Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Farway

It's hot already, watering will be a must later

Arbs, pics, rose, crab & crab. Crab apples come in all types, Laura is similar inside to last pic, but there is a huge, desert apple sized red fruited one on a roadside near here, very red inside as well. 

One year I included them in some apple wine, nice red tinge , awful wine though .

My red pears, I think they are whatever passes for ripe, slight change colour & a bit softer at the neck. I'm sampling one for lunch and will report back

All apples have now been picked, there are a few where the birds have had a go, so I'll stew those before they go off, the rest will keep a bit

My thornless blackberry where I thought I had two types on one plant, further investigation shows I have an interloper, maybe a self seeder? Its roots are down the back of what was once a waterfall [glass fibre], the fruit is bullet hard & sharp, not nice at all. It is thornless though. I think come winter I may have a bash at removing it

My dahlia cutting, the posh orange one, is flowering, initially I took three cuttings and only one made it this far, but it's free so fine by me

Ferns 2P, quite easy to germinate and unusual life cycle, the baby ones are not like ferns, a bit like caterpillar to butterfly. My garden is damp in parts so I get ferns popping up in all sorts of cracks, Harts Tongue has arrived from somewhere and loves it here

I think ferns are one of the unsung wonders, plenty of interest and even colour if chosen wisely. I now have to go and take some photos, of course.

Dustyevsky said:

Looking at Arb's pics reminds me, it's been a good year for wild fruits. I'll try to get a picture of some hawthorns we have, or the rowan that's bending under the weight of berries. There's a good crop of hazelnuts too.

Yep, I was just thinking the same, here's my pyracantha, blackbirds are on standby now they have finished biting my apples. Bottom left is next door red dahlia

YoungBlueEyes

Ooh that's a belter Farway, should keep your blackies happy! (Grr grumble mumble chunter ) 

Would your pears ripen if you sat them with a ripe banana? 

Right gotta go break himself's face. He's borrowed a boy from work to come cut slabs, knowing I've the Oracle round at 11 for coffee! 

twopenny

Thanks Farway. I guess if they don't look like ferns I'll plonk carefully place the frond on a pot of soil for the winter. Then I won't mistake them like I did 3yrs into growing Agapanthus from seed and hoe them off.

Getting out a blackberry root, even thornless, is not a job I'd relish. Got to admit I cut the ones here down to the root and treated that cut with something.

Dusty, you are forever out and about! Are you taking you little friend from the photo with you?

Bluey, always good to watch someone else doing the graft while tenderly offering mugs of tea/cold beer etc.

My day off from the plumber has turned into one of those where I'm tired out and was hampered by my 'ailment' so scuppered all plans for a good time. It's just lovely to sit in the cool and doze. No loud music, machines, questions. I'll just lounge here and ignore the pressure washer waiting, the lawn growing and the beach. It will all still be there tomorrow.

Weather - this mornings forcasts was for wall to wall sunshine (Beeb) and wall to wall cloud (Met).......it's wall to wall cloud, a tiny smattering of rain, no wind and hot/humid but beach or moors will deal with that.

So today Met 1/won.

Dustyevsky

ArbitraryRandom said:

Dustyevsky said:

It is a Ferret, though a 'polecat' variety. Ferrets get a bad press. If they're 'brung up proper' they don't usually bite, and they're always either asleep or up for a game. They travel well compared with most dogs and cats. That one's going on holiday soon, and a little bird tells me it'll be doing part of the NC 500.

OT: 21c here at 09.00 and a humid misty start. Not planning anything in the polytunnel today!

 then, emerging from the fog, a hissing ferret, with its back arched, was running at me!

Long story short, I legged it. My parents didn't believe me when I said I was attacked by a wild beast (I didn't know if it was a polecat or maybe even a mink - and to my brain it was around breeding season so not impossible something was feeling territorial), but it turned up in the garden later and my dad picked it up. It belonged to the neighbour and had escaped. Apparently it was hungry, and when ferrets want to be picked up they arch and hiss (which doesn't seem at all intuitive to me). It enjoyed a raw egg (very messy!) then dad took it home.

Ours don't hiss, but they chatter when excited, and arch their backs. I once had a wild mink use me as a ladder to run into a big riverside tree. Mink aren't noted for climbing, but they're a damn sight better than a dog, which was two milliseconds behind it!

Dustyevsky

twopenny said:

Getting out a blackberry root, even thornless, is not a job I'd relish. Got to admit I cut the ones here down to the root and treated that cut with something.

Dusty, you are forever out and about! Are you taking you little friend from the photo with you?

Our close neighbour, who's weird but not much bother, grows bramble through the leylandii barrier from his side and there's no way to get at their roots. This year, however, I  applied a particular chemical treatment to them when they stuck out of the top. 'Bingo!' they stopped right where they were, so no 8' fronds waving about, waiting to attack as I go down the side entrance!

I'm not going to Scotland, 2p, that's the young folk who live with me. They're taking the wee guy. He'll be no bother. I'Mrs dusty and I will get to look after his two buddies.

Our girls are still bottom of the pecking order, Bluey. No carnage, so long as they defer respectfully to the others. Things may change when they're fully adult, but the bigger black one's a total wuss! Grey is smart....well, for a chicken!

No rain here, but humid and grey.

I think it was 2p who posted a scarecrow pic a while ago and I meant to post this one then, but I don't think I did. It fooled me the first time. Picture's not very good, but I shouldn't have taken it anyway!   Sorry if it is a repeat.

Dustyevsky

Oo-er, looks like thunderstorm for PP! Feels like there should be one here too, but no sign on my app thing.

I chased a hornet around this afternoon, so I might have a photo of it. There again, I might not. I've definitely taken  some nice shots of berries. They don't move about much.

pink_poppy

Haha, how did you know?! Yep, we got a real rumbly thunder and lightning storm, with torrential rain, just as I finished work!!

Dustyevsky

pink_poppy said:

Haha, how did you know?! Yep, we got a real rumbly thunder and lightning storm, with torrential rain, just as I finished work!!

I'm not psychic. Just another useful weather app:

https://www.lightningmaps.org/#m=oss;t=3;s=0;o=0;b=24.90;ts=0;y=52.4596;x=-2.4197;z=5;d=2;dl=2;dc=0;tr=1;

pink_poppy

Ooh, another handy website I didn't know existed  

It started getting dark, probably about 5.30 pm, followed by ominous rumbles of thunder and flashes of lightning. The heavy rain started a couple of minutes before I was about to finish work. Bloomin' typical. At least there'll be no watering of the pots to do tonight. 

Ps just looked outside after seeing an orange glow on the living room wall - looks like it's going to be a cracking sunset tonight  

twopenny

Just hot and sultry here and for the forseeable.

Thought about mowing the lawn or sticking in some plants that are struggling in the heat but so am I. Even the top of the moors it's hot and humid.

Sadly no sign of a thunderstorm, dark early from the dense cloud and not a breath of air.

We did have a 'shower' this morning which was like someone flicking wet fingers but covered all the cars in redish mud flecks.

I think everything in the garden is going to have to take their chances until tomorrow.

I love the live thunderstorm sites. Especially tracking one coming towards you.

But still, counting the seconds between rumbles is still as good a way as any to gauge where it's going.

Just for the fun of it (could be a scarecrow) this made me chuckle