Awful weather - typical Brits talk

YoungBlueEyes

Honestly, you turn your back for a minute and there's pages to come back to Is there a post missing from the previous page though? I got lost in the middle a wee bit... 

I wonder how ineffective the ood pink Germolene is. Cos I have some and still use it (on the chilblains and the gout because desperation) and while it didn't make a bladdy bit of difference at least it didn't make anything worse. Put the Germolene back how it was and get on with sorting compost, scientists! I'm a bit shocked mine must be at least 10 years old I don't remember dolly blue... when we had cuts and grazes granny would get one of the dogs to lick it clean, and if it was still bleeding she'd put a bit of gauze on it and secure it with either sellotape or an elastic band, whichever was nearer to hand. I remember mum using iodine when my sister scraped her arm falling off her bike. Wriggling and squealing like a stuck pig meant it was working, apparently. 

I've never made a jam or a gin or a anything really. I couldn't eat rhubarb now if you paid after all the years I spent using the stalks to shovel sugar down my thrapple ha haa! Ooh makes my tummy go squiggly just thinking about it. Also, goosegogs   

The man came to look at the garden and says he can do it. He's taken measurements and is drawing up some ideas (apparently mine are beyond the beyonds and would be really dear)  :'( You don't get your way by saying 'do it once and do it right' when you're not footing the bill. So we'll see what the man comes back with. 

Speaking of work, is your digger proving it's worth Dusty? How are the neighbours taking it?  

I really like your plant and planter 2p. Is the plant gong in it or have you other plans..? 

OT they gave rain for most of the morning, finishing around maybe 1 ish. Well it was still raining at bedtime so I expect they just got confused with am/pm. Brighter this morning and a better day, they say, cool but less windy. Possibly. No nice sunrises or sunsets here, sadly. 

Edit - Happy St Georges Day

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

Speaking of work, is your digger proving it's worth Dusty? How are the neighbours taking it?

Oh, it's fine, thanks. We have two, both working, but one has a faulty fuel gauge and ran out of diesel. The dumper broke, but that's traditional! It still has first gear, and reverse.

The neighbours are either loving it, with thumbs ups, trying to ignore it, or demanding we stop, because, “This is our land!” There isn't much understanding of what a vehicular right of way is, even among those who ought to know, especially after having 18 months to find out. Now, apparently, the Lib-Dem ward councillor is to be involved, so that's exciting. We haven't a fence there yet for him to sit on!

None of the materials ordered turned-up, nor did the guy who was supposed to be driving the dumper, so our contractor had to get his Dad out of retirement. Luckily, after years of this kind of thing, we're fairly  inured to it.

 

Anyway, here's us, breaking through the bank and whipping out the old stumps, now among the willows to form insect homes:

And here's the gap, with the better soil being loaded. It's now temporarily stored in the field. The site is clear, ready for the next phase, and the weather looks quite benign.

Updates as we progress, but I won't be able to contribute much else just now. This is heavy-duty gardening, even for us!

ArbitraryRandom

Good looking soil there. And amazing how much a big vehicle can do in a relatively short time - I can't imagine back in the day when they used to do earthworks by hand and it took the whole village! 

1.2 c.m of compost due to be delivered today at 12 ish if the text I got this morning is right. Hoping the guy will stack it by the back gate, but wearing suitable garden clothes just in case it's curbside only

Trying to decide what needs a bit more time to germinate vs I need to resow - biggest question right now is beans and peas. I didn't do farway's trick with the damp kitchen towel and after 10 days only two pea seeds have come up, so now do I open a new packet and try again or give the runner/broad/french beans a bit longer?   

YoungBlueEyes

I've done both Arb. My toms are still considering their options so I've planted more in case the original ones decide against it *shrug*  Probably when we get a bit of warmth the first lot will burst forth and I'll be inundated, but who knows. 

pink_poppy

That's looking full steam ahead, Dusty. Shame about some of the neighbours though.

Your germolene tin will be a collectors item soon, YBE    Exciting re. plans for the garden - hopefully the builder will come up with something you're happy with.

AR, good luck with the compost delivery. No idea on the beans and peas re-sowing. How are your chitting potatoes doing??

The bad news is my new rhubarb patch is the same as the parent patch - about half of the leaves are affected   I'd estimate the two different patches are about 15'-20' apart?? I wasn't sure about harvesting from the new patch this year anyway, although they do have skinny red stems that look edible. 

