Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

My plum went from its home land to a wedge of soil in the veg garden to being ' permanently planted to the fence coming down in the wind, dug up, wedge of soil issue to being permanently planted - and it's fine.

Just after a day is fine.

Farway

twopenny said:

My plum went from its home land to a wedge of soil in the veg garden to being ' permanently planted to the fence coming down in the wind, dug up, wedge of soil issue to being permanently planted - and it's fine.

Just after a day is fine.

YoungBlueEyes said:

I’ll not tell you that my morries has/had a cheapo Doyenne du Comice then Farway I left it cos the bark was scratched to buggery along a lot of it and it didn’t have many branches. 

Speaking of trees, am I alright hoiking the plum out and putting my pear back there? Or do you have to wait a bit so it’s not shocked? 

Edit - they’ve only been in their new spots since yesterday  

Agree, after a day it's just fine, merely a scratch.

No, I'm not going to Morries I tell you, NO NO NO in M Thatcher scald voice

LessImpecunious said:

impressed by your money tree flower Farway! Mine (numerous, as they, somewhat annoyingly, multiply very well!) have never produced one - what's the secret?

I'm not sure, it's in the conservatory, so bakes in hot bright light all summer & gets neglected, & rarely watered

Finally potted more toms, still got another lot to do, but I need a spot of DIY first, drill holes in the bottom of umpteen yoghurt pots

ArbitraryRandom

I compromised and went for a gooseberry instead (Hinnonmaki Yellow). With my two rhubarb plants that will satisfy my desire to have something productive on that side in the meantime and down the line I'll probably get a thornless rasp or black berry (though I'm a little put off by the idea of them taking over so might need to consider pots). 

In terms of trees, from the reading I've been doing, the two most suited options to the shady spot would be Morello cherries and William's pears - but I'm open to other suggestions.

Preference, as always, would be to any unusual fruits or veg (or herb), with a manageable height at 2m, and that's UK hardy and is good with limited afternoon sun. Happy to have something that romps around at a low level as there's plenty of space, just not go over the fence line. 

twopenny

An option with potting might be to buy a cheap big pot and cut off the bottom.
Dig a hole to sink the pot in. 
It can be above the soil to be decorative or level.
I've done this sucessfully with mint and a golden privit (? Sp)

It's stopped raining for a minute so went and had a look at my sitooterie in the making.
I have wall hydrangea, wisteria and rose all growing rampant because I haven't been able to get out there and put stakes and trellis in but they seem to be creating an arbour of their own. Just need propping up to create shade but with access for the heating exhaust and to stop them invading neighbours so I can prune. I love a puzzle   

-taff

I went to Jekka McVicars place last year for an open day. One or two things stuck in my mind. One was that mint will circle a pot with their roots and disappear from the middle of the pot. They grow in big pots as above, bottoms off, sunk in dirt. But  what they do is hoik it out, cut it in half and put the middle to the outside and the outside to the inside.

I saw a really really nice szechaun pepper tree there arb, which would suit the unusual herb category. I bought a small one and it was growing really well. Then the slugs or snails found it and ate all the outer bark off it. I managed to get some seeds [ sowed those today] It did sprout again and was powering away at two inches tall, I checked it again today...all outer bark munched again. I think if any of the seeds grow, it'll be an indoor plant for a few years.

Lovage is good, perennial, 6ft tall, pollinators love the flowers. There are variegated thymes too, very cute. Bronze fennel is nice too, as is caraway, and of course, bays are quite fast growers compared to fruit trees.

Today was warm and sunny and perfect for potting on. I steeled my soul and threw away a lot of sprouters that would be too many for my greenhouse, re-sowed some baby round pepper plants, potted on the chillies that came up =3, the two versions of aubergine, sowed some Mexican hat stuff, nasturtium, szechuan pepper and orange dwarf cosmos. Tomorrow is sowing flowers day and attempt to pot up some tiny tiny oriental poppy sproutlings and some portulacca.

Well done on knees Dusty...Hopefully bad backs are easing too? Damn all you youngsters with nothing wrong with you

twopenny

My mint has been fine in the pot for 2 years Taff. Maybe it's the variety?
But I did like it when it spread into the grass and mowing over it gave a wonderful scent on a summer day (remember those) !

For dahlias I read,about putting Vaseline on the stems to stop earwigs living in them. It worked amazingly well and so cheap and easy.
I wonder if a hefty dose of sand mixed in - or coffee grounds - would stop slugs?
You only need an inch or so. Maybe longer depending on the size of the slugs   

LessImpecunious

Farway said:,

LessImpecunious said:

impressed by your money tree flower Farway! Mine (numerous, as they, somewhat annoyingly, multiply very well!) have never produced one - what's the secret?

