Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

twopenny said:

I was hoping to regenerate my strawberries this year but it looks like they may have a virus 
I'll leave them a little longer as they've been hit by every sort of bad weather and see what happens. Don't fancy buying new. Expensive and pathetic imo.

Dusty, glad the "do" went well, and love that buddleia. I'm going to try & root some Buzz cuttings this year, now it has recovered from vine weevils

Still windy, and now my eyes are itching, maybe hay fever? Anyway, zero gardening unless the arrival of the horticultural fleece counts

People are already asking if we can do another meet-up next year! We'll see. It's a lot of work. After all, we did a similar thing last year in the local hall, and judging by the cars parked in the field, we remain the poor relations!

Daughter who came here for the 'do' has also suffered hay fever since arriving on Friday.

Still windy and showery, so we can't dismantle and pack the shelters away. I've spent a pleasant few hours potting-up  and potting-on. 

All my LG are bolting now and the one ripe tomato in the poly has a chunk missing. I need to get the doors and the netting on!

pink_poppy

I finally caught up on posts from a couple of weeks ago this afternoon, so I know now why you have a marquee in your garden, Dusty 😁 glad it was a success, despite the weather.

I think I have flower buds forming on 3 of my peppers 😳 I still haven’t managed to pot them on, so will have to get a wiggle on...



Weather has been rotten today - blustery showers on and off all day. 

Gorsebush

Farway, the seemanii is evergreen. It makes for a tidy looking cover-up for a fence or wall, it holds itself up without damaging anything. I know what you mean by mislabeled plants. I bought two "apple" trees, but one turned out to be a pear. Have to say, the old saying that goes plant pears for your airs was wrong. That pear tree grew like billio, and I had pears after three or four years, once! because after fruiting it got canker or something. Anyway it's dying 😕
and I must get rid. No doubt the adjacent apple tree will go the same way. 
YBE, thanks for the lowdown on the weather services. FWIW the met weather app is better than Google for my area (Wye Valley)
But it's all swings and roundabouts I guess. 
I hope you can make some happy memories from your early Christmas lunch, it's a lovely idea, very thoughtful.

Dusty your tale of the naked gardeners made me laugh. They must have been tough as old boots. You must be relieved that your soirée went off without losing any canvas. I really can't imagine catering to so many people. I get in a state with just one or two guests. 
That's a particularly nice buddleia you've got there. They're fantastic at growing in the most unsuitable looking place. Bomb sites a speciality. Anyway, good old Co-op! 

Posting a pic of hydrangea Runaway Bride. Treated myself a few years ago, I just love it, though it's aquired a pink hue this time, unfortunately. Maybe the compost is a bit off. The dratted dogs broke bits off last year, but I stuck them in the garden and they're rooted and looking very promising. 

YoungBlueEyes

Oh no, a strawberry virus 2p. Will the virus be in the soil too...?  

Hayfever sufferer here too Farway. I buy the cheapo tablets from Aldi/Lidl and they work fine, the majority of the time. Can recommend them. 

Glad you had a good do Dusty, all the hard work paid off then How would it go down if you suggested one of them hosted next year..? 

Xmas dinner was a bad idea done with good intentions. MiL doesn't know one day from the next, but she knew you don't get roses and geraniums out at that time of year, and why was it so warm? So they put her down for a nap and when she woke up it was just Sunday dinner. Which was accepted without question 'til we were going home and she asked who was bringing her xmas presents. Then she went into full panic mode cos she knew she hadn't bought anybody presents. Desperate cruel disease. 

Anyway. Your peppers are looking good pp, will they fruit this year?

I like the look of you garden Gorse, that's very pretty hydrangea. And what's the tall dark green leafed thing on the right..?

No gardening to report, and there'll be none done today cos it's domestic nonsense day. Washer is on - drunkards have given rain and lightning from 1100-1400 ish, the sobers reckon sunny/cloudy all day. We shall see

Dustyevsky

Gorsebush said:

Dusty your tale of the naked gardeners made me laugh. They must have been tough as old boots. .

I think they were. An interesting, rather sad story behind the end of their 'reign.'

https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/19546581.end-era-family-malmesburys-naked-gardeners/

I like your Runaway Bride and suspect she would stay virginally white on our acid soil.

