Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Farway

Rain here, drizzle stuff only.

Dustyevsky said:

Farway said:

Hope x-ray result goes OK Dusty with handy cafe & maybe good views on the way home. My “sharp” photo I think is down to the lens, I recently bought a £50 second hand Panasonic bridge camera just because it was recommended and has a Leica lens, very basic camera compared with today's' stuff, but decent zoom Leica lens I hope will give some detailed pics. It's the closet I'm going to get to Leica in this life anyway.

Err....this is embarrassing. The camera I use is a Panasonic bridge model! I paid £70 for mine in mint condition. It's this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-Lumix-DMC-FZ38EB-K-Digital-Camera/dp/B002KHMJ78

Cheap as chips on eBay these days, but a bit of a lump to lug about. I have a brand new TZ8 to use when this one goes Norway-wise. It hasn't the zoom range, but the lenses on the old ones are great.

This is just a long way of saying my skills are weaker than yours!

Nearly Dusty, mine is https://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-DMC-FZ30-Digital-Camera/dp/B000A7XSSY

From E bay £50, As you say, not ones to lug around for long, my trotting around one is https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonic-lumix-dmc-gx85-gx80

Hope your car gets better unaided, perhaps a sound thrashing Basil Fawlty style would help? You, if not the car

YoungBlueEyes said:

I've looked at your link Farway, and I've managed to resist. I quite fancy a cherry tree though, I wonder if they grow that glossy or if you'd have to spend an hour every morning polishing them  

I never get to polish my cherries [ooh err missus]. Everything eats them first. FWIW I'd only grow a cherry in future if I had a means to cover & shield it from every pest. Like the commercial growers do these days, espalier, chest high, in poly tunnels.

I have Dusty's rain at the moment, so hopefully your wash will get a chance

Now onto the fuchsia cuttings, no magic mixtures involved, just dormant twig pruning /cuttings poked into bog-standard universal compost in a yoghurt pot in my cold conservatory

I've not checked for roots or if it's just sap rising causing the growth? I'll know in a few more weeks when it's time to pot on.

ArbitraryRandom

If it is just sap rising... would it be worth trimming one of the longer cuttings to the lowest leaves and repotting (given it's clearly alive and wanting to grow)? Or even just mounding up the soil a little so the first nodule is below the ground?

That's assuming you don't actually want/need 5 or 6 successful cuttings so it's not a huge risk to disturb one now to see if there's roots. 

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

Now onto the fuchsia cuttings, no magic mixtures involved, just dormant twig pruning /cuttings poked into bog-standard universal compost in a yoghurt pot in my cold conservatory

I've not checked for roots or if it's just sap rising causing the growth? I'll know in a few more weeks when it's time to pot on.

Even if the leaves have developed more quickly than roots, they'll start doing leafy photosynthesis and maybe help the roots? Mine went into the outdoor cold frame, so I'm not expecting much action yet. If they fail, it's 'Irishman's cuttings' for me!

On the subject of Panasonic compacts with zoom, I have 2 here that failed due to being unable to cope with 'Gardener's Grubby Hand Syndrome.'    I figured, correctly, the big one might be more robust.

YoungBlueEyes

Forgive me not quoting, I’m on my phone now. That's the thing I enjoy most about us lot, we’re an eclectic bunch but we’re mature enough to actually listen to each other without judgment. It’s a load of rambling off-topic nonsense a lot of the time and I love that too  

Thanks for keeping hold of the rain Dusty + Farway, I’m for running it to the tumblers to finish off after I’ve eaten my lunch, so yous can release it now ha haa! I’ll get some John Innes no3 while I’m out (thanks 2p) and a bigger pot so I can sort the Ska tree. 

I’m jealous of your fuschia doings Farway, mines are nothing like as healthy I’ll take a pic. My first daff is at the very last stage before it opens I think, so there’s that. 

Oh and if you give your car a dem gud threshing you’re to get MrsD to film it and put it on here

OT no rain yet, rain coming. Possibly. Mild though. 

twopenny

pink_poppy the name of my neighbours good liquid is Weed and Leave.

Comes in different sizes, costs more but remember it is diluted so will go further than you think. I have slabs all round the bungalow and across back and the patio and 2ltr should do that twice at least. As it lasts for half the year so far it's probably less than using a pressure washer/watermeter. And now I'm an old crock it's one thing less to struggle with. Love that it's clean in winter when I go out too.

