Awful weather - typical Brits talk

YoungBlueEyes

Nah it’d probably be more accurate eh!

pink_poppy

I decided to go back to basics and asked my DH to buy some cress seeds... he came back with parsley seeds... egg and parsley sandwiches, anyone?? 🙄 I’m also going to try growing pea shoots from dried peas as that’s supposed to be easy peasy (pun intended 😉)

It’s looking like I have another two peppers popping up today. There’s a nasty niff when I lift the lid off my diy propagator though - I don’t know if it’s the furry compost or the little puddle of standing water in the dish 🤢

Two pics... one is a blanket of petals from the crab apple tree that looked like confetti on the grass. The other is a regular visitor to our garden 🐰

YoungBlueEyes

2 lovely pics pp, I bet the bunny keeps the dandelions at bay

The pea shoots thing is easy, even I've done it. Very forgiving too, I was forever forgetting to water mine but they recovered well when I remembered. 

The clouds did arrive yesterday, late afternoon, and my god did it rain. I put out what's left of my forest when it turned to drizzle and they loved it. Just need to catch The Oracle now so I can run them over to her but she's never in. Out all day yesterday, she came back about 6pm to change her shoes and straight out again! I hope I'm in such fine form when I'm 80  

I'm over the comedic properties now of squirrels and I want rid of them -they made short work of my squirrel-proof feeder. I got a couple of days out of it but now they've got it in bits. It's going back to the shop because it was bladdy dear

Humid and still and mild here.

Dustyevsky

Poppy, your regular visitor reminded me we have one of those too....and here he is:He's a particularly fine example of his kind; larger than any we've had in the past, and good at driving away the opposition.  No fights witnessed so far; other males just take off when he comes after them! This photo was taken a few weeks ago, as the grass is still short and there are few dandelion 'clocks' to be seen.

We had a mix of weather yesterday, beginning with rain, followed by bright sunshine around lunchtime. By then, I was 90 miles away in Somerset, poking around a nursery while Dear Wife was meeting with physios. It was very limited poking around, but definitely OK for tee shirt and daps. Back here by 18.00, we were into drizzle again, and according to the car, 8c. It felt colder, but my two planted-out courgettes looked OK.

Here's another photo of the flash flood on the stream that's normally a metre or so wide and jumpable in summer. Sadly, I only had my cheapo camera with me, so the blurriness is built-in.

YoungBlueEyes

Does "driving away the opposition" include pigeons and squirrels...? Give me a lend of him will ya

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

Your Judas tree is a belter Farway 😍

Aye, I'll second that.   We used to have one, but it was among the huge number of casualties we had in the winter of 2009/10 just after arriving here, when temps went down to -15c. Grew it from seed too!   We lost the Chaste Tree at the same time. That was the one monks used to use for a concoction to keep their minds pure. Hmmm, like the bromide in the hostel tea when I was a young man, I think that story might be apocryphal! There was certainly one growing in the courtyard where his and her Maj used to meet for secret trysts. Got a photo somewhere, but this will have to do for now:

https://www.countrylife.co.uk/property/bolehyde-manor-216551

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

Does "driving away the opposition" include pigeons and squirrels...? Give me a lend of him will ya

I would, but catching him might present a problem, especially now the grass is much longer. I hear him most days, but seeing him is  more challenging, and seeing his wives, well-nigh impossible!

YoungBlueEyes

Bolehyde Manor..... that is pure lovely eh. I especially like the library. And the dog bed! And the gardens. And the pools. And all the furniture and furnishings.  In fact just wait while I find my purse and I'll take it 

I know it's a bunch of money, but it doesn't seem that dear for what it is...?

YoungBlueEyes

Where I used to live I had a friend who lived in a big spot. He had a pair of visiting pheasants. The Mr would eat peanuts out of his hand but the Mrs never did. 

Edit - try feeding your one peanuts, and then get him in a box 

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

Bolehyde Manor..... that is pure lovely eh. I especially like the library. And the dog bed! And the gardens. And the pools. And all the furniture and furnishings.  In fact just wait while I find my purse and I'll take it 

I know it's a bunch of money, but it doesn't seem that dear for what it is...?

“A bit of TLC is required” probably understates a pretty serious need for overhaul in parts, though I never got to poke around properly inside, and it was a while ago now. The owners back then were very pleasant people who knew their plants, but that could be said of half the country houses in Wiltshire. We'd do plant fairs at places like that. Wiltshire doesn't have the best of winter climates, but those enclosed courtyards, with their honey-stoned sheltering walls, are ideal for tenderish plants, like salvias.