Awful weather - typical Brits talk

YoungBlueEyes

That's a shame about the wheat eh Will they not try to get the good ones in? And good luck to your fledglings :fingerscrossed:  

twopenny

If you plant aquilegias now they should grow and bloom next year.

Much as they would if they just dropped seed now.

It will be interesting to see if those planted in spring would flower. I seem to remember trying years ago and they just grow leaves and flower the following year.

Sadly I don't have time to join you and mine have all dropped seed where it falls.

The weather has been cloudy and cool but despite enough rain patches to keep you inside it's still not made the soil wet and I'm constantly dunking pots to try and keep them alive.

The veg is looking a tad better for the cool but doubtful it will catch up. The runners that were so florifous have dropped tons of flower because it's just too dry and one plant has turned yellow - but I've had some dinners from them.

Been trimming back trees, over grown roses to find that the Jingle Bells clematis I planted last year has twined wildly and massively through the rose. I'm going to have to re sort that fence somehow so I get a show of both.

It looks so easy when they do it on gardening programmes!

So it's all about control at the moment while it's dry.

My neighbour has offered me her green bin useage this week so I'm going to take advantage and get all the bramble blackberry trimmings I can in it.

Frozen some of the blackberrys ready for the apples.......the raspberries are still tart and half ripe so they've gone in the freezer with sugar to make freezer jam.

Tomatoes and plums still not ripening

Bluey, I fell for a couple of the Snapdragons too. £2.50 for big healthy plants that remind me of my childhood. Always loved them. You know they seed too? So should have free ones next year

Up to my ears trying to get tradesmen again - and move money again to pay for them. It's darn hard and depressing.

I need a dog to cuddle!

Love the stooks Dusty, I have a photo of a mass of rooks/crows gleaning the fields somewhere.

In the old days farmers would put the chickens on the fields after harvest and so free food.

This is the before photo

Brick paths - I spoke to the guy at Greencombe and he didn't know what the bricks were.

He did say that where they don't get very regular traffic they are slippery. He had to sweep with legs astride braced against the upright edgings.

So pretty but..............

Dustyevsky

In other news, our Hedge Removal Notice hit the council's Planning Portal late last week, and a meeting was held by those opposed to us creating a new rear entrance.

So far, no one's commented, but perhaps there will be some kind of combined effort. We're all eyes, as throughout our long correspondence, no valid planning reason was given for their opposition. Not only will the objectors   need to become much more focused, anyone making a comment must identify him/herself. That's when the cowards disappear!

Farway

Wet & drizzle this morning, good job there are some lovely pictures here to brighten the day, the aquilegias have caused me to rethink, maybe there is an alternative to Mucky Mauve, and should I have another go? If I stumble across a cheap packet, I may well join in, I could find myself in Morries tomorrow after my blood test so never know what I could come home with alongside pork chops & bread

Dusty, very evocative picture of the corn stooks, took me right back to Nan's house where there was a picture of The Gleaners on the wall, I spent hours looking at it and wondering what it was about, not being a rural location there was no connection whatever to my life, and it was only years later I realised it was copy of a famous real painting.

No exciting bird report around here but this morning I heard on radio that all the conservation work is backfiring, seems red Kites are now taking tips from seagulls and nicking food from picnickers fingers. I don't think I'd fight back having seen the beaks & claws on them

Daily Wail link. And you couldn't make this up, the family are the Bird's

Due to damp, no gardening but may just browse aquilegia seeds online

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

No exciting bird report around here but this morning I heard on radio that all the conservation work is backfiring, seems red Kites are now taking tips from seagulls and nicking food from picnickers fingers. I don't think I'd fight back having seen the beaks & claws on them

Daily Wail link. And you couldn't make this up, the family are the Bird's

Don't forget, the new President of the RHS is Keith Weed.

It's a conspiracy, I tell you!

Still dreich here, but Mrs Dusty says she'll help me with the polytunnel after the ran passes through, so we might get something done today.

I'm going for broke and planting all my 'white' aquilegia seed now. I  have a feeling it will be 2025 before I know for sure what colour they'll turn out.

Brick paths - I spoke to the guy at Greencombe and he didn't know what the bricks were.

He did say that where they don't get very regular traffic they are slippery. He had to sweep with legs astride braced against the upright edgings.

So pretty but..............

The antique clay bricks are very dense and seem frost proof, but they may also be too smooth. Fake modern ones should have more sandy 'grog' in them, making for a more grippy surface. From an eco POV maybe chipped bark could be an alternative, but it may stick to footwear....and there are cats!