Those are good, healthy-looking leaves on your peppers, Poppy. They won't mind too much not being potted-on, until the fruit start to form. That won't be long, though! 

Been there with the cruel illness, Blue Eyes. You and Himself are doing your best, and although it might feel not enough, that's all we can do when it strikes a loved one.

Back to Marwood today. Having grumbled about aspects of the gardens last week, the nursery had a fantastic range of Astilbes to go with the National Collection there. At first, we were totally overwhelmed by so many subtle differences in flower colour, leaf colour, height and habit, but once the main variations had been explained, it wasn't too difficult to choose.

-taff

YBL, it's a horrible disease, you mourn the person before the person is gone in body...

Dusty, not a fan of buddleia, but it's a lovely colour. I do like the shape of the little pom pom ones, but not the colour unfortunately, I'm just not a fan of yellow anything. Blues, reds, purples, oranges, whites, I get behind all of those...Glad your do went well with casualties including the marquee And Gorse, that is a lovely looking hydrangea!

Gardening today will involve searching for somewhere to put things. I have a verbena to go in the ground, along with some teasel [who'd a thunk I'd be growing what used to be weeds] and some poppies I managed to cultivate [ patted myself on the back big time for those] along with some baby white lavender.e . I think when the window people have finished I'll encourage the lambs ears away from a small patch and shove all those things in the empty olive tree space. And there'll be some hoiking out of things and repositioning I think.

YBL, I've brought my ashing basket down in hope of some dry weather today..fingers crossed...

twopenny

Gorse, my white hydrangea went pink this year, no time to go back to the photo.
Think it may be the long hot spell. 
I rather like the colour :-)
Bluey, I can see little aphids under the strawberry leaves. It may be that. So if the new ones come green its aphids, if not after feeding to see if it's lack of nutrients, it's virus.

Thanks Abs, but I have an alpine  one flourishing in the veg border wheere it seeded or got dumped because I thought it had died......they are pretty neat humps of plants.
Sun, cloud, showers......not warm. The fleeces are out again.

YoungBlueEyes

Thanks for your kind words folks Aye it is a desperate disease, you can only do what you can do. His sisters do far more, bless 'em. 

I hope your other strawbs get going then 2p, so you've at least got some  

That sounds like a good collection taff - if you don't have the room you can bring em round mine, I'll help you plant them Good luck with your wash, I've mine out blowing away so it might even be dry before the 'storms' come. Hope you have the same luck :fingerscrossed: 

Farway

Sunny but still a stiff breeze & a tad cool

But early start & decided to feed & water the pots at the front first thing, my normal day is Friday, but it tipped down then. I think the weekly weak feed regime is paying off though, the foliage & flowers are looking good this year

My tree lilies are going to be spectacular, everything crossed, just needs a warm day & I'll get a photo

YBE and all, good news this morning about drug for dementia, may be a few years coming but hope for those who follow us. We could never get medical staff or social to admit mum had it, despite it being plain as day for anyone who sat with her for more than a few minutes. The GP diagnosed "no problem" by just asking her through her lounge window, never even went indoors . Enough of that or I'll explode

Gardening today, main bit is trundling garden waste wheelie bin round the front for collection tomorrow. 

I managed to finish off all the fruit tree summer pruning, and in the process discovered two pears and more apples than I initially thought I had

-taff said:

Gardening today will involve searching for somewhere to put things. I have a verbena to go in the ground, along with some teasel [who'd a thunk I'd be growing what used to be weeds] and some poppies I managed to cultivate [ patted myself on the back big time for those] along with some baby white lavender.e .

Likewise, a few years back I sowed some in the volunteer border, mainly for insects and the striking spikiness of them. Now year after year they comeback, all self sown and enjoyed by bees, and others

Here's one taken a week back, with free ladybird

ArbitraryRandom

Careful little ladybug! 

I can't believe how wet and cold it is today. It's July for goodness sakes. 

Forecast said yesterday and today would be dry other than a shower first thing - so of course it's been drizzling on and off yesterday and today looks like a repeat. 

So the laundry I did yesterday is currently draped around the house to avoid it going musty in the machine - I am NOT putting the heating on in July! 

Tempted to see if anyone would notice if I spent the day curled up on the sofa with a hot chocolate and tried again tomorrow... blegh.