Awful weather - typical Brits talk

YoungBlueEyes

I''m feeling a bit left out with all this quince talk... not sure I've even seen a quince never mind tasted one. I'll have to keep my eye out for a jar of jam/jelly (?) on my travels. 

I agree with taff, I like your boots pic 2p, bit realistic mind

That made me giggle pp! I'll be singing "I ran away all night and day" for hours now...

You are nawty Dusty. You said what I managed to stop myself from saying this morning   I like the trees in your pic  

LessImpecunious

YoungBlueEyes said:

How can you tell my marigolds are French Less?

Because I have ones in a similar sorry state!  Thing is "marigold" is used to refer to (at least) two unrelated plants - well, they're in the same family, but different tribes (there are probably some geopolitical jokes to be had here but nothing even vaguely amusing springs to mind given the times we're currently living in) - so Calendula is the "English" or pot marigold, while Tagetes is the "French" Marigold. I grow both so am familiar with what they look at in various states of growth and decay. In the past I would have advised that it's best to stick to the "Latin" names to avoid confusion, but those are such a state of turmoil at the moment (due to developments in taxonomy) that often those names have changed as well!

twopenny

Indeed the boots looked real. I had to check a couple of times to be sure before I took a photo    

Got into double figures here, just. Bright and sunny as predicted so I made plans - wacking great grey rain clouds coming in from the Atlantic towards me now 
Was hoping the wind would dry the grass enough to cut but unlikely now.
It's so long I'm going to need to borrow a couple of sheep! But even they aren't keen on long grass.

Playing with my smart meter reader thingy. Gee that's scary so going to look for a gas hob kettle and it's strip washes from here on.

Love the sunrise/set photo.
Yes I want one of those dogs Dusty posted. Just gorgeous! 
The orangutang is so lifelike! Sheesh they must be making a fortune to buy those for the site.

Taff why not just have a bowl of the quince to scent the house? That was a thing back in the 18thc.
Wardrobes and such too.

ArbitraryRandom

YoungBlueEyes said:

I''m feeling a bit left out with all this quince talk... not sure I've even seen a quince never mind tasted one. I'll have to keep my eye out for a jar of jam/jelly (?) on my travels. 

I've never tasted one, but apparently Japanese quince at least are fairly common in people's gardens because they're bought for the flowers - and the taste is similar (if, as Dusty suggests, inferior) to the tree - which, I'm sure Less would appreciate me pointing, out is a different but similar species. I'm not sure if they're genetically related or not.

There's a number of people who say that Japanese quince isn't worth eating - but also apparently a fair bit of work has gone into developing a couple of varieties which are specifically bred for their fruit as a viable crop... so anything you come across in a local park may or may not be worth your time to pick, but I think, given the size, it might be worth it to me as a novelty (if I can find someone that stocks it with a less than £25 shipping cost!) 

I'm tempted to knock on the door that I passed and ask if I can have some fruit for the seeds or ask for a cutting in the summer, but now I know there's a thornless variety that's my distinct preference. 

Farway

Lumme, you lot have been busy, and straying from righteousness by the sound of it, since I last looked.  I have been Distracted by computer problems, well more like trying to get something for nothing but Adobe says NO, so that's my attempted hacking over for the week

Sun's out & looks mild, rain arrives tomorrow and if the sun keeps out I may just get out and try for an Autumn leaves photo, the cherry over the road is lovely in the sunshine

Had promo email from T & M, bulbs offer, including Jet fire daffs, scuttled over & made up my order, including some Autumn Bliss raspberry canes and a Christmas Amaryllis bulb. . I'm gulping at the P & P of nearly £7 though, so order not yet placed

I've never eaten quince, but do like the prickly bush with its pink / red blossom, japonica I know it as, and the one I knew always had yellow fruit on it well into winter.

Never knew about the mildew problems either, maybe it's a later import, like blooming vine weevils & lily beetles

I also never knew about leaf colour trick for foxgloves, I will be checking mine now, but I like them all anyway, like your own children

Dustyevsky

pink_poppy said:

Btw, another Father Dougal moment, because I didn't have a clue what you were referring to with the Finnan Haddock and soup comment. I think some things just go over my head haha.

Yesterday 2p said, "cleaned and varnished the brass skink to go on my post "

Now, reading that made me think! Eventually, in the back cupboard of my mind, I remembered a weird American encyclopedia an Uncle gave me when I was about 6. In it, were many strangely named things, like faucets, closets and sidewalks; all somewhat confusing to a 6-year-old. Another weirdly-named thing was a skink, which looked very like a lizard! 

Roll forward almost 70 years, and in the absence of hearing or seeing the word for a very long time, 2p's comment had me picturing a haddock, because Cullen Skink is more a part of my adult vocabulary than the lizard sort! After all I have Scottish ancestry. (tartan emoji )

And to save further long explanation....https://cullenskink.com/2021/05/01/what-is-cullen-skink/

Naturally, you being from north of the border, I presumed .....err....too much?

pink_poppy said:

The boots pic is a bit too realistic for me, twopenny, I think I would have freaked out if I'd seen that.

Again, that picture set me thinking! It was around this time of year; cold, very wet and about 23.00. I was hurriedly walking the dog in an out-of-the-way bit of the park, when my torch lit up the boots. They belonged to a huge bearded guy, who was lying there, mouth open, gazing heavenwards. I wondered if he'd already departed in that direction, so I bent down and checked ....Joy of joys, he was still breathing, so no 'kiss of life!'  It wasn't exactly a doddle, but putting him in the recovery position was almost a pleasure after what  I'd just feared! Long story short, he was famous for it, but the ambulance guys said he was luckier than usual that night as they carted him off to A&E.

Back to hole digging ....

ArbitraryRandom

I just spent a pleasant half hour shoving some of my tiny alpine strawberry plants (the remainder of the 100 that I sowed at the start of the year) into little dips and crevices around the base of the new fence on the shadowy side. I doubt many will make it if we have a harsh winter, but hopefully at least some will and they'll run wild

Edit for a picture of one section: I squished (gently!) them into the earth that's already there, but obviously that's quite poor and in some places 90% concrete, so when I can work up the spoons to do another half an hour I'll pull out one of my bags of compost and fill them in a bit.

 

Farway

Decision made on T & M order, not buying them, postage is too much for what I want as those items are not unique or scarce, so I'll add them onto "next time I see them" list

I may get to fulfil some items on the list sooner rather than later, we have a shop I've never heard of taking over where Wilko was, from gossip it is sort of Poundland tat shop, so maybe they will have a dying plants section?

Cullen skink, we used to have that despite being in deepest Middx with the furthest North connection of Watford. I think Mum did it that way because you couldn't easily burn it

Good bit of luck for Boots in the park that night Dusty.

YoungBlueEyes

This just proves my earlier point - I thought 2p said “brass sink” - like them people in magazines wot plant stuff in Belfast sinks and troughs and teapots and wellies etc  

twopenny

So it did stay dry. I yonked my way for sunset photos from the fossil beach only for tomorrows rain clouds to sail in 

Yup, skink. I could have saved myself a long trek if I'd just photoed that.
No gardening done either. But a good day.
Abs, always worth a try. They are tough little so-n-sos. And look fine clumps, fruiting when times are tough for other plants. Fingers crossed.