Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

. Plenty of yellowing leaves outside, looks like summer is now over

The joy of being in a place where spring comes late, is that autumn is similar.

Saw about 30 -40 swallows on the wires at the weekend, so they are thinking of leaving. I'm always sad when that happens.The emptiness is palpable. Being a bit soppy, I have been known to shed the odd tear, then.

YoungBlueEyes

True Farway. It could’ve been dearer than it was cos that was it’s first full service in 3 years so even though it was a bunch of money it coulda been worse.  I’ll bfb the roses and see what transpires. Do dahlias take long putting makeup on…? 

Hope you have a lovely day at the beach 2p, if your weather’s like mine it’ll be perfect 

”An hour’s compulsory chinwag” made my heart smile Dusty. I’ve my fingers crossed for your mot 🤞🏻

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

”An hour’s compulsory chinwag” made my heart smile Dusty. I’ve my fingers crossed for your mot 🤞🏻

Thanks.  Not sure if it worked. Report reads: Welding OSR, welding NSR, probably a lot of welding round tow-bar, awful headlights, SRS system warning light on.

Apart from that wonderful!

They're booked up and don't like welding, but gave me details of a man who does. He's some distance away. I've dropped-in on another man who is very honest and may do the job, but not until he can get it on the ramp and price it properly....tomorrow. Even then, he's not sure if he can get that blimmin light to go out! I know a garage who can, but they're the one I've stopped using. Doh!

So, curate's egg. May be OK in the end, or I could easily spend £1k + Either way, it's a lovely day here, just like June out there.

I must go photograph the sheep and see how my last to open dahlia is doing. Hope it gives Farway's a bit of competition!

ArbitraryRandom

Sorry YBE. 

If it's any consolation, now you know what you're looking for then it's something you can manage. The adults tend to only lay eggs in young growth, and if you can catch them when it's still just that thin line then most of the time you can crush them before they hatch without harming the plant/needing to remove any stems. With the caterpillars, if you disturb them then they can drop to the ground to hide, so worth having a look at the base of the plant. 

I think there's also types of sawfly that lay eggs in leaves, and apples but I've not come across those myself. 

YoungBlueEyes

Well if that’s your selection I’d wait for tomorrow ramp man. Or just pull whatever wee cable is powering that light ha haa! 

Yep it’s all a learning curve Arb, so even the bad stuff is useful. I’m gonna start a notebook with all these bits in, try and keep myself straight. What will I do if they’re round the base…? Dig them out with my fingernail or wait for their predator to spot the holes…? 

I’m looking for something pretty in my not-doing-much-now garden to get a pic up before the gorgeous dahlias appear. It’s slim pickings apart from my cosmos… How about this?

Farway

YoungBlueEyes said:

Well if that’s your selection I’d wait for tomorrow ramp man. Or just pull whatever wee cable is powering that light ha haa! 

Yep it’s all a learning curve Arb, so even the bad stuff is useful. I’m gonna start a notebook with all these bits in, try and keep myself straight. What will I do if they’re round the base…? Dig them out with my fingernail or wait for their predator to spot the holes…? 

I’m looking for something pretty in my not-doing-much-now garden to get a pic up before the gorgeous dahlias appear. It’s slim pickings apart from my cosmos… How about this?

I spy Bee Bum

ArbitraryRandom

YBE - I'd chuck them in your green waste (like you did). If you just leave them then they'll climb back up the plant and start munching again. You can (I think) use an insecticide on the soil around the base of the plants in early spring (they overwinter as they transform to adult flies), but I'm not that fussed about the roses and don't have them too bad, plus I like other insects that also live in the soil  

In other news, I had a builder over today to quote for some of the landscaping work in my garden (shed base at the end, patio near the house and I also asked for a price for some raised beds and replacing that darn fence at the front just to see what it'll cost). Farway, I mentioned your suggestion (feels like ages ago now) about the micro digger, and he nodded, so that's hopeful  

I'm now waiting on being emailed a quote in the next week or to. I've got some cash on one side but I have no idea how much these kinds of things cost so not sure I can get it all done in one go (I always get nervous when they spontaneously start talking about the price of materials these days), but the guy was quite happy to price things individually so we'll see if I need to get half done now then the rest in 6 months. 

Anyone have any ballpark numbers for me while I wait - We're talking a 3x10m patio (probably concrete slabs or whatever's a good price at the supplier), a 3x6m concrete slab base, and a day of a mini digger, plus the labour. I'd ballparked c.£10k in my head, but that was based on pre-pandemic work on a property in a different part of the country. 

YoungBlueEyes

Yup Bee Bum I think we could a mini-series on that topic alone! 

I’m not against insecticides but I’d rather not just for this one thing. I don’t want to be killing all and sundry to make sure I kill any critters that might have dropped… I’ve had a take about in the soil with my hands and I don’t think there’s anyone in there. I’ll keep an eye out for freshly eaten leaves. 

I can’t picture what you’re having done Arb but it sounds kinda sorta similar to ours. I’ll ask himself about figures when he gets in from work. IIRC we were getting quotes of £4/5k ish ish to do the whole thing, which is why we did it ourselves! I can tell you the patio is about your size but we bought 35m2 of slabs cos that made it free delivery. They’re Kandla Indian Sandstone and come in grey or creamy/beigey colour.  Recommended by quite a few lads at himself’s work, his boss had literally just done his patio with it. 

ArbitraryRandom

Thanks YBE, that's reassuring - I paid about £4k for a patio slightly further north, but that 5 years ago now and I know inflation has hit both materials and labour costs so I'm fearing the worst  I might PM you for details of that stone after the quote comes in if that's okay? 

This is the 'diagram' I'm currently working to (allowing the trees aren't actually planted yet so might be in different places or just different and the tbc part wasn't in the quote I just asked for) 1 square is equal to roughly a metre: 

twopenny

I've got the cheap cream concrete ones.
I look longingly at the smart stuff but these look warm & sunny in winter and are non slip in wet so again ever practical.
Not as big as yours but I had path all round, small patio and steps put in for under £3,000 by an ace building firm.
I guess it may depend on what they are replacing or setting new.
Materials have levelled off in price even to sales on. I think they took the 'prices going up' a tad too far plus demand has fallen because of the crunch. 
Fingers crossed for you.

Dusty, your van sounds like my car.

Gee relaxing has become difficult but I got half an afternoon to unwind. May try same tomorrow but shoulders no longer round ears and post didn't bring more bills so small steps.

Weather by the way was sunny, cloudy, sunny with an east wind that dropped as the tide came in.

Gardening still on hold. The ground is still dry as we've had so little rain
Tomatoes still growing and a handful of beans because I haven't cut them dow yet.
I guess I should go out and water.