Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Gorsebush

YBE, its a Virginia creeper growing up an old concrete shed. I hack it back to Ground Zero every year. That's just a small corner of the garden, it's all very crowded because I love the jungley look. Sometimes, though, I long for Scandi minimalism! 
So sorry about your MIL, it is indeed a terrible disease, so tragic even if onset is very late in life. A friend's mother was afflicted in her late sixties, physically healthy but mentally "gone" and now needing 24/7 care. The family are on the hook for £80+k per year. A very bad outcome for all. 

Dusty, thanks for the link re the naked gardeners (ex flower children?) Very interesting reading. It's a shame when human interactions go wrong and an era ends. Do you think the current owners are up to keeping the gardens looking as spectacular? It takes so much dedication and, without the lure of financial rewards, probably not many would bother. 

The birds are eating me out of house and home! Pretty sure the blackbirds are on round III, gawd knows with the sparrows, there's just so many. I'm going through suet pellets at an alarming rate and will have to order more soon, ditto mixed seed. The titmice and finches are permanently welded to the sunflower feeder, except when the sparrowhawk is around. It took one at the weekend, I happened to see the whole thing. Always feel sad for the small bird taken (sort of feel responsible because of attracting birds to congregate here). On the plus side the numbers of birds visiting seems to grow each year. 

I wonder who amongst us will be the first to report tomato blight? Seems like the perfect weather for it, certainly if it continues damp/muggy. One thing, this year so far, few aphids (touch wood) unless the birds are earning their keep. There's only been three or four lily beetles, too. Very surprising. Last year I found LOADS of them on yellow flag iris leaves, early in the year, of all places to find them. 

Well the sun is shining so duty calls! 

Farway

Gorsebush said:

I wonder who amongst us will be the first to report tomato blight? Seems like the perfect weather for it, certainly if it continues damp/muggy. One thing, this year so far, few aphids (touch wood) unless the birds are earning their keep. There's only been three or four lily beetles, too. Very surprising. Last year I found LOADS of them on yellow flag iris leaves, early in the year, of all places to find them. 

I found same with aphids, normally by now my beans are black with the blighters, only had a few so far

Lily beetles, I had loads but managed to spot & squish as they appeared so seem to be clear now

No blight, fingers crossed, but can I be the first to report a blackberry? Just a wild one growing over my shed

twopenny

Awwww Farway, I'm so envious of your photography skills. I could get loads of brownie points at our group if I could do that.

Hot chocolate and a snuggle? Lighting log burner? You folks have relaxing sussed. Very important to do. It's not praised enough. 
Looking forward to my turn.

So trying to get all the appts im supposed to get and miserably failing. How did life get so time consuming and futile?
My relaxing by the sea ended up with my boit lock getting jammed and listening to someone's problem for ages. So now totally screwed up.

No gardening, seems the showers didn't materialise and washing/gardening opportunity missed.
Just one of those days.

June gap (not my July) is a time when spring and summer flowering end and autumn, second flush hasn't started....Bluey. There is a gap in blooming.

Dustyevsky

Gorsebush said:

Dusty, thanks for the link re the naked gardeners (ex flower children?) Very interesting reading. It's a shame when human interactions go wrong and an era ends. Do you think the current owners are up to keeping the gardens looking as spectacular? It takes so much dedication and, without the lure of financial rewards, probably not many would bother.

It's unlikely. There is a certain level of fanaticism needed to produce an exceptional garden. The spring bulb display there was particularly strong and needed much annual input. Here's a picture that shows what I mean:

I'm not keen on all the labelling, but it's done well.

It was the same at Marwood where Dr Sharp took a section of valley and transformed it while still working as an anaesthetist at the North Devon District Hospital. I have it on very good authority that he even brought his gardening books into theatre with him to do more research and planning during the duller parts of operations!

Years ago, when we had many horticultural connections, we knew people who kept immaculate gardens of several acres well into their 80s, opening them for the NGS etc.. Their houses were not kept to the same standard, and there were very few concessions within them to anything resembling modernity.

Dustyevsky

It was dry here yesterday. In the evening, I was able to sit on the grass whilst taking a photo of a harebell, and DD2 dismantled the children's tent, because it was dried-out sufficiently. A walk down to the far boundary was also possible in 'normal' shoes, though the grass is coming back strongly now following the haymaking.