But do remember to wrap something around any plant leaves that hang over. Didn't seem to worry the plants with the run off though I was careful.

Feeling chilly here with cold nights and none of Blueys lovely stars to make up for it.

Raining on and off today and for the forseeable so no gardening planned. May get around to the seed planting if it warms up a bit.

The Golden Thyme is doing the HokeyKokey and I trimmed it's tender shoots with the trimmings drying nicely.

The Silver Queen I wanted is no here, the one they have is not the lovely fragarance so I may be forced to the big nursery trip and a cheese scone. I took a neighbour last time and it wasn't the same with someone who isn't interested in gardening so I'll go on my own and indulge.

My blossom tree had/has some blossom but the weather seems to have encouraged the leaves out early and it can't cope with both. A bit disappointing as I was hoping for a good photo but not to be.

Looked again for other small trees but the price of them!!!!!!!!! Jumped 50%. Looks like I'm going to have to follow Farways cuttings habit though I've not had much sucess. My grandmother could get all cuttings to take. So annoying.

Bought some sad looking Crocus bulbs when shopping because they were reduced to £1. You can never have too many and I think they may survive.

Who had shade from a lot of trees? I used to have pots with compost and chives, onion and garlic, sunk under the conifers and they kept going through winter when the others were hiding. But that was near the kitchen door so could be watered and collected easily.

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

Thanks for keeping hold of the rain Dusty + Farway,

Oh and if you give your car a dem gud threshing you’re to get MrsD to film it and put it on here

I've released mine, but it's come back! The wind's done a turn-around! It's warmer now, though. Always an up-side.  

 As for the thrashing of the car, I know the TV programme to which you refer, but embarrassingly, my physically attacking a car preceded that by some years. I was part-exchanging a very dodgy jalopy on its last legs wheels, but after agreeing a deal, the damn thing refused to start. It had never failed to go before! After closer examination on the ramp, the deal was off, and so was my attitude. I ended-up paying for a cheap fix, just so I could drive it to the scrapyard.  

Current car doesn't warrant any bad treatment. I got it at a good price from a nice Welsh lad who was obviously somewhat naive. In his words, "My girlfriend says it's not modern enough, like a Focus or an Astra. She said either the car had to go, or she would!" Reminded me very much of this character: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSjtBkdMM1U

Is that enough eclectic, rambling off-topic nonsense?

Farway

Thanks Dusty, I'd forgotten all about Shadwell, brightened up a dull & wet afternoon

pink_poppy

Thanks, twopenny, I'll have a look for that. I don't mind paying if it works. I remember something called Weed and Feed, but I think that was for grass.

I don't think I'll bother with the patio trees if they only grow to a metre, YBE, I was hoping for something a bit taller than that.

We call the moon a Cheshire Cat moon when it's like that, Dusty. I saw it last night, alongside some stars, including Orion's Belt.

I thought I was going to need a knee x-ray after I 'fell with style' in public this morning. So embarrassing. I went over on my ankle (uneven path) and ended up on my hands and knees. No damage done, thankfully, just a scuffed knee and probably a big bruise to come.

It's been cold and rainy here for the last couple of days. We've had a few bursts of hailstones, including a heavy one that set the car alarm off.

Dustyevsky

pink_poppy said:

We call the moon a Cheshire Cat moon when it's like that, Dusty. I saw it last night, alongside some stars, including Orion's Belt.

I thought I was going to need a knee x-ray after I 'fell with style' in public this morning. So embarrassing. I went over on my ankle (uneven path) and ended up on my hands and knees. No damage done, thankfully, just a scuffed knee and probably a big bruise to come.

That's a very apt description. Orion was the first constellation I learned to spot as a child. Then I learned the Big Dipper .....and that's where I paused!
Surely it's a wee bit late to be celebrating Burns Night, but better late than never! It seems ages ago we had our haggis, neeps, and tatties. The youngsters didn't want to know! Glad you didn't break anything.

-taff

Loved Shadwell,especially What in Swansea are goin on in ere.........I learned Orions belt, and the Big Dipper which is affectionately known to me as The Saucepan.

PP, I am with you in spirit..Also no gardening here and I was very much looking forward to doing some except I spent a large portion of the day in A&E having ecgs taken after a funny turn in the docs this morning. All's fine though so no lasting hurtiness like your knee, which is most annoying for you I'll bet.

I'm just jealous of people getting cuttings to grow for the most part, especially fig ones...Farway, when is good twig cutting time?