Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

You are picking them well, it's just a weird year.
There are 400 varieties of wild bramble - and all the cultivated ones. So tasty is a lot of sampling. Happily you won't find all of them in one place   

I've had a fiddle with the bramley Farway. It's not the perfect answer and found the two main branches have a split down the middle. I guess with a new small garden and 2yrs of weird weather it's too easy to take too much notice of every little thing.
Not having a lot of luck with my trees. Photos later.

Despite the problem with the Dunster plum it's given me a bowl of plums picked today.
Plus 4 bramleys. It's getting there! Perhaps we have too much 'instant' these days and expect too much.

I'm going to make more effort with the fruit next year. Granted its done ok but a slow process.
I'm of an age when I can't afford to wait too long   

pink_poppy

Aw, well done on spotting the frog/toad/amphibian YBE We had a Kermit in the pond last year but no sign of him this year or the Sir Isaacs and I'm wondering if they've all moved on. We had a very hot and dry June and the pond level dropped quite dramatically and I didn't want to top it up with tap water. It's back to full up now with all the rain we had in July, but I've noticed there are no flowers on the water lilies so maybe the water quality isn't great??

How old is your Bramley, twopenny?? I would love an apple tree or two in the garden. I know exactly where I would put them but I don't think I would be allowed (covenant). My favourite apple is Cox, but I've noticed the ones in the shops don't taste as I remember them.

I'm keeping an eye on the brambles here. I've seen a few black ones, but I'm sure it was late August into September that I was picking them last year.

The weather is a bit grey this morning and it's spitting at the moment. I like the Ventusky website, but the swirly wind graphics do make my brain a bit swirly too.

YoungBlueEyes

I agree about the Ventusky graphics pp, it takes a bit of getting used to. Is the app any easier, swirly brainy wise?  Tbh I only spotted the froglet as he jumped away from me, if he'd sat still I wouldn't have known he was there. 

Brambles are early here too. Lovely neighbour's neighbour has loads overhanging their fence, so she's only waiting on the rain stopping to get some picked. So that'll not be this weekend! Been spitting here since first thing, started gently raining about an hour ago. And no gutter man   

Plums and apples 2p I hope I get apples next year... I think you're right about wanting stuff instantly, cos we can get nearly everything nearly all the time. We've lost our sense of ...seasonality..? Is that a word? There's no patience in people now. I remember counting down to proper Jersey Royals season, oh my god, what I wouldn't give! Only the first dig though, well maybe the second too, and I didn't mind paying for them cos they were unique and so worth it. 

After a wee while of not getting any hardcore, we have a load more bags coming today. I need to give himself's head a wobble :rolleyes: 

twopenny

Poppy it's about 4yrs old and small rootstock though I've my doubts about that for one of them. Plus a year or too before the nursery sold it to me.
I've a self fertile Cox - the flavour is not as good as those from the old trees. I wonder if thats age though as my huge old Bramley had an amazing flavour. The new one is ok for flavour.
Neighbour has started putting Bramley windfalls out for free :-)

Bluey, yes. We've lost the joy of seasonality! And in exchange for rubbish food low in vits so we have more time to watch a screen or polish a fancy house.

Mind I've got so much seasonality the water bills for the water closet may increase significantly!
Guess thats why you should store some and not eat it all at once    


Wind has been non existent last night, a bit weird on it's own, normal breeze resumed this morning with pretty sprinkled rain.
Woke up to beautiful blue skies and a huge rainbow 
Waiting for the'danger to life and limb' stuff.........sometimes I wonder if they're exaggerating but i propped up my big pots anyway. Can't aford to loose them the way prices are 

YoungBlueEyes

I used to love a website called Eat The Seasons. It told you a bit about whatever was in season now and gave some recipes.

eattheseasons.co.uk  I've just checked and it's still going  

Aww beautiful skies and a huge rainbow, you lucky duck  

twopenny

Thanks Bluey, I'll check that out tonight.
Yup, changeable is what it is now.
But I'm thinking wind = good washing day  so that's ready. 
Sorting the garage the seeds and bulbs and labelling them for today. Found the seeds I was looking for in the bottom of a box of 'things to do and mend' ........ shows how keen I was to do the mending!

When I was rearranging the front flower bed I didn't come across all the bulbs that should be there. And now room for more     

Farway

I have the full Monty life & limb weather here, so far the runner bean wigwam repairs are holding and still vertical. Watering the volunteer pots has been abandoned due to absolutely no need of extra water

Today may be a slumped in front of tele day, perhaps with a dunked Ginger Nut?

I think we are too used to instant gratification and waiting for results / fruiting is frustrating at times

twopenny said:

I've had a fiddle with the bramley Farway. It's not the perfect answer and found the two main branches have a split down the middle. I guess with a new small garden and 2yrs of weird weather it's too easy to take too much notice of every little thing.
Not having a lot of luck with my trees. Photos later.

Despite the problem with the Dunster plum it's given me a bowl of plums picked today.
Plus 4 bramleys. It's getting there! Perhaps we have too much 'instant' these days and expect too much.

I'm going to make more effort with the fruit next year. Granted its done ok but a slow process.
I'm of an age when I can't afford to wait too long   

Well you've done better than my plum, but I'm also at the age where I can't wait too long, if I had time to spare I'd have it out & replace it with something else, likewise my unknown red pear, waste of space, but I have to live with it now

Regarding Cox apples, there is not a self fertile one 2P, they need a pollinator so yours is an impostor, hence the taste. Cox are notoriously hard to grow well, which is why real, tasty, ones are hard to find, most of the Cox orchards were grubbed out long ago due to low crops for the space, commercially just not worthwhile, but I suppose some exist at a price

And changing public tastes, most prefer sweet apples these days, like Pink Lady,

There are alleged Cox substitutes, I have one Pinova, a cross between Cox & Golden Delicious but can't say I'm impressed so far but could be because it's in pot & I think it would do better in the ground. See above ref "time to spare" why still in a pot

Thanks for rece of Wilko YBE, I was thinking of taking a trip there next week, especially as there is now free parking in town as a trial

YoungBlueEyes

They had plenty of veg seeds too Farway, but I didn't really look them so I couldn't tell you what they had. Again probably nothing startling.

When himself goes to his mother's I'll rootle through my books re salting/preserving runners. I'm sure I can picture something in the 2 Fat Ladies/Keith Floyd books, big kilner jars with xyz in salt. I'm sure all this stuffs online now, but you can't beat an actual book  

And what's this "labelling" of wot you speak of?!  

ArbitraryRandom

Today so far has been rain, followed by rain - with the app showing rain and then a bit of rain. The next good garden/wash day looks like maybe Thursday. 

Happy summer holidays all! 

As an aside, the neighbour has a small apple tree, that is currently sporting a lot of kiwi sized red apples. I'm assuming they're crap apples... any way to work out what pollination group it might be in? 

Farway

ArbitraryRandom said:

Today so far has been rain, followed by rain - with the app showing rain and then a bit of rain. The next good garden/wash day looks like maybe Thursday. 

Happy summer holidays all! 

As an aside, the neighbour has a small apple tree, that is currently sporting a lot of kiwi sized red apples. I'm assuming they're crap apples... any way to work out what pollination group it might be in? 

Best way will be to look next spring and when the blossom opens, crabs are normally good pollinators for most apples, but maybe some are better than others with perhaps longer or earlier flowering times

Could you identify it online from the fruit? I've just searched "red crab apple trees" and lots of hits