YoungBlueEyes

Aye I remembered you'd said about the snapdragons 2p, that's why lifted some. I've nowhere to plant them like, they're sat against my bins ha haa!  You should get some good rain soon, there's a big swirly band of it over the uk for a while now so fingers crossed you get a replenishing steady share  

taff was right, I've more plants than room for them. Reckon when they're all full size it'll got a couple of gardens worth and no spaces to plant them. I'm gonna be knee deep in pots, I just know it *sigh*

It's raining here so they were all wrong but Ventusky was a bit righter than wronger (It said 11am) 

If I could lend you Handsome for some cuddles I would do 2p. He loves getting sniggled in with arms wrapped tightly round him. But only when he's in the mood for it And he's no use making workmen appear - my gutter man isn't answering his phone. Hmmm grrr chunter. 

Dusty cowards do disappear at the first sign of being stood up to, or rather having to account for themselves. So that'll work in your favour

No I wouldn't be arguing with a red kite either Farway. There are a lot of them in Lincolnshire, and even when they were a way up and hovering you could tell they were beasts. I always liked seeing them though. Just not nearer than, oooh 20ft?  

I'll get some seeds poked into the ground then. What kinda depth will I go? 

twopenny

Not much of a depth Bluey. Think size of seed and same depth or double.

But I'd go an inch or so in old money, because the birds will be trying to fatten up shortly and looking for everything they can get.

Pots? I planted into pots and got fed up with watering. What survived got planted in the garden

Dusty, that's what I thought. These bricks are rough and I don't think original but if they aren't regularly walked on apparantly that's not enough. Another thing was that water trapped in the roughness can easily freeze and become black ice.

Farway, just been for my blood test. She was soooo gentle but taking care not to use that arm for heavy lifting like I did once with dire consequences. Just be careful and no carrying heavy plant pots bags with that arm!

Tourists here throw their left over fish and chips for the gulls. So annoying as signs are everywhere so they don't go to sea fishing and rely on rubbish bins in supermarkets and tourists.

Got to say for the gulls though, if you lean over your chips etc so they can't dive they will land at a distance and do the dog type doe eyes of 'share with me'.

Rain appeared just an hour earlier than the Met said and I was unprepared because I didn't believe them!

So many early for a medics appt because they were sheltering from the rain

It's just persisting, dull and grey. Not enough rain to do any good but enough to spoil your fun. Guess it's filing instead of gardening.

I could start labeling bulbs etc and trying to get organised for autumn planting. Last year I didn't because I thought I'd be able to discriminate between the bulbs and I wasn't right..........

Any help with the Lilly my neighbour gave me? I potted it properly in a larger pot. Will it survive maybe and worth keeping? It's bright orange and gives a brightness to the dungeon alley at the side but it seems to have been force flowered and has now stopped. 3 stemmed supermarket variety.

And yes Bluey, because I know you will ask, that's a one off rabbit called Chloe. Made by a very tallented young woman. I waited months as was wildly expensive and eventually reduced below eye-watering. I'd wanted it for ages.

ArbitraryRandom

I'm going to be planting towards the edges of the lawned area (first step towards a meadow), so my 'plan' is to rake/scrape up the sward to see clear earth then scatter. What takes, takes  

Mix of clover and yellow rattle over most, then a few bits like poppy, nigella yarrow and the aquilegia around the edges. 

Just waiting until mid-august to buy the yellow rattle as apparently the seed is only viable for the year (and now is old stock so less chance of germination)

Farway

My runners have blown over , cane snapped in the wind & rain. 

Bad but recoverable I think hope once it dries out a bit I hope I can prop them back up with new cane[s], once back home tomorrow with my wizened blood drained arm post blood test

2P, lily, looks like one of the Asiatic types, no scent but looks nice. 

They are mostly hardy, I'd remove the seed pods, give it a feed, stick it in the sunshine somewhere, no need for baking, and apply general TLC like watering

It is lily flowering time, some of mine have gone over now so presumably yours will follow the same pattern, they are normally a one trick flowering pony with no more flowers until next year

Come spring it will be lily beetle alert time

Sounds like a nice plan AR, hope it works out

-taff

I do like your random aquilegias paspatur, fancy it being so promiscuous..I only have the purple ones at the moment but some years they do a light mauve and they are very random in where they self seed.

pink poppy, what a shame about the sand martins habitat. And shield bugs? Stay out of their way..they stink even if you don't step on them and they make a horrible buzzing noise.

Dusty, glad your birds fledged, and the weathers ruined more than the wheat this year...The hopes and dreams of all wanting a tan for example, or their tomatoes to grow big and strong...

My aquiligia are always on a two yearly cycle, I wish they'd seed themselves in one spot so I can have a good show but they're here there and everywhere although I did see Monty sowing his foxgloves this year to grow them and have them flower next year last week? week before? so you're on to something there 2p.

No gardening today, just took a photo of my freebie before bench. I may put some brackets on it later or tomorrow...Although I did water the pumpkins just to empty the buckets at the end of the greenhouse. Amazing how much water will come off an 8x6.