Awful weather - typical Brits talk

-taff

YBL, something like that will indeed work, I'll go through my poles later on and get my lovely new strong string out to play with.  thank you

Lovely camelia Dusty, I love the way the whole head just falls off, shame I'm not good at pressing flowers, I think they'd be quite nice. I've never had many problems germinating courgettes or similar, but then, i do sow quite late usually so it's nice and warm. The trouble I have with them is keeping them uneaten long enough to plant out. [I don't know if I have an advantage there though, i buy the seeds in Italy, I like to think they recognise a fellow Mediterranean and grow nicely for me ] I did grow some tromboncino last year, I will grow more this year. I love courgettes, but the tromboncino are denser with a thicker skin and hold up to more cooking better. A barely cooked courgette with scrambled parmesan eggs is the breakfast of kings..or me

Very windy at the moment, but I'm sure I can find something to pot on. I did take some cuttings from a bush outside someones house lasy year, it was growing through railings, they've taken [ two tiny ones] and all I have to go on for identification is the label i wrote saying Chelsea bee and butterfly bush..[not buddleia] it has purple/blue small flowers so now I have to go back through some episodes form last year or youtube to find out what they are. And somehow, I don't know how because I don't remember this, I have a dogwood [picture this tells me] twig in a pot growing happily and no idea where I got that from either....

Farway

Looking nice & sunny out, and my back is on the mend, time being the healer. 

Not perfect but nowhere near as bad, twinges at times but on the mend.

That apple looks like a good 'un YBE, be careful about covering blossom, bees etc have to get in first, and I think pollen blows around on the wind as well, think hay fever.

Taff, you can espalier in the open, just use a bamboo canes to make a framework and tie to them. Once the wood sets, they'll be self-supporting.

Or you can just pull the bendy branches down & tie to the trunks, or pegs in the ground. Again, once wood has set it'll stay that way

Nice idyllic Cornish pics Dusty, I can imagine sat in a pub garden with a pasty & cider, mine's a Rattler please

Is the alien Gunnera?

Ta Ra, the cosmos I sowed to replace the no show marigolds, has germinated

If back behaves, I hope to sow more seeds PM, but I don't want to overdo it, especially as tomorrow is my birthday and I don't want to spend it twinging in a chair.

twopenny said:

My potatoes in the fridge have sprouted massively and they were 'fresh'

Perhaps that's where to keep them?

Somewhere I read that spuds need a cold spell before they sprout, reminds them of winter, or maybe the fiords!

Which is why a lot of fresh SM spuds promptly sprout once you get hem home, having been in cold stores they then reckon Spring has sprung

DS is popping over later, with birthday summat, and I'm going to ask him to lug the back busting compost through for me, plus hopefully get my shed door unjammed, it's wedged by flower pot avalanche  

Today is Honesty, from seed horticultural DGD gave me last year. I had intended to sow them in volunteer plot but failed, and it's in the front patch.

Dustyevsky

Poppy, the now illegal-to sell-alien, is Gunnera manicata, as Farway suggests, and the leaves will grow much larger than that. Personally, I don't see it as a big problem, but as it's so large, I've refrained from planting one in the stream here. A Rheum was planted instead, but it doesn't like the shade, and the slugs can almost keep up with its growth.

Later in the day/week, I'll have a wild plant to show that's beaten me. I thought “Aha! I know what this is!” but no, I didn't. 

Agreed, that camellia worked in that location, taff and Bluey. The red ones do seem to age better. The bridge is listed Grade 1 or similar, very narrow, and a van was having trouble crossing it.

Ooh, we've not tried Trombocino, taff, but you're tempting me. I suppose it could double-up as a weapon of self-defence if we get a zombie apocalypse, or a visit from the planning officer! The wind continues here unabated too. Like you, we have enough plants to spend an hour or two potting-on. Some toms are yellowing already and need more feed. “Six weeks feed” it said on the sack. Huh!

Farway's just posted a lovely early-blooming Honesty, and I can't match it. There was a huge hedge-full in a Cornish lane yesterday, but nowhere to stop. As for my best one, it succumbed to the septic tank emptier's thrashing hose. Grr, but there are others around, probably. It's a plant that pops up and surprises you.

YoungBlueEyes

You're very welcome taff. I should say I didn't think of it meself, it was from one of the boys one here or RAS possibly... Can't remember (naturally).But finger's crossed it works for you too.

I really haven't done much to/with my apple tree tbh. I sorted it out a good hole, in a good position, slung some bfb in there and planted it. It's done the rest it's self. I think "less is more" at Shawshank Patch, cos how can I be interferring helping when I don't really know what I'm doing. It's working out so far  

I was just going to cover it today and maybe tomorrow Farway so the wind can't blow the buds/petals off. I took the cover off it earlier and then it bladdy rained - sharp shower variety - so that's the damage done now anyway I fear. Hopefully the bees have done their thing already.. Good news about your back btw, long may it continue

My toms aren't showing any signs of life yet. Actually I should go and check them before I say things like that. They're in the window in the little front bedroom world's smallest box room. I didn't plant anything like as many as last year, so I expect they'll head off to the fjords just from the loneliness... 

