Awful weather - typical Brits talk

YoungBlueEyes

No wait, I wanna change my answer. We need proper hard frosts or we won’t get good brussel  sprouts! 

-taff

errr...I didn't see your edit wellies...I'm impressed at the dedication to stealth though! And I laughed too....

Dustyevsky

The best way to grow trees from seed is to plant lots, protect from rodents and then leave them somewhere not too exposed or shaded and let them do what happens naturally. The old fridge winter trick sometimes works, but it isn't infallible in my experience. Here, I just look to see what comes up in the spring, with oak, rowan, hazel, spindle, ash holly and others propagating themselves freely. We won't talk about the constant battle with cherries!

Heucheras are very accommodating; a bit too much when in pots when vine weevils are about. For those of you in that situation, along with primulas, fuchsias etc now is the hour to strike with a re-pot or chemical attack. Nematodes? Maybe, but it might get too cold soon. They're tricky to time. I think I got the last couple of bottles of the nasty stuff on eBay at £10.something; they're now £13.something most places , making repotting a better option, perhaps.

Absent yesterday, and maybe the rest of today too due to workload, but reading along. 

Here's a photo of my one cucumber on the manure heap. It's 'Konsa' from Lidl. I reckon it made at least 50 ! They're still OK, but I'm now feeding most of them to the hens.

YoungBlueEyes

I’ve watched the vid taff, gawd she took no care doing at all did she She’s my kinda gardener. Mine are nowhere near that stage yet like but I reckon I can manage that when the time comes Also it turns out I’ve been pronouncing it wrong - I’ve been saying hoo-CHAIR-a. Her way sounds nicer. 

Farway

Nice hot sunshine, poor DGC on her horticulture apprenticeship near Aberdeen, it's tipping down and 10C colder, amber weather etc. That'll learn 'er.

Vine weevils, too late Dusty, they've already scoffed the roots of the primulas. I knew it was going to be a bad year despite my using VW killer earlier in the year, founds lots of leaf munching going on and have now decided s0d it, I can't keep spending out on uphill struggle, so they can eat until they run out of roots starve themselves

Which is why I gave up on heucheras, the VW even ate them in the open ground

Taff, I follow her on YT as well, very down to earth, no pun intended

Went up the volunteer border watering early on, with the global boiling week ahead I didn't want the new pansies to suffer, they have settled in now & I have same Happy Pansy Face photos. Thanks for the £2 pansy update 2P, I'm hoping to get up to Morries midweek so will get a pack then

Had a smile at Wellies tale, new gardening shoes required? I have a pair of rubber clog type things from the Middle of Lidl, previously it was a pair of old Work boots with steel toe caps, they went on for years

YoungBlueEyes said:

Lovely and mild here, and less humid than it has been. Back to little cotton tops and linen trousers! In October! If this is cos of that Global Boiling I'll take it.

That's the problem the clever quick panic emergency people have, everyone else reckons if it becomes like Barcelona what's the problem?

Here's my Autumn cobweb & drying bean photo, idea shamelessly nicked from 2P

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

Vine weevils, too late Dusty, they've already scoffed the roots of the primulas.

Had a smile at Wellies tale, new gardening shoes required? I have a pair of rubber clog type things from the Middle of Lidl, previously it was a pair of old Work boots with steel toe caps, they went on for years

YoungBlueEyes said:

Lovely and mild here, and less humid than it has been. Back to little cotton tops and linen trousers! In October! If this is cos of that Global Boiling I'll take it.

That's the problem the clever quick panic emergency people have, everyone else reckons if it becomes like Barcelona what's the problem?

If this place becomes like Barcelona, I suppose the worry is the Barcelonans will want to come here, but then, they already have....though mostly from a bit south and east of there.|It's not going too well in Llanelli, mind. Like us here in the Mangelwurzel  triangle, there's too much rain, Then there's the cultural identity thing, which says if you're from 10 miles up the B3227, you'm a bl**y foreigner!  I should know, I am!

Had a good chuckle at wellies' story. It took me back to my 40s, when I didn't go to many funerals or wear black shoes. Unfortunately, on the day my aunt was interred in Woking, the antique pair of Clark's pasties I'd found in the back of the wardrobe began to disintegrate on the M4 somewhere around Egham. I won't go into all the insanity that followed. However, we seriously blotted our copybook by skidding into the church car park sideways in a shower of gravel at the very solemn moment the coffin was being unloaded from the hearse. That was bad enough, but then I stepped out of the car to reveal the true awfulness of our family's poverty-stricken situation....Yes, both shoes bound together with bright blue electrical tape!   

