Awful weather - typical Brits talk

YoungBlueEyes

Maybe Quakers should run all the homes. She said, jokingly, whilst wishing it could be true. Good that your Dad got a bit of happiness before he passed, that's priceless

I agree about GW 2p. We watched a wee bit of it last night and I thought it was Chelsea highlights or something (missed the beginning). It's all very well looking at show gardens and exhibits but that's not teaching me anything. I'm starting to lose interest in it tbh cos it's not relevant to me. Thank god for the old Beechwoods Himself's at work this morning so I'll check out edible gardens, thanks for the link. Did you cut your grass? I think I would have, so the rain could get all the way down in and do some good. 

I'm with you on soulmates Gorse. The one before Jack was Ben. Walled eyed black and white English Springer, and I miss him more than I miss Jack. Ben was definitely soulmate territory, very much on my wavelength. He was as bright as Jack, but where Jack was like a fizzy teenager right up to the end Ben always had a calmness about him, more contentment in him. If I could go back for one it would be Ben. God I loved that boy. 
Anyway. What was your collie called? Do your other 2 miss him too? 

3 days of rain is what the drunkards reckon wort, so you might have timed that just right!

Knautia - looks like it'd be pronounced 'naughtier' Beautiful colours It looks the same as the thing that was growing up my fence that collapsed for no reason at all. I wonder if it was that.

I took pics last night of 2 more gladioli that are beginning to flower, in case the bad weather this weekend makes them give up entirely. I wonder where I got them from...? Been raining here since before 6, the drunkards say it's not due to stop 'til monday evening. Looking at the thick of the clouds I bet that's right too. Bit of a breeze and cool with it. Mind if it gets any cooler I might have to put socks on!  

YoungBlueEyes

(Don’t look Farway)

I had to tuck one of them under the sweet peas support cos it had a right tilt on it! 

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

Hope you can avoid the hoards and find a nice walk with your friend.

Yes, we went into the 'interior' rather than risk the coast, but not too far from the emporiums of comestibles, 'cos I had to shop after wards!

By the time we'd completed the walk, I was crocked, but at least I know my baseline limit now and I can work on it. Friend needs moral support and I need pushing to do better in shifting a few pounds and exercising, so we're good for each other. It's easy to think because one does a bit of lawnmower pushing etc that all will be well, but more is required to stay fully fit past the age it is when physical abilities noticeably fall away. For me, that was around age 70.

I managed to get a few pictures of wildlife along the way, but nothing very exciting. There were some potentially interesting water birds on one of the lakes at the nature reserve en route, or at least the twitchers in the hide thought so, judging by their conversation. However, we'd no binoculars and had to leave due to friend's excess mirth at the seriousness of the discussion around what appeared to be 'seagulls.'

Farway

Dull, Beeb tells me I'll be up to my neck in floodwater by tonight, assuming I'm not consumed by a forest fire of course

Just in case they are lying I went up and watered the volunteer large pots, dry as a bone but not quite fried, so I think I got there in time

DS & family are on hols, just arrived in Cornwall, and they've sent a pic, it's tipping down, near Bude so maybe your turn next Dusty

Wort, love the lily, one of my favourites, named "Stargazer", looks so exotic but is quite tough, and the scent just wafts in warm air. I have planted some in the volunteer pots near the fence, out of finger pinching reach but within nose distance for passers-by.

Gorse, the sedums can be brittle, but shorter ones are around. The broken bits will readily root, and the broken stumps recover easily. Have to agree with Dusty, hardy geranium would suit as well, Rozane sounds ideal and were it not for price I'd have bought some for my volunteer patch years ago

2P, I used to follow Alys F when she had her prog, found it quite informative, something happened in her personal life, best not mentioned or my bank will kick me out , and she went a bit "outside the box" garden wise to my mind, I think she has a column in the Guardian now

OT Care homes, by coincidence when we were looking for one for Mum we found a lovely one, run by Methodists I think. But had a waiting list and by the time everything was coming together it was too late for her, she did at least get out of the Devil's Hospital and into a more Cottage Hospital setting with caring staff

Dogs, all my Labrador style did was dig holes and race around knocking things over. Still a lovely dog though

Nice Glads, YBE, do yours keep coming back or is it the first year?

Last night, I harvested five of my runners and scoffed them for dinner , still no aphids or snail damage, very odd, but glad of it. Looks like plenty more flowers & beans to come as well

Here they are pre picking

ArbitraryRandom

Farway said:

2P, I used to follow Alys F when she had her prog, found it quite informative

After 2P mentioned the show, I've just been watching a couple of episodes from 2010 (on the YouTubes). As you say, I found it happy/upbeat and interesting, and fits in with my general feeling of wanting a mix of nice to look at but also functional/useful plants to supplement and add a 'taste' of home grown to some of my meals. 

