cheating DuckDucking, and my guess is a common redpoll? 

Good luck to Mrs Dusty, hope it all goes well   

pink_poppy

Ooh, I’ve missed chatting about gardening and the weather 😁 talking of which, the sun has got his hat on today 😎 forecast for a couple more days too.
It’s gorse central at the moment here in Argyll - absolutely stunning. I’ll attempt to post a pic I took last night.
In gardening news I’m attempting to grow ONE tomato plant, donated by my DD. I did go to Home Bargains for some of Farway’s compost but at the time the brand hadn’t been mentioned and when I got there they had three different types 😳 I came away empty handed and when I went back on Sunday they had none of any brand left 😕

pink_poppy

Gorse, with the beginnings of a beautiful sunset...

YoungBlueEyes

Wow what a pic! 

Dustyevsky

pink_poppy said:

It’s gorse central at the moment here in Argyll - absolutely stunning. I’ll attempt to post a pic I took last night.

Hello poppy, what an amazing view you have! We have one mature gorse in the hedgerow here, heavily pruned by the tractor flail each year, so I thought it would be good to have another one or two in the wild bit. When they arrived, I found there were three plants in each 9cm pot, so now I have six to find homes for. People shy away from them, but ours hasn't self-seeded They say when the gorse is out of bloom, kissing's out of fashion, but I wouldn't know about stuff like that!

The mystery bird probably isn't quite what you say, Blue Eyes, because that one doesn't usually come far west, but that was a good bit of Ducking and Diving. It's probably the Lesser Redpoll; still rare here, as there's a big blank bit over us on the distribution map.

Spitting here. I think I might look for some more interesting or unusual plants to grow from seed. My Ricinus haven't come up, so I can't poison the neighbours, and some choice thalictrums I was whooping about on here a few weeks back are looking suspiciously un-thalictrum like! 

pink_poppy

Not my view, dusty, we had to drive a few miles. It’s actually very close to where we saw the impressive Sand Martin hotel a couple of years ago - I must go back there in a few weeks to see if it’s recovered from last year’s flattening.
YBE, it’s very hard to take a bad pic here 😊 Having said that my pic does look a bit cockeyed because I was bobbing down to take it.
Excited to report another leaf coming on my solitary tomato plant this morning. That’s the fourth true leaf. I’ve bought a litre bottle of Tomorite in anticipation of hunners of juicy cherry tomatoes 😂

Farway

What a lovely pic and view PP, best of luck on HB Grow More compost next time you're there

Dusty, I'm not growing Ricinus this year, despite saving some seeds, I just won't have space now I've got latent Canna fever. Give me a nod if you want some Ricinus seeds, I've plenty to spare. They do make striking plants, but I'm hoping my Cannas will also be eye-catchers

In my ideal world I would have a wide border with Cannas, dotted spot plants Ricinus backed with Achillea Cloth of Gold and maybe a Black Lace elder somewhere

Back to earth, I potted on some of my Achillea forest yesterday, eighteen of them for a start. The remaining large wood I'll split into clumps and pot up, so they can fight it out, Darwin style

And my Burpless cucumbers have geminated, I'm hoping to do better this year, last year was a complete dud, my crop was just one not quite gherkin sized banana shaped prickly misfit , probably would've won the Ugliest vegetable competition

Just waiting to see if my Runners are going to germinate or rot, it's just over a week on the window sill, so jury is out on the result

Started sunny, but dull now and the East wind is blowing, very cold out there without much sign of my cherry blossom.

Rhubarb is up, but nothing like crumble sized yet

PS, best wishes for Mrs Dusty knee

twopenny

Yup, dim, dull, cloudy and an easterly wind

I'm beginning to think that this is what it will be like all year. Temps just climbed into double figure at 11am.

Yesterday I managed to get out and cut back the ivy tree and the self planted bay in the badger run. Hopefully birds and bats can wait for it to grow again. But I forgot one of the elder trees, need to prune its branches again to screen me from the windows of an attic conversion.

No room on the window sill because of budding orchids and the airing cupboard is cold. My tomatoes need a boost to germinate but I can't blame them for staying low with this eternal weather.

The dwarf cherry is ablaze with bloom, far too much. Still no insects to polinate in these high winds