Awful weather - typical Brits talk

YoungBlueEyes

As it's been sat in water is it starting to produce roots? If not I'd wet the end and dip it in rooting powder and carefully plant it in compost/soil. I'm not the expert mind. I hope something works cos those sloes do look tasty How far away is the car park? Could you go snip some more bits off...?  

That's a beggar losing your nut trees 2p. Did your plums survive the storm btw?  

Pouring here but it'll not last all day they say. Actually starting to turn a bit cool as well, I've had to put socks on! The wind's getting up this morning but it'll be too much for a wash  *sigh*

twopenny

I'd give the twig another day in water somewhere cool and then rooting powder and in a pot.
Think about where they grow for soil. Car park garden is going to be poor soil, they grow on the moor here on field edges so again poor, coarse soil.
Both places exposed to all wind and weather so don't mollycoddle it too much.
I do better rooting shrubs by bunging placing them in a border outside. Farway is the pot rooting expert.
Seeds don't always grow true to the plant.
Keep in mind that the extra large sloes may be a this years fluke for some external reason. Being near a pub car park I don't like to say 

My 2 late plums Bluey? Between the storms, high winds I haven't looked. Apples still on the tree.
I got some huuuge cooking apples from someone at table tennis yesterday so chutney, pies are just the job tob tomorrow.

High winds, low temperatures and white cloud here. Heatings on for an hour. Can't holiday so I'm going to be warm. 

Gardening is out. The lawn is wringing wet. The rain and bug killer hasn't got rid of the black chive eating bugs or whatever is de-foliating my lemon thymes so I'm trying to ignore it until I have the enthusiasm for war again.

Dustyevsky

goldfinches said:

Popping my head round the door to ask for everybody's wisdom on how to root a twig from a sloe.


What do you think I should do to get it to root?

According to a well-known website: "Blackthorn can be propagated from seed, softwood cuttings, suckers or by layering. Collect seeds in autumn, store them in the fridge overwinter to provide a period of cold stratification, and then sow in spring. Branches can be layered to produce new plants and softwood cuttings taken from spring to early summer. Alternatively, suckers can be carefully severed from the parent plant, lifted and replanted in spring."

 Personally, I'd not give a lot for your chances of rooting indoors in compost, but you could give it a go. Why not and nip off some more stems to do some guerilla planting in an outdoor spot somewhere quiet, where nature could  provide suitable soil and conditions for natural rooting?

A further question I'd consider is whether having larger sloes is, in fact, better. I suppose it depends on the usage. From my POV, knowing where a reliable and accessible  supply exists is probably the most important factor. A railway embankment 3 miles away is the answer for me.

Dustyevsky

Most sources seem agreed, we shall have rain here this morning, and it will be fair to piddling in the afternoon. Looking 24 hours ahead, things seem to go downhill, pluvially speaking, so I suppose I should be grateful for today's post-lunchtime break.

I'm surprised Farway has no flowers on his Canna, not because ours is doing well, but my friend's one on the north coast  has been flowering for weeks now. Here, I think the slugs almost keep up with the growth, but it's in the most sheltered spot we have.

I didn't get the garlic planted yesterday, as there were too many distractions, including another washing-up bowl's worth of nuts. Blight has finally arrived on the outdoor toms, but the polytunnel specimens look good for a month or so yet. Cucumbers continue to go berserk, but the  remaining courgette is now struggling to fight off 5" slugs, despite the distractions of a few blue sweeties.....

Here is all we had left of Mrs Dusty's cooking for the show, and nearly all of it disappeared last night. You can see the judge nipped a wee bit out of the middle to try:

The tomatoes (Sungold) weren't entered in the show and I'm fairly sure those cooking apples weren't the ones we got a second for. Never thought of entering nuts; it's not as if we spend energy on cultivating them!

Farway

'Morning all, the planned volunteer gardening was cancelled, weather is best described as "squally", tail end of hurricane I heard, very windy with rain in the wind.

