Awful weather - typical Brits talk

ArbitraryRandom

And it's a great source of calcium and vitamins A, C, and K  

ElaniArtin

I'll share my secret if you promise not to tell anyone... in the drinks aisle Aldi, they have sheets of lovely cardboard. Whever I shop or even if I just make a quick stop I get some. Also check the kitchen and toilet roll stacks. It is perfect for covering beds and you don't have to roll it up and store it like soggy carpet. Just have to put something on top so it doesn't blow away.

ElaniArtin

goldfinches said:

Fanfare please, I've achieved an allotment all of my very own. Unfortunately I fear I may have bitten off more than I can chew! This is it, photographed this afternoon, all advice gratefully received.



The area inside the blue line is mine and it has old railway sleepers to the right and left hand sides and then another piece of wood at the far end showing where I stop and the next plot begins. At this end is a gravel path and the plot is aligned roughly east/west inside an old walled garden which slopes down from the north so that the whole garden is more open to the south.
As you can see the previous plot owner has left me a nice patch of purple sage just beyond the remains of a push fit cloche but that was the only edible thing I could spot, which is just my luck as I really don't care for the flavour of sage but there you go. 
There are communal areas all round the walls planted with apples, plums, pears, figs, apricots etc. and a communal fruit cage which has raspberries, gooseberries and currants which were a lot of the things I'd planned to plant but now think I won't just yet, in case this is too big a job for me. The woman who showed me around suggested weeding a small bit and then covering it before moving on to the next section which I can see would work so I think that's how I'll start and hope for the best.
Anyone for fried sage leaves?

What a dreamy location!

 I have come to LOVE digging up weeds like these. Get yourself a nice big fork and lift out the biggest weeds first, put them in a pile. Cover the pile with a plastic sheet. Then on to the smaller ones. Some people get precious about the soil and they shake the weeds, but I just throw the whole thing into that pile because then you have fewer weed roots that grow back later. In the pile they die, and there you have some nice loamy soil the following year. However, I never put pernicious weeds there, they go in the green bin at home!

Have you got the app: Plantnet?

wort

@in_my_wellies sounds like you’re going when I come back, pop my heating on for me 😉 have a wonderful holiday,

Dustyevsky

Good Lord! I go away for a day and you lot get up to all sorts! Most exciting is goldfinches' allotment, in a walled garden, no less! A holiday in Barbados wouldn't be too shabby either wort and wellies! As usual, Farway stunned with his red, shiny bottom and the poppy tribute that was pure art. Magic.

I'm not getting into the carpet debate. We inherited smelly carpets here, so I used a green one as weed-suppressor, and 14 years later I'm still mowing a bit of it! 80% wool, I think, but not the backing. As for plantains; we've got a few tens of thousands, so it's just as well they have plenty of nutrients! 

I went AWOL to Rosemoor after doing the big shop yesterday. With local footpaths awash, walking friend and I tried to walk every path in an afternoon, but we failed. The sunny morning turned to overcast as soon as we arrived, and by 3pm photos were getting tricky. Predictably, there was a late burst of sunshine just when we decided to have a good laugh by leaving via the plant centre. There, the Malus from the same grower as I'd pictured here at the garden centre were £15 dearer. 

No photos from Rosemoor yet. Here's one from sunrise, which heralded the bright morning hours I spent in..... the usual consumer emporiums!

YoungBlueEyes

That's an atmospheric pic Dusty, talk about fragrant and crisp  

It was sunny and cold here all day yesterday, not a breath of wind out there. Same now but with a half decent frost.Not enough to get a sparkly tentacles pic like pp's though... won't be long mind. 

Desperate forecast for tomorrow, all of a sudden. When I checked yesterday Monday looked alright (domestic nonsense day), now we've another storm - "Debi" Mostly just windy rather than windy + rainy, so that's something. 

And good news! The blackies are my blackies! While the male was sitting on the feeder I made tutting sounds at him and he looked at me. So I tutted again he came down to the covered spot under the hawthorn where I used to put mealworms down for him. Then he called to Mrs and she came down too. I am one happy gal  

No gardening today, we're on MiL duty. But I got a couple of pics yesterday that I'll keep til there's a dry spell. I'm quite impressed with them, they're not blurry or squiggly or anything ha haa! 

Dustyevsky

Yes, Debi seems to have popped up out of nowhere, but she will be done with us by 09.00 tomorrow, though the after effects will linger, especially with rivers still high and the ground very squelchy.  

Good to hear about your blackies returning, Bluey. Ours seem to forget us completely and often sound the alarm when we go into the garden after their return in autumn. The funny thing is, they don't go very far; often holing-up in the mini-wood when changing their feathers.

Also in the same family and very wary are the Fieldfares, a few of which have arrived now. I hear them more than see them at this time. The last picture was duller than expected, so here's something brighter; a Japanese Iris trying to flower out of season. I expect it might not open fully.

twopenny

Love an iris! I have some like that that bloom in spring and a huge joy. Thanks poundland 

Dusty I think you've just solved my dilemma.
I love the flocks on the moor that take off from grassland then put on a show before disappearing again.
I've wondered what they were but can't see them clearly enough to identify.
I managed to get a photo after many attempts. I'll look for it tonight on the laptop.

Periodically raining and cloudy. Suspected downpour at lunchtime. Not warm but not freezing either.
I did manage to get in the garden for an hour yesterday evening. Disposed of beans at last and still got a handful. Shame, if they'd have stayed upright they would still be producing.

Tied up brassicas, got the tumbled fencing, wisteria, climbing hydrangea and rose. They'll have to have a radical prune if I can find someone to do the posts for my arbour.

Grass remained wet so couldn't mow. Washing didn't dry in 2 days so had to be finished inside.

Checked feet for webbing - reckon we'll be evolving into duck feet if this weather continues!

Farway

Late today, Remembrance duties. Luckily it was dry but damp

Another atmospheric pic from Dusty, nice one, the sort that would have an inspirational poem under it on a calendar.

Blackbird success YBE, obviously they like it there

Yesterday I managed to get the new violas planted, surprised to find some Tete a Tete daffs are poking up already, way too early IMO

I see mislabelling skills have been passed on with your Gold Nugget primrose YBE, looking on the bright side the birds don't attack the red ones like they do the yellow ones

Hope you found a wonderful fossil 2P, storms reveal them, so I read

Plantains, eee when I were but a lad we used to make loop with the stems and tugging fellow urchins loop to see whose would break first, simple but cheap

Nice early iris Dusty, see below, for reason I will not have iris pics

You heard of "my" volunteer border and how it doubles up as a car park barrier?

Proof if needed, parking this morning for Remembrance service

The iris are were under there. :'(

At least he never reached the bungalows, and no one, including the driver, were harmed. Looking at damage, which is most of the front & age of car [2013] I guess insurance write-off

The other wing is the same

twopenny

Well that's quite some achievement!
Is it only a light and a scratch? Can be fixed. Cheaper than a new car.
I was witness to someone who reversed over a low barrier onto a beach. Must have been a heavy foot down to do it! Mostly damage to pride as they had to get a tractor or two to pull it back over the large pebble bank with everyone watching.

No fossils found. I ended up with some snakeskin dance boots and leggings from what started as a quick trip to the shops for curtain material!
I have my fossils in the garden. Will try to include them in a photo. 
Another more clement day will be better.

Yesterday I found a Love in the Mist, snapdragons and the japonica blooming in the garden. Really weird.