The appointments are coming thick & fast here, 2p. Car today for a light unit, boiler service tomorrow, Specsavers soon for the glasses to follow the test whenever it was, a garden visit with Mrs Dusty and maybe a 'serious' walk too. Sadly, the bargain walking boots I bagged on the Bay for £4.50 have turned out to be too narrow for my fat feet, so it looks like I may have to spend out after all. Why is it wide shoes cost so much when they only use a tiny fraction more in materials?

Some puny clouds spat on us at 06.30 on the station run, but the drunkards say dry today, except around 13.00 when they may do the same again.

Farway

Sunny but cooler, rain has stopped and back to cooler, at least the humidity has gone & hopefully threat of blight with it

Message from delivery folks, my Boysenberry will arrive between 1331 & 1531 . That's not bad considering I only ordered it Friday PM and I guess not dispatched until Monday. At least it should still be alive

Nice spring display there Dusty. Labelling is one of those things, I want labels to tell me the name etc, I find RHS Wisley poor at this, mystery clumps of lovely plants and I've no idea what they are. But your example shows how it can be distracting, a hard balance to strike

twopenny said:

Awwww Farway, I'm so envious of your photography skills. I could get loads of brownie points at our group if I could do that.

Not a great skill for the blackberry, 

I used the best camera AKA known as the one you have on you, in this case it was my mobile, cheapo Redmi, which automatically pinged it up to Google pics, from where I downloaded it to my desktop PC, opened up in Photoshop & cropped it for close up. Job done.

Now the ones below are my lilies which are looking gorgeous and smelling great, this time it's a second hand Sony DSLR [£100ish], bit of f@rting around composing the shots & then crop etc

I particularly like the stamen one, for once I have it crisp & sharp. Taken up close & macro

The flowers are about the width of an open hand

twopenny

Well I see you are front page - Again!

The rest of us will really have to make more effort.

Close, stuffy with sudden gusts of wind and some spotting rain.

I'm crippled again this afternoon but persevered to cut and thin the arch rose. A lot of tidying up of dead petals glued to the gravel, gate and neighbours bins. The heat followed by rain made them stick but it's looking good again. New buds growing.

First dinner of runner beans

I just went out to look thinking they were tiny and lots there, some too big but I'll eat them anyway. Extra roughage.

There's a pidgeon sat on the bird bath looking at me. Perhaps there's no water though there should be.

Cloudy and even with windows and doors open it's 'close'.

ArbitraryRandom

Still raining on and off with a grey sky; which suits me as I've come down with an annoying cold (the kind that means you're constantly coughing). I blame it on spending hours on a train last week. Really feeling like autumn here but at least it's reminded me to have a look and stock up n my cold and flu meds  

Not many strawberries ripening. I think we might be between varieties as there's still lots in evidence for the next few weeks. I picked a good handful of blackberries from the brambles which remain in the hedges and put them in the bag. 

Was also wondering... do all roses make edible rosehips? If so, that might be another thing I keep an eye out to pick and freeze. 

Dustyevsky

twopenny said:

Well I see you are front page - Again!

The rest of us will really have to make more effort.

I have no idea about this front page thing. Never seen it! When I go to the Forum Home page, there's the Welcome, then the Search, and then below that is an empty space where a picture should be. To each side of that are arrows for changing the picture, but as there's nothing to change, they don't do anything.I don't have my AdBlock on. It's a mystery.

Also, I've had no notifications since 13th, but that seems a common problem. I've solved it by logging out, and then logging in again.

Anyway, well done Farway; the lilies are lovely.

twopenny

Sorry to hear about your cold Abs, coughing a lot? You sure it's not The virus?
Hope it passes quickly.
You need to find some windfall apples to go with your blackberry.
Don't know about rosehips, I stick to the wild roses. Love homemade rosehip syrup! Lot's of vitamin C. Keeps all winter

 Dusty that's a shame about your homepage. I've never been a fan of them but they seem to have done a great job with this one.
Think we got the same bit of rain. Turned really cold tonight. Warmer quilt chilly. And gloomy.
Lot's of sun predicted for tomorrow..........