But I also think one of the things that she could really have addressed (and might have done in later episodes I've not got to yet) was storage and preservation, as well as balancing nutrition. I think a lot of people underestimate the work involved in growing enough food to (significantly) impact an adult's food bill - and while it's nice on paper to avoid buying from the shops, I think if that's your goal then a lot of the work would be dealing with gluts/when things are ready to harvest. 

It's certainly not something I'd try myself... but I wonder if there is anyone out there who has tried (and documented/ recorded) actually feeding themselves for an extended period from what they can grow/raise (no nipping to the shops for milk/bread/a pack of nuts) - and how much land they needed/how hard it was/how they dealt with the hungry gaps/preserves? 

Gorsebush

https://youtu.be/fUNp4kb1LLI

Dusty you inspired me to look for Rozanne hardy geranium. After watching the video above I think I'm sold! I do have HGs, about four different varieties, but after the initial flush it's foliage only. If Rozanne keeps at it until autumn that's a game changer. 

Gorsebush

I can imagine Rozanne meandering through AR's sedums, the lady in the video has them sending stems into small hydrangeas which looks lovely. So many possibilities! 

The weather today is foul, very wet and windy. Humidity at 97% which is awful. It makes my nose run like a tap and breathing difficult. It turns a gentle dog walk into something akin to waterboarding.

I can see from the house that my new dahlia, Bishop of Dover, has finally got an open flower. Unfortunately the weather's too bad to go admire it, much less take a photo. The new to me Bishop of York isn't far behind so I may get to see that after the weekend. I have a Bishop of Llandaff that I planted 8 or 9 years ago. Its grown to over 6 foot in recent years. It's extremely floriferous, but the colour grates on me nowadays. I wish someone would offer it a home! I couldn't possibly throw it out as it's such a trooper. 

Farway

Gorsebush said:

I can see from the house that my new dahlia, Bishop of Dover, has finally got an open flower. Unfortunately the weather's too bad to go admire it, much less take a photo. The new to me Bishop of York isn't far behind so I may get to see that after the weekend. I have a Bishop of Llandaff that I planted 8 or 9 years ago. Its grown to over 6 foot in recent years. It's extremely floriferous, but the colour grates on me nowadays. I wish someone would offer it a home! I couldn't possibly throw it out as it's such a trooper. 

Lucky you, I'm a recent convert to the Bishop strain and this year is my first go with Bishop's Children, from seed, actually grew them last year, but this year will be first time of flowering so unable to say how they are

Only two survived the winter, so just hoping it's worth it

I may have to dig deep & buy named tubers otherwise

Gorsebush

Blue, his name's Lucky, not my choice but it stuck anyway. Only one of the current dogs knew him, and yes, she became quite depressed afterwards, so I found her a playmate, a ruffty-tuffty Rommy rescue. Very good natured but rather a clumsy clot 🙄 Unfortunately both of them are keen diggers, so I have to be very proactive in trying to prevent too much damage. Do you have a dog now? 

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

DS & family are on hols, just arrived in Cornwall, and they've sent a pic, it's tipping down, near Bude so maybe your turn next Dusty

by.

Gorse,  Rozane sounds ideal and were it not for price I'd have bought some for my volunteer patch years ago

OT Care homes, by coincidence when we were looking for one for Mum we found a lovely one, run by Methodists I think. But had a waiting list and by the time everything was coming together it was too late for her, she did at least get out of the Devil's Hospital and into a more Cottage Hospital setting with caring staff.

Bude is where rain for here would be coming from today, but we're not seeing cloudbursts, just mostly fine drizzly stuff. Earlier, it was steadier, and I snapped a thrush making the best of it by nicking all the big worms from our grass. Thrushes are a rarity here, so it's grand having one set up home. Photos to follow tomorrow, maybe.

Rozanne is slow to bulk up and divide, hence the price. Too much going on above ground, perhaps?

OT: The best care homes always have waiting lists. I looked at many others while I was waiting for the one I wanted to have a vacancy. Waiting was worth it and really the only option, given the awfulness of most, but it meant Dad was too late arriving there. A real 'if only I'd acted sooner' scenario.

Dahlias: I used the Bishops to create my own strain and added one called 'Plum Pudding' which made it more interesting. Not much luck this year with seed, though I've had one seedling from 'Bednall Beauty.' The two or three others I germinated seem to have gone dwarf (can I use the term on here in an obviously less complimentary manner? ) Roll on next year when the poly will be finished!

Jack looks to have been a very characterful dog, Blue Eyes. I think I've mentioned I had a Golden Retriever with a similarly high IQ when I was a teenager. When we lost her, I decided there'd not be another, so  I've had cats ever since. There has been another dog, courtesy of Mrs D, which everyone thought amazingly obedient and intelligent, but they don't know what's possible!

You Tube aren't letting me look at Rozanne. They probably think she's a conspiracy.