Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

Definitely cold enough for heating most of today. White cloud wall to wall with smattering of rain. Still not enough to water the garden. As Dusty and I are so near, 30 miles or so, I'm always interested in what the weather is there - works better than the the mystics 

I've got some sort of shivery, achey bug and very tired. Just enough not to want to do anything. What my grandmother used to call a chill. Hope it won't last. It's weird because we've gone so long with only one bug to think of that what used to be common is a surprise.

So Blight - I've successfully cut all the leaves off affected plants and the fruit has ripend nicely. That's if you can catch it quickly enough. And i had a big well ventilated garden.

This years raspberry canes that are left still look like something is wrong. I've Duckducked a lot but nothing obvious. Hopefully now they have airflow round them and maybe water at the roots they'll come good. 
The strawberries are throwing out runners  so some new ones. The rest looking a tad better with the rain.
The thyme plants have been really stripped of their leaves. I'm beginning to wonder if it's bugs and slugs as there is no sign of fallen leaves. Or maybe the hedgehog likes a little seasoning with her snails ;-)

It's tough to know what to do with these yellow leaf problems because whichever plant the info is to feed/not feed.........
I'll go back to my old gardening books. Loved your old cook book Bluey, I have some of those and the same for gardening. Both better than the web in the end.

Congrats on your first squash bud Abs, what we don't save money on with veg we gain in curiosity and challenge. And seeing how plants grow to suit their needs is nothing short of a miracle.

Ha ha Taff, I take heal cuttings from public shrubs and surprising how many overhanging branches drop off or for the hydrangea that is under threat yes, secetures. To my embarrassment when young.my grandmother would go round parks and gardens with a pair of scissors and a bag in her pocket!
Toms in the fridge, a pack can last 2or 3 weeks with me and they just wrinkle out of the fridge, don't have much flavour anyway - unlike home grown that are fine for ages.
PP, that doesn't look very edible

Dustyevsky

I've still got a squash from last year, It's probably too dry by now, but the hens won't mind!

Awful dreich weather, and a day to go with it here, chasing car insurance. Mrs Dusty had a premium increase of £60.  I'd had a reduction of roughly the same amount a few months ago, so a big increase didn't seem right. So....we used MSE's Compare + tool to see who'd be cheapest for her. Hmmmm. Guess what? The cheapest was her present insurer(!) offering a deal at £185 below their existing on-line quote to her. Lovely! But when we clicked through to get the deal, it wasn't available because; 'we cannot access your details at this time.' How convenient! Do you think this happens when they find they've quoted a great price to an existing customer? It's not supposed to!

Anyway, we applied the tool to the next insurer on the list and they took Mrs Dusty on. It wasn't such a wondrous deal, but she still saved over £160.

YoungBlueEyes

We've been here nearly a year now, so I've just sorted the house insurance. Got a quote the other day for £155 but it was asking for details from himself (for a joint policy) which I didn't have to hand. So I 'saved' the quote and when I went back to it yesterday they were "experiencing technical difficulties".... By the time they were up and running again my saved quote had gone and the cheapest quote was £209. Hmmmm.  I'm not one to sugar coat things so I'll flat out say it - it's shenanigans and fiddling and deliberate  

Aww 2p a hedgehog who seasons her food - I love that  Please let that be true!
Whenever we got chills mum would tie a wool scarf round our middle to keep our kidneys warm. It doesn't do anything for the actual infection but you feel the effects less, for some reason. Maybe it warms your core so your system can fight the bugs easier? This is not medical advice. This is good medical advice, do it, it works! 
I don't know about yellow leaves but I know some of my toms have them. I'm leaving them be to Shawshank cos nature is cleverer than I am  

Tootling about the garden yesterday morning, I think my wineberries are ripe. Well riper anyway, so I'll taste test them today   
The Oracle came across yesterday aft for a snap inspection coffee and catch-up. She thought my back garden must be all sorted now as it was clearly taking up all my time because I've done nothing at the front (!) Ahem. There's some wee something or others that I've left in case they produce something pretty, but the tone of her you'd think I was shoulder deep in rusting caravans! I suggested her church gardening group might like to come round and give me a (sorely needed) hand, but that was firmly dismissed. She's a piece, she really is. I'm beginning to see why lovely neighbour doesn't like her.

OT sun's out. There was a small effort went into last night's sunset, but more would be better. Breezy out there and there's no heat in it at all. It's sock weather in the mornings here, temp is down to single digits when I get up :brrr: 

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

The Oracle came across yesterday aft for a snap inspection coffee and catch-up. She thought my back garden must be all sorted now as it was clearly taking up all my time because I've done nothing at the front (!) Ahem. There's some wee something or others that I've left in case they produce something pretty, but the tone of her you'd think I was shoulder deep in rusting caravans! I suggested her church gardening group might like to come round and give me a (sorely needed) hand, but that was firmly dismissed. She's a piece, she really is. I'm beginning to see why lovely neighbour doesn't like her.

