Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Eenymeeny

I like the tinge of pink on that Fuchsia, Dusty, so pretty and delicate. I fell for a couple of bush fuchsias this year. Star Wars and Delta's Sarah. Lovely colours but I was hoping for about three foot in height rather than the five foot height described on some sites, I tend to chop fuchsias down each year so hopefully I can restrain them!
Here's a poor picture of the Hawkshead. We'd lifted the skirt of a big conifer and filled the space underneath temporarily with container plants. It's looking a lot better now that it's rooted in the soil!

ArbitraryRandom

YoungBlueEyes said:

Well unless 'there's no reason this isn't working so why isn't it working...? I bet I can make it work. What did I do with that bit of plastic/string/bubblewrap/unusually long half rusty nail that I've been keeping these last 11 years for no discernible reason, that'll do the job' counts as creative. In which case it's 3 for 3 ha haa!

I would call that the best kind of creative - it's basically seeing the possible  

YoungBlueEyes

Thanks Arb

#HeathRobinsonLivesOn

Dustyevsky

Eenymeeny said:

I like the tinge of pink on that Fuchsia, Dusty, so pretty and delicate. I fell for a couple of bush fuchsias this year. Star Wars and Delta's Sarah. Lovely colours but I was hoping for about three foot in height rather than the five foot height described on some sites, I tend to chop fuchsias down each year so hopefully I can restrain them!
Here's a poor picture of the Hawkshead. We'd lifted the skirt of a big conifer and filled the space underneath temporarily with container plants. It's looking a lot better now that it's rooted in the soil!

I lost 2 Delta Sarahs this year, so she didn't take to me. Mrs Dusty has one in the porch, riddled with aphids, so that might be a job for me today, to put it where the wren will find it. You need something tolerant to light up that area under the conifer, but it should be a good site if you feed a bit. My pictured fuchsia is under an oak and a vine, but it's had no attention and now I feel guilty, because it's too late to feed!

Sorry, Bluey, my movements are being monitored until Friday by the other inhabitants of this establishment, so a wild party is out of the question. Friday I might get out for a perambulation of some sort, but that's too late for you, jetting off to the Emerald Isle, and the forecast for here isn't great.

They can still be wrong, though. After convincing  me the morning would be dull, the Exeter crew failed to mention the sunshine we're having now.

Farway

Woke this morning to a deluge, seem Isle of Wight & me were under Yellow Rain warning , always dodgy. It's stopped now & sun is creeping out

Dustyevsky said:

In other news, the car is not quite as bad as I feared, though certain things that are useful, like brakes, need some input. There are a few niggly faults, like a split gaiter, and a ball joint. That's normal. Anyway, with the usual discount scheme, it may come out the right side of £500, so I'll need a few trips to the fast vanishing ATMs.

Ah, that takes me back, creaking joints at every corner. My age is showing because with my first car, Anglia, it was regular greasing nipples that stopped bad things from happening

Still have the grease gun and ball joint cracker in my garage if anyone wants to borrow them

No gardening today, too wet and soggy to do anything

YoungBlueEyes said:

Trumpets for your bin Farway! Parp prp prp prp parp parp parp paarrpp! Has the refilling process begun in earnest? 

Proper twinkly starry sky here first thing too, it felt kinda weird cos it wasn't cold enough to be so starry itms. No ISS though

Not yet, today I was going to wheel the bin around the back to get ready, but as above, too wet to start on that, and wet all week, allegedly. Next clearance though is more of the buddleia, and if the birds have scoffed the pyracantha berries by then, a quick hack at that

No stars here, just rain . There's a cracking photo of ISS in front of the moon, now that takes some planning, and needs more than a mobile with a flat battery

https://petapixel.com/2023/01/06/photographer-captures-stunning-shot-of-iss-crossing-moons-crater/

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

The July 2023 hose on the not-your-old-nursery site is quite nice imo. I might've built it the other way round though, side on to the road cos then you'd get sunrises and sunsets streaming in the windows. I see what you mean about the height of it... well these things never go wrong until they do eh.

It's a very nice house and I suspect it may be orientated to suit the solar panels. Personally, I like east-west orientation, because a decent length of north side is good in summer when the south side gets too warm. If I'd been building that house I'd have raised it another 0.5m It would have given a better view and peace of mind, but who knows, perhaps the planners set a maximum height? Our very posh neighbours 1/4 mile west of here were told their new building could only be about 5.5m high. Mind you, they built it to 7.3m, stuck another floor in and got away with it!

YoungBlueEyes

Well make sure you enjoy every drop of MY sunshine Dusty, and I'll battle on here with your dullness  

That is a cracking shot of the ISS Farway. He deserved it mind when you read about the rig he set up to get it  

YoungBlueEyes

Here’s the clematis I was talking about. And yes it is held up with an old clothes peg I’ve had maybe 5 or 6 years sat in a drawer because the spring went all funny and slack for absolutely no reason. 

twopenny

Now that's a good idea with the clothes peg Bluey.

I've been using the new large plastic sort for all sorts of jobs around the house. Blooming brilliant they are.

Hold up foil attached to blind to deflect the sun (if you can remember what that is), pin back curtains and blinds when painting, just about anything that needs attaching temporarily. The only thing I don't use them for is pegging out washing  

On the upside, the paving treatment seems to be working and is a joy. My green miserable alley is now glowing with the look of summer. Must get around to the rest but you need drying time without rain so it's going to be a while.

Seem to have lost the before photo! But it was really green. This stuff keeps working for up to 12mts.

But on a brighter side here's one that made me smile - problem is only one reason for lambs near Christmas time

Forcast was rain all day but it's still dry if chilly and cloudy. Same 'rain' for the forseeable.

As I have baskets loads to go to the tip recycling centre I may dead head the rose arch if it keeps dry.

Otherwise it's trying to organise the gas, electric, water, wifi still now they've all decided that everyone has smart phones. If you don't then it's like trying to untangle knitting wool.

Eenymeeny

Dustyevsky said:

Eenymeeny said:

I like the tinge of pink on that Fuchsia, Dusty, so pretty and delicate. I fell for a couple of bush fuchsias this year. Star Wars and Delta's Sarah. Lovely colours but I was hoping for about three foot in height rather than the five foot height described on some sites, I tend to chop fuchsias down each year so hopefully I can restrain them!
Here's a poor picture of the Hawkshead. We'd lifted the skirt of a big conifer and filled the space underneath temporarily with container plants. It's looking a lot better now that it's rooted in the soil!

I lost 2 Delta Sarahs this year, so she didn't take to me. Mrs Dusty has one in the porch, riddled with aphids, so that might be a job for me today, to put it where the wren will find it. You need something tolerant to light up that area under the conifer, but it should be a good site if you feed a bit. My pictured fuchsia is under an oak and a vine, but it's had no attention and now I feel guilty, because it's too late to feed!

Sorry, Bluey, my movements are being monitored until Friday by the other inhabitants of this establishment, so a wild party is out of the question. Friday I might get out for a perambulation of some sort, but that's too late for you, jetting off to the Emerald Isle, and the forecast for here isn't great.

They can still be wrong, though. After convincing  me the morning would be dull, the Exeter crew failed to mention the sunshine we're having now.

Thanks for the warnings on the Delta Sarahs I'll keep an eye out for the varmints. Vine weevil are usually the problem here as I grow some in containers but have learnt to try prevention rather than cure. (The big red bottle!) We covered the ground with home made compost before placing the plants in containers and we've just moved them and spread leaf mould. I'm hoping that the 'worm force' will do their job over winter.