Awful weather - typical Brits talk

ArbitraryRandom

I'm now avoiding doing something in the house, so I've done something in the garden today  

I've done my best to manually pollinate the two female squash flowers - It's been incredibly wet here, which I understand is bad for pollen, and the females were starting to close before there was a suitable male open, so not sure how long it'll be before I know if I was successful. There's some other females and males on the plant that I'll leave to nature (could be lucky if we have a warm/dry September) but I wanted to give these two at least a shot. 

Second thing I've done is raked a couple of square meters of the 'lawn' area and sown my yellow rattle. Again, not sure how it'll take as the grass is very enthusiastic. I could barely do a stroke with the rake before it was full of old thatch, but hopefully I did enough that there's some good earth contact. 

I've got a little bit left and I've got it mixed with some other random seeds I've picked up (like poppy, cornflower, clover etc) and I'll scatter that in a different bit of the garden this afternoon if the rain lets up again. 

On the topic that's been dancing around, it makes me a little uncomfortable, because I agree we should be open to different views and information; but I think it's also important to be critical of that information and not just accept it because we're being 'open' or because it 'feels' right... being critical or pointing out where somethings actually not as simple as it's being made out isn't (IMO) a bad thing and is something we should all be doing with info from any source (not just small YouTubers or big media outlets). 

But to end on a lighter note:

Despite their reputation, hornets don't have a mean bone in their bodies. They have mean exoskeletons.

Farway

Quick pop in, I'd crossed posted with Dusty with his tomato pics, my those Balcony Yellow are doing well, far better than their cousins in Hampshire, maybe better growing conditions and grower [coughs & shuffles feet]

Next thing is more dahlia dead heading, I have one from seed that looks promising, it's not yet flowered but has nicely cut leaves & large bud just waiting

OT, by coincidence, I have just been watching a YT vid on conspiracy theories that came true

Oh and LessI, wrong Buster Crabbe , try this one https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-30130547

Dustyevsky

LessImpecunious said:

Dustyevsky said:

You folk seem more open-minded  than most of my friends. Had a phone call from one who now lives 40 miles distant to say she and her OH have just caught the lurgy for the third time. She “can't understand it.” I suggested they listen to the latest outpourings from the Centres For Disease Control via Dr C....but she won't, any more than she looked at info I gave her 3 years ago.

And, since I usually just lurk and don't often post, thought I ought to contribute a photo - most exciting insect of the summer - a hornet which has been hunting flies on my marjoram - somewhat hidden by foliage in centre of shot - it was stinging its prey (completely hidden - yes sorry it's a rubbish photo...) before shooting off with it at high speed presumably to feed to its young.

Not a rubbish photo at all, given I've been trying (and failing) to get even a snap of our hornets all summer. I will hover around the marjoram a little more, perhaps! Same goes for PP's damselfly; they don't hang about when you want them to either!

OT. The rain has slowly drifted away and we have sunshine. There's still a big lump of rain heading our way, but the cider-imbibers clearly think it will come to a halt and miss us. Looking at the way the winds are going every which way around us, they might even be right.

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

So you got your polytunnel sorted then Dusty? One job off the list eh. Don’t those toms look happy. And blight-less. Are you the only one of us who managed not to get it..?

Sadly, no. Polytunnel is there and we'll get the doors on ,I'm sure, but there's been a major glitch with the most basic part: the soil. I may only have said this privately, but Mrs Dusty and our digger man out-voted me, so many tonnes of soil were dumped inside the tunnel to 'help' me construct the beds. Digger man then used his initiative, and, unbeknownst to me, spread it out and ran his road roller over it too for good measure. It was a nice thought!!! 

The result is very hard packed soil, at the correct height, but like concrete, and there's nowhere to put all the good soil from the old beds, which I want to mix in. So. I'm working on it, and it's why those toms are in pots.

Outdoors, we're still blight-free. I don't know why. Those toms were a bit of an afterthought and they've been knocked round, but they're still producing.

ArbitraryRandom

Dustyevsky said:

YoungBlueEyes said:

So you got your polytunnel sorted then Dusty? One job off the list eh. Don’t those toms look happy. And blight-less. Are you the only one of us who managed not to get it..?

Sadly, no. Polytunnel is there and we'll get the doors on ,I'm sure, but there's been a major glitch with the most basic part: the soil. I may only have said this privately, but Mrs Dusty and our digger man out-voted me, so many tonnes of soil were dumped inside the tunnel to 'help' me construct the beds. Digger man then used his initiative, and, unbeknownst to me, spread it out and ran his road roller over it too for good measure. It was a nice thought!!! 

The result is very hard packed soil, at the correct height, but like concrete, and there's nowhere to put all the good soil from the old beds, which I want to mix in. So. I'm working on it, and it's why those toms are in pots.

Outdoors, we're still blight-free. I don't know why. Those toms were a bit of an afterthought and they've been knocked round, but they're still producing.

The only positive there is that it's mechanical compaction, rather than any issue with the soil itself... so once you get it broken up (where are those children when you need them!) then you're hopefully sorted  

YoungBlueEyes

Ah Dusty, 1 step forward 2 steps back eh.   

Less here’s the Buster Crabb page I’ve just read. It’s the one Farway linked to a few days/pages ago. Really interesting and a good mystery, I’m not surprised it captured the public’s imagination. 

https://www.historynet.com/the-frogman-who-vanished-what-happened-to-the-royal-navys-most-celebrated-diver-lionel-buster-crabb/

I agree with you there Arb (I’m on my phone and chopping quotes about is too hard 🙄). New info or new people should be held to account and fact checked no matter their outlet or the money behind them. Big boys with squillions of £££££ or millions followers are no more exempt from scrutiny than 2 fellahs on yootoob, all info is up for debate and scrutiny in my book. Info should be backed up with stats, which should be easily accessible by anyone with an interest. And that goes for any topic actually. And that’s all I have to say about that (because I really don’t want to be the reason this thread gets taken down, and I don’t want banning either!) 

So here’s some cheer and another mystery. Yesterday’s plantings, and the bulbs that are coming up 

Mysteries - I tootled round the charity shops today, and these were 50p each so I lifted them. No labels or names or help from the till boy other than “well they’re just little plants aren’t they” *sigh*

The little oddment at 3o’clock in the right hand pot looks like a nettle but isn’t pulling out easily at all, so I’ve left it in

ArbitraryRandom

Does the one on the left look like a spoon jade, or is it just the pink edged leaves throwing me off?

Edit: https://www.gardens4you.co.uk/crassula-portulacea-gollum-jade.html

The lovely silvery one looks like it could be a ghost plant (Graptopetalum paraguayense).

Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graptopetalum_paraguayense

YoungBlueEyes

I’ll have a look at those links, thanks Arb  I’ll take another pic of them tomorrow if the sun comes out, maybe better light would be a help? 

YoungBlueEyes

Both of those links look like winners to me 😊 And the first link is the answer to what’s growing in my front window. I bought a diddy wee thing in a pot years ago, for the pot, and it’s quite big now. Spoon Jade 👏🏻

pink_poppy

ArbitraryRandom said:

Lovely damselfly picture - I think it's an immature female Common Blue, taking on her colour from tail to tip.

I'm amazed you spotted her mixed in with that camouflaged body  

Thanks for the ID, AR. I actually thought it was a dragonfly - shows what I know  

She was flying around me before she landed on the brambles, that's the only way I spotted her.