Farway

YoungBlueEyes said:

My toms aren't showing any signs of life yet. Actually I should go and check them before I say things like that. They're in the window in the little front bedroom world's smallest box room. I didn't plant anything like as many as last year, so I expect they'll head off to the fjords just from the loneliness... 

That's all we need, plants dying from loneliness. 

I can see it now, a big sigh and then collapsing in a wilting heap.

-taff

So I did the thing with some poles, and it's made the whole thing sturdier, I can't for the life of me find my tree tie that I know I have somewhere. In the bottom are bluebells, stridolo, some garlic II forgot to lift last year, a sage, some ornamental grass stuff that Fatty likes to eat, the gourmand that he is, and some aliums that are having a hard time competing. Behind it is the bay that was given a good going over, we shall see if it sprouts again And excuse the mess behind, the water butt is going out the front when I get a kit for the porch.The green bin collects water from the greenhouse roof. And yes I know there's a dandelion clock in there but to be honest, these days, i only weed if it's somewhere I don't want it, like in my veg, anywhere else just gets left alone now. I transplanted some Herb Robert from the back to the front the other day for that to have a holiday.

I put my measly three jerusalem artichokes in a bin to grow and planted the Pentland Javelin [ all of 11 potatoes], potted on two heuchera together for a bit and shoved the two fatsia in bigger pots.

Dusty, tromboncino [or i] are a great plant to grow, they grow up so I can stick them at the back of the bed to grow up the trellis I acquired from somewhere with the courgettes in front. I did attempt growing the courgettes upright last year with some strategically placed bamboo shoots and it worked quite well. Word of warning, I went away last year and OH has no green fingers whatsoever unless it's in an X Box game,when I came back, there were ones there longer than my arm. I had to give them to the community fridge to stop them going to waste but judging form the covetous looks by the queue they won't have had trouble giving them away....

And my salvaged moss from various pots, in a salvaged from a skip pot, hoping it will look beautifully green and lovely before long. There is a pot saucer in the pot to retain water too..

farway, that's a very cute plant, i like it, now I have to keep my eyes open for some..Future Happy Birthdays too! .YBL, mine are still leggy but they greened up well when presented with some actual sunlight. I'll pot them on next week and sow some edible type stuff..And thank you for the bamboo pole inspiration all!

twopenny

Yes that apple tree is a beaut Bluey! Lovely shape. Success.

Wort you just make me tired envious with all you do.

What was your pre birthday present Farway?

Just dropped in to say 'look what I got' - the first rose?

Cornelia. Supposed to be just a shrub but think I got a climbing one.

I'm not complaining, it grows over my 'sit and read' bench and the fragarance is heavenly.

Very windy and warm, love that but wasn't going out. When I eventually did it rained on me immediately.

twopenny

Happy Birthday Farway   
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q5CUnuE3WRs

Dustyevsky

Happy Birthday, Farway!  

It's not everyone who gets a total eclipse on their birthday , albeit rather a long way from us here. 

taff's already beaten me to the first Bluebell of spring (see photo above) so here is the first Whitebell, spotted in a garden on Saturday:

Looks like more of the 'wet and windy' for us in the west today, but doesn't look so bad over your way. 

YoungBlueEyes

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Faaarwaaay, happybirthdaytoyou  I hope DS got all your jobs done yesterday so you can spend today doing lovely things  

Gawd that was a lot of work you got done taff. Your tree looks good, lots of blossoms I'm glad I'm not the only one rescuing bits of moss that the birds throw off my roof - I put mine into the trio tub thing that I'd planted bulbs in, in the hope they'd all join up and look amazing. Well it's slow going so far but they haven't died... 

You've sure got a green thumb for roses 2p, and training it over a sit+read bench sounds heavenly  

Aye my apple tree look alright I think. The pear isn't looking anything like (even though I tret it the same), and the 'cherry' is going great guns so I might leave it a wee while longer so I can see if I like what it's gonna do. I'm not sure it is a hawthorn now cos the leaves are big.... The Ska is thinking about throwing out some more buds and currently has a tiny ladybird asleep in the leaves that are already open   Checked my seeds yesterday - the only ones in that tray that are making a move are the cosmos. My garden's loved that bit of heat we've had, I've all kinds of flowers and colours appeared. Nothing swish (saxifrage, azalea, primula, tulips) but it's almost enough to make you feel proudful  

It gave a lovely sunny mild but breezy day here so my washer's nearly finished and it's just started bladdy drizzling. 

I don't wanna curse it but I've a plant doing a thing that'll be a bit special soon, I'm just waiting a bit longer 'til I get a pic to share. It's not a common occurence apparently