Awful weather - typical Brits talk

YoungBlueEyes

Reducing Leylandii and rotovating I meant...

Willow Man! Holy jesus 

Farway

After all my expectations yesterday's M27 traffic was steady without delays, so a pleasant afternoon in sunshine, and the Cloth of Gold duly planted & watered in, along with a couple of my self seeded trailing nasturtiums. The patch of soil DS has is really poor, dry & dusty. A few more climate changes and would be ideal for prickly pears

Expecting more heat today, but the only gardening is likely to be to plant the orphan sweet red toms into front pots once the sun moves round a bit to warm these old bones

Managed to drop a full small watering can onto the conservatory floor this morning , I'll call it "dampening the floor" to maintain humidity. Luckily, it missed the electrical sockets

Exciting times with roses, mine seem way behind now, I spotted plenty of open blooms on yesterday's journey, but just buds for me so far

Good luck with the wisteria & honey suckle cuttings Blue.

My dahlia cuttings, that I neglected, dried out and wilted & I thought had passed over? Trumpets please, Ta Ra, 2/3 have survived and despite a few crisp edges are now greening & growing. The parent plant is doing well and has a bud forming, all destined for the front in pots

Dahlia cuttings, survived despite the odds, empty space at front is in memory of the fallen one

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

Reducing Leylandii and rotovating I meant...

Willow Man! Holy jesus 

That wasn't me, but I was busy keeping an eye on it all! Leylandii was a pro job needing a cherry picker. Willow man is worse than pictured, but Camel has been refurbished.   I miss Dinosaur, which used to move around a bit, even onto the other side, if I remember correctly. Kept the kids amused. Probably cause a few accidents too! 

ArbitraryRandom

YoungBlueEyes said:

The honeysuckle, rasps, and seed trays. 

If you were to pinch off the flowers, do you think that would give it more of a chance to root? I know that can help with basil cuttings in water. 

pink_poppy

My fingernails are no longer clean - I’ve been shovelling soil and weeding all morning and afternoon - I’m pooped now.

 I was being harassed by a new Mrs Blackbird - never seen her before but she was following me around until I went inside to get her some dried fruit...



I also spotted this tiny butterfly on a daisy - anyone know what it is?? I’ve never seen one before (probably because they’re so tiny!!)...



Beautiful sunny day here 😎

YoungBlueEyes

Ah you’re overseeing Dusty, I read it like you were working hard ha haa! 

Not a clue about your wee butterfly pp, maybe it’s just a baby butterfly rather than a small one itms? I had quite tame blackies in my last garden. Mrs would squawk at me and wait while I snipped up raisins into bits to leave in a pile for her. If she’s feeding babbies then a whole one would be too big  

That makes sense Arb, nipping the flowers off will give it less to think about so it can concentrate on producing roots  

And Parp prp prp prp Parp Parp Parp paarrpp for your dahlias Farway! 2 outta 3 ain’t bad eh. 

No sun here, I’ve even shut a couple of the downstairs windows it’s that cool! 

RAS

pink_poppy said:

I also spotted this tiny butterfly on a daisy - anyone know what it is?? I’ve never seen one before (probably because they’re so tiny!!)...



Beautiful sunny day here 😎

Small copper?

Having been renewing my acquaintance with butterflies I used to know when I was with ex. Round here it's mainly tortoiseshell and Peacock with small whites and meadow browns, and some early orange-tips.

Seen three other varieties recently. Try the butterfly-conservation.org site. 

ArbitraryRandom

I haven't seen many butterflies at all yet this year, and not many bees or other pollinators either. hopefully it's just my bare garden they're not that interested in and the odd bits I'm planting up will start to attract them back. 

Speaking of which, I also have dirty hands. I finally got around to planting out the various bits of plants. Not forever homes, but good for now while I'm still deciding/working on the harder landscaping. 

Not as pretty a picture as others, but: 12 strawberry plants - not sure what varieties (I think one is alpine as it has some tiny fruits already) but I think three types given the different speed of growth; 4 very leggy mint plugs (that I'm bringing in at night for now and will thin when they're a bit sturdier), and some nasturtium seeds (6 in each 'lobe' of the tub). I'll wait until it cools in a few hours then give everything a good soak. 

LessImpecunious

Yes to Small Copper

YoungBlueEyes

Small Copper - don't think I've seen one of those, it's very pretty though eh. I've seen the pale limey greeny ones, orange-tips, and the pale lilacy ones. Not many of any of them like, just the odd fluttery singles.

I've only buds on my roses too Farway, but I'm Oop Norf so I'm not expecting much yet. HS neighbour's neighbour (The Oracle says she really lovely but I've hardly seen her yet cos she's a nurse), she bought a double slice of the old allotment so her garden meets mine after the wisteria. I'll take a pic cos it's hard to explain. Anyway her garden has gone mental these last few days, and I'm wondering now if all the roots and bits I was pulling up would've been lovely flowers (she has poppies and big daisies and white alliums all down the fence. She has gorgeous fragrant roses rambling all over the brick outhouse... Might have been a bit keen to my own detriment there

Lovely and cool and cloudy here now, not warming up too much today either, they say. You southerners have sunshine and heat coming, said him on CountryFile. Cool, cloudy and breezy up this side. Long may it last!