Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Farway

I posted this earlier, but it vanished once I pressed POST.

My grapefruit has flowered , the second time in over thirty years, hardly prolific is it?

It was grown from a pip by my son when he was at university, about the only time he showed any interest in gardening, and then I suspect it was showing off demonstrating his skills to his then girlfriend

I'll try & pollinate using a brush, but it never worked last time, maybe not self fertile?

YoungBlueEyes

Ooh a grapefruit! I think of those as being more from sunnier climes… maybe it’s a sign that this is gonna be another hellish hot summer? Please god no  

My weather book was quite a good read, but it was his life story rather than a How To for weather enthusiasts. Apparently he’s already done a few weather books. The downside of charity shops I guess. 

I’m gonna put some bacon rind in a trap, see what transpires. 

Dustyevsky

Eenymeeny said:

Sorry to hear that 'Planning' is still being a problem Dusty. Have anyone noticed how many 'buildings' have appeared during the recent 'troubles' which I suspect didn't receive any type of permission? I don't suppose there'll be any scrutinising of them.
PS Like the Alchemilla, I didn't know that there were two types, very nice.

The irony, Eeny, is that the person who called-in the planners, had an addition to her stables built a few years ago without the necessary permissions, and astride the local water main too. (Detail now redacted)

The council's reply yesterday wasn't even signed, but in essence it said, "Pay us around £400 and we will talk to you, though visiting you will cost more."  As a 'farmer,' like Mr Clarkson, I have a free option, which I'll exhaust first, but it struck me how different everything is now, and not in a good way.

Alchemilla come in a range of species, including some alpine ones, only a few inches high. We have this one, which is very neat and undemanding:

https://www.highcountrygardens.com/perennial-plants/unique-plants/alpine-ladys-mantle-alchemilla

OT: It seems to be hot again. Yesterday, we visited that lovely county next door on the right, and the thermometer on the car registered 29c for a while. There might be rain for the Westcountry at the weekend, but not a lot.

YoungBlueEyes

You've got to be a friend to get a friend. She deserves to be humping water up the hill ha haa!

I don't know how farmers do it now, I really don't. On another forum I'm on there's a farmer, and some of the things he says are just mental. Makes me think ' well when did that come in/how can they think that's reasonable/why aren't you all rioting?! Good luck to ya Dusty. 

29' my god. Not got that high here yet, 25' I think yesterday and a smidge cooler today. Still too much for me even with the breeze   

Eenymeeny

'People in officialdom' have taken a lot on to themselves recently. I'm hoping for a day of reckoning, as soon as possible. Farmers particularly are being treated really badly and they are our food supply
I like alchemilla although I've just got the common mollis type. People warn that they spread but I'm pretty swift in removing the blooms as soon as they turn brown It covers my messy spring bulb foliage beautifully

twopenny

It was 24c here last night at 11pm.
Cool breeze this morning running through the house but I have to lock it up till lunch so going to be horrible when I get back.
Garden sitting doing nothing much. Stuff not growing. I'm not watering because I wouldn't know where to start. Will check the pots tonight.

Tried to net the raspberries but there's too many canes. Some serious thinning to be done.
I was thinking the netted cake cover thingies would do on the strawberries but the plants are so shrivelled with the constant drought I'm not expecting much. What a difference from last year.

Glamorous stuff Farway. Grapefruit for breakfast?
Not so glamorous Blue and Dusty.

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

I don't know how farmers do it now, I really don't. On another forum I'm on there's a farmer, and some of the things he says are just mental. Makes me think ' well when did that come in/how can they think that's reasonable/why aren't you all rioting?!

Farmers have been rioting, especially in the Netherlands, where 3000 farms are being decommissioned and the farmers paid-off. They're on land eminently suitable for a mega-city. Those involved aren't allowed to start another farm elsewhere, either.

This is being done in the name of reducing emissions that are said to be fuelling climate change.

Of course, the question of what food people will eat in the future is an important one, and if you go into it, you'll see there are various suggestions, including synthetic meat, as recommended by Bill Gates. The fact that Mr Gates has recently become the largest individual landowner in the US rather puzzles me in that context, but I probably shouldn't worry about such apparent paradoxes. Mr Gates' track record as a philand philanthropist is well documented.

Round here, we are still pretty well embedded in dairy and sheep, with a bit of forestry in the steep and less productive places. We also have areas of arable on the best land. This gives the landscape its character and diversity, so one wonders what it will look like when fake beef and milk take over.

Farway

More sun, but I see the longer term is possible rain for Monday, no prizes for guessing who is supposed to be going to Wisley on Monday ?

Waiting for the Asda van before I crack on with anything, more watering later, and dead head some wizened roses

My yellow beans are rocketing away, only sown end of last week, I will try for a photo while they still look a bit creepy with seed pods hanging off the stalk

Shame your garden is so dry 2P, like you say, hard to know where to start. I tried to learn from last year, which is why I'm concentrating on watering the blackberries and pots this year, but I do use a hose except for the few pots at the front. I couldn't lug watering cans up the garden

Dustyevsky

twopenny said:
Not so glamorous Blue and Dusty.

I have cheerful, though. Here's a hedgehog I helped across the road yesterday....

It was towards evening, but the location was a particularly dark wood, so I wasn't surprised to see a hedge pig about before dark.

There's precious little dark around, currently. Mid-summer in a week!

YoungBlueEyes

2p I'd start with whichever plants need water the most. Fruits etc? Anything you might lose for the lack of a watering...?

Given how often the drunkards say it's going to rain and it bladdy doesn't, I'd be off to Wisley without a second thought. Still not had a drop here, so much for 'cold and wet oop norf'! 

Love your hedge pig Dusty, makes me wonder if the woman who bought my house is taking care of them. I hope so, I do miss them. Too light round here for them, most of it unnatural....