The good news is it's another beautiful day forecast here. I'll probably be moving rocks and stones today, rather than proper gardening, as my blister is still sore and I have holes in my gardening gloves...

pink_poppy

I see another tomato forest in your future, YBE   

YoungBlueEyes

Aye I bet you're right pp     

-taff

arb, you can check your beans if you like, just dig down till you find one, if it's white and squishy, sow more..

Dusty, that looks intensive, but also fun..and that's some insect hotel, it must be the Dorchester of the insect world! Hope it goes more smoothly today and the neighbour has an attack of the vapours because that's always fun to see while standing on the I'm right bucket

Today I'm doing something new, dividing water lillies, never done it before, hoping I'm nto going to kill them, should be fun with a dodgy arm and more dodgy ankle. Sadly the injection, whatever itwas, is wearing off now so back to hobbling. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted

Farway

It can't decide whether to be wet or dry, at the moment it is with Dusty's councillor on the fence.

Busy watching magpie pair, who were making a nest, fighting off a crow, or is it the other large black bird that is not a crow? Anyway, the magpies are very annoyed.

ArbitraryRandom said:

Talking rhubarb - my nan used to make rhubarb and strawberry (jam and just stewed fruit). It was the only way I'd eat the stuff as a kid. 

My grandad made rhubarb wine out of his, which may explain a lot of my later life choices.

Of course being real old school he used nan's mangle to squash the stalks to extract the juice, he also put his greenhouse to good use for fermenting the wine, nice & warm.

His wine was also Sarsens based, like my later attempts with my grapes

PP can't advise on your rhubarb ills, I seem to have murdered mine :'( , I'll blame the soil in that area because rhubarb just doesn't like it there no mater how often I try, while other things are fine

-taff said:

In answer to your question,  I got a couple of erigeron because I know I can divide them if they live, an eryngium because the slugs seem to love the one I had before, some echinacea, basil and tagetes seeds. I have sown some echinacea already but I'm not hopeful of it's chances. I had levingtons with john innes compost this year, and nothing seems to be sprouting particularly well in it.

I grew echinaceas from seed a year or so back, but once released into Slug Alley it has never been seen since

Oh , I have Levington, not with J I though, only sowed cosmos in it this weekend so too early to say, the toms I potted on using it seem to be OK so far.

PP,  germolene OOD, I suspect it is one of those dates that is information, and you can't sue us 'cos we told you so dates. BTW, during my Germo searching it seems it is white really, but the chemical reaction with the tins turned it pinkish, so they made it pink so you wouldn't notice it had turned pinkish with age. Sunning Cods.

Hope the garden plan costs don't have you swooning & reaching for the smelling salts.

Dusty, now that is serous garden work, weather seems set fair for the week at least

ArbitraryRandom said:

Trying to decide what needs a bit more time to germinate vs I need to resow - biggest question right now is beans and peas. I didn't do farway's trick with the damp kitchen towel and after 10 days only two pea seeds have come up, so now do I open a new packet and try again or give the runner/broad/french beans a bit longer?   

That trick took me sixty years to learn, ideal if only a few. Another one is when you plant them out, poke in another seed next to them, if it grows, good, and the slugs will eat one of them anyway.
If your peas etc are outside, the mice have had them.

A very good year for Apple blossom, not sure why, last year's weather or my pruning?

Here's two of my apple trees, the Elstar was from Asda in 2016, a £2.25 clear-out. Planted in the ground.

The Pinova was the dear one, £23 in 2019, from Blackmoor, planted in a pot

Pinova tasted better IMO

Dustyevsky

-taff said:

.Dusty, that looks intensive, but also fun..and that's some insect hotel, it must be the Dorchester of the insect world! Hope it goes more smoothly today and the neighbour has an attack of the vapours because that's always fun to see while standing on the I'm right bucket

With my big, male neighbour, I'd need to stand on a bucket just to look him in the eye! He was the one who asked us to stop, but at £££ per day and people with livings to earn, how likely is that!? With 14 properties there, the only people we should deal with directly are the Management Committee, and as they've not wished to meet face to face with us at any time, that's quite difficult. Lots of room for miscommunication!

We're pushing-on. We've committed a terrible gardening sin with some Erodiums, which I'll post later. Meanwhile, here's some crab apple blossom at Rosemoor; not Scarlett, like wot I planted recently, but close.