I'm not sure, it's in the conservatory, so bakes in hot bright light all summer & gets neglected, & rarely watered

Hmm, mine go outside for the summer in a fairly sunny spot and usually get a good soaking during that time; then sit on sunny windowsills overwinter (not this one then !) with minimal watering - had been given to understand this last was the way to encourage flowering in succulents... Seems to work with Aeonium, which has flowered when brought indoors for the past two winters... (although I thought the theory was that this should happen when watering started again in spring...puzzled emoji) Maybe money tree doesn't need to go on summer hols...

YoungBlueEyes

Thanks for reassurance re trees folks. In the end I only got the new apple twig planted next to the lovely apple, and the cherry in the trug planted next to the other cherry. The one in the trug is smaller with fewer leaves but there's a couple of flower buds coming, the bigger one's still just leaves. The plum and pear are undisturbed - where I was thinking of planting them is where the Hanging Baskets of Barbylon are going so now I'm back to thinking and planning. 

My special pic (when the thing is ready - it's stalled now, naturally) is a wee flowering jade. It isn't anything like as healthy as Farway's cos I think I've overwatered it, but when it dries out a bit and gets back on track it should be a cracker. Just hope the nearly-flowers can hold on long enough...

Sitooterie 2p That sounds like a lovely collection of flowers. Are you sick of that bench yet...? I never heard of vaseline on plants as a deterrent but I'll be trying that. I've alliums coming up now and I don't wanna share them

You've reminded that I forgot to say something the other day taff. On last Friday's GW there was a fellah who's whole garden was dedicated to growing Italian things. IIRC his ex was Italian and really got him into it. Not that it sounds like you need ideas ha haa! 

Tom growbags then - are they all much of a muchness, or are some better than others?

OT - same as yesterday but a bit less so, they say. Calm and mild and dry, but with less sun and wind. Possibly. I'm being forced to go back to morries again - Posh Friend likes the sound of the stuff I bought (not the trees) and she wants jasmine and clematis and stuff. Just hope there's plenty left :fingerscrossed: 

Dustyevsky

-taff said:

I went to Jekka McVicars place last year for an open day. One or two things stuck in my mind. One was that mint will circle a pot with their roots and disappear from the middle of the pot. They grow in big pots as above, bottoms off, sunk in dirt. But  what they do is hoik it out, cut it in half and put the middle to the outside and the outside to the inside.

Lovage is good, perennial, 6ft tall, pollinators love the flowers. There are variegated thymes too, very cute. Bronze fennel is nice too, as is caraway, and of course, bays are quite fast growers compared to fruit trees.

Well done on knees Dusty...Hopefully bad backs are easing too? Damn all you youngsters with nothing wrong with you

Mrs Dusty planted mint in a bed by the big hedge. Three sides have stone walls, so it can't escape that way, but I noticed a few days ago the first pieces were coming up on the lane side! Eventually, it may run so far I'll get my bed back.

Agree about Lovage, which we used to have before it got in the way of a digger. The fennel's nice too, and bay makes an impenetrable bush for birds to nest in, besides being essential for spag bol. As for Jekka, she once told me off for fondling her oregano at Malvern Show. We didn't have a stall there, but I told her she could come and examine mine, any time.

The weather hasn't been kind to those with joint pain, so hopefully things may ease with this supposed 'heatwave' and dry spell we're to have. I'm well incentivised to get better, since the alternative is selling-up and moving to something 'manageable.' Mrs Dusty still wants to have her mini sheep, and I want to keep walking with the girlfriend, so it's all still to play for!

Speaking of walking, the one I went on last Saturday didn't end in disappointment. Eventually I found an unfenced access point into the waterside woodland, where there were anemones, celandines, the beginnings of bluebells flowering and wild garlic too, though they don't show up well in this photo:

Also, this character, who's grinning at me, having confused the autofocus by hiding behind holly.

Looking out of my office window, we have bright sunshine and blue skies.....for now.

YoungBlueEyes

Bladdy squirrels. They just look at you with such an air of superiority don't they. My ones just sit on my fence, looking at me, not giving a monkey's about my v loud clapping and knowing they're faster than I am. Erseholes.

I do like your woodland pics Dusty. Considering it's quite rural here I've nothing like that round me and I do miss it. I haven't found a pond to go and sit by either, watching mama ducks and all the babbies is sorely missed in my life. 

Anyway. I came on to say here's my cherries and apples. They've no died yet so that's something. Probably not looking at any fruit off the new apple or the cherries this year though but - next year, next year! 

The new apple isn’t the best specimen but it does have a few leaves, it’s free of mares tails and it’s bark is good. The wee branches that it does have are all nice and bendy, and it's helping espalier it's mate. So there's that