Awful weather - typical Brits talk

-taff

Went to Jekka's herb farm today..what a glorious day, it was dull and grey here but by the time I got there, insane sunshine..I may have bought too many seeds but only four pants. A szechuan pepper, cypriot sage, hot and spicy oregano and corsican santolina...Seeds include caraway, sweet cicely, purple artichoke, and some other stuff that's hard to get hold of...I also had an expensive ice cream and cup of tea but totally worth it. There was a talk by a herbalist and by jekka herself. I thought it well worth the 5 quid entry price.

@YBE - open in a new tab for bigger pic, its the first row of stuff an row next to the radishes and lettuce. Yes, I have dismally failed to poke out the lettuce so far...Tomorrow seems like a good day to do it

Dustyevsky

-taff said:

Went to Jekka's herb farm today..what a glorious day,

A little known fact about Jekka is her being a member of the late 60s/ early 70s band Marsupilami. See if you can spot her...

She was called Jessica then. I'm not sure if she was also in the Taunton band Levitation that spawned Marsupilami...though 'spawn' isn't the right word for  marsupials. I'm not sure of much at all from that period, but I seem to remember seeing them and thinking they weren't very exciting. I suppose neither of us knew one day we'd find other things to do with herbs instead of smoking them!

OT. It's been far too hot to brush cut the hen orchard, but needs must when the dev Mrs Dusty drives. Just taking a breather.... We have new hens arriving soon, and ground to open up, and rest.

Incidentally, sow a few to prove me wrong, but  Sweet Cicely requires stratification. I always plant it ASAP, nothing happens and then, at the first hint of spring, they come up like weeds.

LessImpecunious

Dustyevsky said:

ArbitraryRandom said:

Farway, you've reminded me, I've got two mystery plants growing in the strip down the side of the front path. Any help with an ID?

The first I thought was a lavender, but it's now nearly 3ft tall and no scent to the leaves when crushed so no idea. Only the one stem.

Your first one is Linaria purpurea or Purple Toadflax. The pink, more desired version has a varietal name of 'Canon Went.' It seeds pretty true if the purple one isn't around. I have it and whip out any purple ones I see.

The second plant does look like a Bee Orchid. Bee nice if it is!

I know you're usually right on plant matters Dusty (if not everything else ), but is it possible the purple one is a Salvia - something like Amistad - rather than a toadflax? - looking at the calyces?

ArbitraryRandom

I think it looks more like the toadflax in that the leaves are the same kind of needles as lavender leaves. 

But looking at pictures online, what I've got has much more of a blue hue to the leaves/stem than I can see. I don't know if that's an environmental or age thing? 

Dustyevsky

ArbitraryRandom said:

I think it looks more like the toadflax in that the leaves are the same kind of needles as lavender leaves. 

But looking at pictures online, what I've got has much more of a blue hue to the leaves/stem than I can see. I don't know if that's an environmental or age thing? 

Yes, couldn't see much of the leaves, but being needle-like, it isn't a Salvia. I agree about the colour, but that may be a flexible thing in the age of digital photography! If it is the shade I'm seeing (and how do we know exactly what others see?) it's worth keeping and picturing some more.

The bog-standard purple toadflax  is a nice enough plant too, I only remove it to keep my pink ones. We also have the Common Toadflax, Linaria vulgaris in the hedgerows here.

YoungBlueEyes

Arb I don't know if mine are climbers or bush. Either the label didn't say, it did say and I've forgot. Might be climbers cos they're quite tall. Your grandad's idea sounds good though (except the cat bit).

That sounds like a good day out taff. Jeez you've a spicy palate! I don't know about your pic, I only asked for one so a smart person could identify... but yeah get those lettuces picked out. Does all look healthy though  

Sun's out here and it's cool and lovely. Still got the breeze but that's a good thing cos otherwise I'd be melted.

Question - does anyone have/what do people think of B+Q garden furniture? I saw an ad last night they've 20% off but if it's dross it's not worth it. What would you recommend?

LessImpecunious

ArbitraryRandom said:

I think it looks more like the toadflax in that the leaves are the same kind of needles as lavender leaves. 

But looking at pictures online, what I've got has much more of a blue hue to the leaves/stem than I can see. I don't know if that's an environmental or age thing? 

  I can't see any leaves...even right-clicking and enlarging image ... puzzled emoji (which we don't seem to have!). But having zoomed in and looked closer I agree - the calyces are actually more toadflax-like than on first glance, and there's a spur...embarrassed emoji (we don't have that either...)

Dustyevsky

No idea about garden furniture Blue Eyes; we never sit down outdoors and we don't even have a patio! Maybe one day....

Never mind, here's a courgette, possibly ready for the barbecue tonight. We have two of those. Priorities, see?

Internet's crawling, so may as well write some more while picture loads.....received a conciliatory email from planning enforcement yesterday,  admitting they didn't investigate thoroughly before accusing us of doing nothing agricultural here. (I offered them animal movement and hay crop records.)  I have a feeling they relied on hearsay evidence from our complainant neighbour, who knows perfectly well what we do. Anyway, the way's open for us to continue with our plans, so long as we jump through a few hoops and no doubt hand over some shekels. 'Tis the way of the world.

EDIT: I see from yesterday's post, done in the heat of partial exhaustion, I may have accidentally implied Jekka, of herbal fame, used to smoke. I want to make it clear that I don't know if she did or didn't, or indeed what substances might, or might not, have been involved. That's my rear end covered. I know Jekka can be quite stern. She once told me off for rubbing her oregano at Malvern....but we won't go there!

YoungBlueEyes

Yep Priorities and Principles, them's Important  

Dunno what to do about garden furniture.... it'd be a shame to miss out on 20% off if it's alright quality, but himself is on facefook etc and there's sometimes good stuff on there for similar prices but much better quality... (there was a beautiful but-a-bit-tatty solid teak set a while ago - 2 sunloungers, table and 6 chairs, wanted titivating. It was only £200 but you'd need to hire a van to drive the hundreds of miles and get it )

Also dunno what's going on with the emojis. I still do some manually - a smile is : ) but some of them don't work now. : D used to be a laughing face, now it's And some don't work at all, like - :cheeky: :rolleyes: Plus I don't know where people get the wee black ones from that you see on here sometimes, like a thumbs up

#FirstWorldProblems

YoungBlueEyes

Anyway, seems like you're good to get cracked on Dusty, or can start to prepare to get cracked on :party: :applause: :winner:  Start gathering them shekels ha haa!