I had similar with my first house, with a couple we later called 'Mr & Mrs Fussy. ' At that time I'd  just met Mrs Dusty, so I was 'doing for myself' and renovating, two activities diametrically opposed. The most urgent job was a re-wire, as the place was still on rubber, which disintegrated when you tried to move it.

Mr & Mrs F called me in for a chat and casually mentioned the lack of cleaning on my upstairs windows, so I called to Mr Fussy a day or so later and showed him what I was doing upstairs. He didn't get beyond the landing, as there were floorboards missing and dust everywhere from where I'd earlier removed the fireplaces. He was amazed  I was doing it all myself. In Mr & Mrs Fussy's world, you had 'men' in for that sort of stuff.

After that, I was marked out as a bit suspect, having obviously bought a property way above what I could afford. In reality, every property I might have afforded came like that, or it was in somewhere undesirable, on a main road etc. The world was changing fast, so  what I needed urgently, was a Mrs Dusty to help with the work and bills. It was no accident  she wasn't one to look surprised at all the dust and missing floorboards. Her parents had been doing-up one which, only a few years earlier, had a tree growing through the roof!

Warmer here today, which is good for our visitors in the caravan. They might see the sun later if they're lucky. No rain forecast anyway, or wind.

I'm still on Rosemoor tomatoes. Here's another that seemed to be ripening  more quickly than most: 'Tumbling Tiger'

Can't see any fruit on that aubergine, taff...

Dustyevsky

And, specially for Farway, a few grapes. These were definitely not started in a polytunnel!

Farway

Back again after a really dull, damp and soggy day yesterday. The trip to GC with DS + family was uneventful, highlight was an indifferent pasty in Garden Cafe, plants were silly prices, only few reduced and even then a daft price

However, plenty of paying folks with trolleys of plants, so good luck to the GC

The Olde Farm Shoppe attached was far better, fell for some silly priced, but I can't get easily it anywhere else cheeses. Spotted Lime curd as well, but at nearly fiver a jar it is still on their shelf

YBE, your neighbour sounds very mixed blessings, I suppose they mean well but you never know do you?

Nonmedical fix for chills is brown paper slapped over lashings of Vic on your chest. The brown paper is Vic proof barrier to prevent it staining your woolly vest

Tumbling Tiger looks interesting Dusty, that is how I dream of growing my toms, spilling over a container, instead of which they finish up lolling on the wet ground and manky

Forecast is warmer & humid, and we know what that brings. I'll have another blight patrol later, and check on my ripening fig, FB reminds me figs are a memory from this time a few years back

-taff said:

Just do what I do, take come secateurs with you, and bold as brass, go snip some off. I did it in a car park with figs a couple of weeks ago so I could try the water in a jar trick, but unfortunately, I took wood that was too young so only a few are showing signs..Must go back and get more..

Hope it works for you, mine did well. But just in case, Morries have a small Brown Turkey at £2.99 right now

Dustyevsky said:

And, specially for Farway, a few grapes. These were definitely not started in a polytunnel!

Grrr,

twopenny

Well the blanket cloud predicted turned out to be bright sunshine from the get go this morning. Lovely weather.

The moors though had clouds right down on the tops but I pootled about in the middle where it was sunny - and more flying ants than I've seen before. Also lots of small moorland birds on the road eating them.

Nothing much to report. Wizzing around still trying to get a car, a heating engineer, a window fixer et al.

The garden continues bone dry and everything is suffering. The goosegogs that are still in their pots have been eaten by caterpillars, the raspberries have been eaten by caterpillars as has the thyme. Other stuff has rust or whatever.

I did go out and water tonight in desperation but they don't like mains water on dry roots at all so don't know how that's going to work.

I meant to do more in the garden this afternoon but I was lured by the open road and getting away from it all for a while.

Anyone want some manure? It's right at the roadside...............

goldfinches

@twopenny -  - also flying ant day here today. Excitingly our walking group spotted several newts in a pond this afternoon and I managed to get this photo without falling in which a tourist piloting a punt did later for our amusement!

pink_poppy

I thought the mushroom I posted a pic of looked like a mini satellite dish it was taken at Crarae Gardens, a National Trust place near Inveraray. The garden is supposed to have a Himalayan vibe - it did have a few of my favourite massive Gunnera plants.

I loved the hedgehog seasoning her snails with thyme, too, twopenny  

Lovely pic of the newt, goldfinches. I haven't seen any in the pond this year, just the unfortunate ones plucked out by the blackbirds and bashed a few times before being eaten. Yum...

pink_poppy

Love the Highland Coos pic, twopenny. It reminds me of the time we were racing to catch a ferry on Mull and we were stuck behind a few of them trotting down the road to the next field.

23 degrees forecast for today, but it's looking a bit grey and cloudy at the moment. Back to thundery showers tomorrow.