Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Farway

Managed to get out there & sort out the tomatoes, tied up, removed lower leaves and generally tried to get some daylight on them

And guess what? Found some Cherry Falls ripening, another day or so should be ready

However, I think they are supposed to be red, have I been sold a pup again?

Perhaps they'll go red when fully ripe?

Any way, here they are, orange tomatoes for the moment

YoungBlueEyes

Ooh Farway, I wish mine looked like yours. All mine are like the bottom one in your pic - not totally green, certainly a colour change, but nothing like even a hint or orange   I've snipped one off and brought it in to see if being a bit warmer indoors will ripen it. I hope it will cos then I'll be harvesting asap cos a few of them are getting to be big beggars

We've just had the briefest few spits of rain, and when I went out I spotted a wee bug on the conservatory door. Intricate and tiny, the body was approaching the size of a 5p. Pic in a min. Also, limp lettuce and forlorn roses. Can anyone suggest where I went wrong...?

YoungBlueEyes

Beautiful bug. My phone really doesn’t do it justice 

Limp pale lettuces (the rocket has decided to pull itself round :rolleyes: 

And my rose sticks. The 2 with leaves have good roots, and the leaves are only upright-looking cos they’re propped up for the photo ha haa! 

I haven’t moved them, the temps have been about the same, I haven’t overwatered them. How can I fix them? 

ArbitraryRandom

I can't really help with the plants, sorry. I was going to suggest have you checked the roots look okay (no insects) but you said the roots are good. The only other thing I could think are if they're getting enough direct sun light? 

But a beautiful picture of a lacewing there - you don't often see them with their wings open like that. I guess basking in the sun maybe? 

Gorsebush

I turn my back for a little while and suddenly there's dozens of posts to catch up with! 
Blue, that there's a lacewing. Used to get them sitting on indoor walls previously, maybe not so common now. Your dog pictures are lovely, it's good to look back, but I'm not ready yet to look at pictures of my old fellow. 
I haven't managed to grow a lettuce yet this year. Most unusual, as mentioned before, I think it's the mice what dun it 😄 I have a few growing in the gravel filter of my fish pond, unless the mice learn to swim, they'll probably get to a usable size. 

Dusty, can you post a picture of your own bred dahlia? What a lovely thing to do. Was it difficult? 
Splendid series of thrush photos, the clarity is amazing. Only seen a thrush briefly twice in my garden. 
They had Suzanne in Garden Express last weekend on sale, by the time I looked they'd sold out. 
My picture today is of a bee and a butterfly on dahlia "Juliet" 

YoungBlueEyes

Lacewing - I knew somebody on here could tell me, thanks Arb. No not in the sun, the outside of my 'back door' (conservatory) never gets direct sunlight. I'll leave the plants be then #shawshank   

twopenny

Love me a lace wing. Used to be lots of them would park on my wall if I left the door open of a sunny evening. Haven't seen any for years.

Looks like I've missed the aquilega bonus as I've been out all day.
Went of get photos of a village that I've only visited for open gardens and found the locally famous wild flower field was open. Somewhat sidetracked thats where i spent most of the day. Photos to follow.

So my gardening nil, all must dos nil. But had a wonderful day photographing flowers, butterflies and chatting to like minded folks.
Then diverted to talking about fish, porpoise, dolphins and such at the coast.
Are my priorities wrong or right?
I did watering pots before I went 

Weather glorious, tomorrow meah so what will be will be.

twopenny

And to follow

Which reminds me. I was told that it was the last year of showing so I found some cornflower seeds had landed in my pocket. Then the man himself turned up to talk and it seems his son who's take over tried to grow Rape and the flowers took over in one corner. So it's to stay. Just half the field to productivity.

Lots of butterflies, mostly cabbage white, and I tried to get them in shot. That's like getting quick silver into a jar!

Farway, I remember that well! Can't look at your post before I post but I followed it with happy nostalgia  

Gorse that is just amazing!!!!!!!!!! Wow what a photo!

People posted while I was trying to deal with a connection problem. One day of sun, fries the lines and the whole thing goes to pot here.

YoungBlueEyes

Love your pic Gorse. Can just hear the conversation now - move over, you’re on my side. No you’re on my side!  

Thabks for confirming the id folks, I’ve never seen one before. It was so diddy and elegant, I hope I see more of them. 

Looking forward to your photos cos that sounds like a good day to me 2p, chatting and wandering, busy doing nothing like wot that song says And don’t worry about missing the seeds - I pm’d my address but I’ve had no reply and now I’m wondering if I shoulda carried out a mad-axe-murderer check  

-taff

Dusty, love the photomontage of the thrush. And I didn't know that blackbirds were thrushes so I've learned something new. No doubt my avid nature loving sister would have told me at some point but to be honest, I'm glad she didn't YBL, lettuces are not fans of heat, they'll bolt given half a chance, keep them in the sahde for a bit and see what happens. They don't need a lot of nutrients so it's may not be the compost. Your roses, can't help I'm afraid, mine are rubbish this year.

Weather was sunny and cloudy but not raining at last. Gave the bay bush a severe trim outside. I want to rejig bits of the garden when the windows are finished so the geums are going under the bay bush so I've raised it up a bit. Potted up some heuchera bits I pulled off/out, hoping that works. I have an abundance of pots this year, there's not much room left for them, they're all at various stages of growth and cuttings. This has never happened before. I usually buy a plant, stick it in, watch it almost die, rip it out, put it somewhere else ad nauseam. Somehow this year I've managed to sow flowers, grow flowers, take cuttings, grow cuttings [not the bloody rosemary yet though] and be all proper gardening like.

Does this mean I am mature now? Still made mistakes though, my tomatoes are too close together in the ground, there isn't really enough space for two pumpkins, two tromboncino, I put an apple tree too close to a bay tree, I need to hoik out another olive tree and thin out some other stuff...

But..I am having a whale of a time. The only thing left is to spend a year in a hot country and grow veg there just to see the difference. It's on the wish list but it probably won't happen...