Awful weather - typical Brits talk

YoungBlueEyes

Yous are making me carry my seed trays so carefully now for fear I drop them...  Was it too much birthday rin tin tin Farway?  

Am I the only one buying the big purple sacks of compost from B+Q am I? I'll have a squidge about of the morries stuff later when I'm out food shopping. Is it me or do they all have quite big bits in? It wants tipping back through the shredder one more time imo. Maybe I should learn to make my own... There's probably something about that in one of the gw mags I still haven't read, and another one came yesterday. Guess what one of the free seeds is? Cosmos - the only thing that's sprouting in that tray. I'll have to plant the rest of my packet or I'll never get through them all ha haa!. 

Your sitting spot looks perfect 2p. I like that table, where'd you get that from...? 

Right so 'cherry' could well be a cherry, I'm happy about that. Good job I never got round to finding a spot to pop it in then really  

Queer weather forecast here today. It's mild and dry and calm out there now, up until lunchtime. Then in a couple of hours the pressure is going through the roof, the temp will drop about 10' and the wind's going mental. So say the sobers. Drunkards say it's raining now and will all day and nothing else. Hmmm.

Did anyone get a look at the solar eclipse last night then..?

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

Did anyone get a look at the solar eclipse last night then..?

So far as I know, nobody did. We were in one of the better places regarding cloud cover, but in the Town Hall with no view, listening to a talk about fuchsias.   According to MSM, we missed nowt.  

We've just doubled our fuchsia collection, though!

There's been manic wind overnight here, and set to carry on most of the day, it seems. From then on it looks like warming-up, and drying out, before cooling-off at the weekend.

Deep joy! The fence our complex neighbours allowed to become covered in ivy, thus blocking our view when leaving the yard in a vehicle, has succumbed to the wind and collapsed. Every cloud...etc.

More signs of spring:

We have Devon violets here, naturally, but this Cornish one on the Camel Trail was at a more respectable height for a quick snap.

Dustyevsky

-taff said:

Dust, nice whitebells. When I lived in wales I dug mine out and chuckd them out the back in the lane. Wouldn't you know it, the lane is now full of them [and apparently they are protected - but not from me! ] and I have none and want some...murphys law or something...

Another Law saw a whole front garden lined with them, waving to me yesterday, but I was late and there was nowhere to park.

Lovely corner 2p. Priorities, spot-on!

twopenny

Woke to the howling wind several times last night. It's still going with all sorts blown off or over.
My seeds are drowned and flattened so I'm going to have to go out there sometime and drain them, perhaps put them in the garage until they dry out.
You say it's getting to you around midday Bluey? Perhaps it will have left us then.

Can't see the fruit getting polinated in this......and to think I've been in a tee shirt yesterday.
So heating on as it's down to 7c again.

Yes for me a garden is for sitting in with friends or a book. Some sort of refreshment obligatory. 

Dusty you've given me inspiration. I'll practice my walking to go and look for wild violets.
Used to be a succession of wild flower walks each spring but between the move, the pandemic, the weather I'd sort of forgotten.

Bluey the table was an extravagance after the bench from a local furniture store when shops still had desirable things. 
It's now by the washing line to put basket on or sit and take in warm winter sun.
I'll take a pick when things buck up.

YoungBlueEyes

Posting without catching up to say - I’m at morries now and their fruit trees are half price. £6.75 Ooh giggidy 👏🏻

twopenny

Well I reckon that fruit and veg are going to be wildly expensive this year so buya dozen 

Farway

Windy here as well, still dry though.

YoungBlueEyes said:

Posting without catching up to say - I’m at morries now and their fruit trees are half price. £6.75 Ooh giggidy 👏🏻

How tempting, just as well I'm not there. What will you come home with? go on go on, lots of espaliering to be done. It'll all fit in somewhere, trusssssst usssssss [said in Jungle Book film snake voice].

Dustyevsky said:

We have Devon violets here, naturally, but this Cornish one on the Camel Trail was at a more respectable height for a quick snap.

Nice pic, we have Hampshire violets of course, too low for my back and a picture this year

twopenny said:

I've muddled up my tomatoes too. All was well till I used a label to get rid of a couple of slugs late one night and moving pots and a label..............but at least they are tomatoes

My cherry tree has lost some branches due to the excessive dry last summer so perhaps I'll post a pic of it last year as not a lot has changed   the apricot leaves aren't right at all and being chewed by snails. I got an ant hill back last month. They're early.

Farway, aquilegias are so joyful and cheerful and look after themselves. I love to see them.

Sounds like mixed tomatoes all round this year then, mine have survived the fall & early potting on, all are looking quite perky this morning so apart from not knowing who's who no harm done.

Hate to say 2P, but could your apricots have peach leaf curl? They are prone, and my one went North, to join it's peachy mates, once it got a whiff of the curls.

Aquilegias, love them, not grown them for years, and not yet chucked on the floor

Talking of roses, Ta Ra, toot toot! Whisper please, I think my Rosa car parkiii cuttings have taken , nice red rambling type.

Other cuttings that did take and grew well were figs in water, [2022] and here is one of them, fruit forming for its second season, still in a small pot

This year, I'm going to attempt air layering my new Miss Figgy. Seems figs are easy to do, but I'll be using old pop bottles and not sphagnum moss, the new Levington's looks to me, it would be ideal compost for this method.

Here are some embryo 2024 figlets.

twopenny

Deep envy Farway! 
What I wonder is - last year (or the year before) you were trying to give away your multiple figlets and now you're buying more? 

Are there any brand of fig trees I should look out for should morries provide?
Or any to definitely avoid?

I'm going to need a bigger badger run. Borrow neighbours   

May just try a walk round to see if any bits have been blown off overhanging ones in this storm 

Farway

twopenny said:

Deep envy Farway! 
What I wonder is - last year (or the year before) you were trying to give away your multiple figlets and now you're buying more? 

Are there any brand of fig trees I should look out for should morries provide?
Or any to definitely avoid?

I'm going to need a bigger badger run. Borrow neighbours   

May just try a walk round to see if any bits have been blown off overhanging ones in this storm 

Figs, I'm trying different varieties, but finding the names on labels is difficult, hence my multi figging

The only ones I have identified are brown turkey & miss figgy, the rest are supermarket "figs" so goodness knows what variety but they all seem to fruit

Brown T not yet fruited but only bought last year, supposed to be the ideal fig for UK climate. I think the BT came from Morries BTW

The one I took cuttings from seems to like it here but can't say what it is 'cos I don't know

ArbitraryRandom

IIUC, the thing you need to be careful about with figs is size - there's a couple of varieties which are supposed to be naturally dwarfing/more compact, and of course you can prune anything if you're happy to stay on top of it. 

Slow going here due to the weather. It's been horribly wet and windy so not ideal weather for bricklaying. 

Last 24 hours have had gusts recorded up to 100kph a low of 8/high of 13c