'Tis still very sunny here and I'm skiving. Best go back and pick up behind Mrs Dusty, who's wielding the hedge trimmer.

-taff

This is the unlovelieness of the stuff chucked on the bed, accompanied by the pots I've put on the edge that were drowning in trays. I was cleaning something in the garden before I went away too hence the sponge...there's another one lurking somewhere too. The holly in the pot I found when we were digging up the back f the garden, it was as big as my little fingernail, it's come on a bit since.

This is the terribly treated heuchera, with a bought sea holly and a gifted hypericum [needs potting on or sticking in the ground but I've been away so didn't have time] and possibly some living rosemary cuttings

But this, this I was not expecting, I was hoping but hope sometimes wins...I saw the cuttings from the heuchera and I thought, well, the leaves and stems are hairy like tomatoes, I wonder if they'll take and throw out roots like tomatoes would and lo and behold...they actually do! So tis will make 'ahem' acquiring cuttings much easier in the future....

YoungBlueEyes

The problem is do Barcelona weather people grow good brussel sprouts I spose I could live without them. I’d rather not, like… 

I’ve 3 bins but only 2 spiders, my green bin (landfill stuff) is receptacle non grata evidently - 

Anyway what I actually popped on to say was - 

Ring ring, ring ring. Hello is that IrnBru? Ah hello. Right I’m on the brink of digging up actual girders now so will you send a man to collect? Thanks so much. Bye! 

(50p for scale). 

ArbitraryRandom

It's been a hectic few weeks for me, both domestically and on the work front so I've not had the headspace to think about putting it into words.

I'm going to chuck some pictures on 'my' thread when I get them sorted, but as a quick run down both the hedges at the front have been removed, fences put in and a small pit lined with flag stones for my dwarf fig (little miss figgy). About 6m one side and roughly 11 on the other - both together all in cost £3k-ish 

For anyone interested, this was the original quote for what I asked for (which then changed, as originally I was only doing one side at the front, and likely will change again before I'm done): 



The builder is coming back after he's finished another job in about 4 weeks to take out the hedge on one side of the garden at the back (regaining me at least 2 foot of space on my side of the 80 foot boundary!) at the neighbour's request. While he's doing that, he'll dig out the end of the garden to clear out the brambles and prepare it for the shed base.

Budget wise he's probably then going to come back in February to do the concrete slab and raised bed. Patio is going to have to wait a bit as I'm not sure the utility is worth the cost to me. 

Dustyevsky

in_my_wellies said:

Dusty, I thought the GC had a small outside plant selling area; smaller than I expected when viewed from the road, however, there is a good mix and appear in good condition. Actually, my local GC has a larger plant area but has tables/benches with big displays of the same plant. Hen food £2.40 bag cheaper in Devon so stocked up (my friend is looking after my hens)

I'll try to pop in during the next month or so, preferably without Mrs Dusty, as she's liable to veer off towards the Christmas decorations at this time of year!

I noticed layers' pellets were a bit cheaper last time I bought some. Petrol and diesel are also cheaper here than in Somerset and down in the south of the county. I suppose it's because we're the poor relation to those areas and maybe show a little more 'consumer resistance.'

Funnily enough, yesterday afternoon we took a bit of time out to chat with some of our non-hostile neighbours. Apart from learning some interesting things, one couple also mentioned the new GC and said how much they enjoyed the food! Apparently, one had a cream tea, and the other, crab cakes. Maybe they struck lucky.

Today's lovely, calm and sunshiny day here was totally wasted in cutting grass and clearing-up behind Mrs Dusty's relentless hedge trimming. I have a nasty feeling tomorrow may go the same way too.

in_my_wellies said:

Taff, you grew a tree - I'm impressed!

I thought I'd grown a tree. It came up in a pot. I thought, ”That's a Paulownia!” gave it its own pot and promptly forgot about it. 

Today I found my 'Paulownia.' It's now about 30cm tall and it isn't what I thought it was, having a small yellow flower. It looks like a member of the potato family rather than a tree. I suspect bird food!