I'm saying nothing about rooting the sloe cutting, my purple hot lips borrowed from next door has gone off visiting the fiords of home and is decidedly comatose, dry and curly now

Very yummy looking flan / Quiché /tart there Dusty, can't blame the judge for having a taster of such a tasty looker

With cancelled volunteer gardening I decided to try Morries as I had a letter to post, and they have a post box as it happens, 

Very poor garden area when I arrived, empty shelving and closed, however one trundle round the inside store [reduced clearance cheese ] and as I came out they were stocking the plant area

Asked the lad doing it if there were any pansies, "dunno mate" was his response as he placed trays of pansies on the shelves . No wonder the plant section is so poor, but I suppose stacking beans or pansies pays the same minimum wage, and it's warmer inside stacking beans

I don't blame him, but when I think back to the lady who used to run the area, chalk & cheese plus a large dollop of Venture Capitalism has ruined it.

However, I did find some nice fresh ones, just delivered so as good as I'll get from there

Now they are home and settling in inside my conservatory, I'll give them a few days in there then move to a sheltered spot outside, read to plant up sometime in October

No other gardening planned for today

YoungBlueEyes

“Pluvially” - nice  How about Word of the Day now that Bee Bums has shuddered to halt? Himself would have that quiche in a New York minute  

I don’t rate Morries now. They pretty quickly went downhill when those …err… large dark stone folks got their claws into it  Old Ken will be turning in his grave. It’s a shame and disgrace. 

I took the jalopy for a run to town cos they have a tescos and I’m almost sorry I bothered. When did you have to hold so many prices in your head in case you missed a bargain/promo? You’ve a price for a thing but you go 3 aisles over and in the fridge end bit there’s nearly the same thing but a different price! Grrr :an:angry: I’ll be back to Aldi+Lidl on Friday, that’s for sure. Mind they did have different plants in their car park and a couple of things eventually stuck. So I’ve more Lambs Ears ( not sure I got a good bit but I was trying to be quick) and a few rosehips. The bush still had flowers on it and they smelled amazing, so I need to do something with them now. Research needed. 

Your pansy story made me giggle Farway. It’s a sin to laugh at others but jeeez!  

OT sun was out a wee bit there and it was really quite warm. Clouding over now like, more rain for a couple of hours then a nice evening. Says Ventusky. Might have to add the beeb app too if that’s a good one. 

ArbitraryRandom

A local stray cat had a kitten in my bathroom last October (this is on topic, I promise) and she didn't get to go out until March or so - after she was fixed and it was a bit lighter in the day. 

This has resulted in a cat who has never really experienced the concept of closed windows... or been outside in autumn/winter; and as a result has been mightily disgruntled by the recent unrelenting precipitation (see, on topic!). My older cat is merrily ignoring the situation and using the cat flap.

I can't wait to see how she responds to snow.


 

wort

2p it’s in the ground now! It’s sink or swim here, although at the moment given all the rain it may be swimming!😂

wort

@ArbitraryRandom that is one beautiful cat 🐱 you’ve got there. They can be so funny.
I could not see any of the caterpillar critters so cut off any eaten leaves and will check again in a week or two.
it’s been persisting down all day and 2more days of it too maybe more!  That’s my days off scuppered, gawd knows how I’ll get my work uniform washed and dry before Friday. X

goldfinches

twopenny said:

I'd give the twig another day in water somewhere cool and then rooting powder and in a pot.
Think about where they grow for soil. Car park garden is going to be poor soil, they grow on the moor here on field edges so again poor, coarse soil.
Both places exposed to all wind and weather so don't mollycoddle it too much.
I do better rooting shrubs by bunging placing them in a border outside. Farway is the pot rooting expert.
Seeds don't always grow true to the plant.
Keep in mind that the extra large sloes may be a this years fluke for some external reason. Being near a pub car park I don't like to say 

My 2 late plums Bluey? Between the storms, high winds I haven't looked. Apples still on the tree.
I got some huuuge cooking apples from someone at table tennis yesterday so chutney, pies are just the job tob tomorrow.

High winds, low temperatures and white cloud here. Heatings on for an hour. Can't holiday so I'm going to be warm. 

Gardening is out. The lawn is wringing wet. The rain and bug killer hasn't got rid of the black chive eating bugs or whatever is de-foliating my lemon thymes so I'm trying to ignore it until I have the enthusiasm for war again.

Well, that made me hoot with laughter and think you could be on to something too. The tree was behind the stone gate post at the entrance to the car park so quite possibly a natural pausing place! I know it isn't likely to be successful but thought I'd take a chance and if I do manage to get the twig to root and grow on then I could plant it out a little nearer to home and further away from traffic fumes. We'll see.