Awful weather - typical Brits talk

LessImpecunious

alicef said:

delurking - @LessImpecunious re birdsong app - I think Merlin app is great for bird song id.

Thanks alicef - will give it a try!

twopenny

Alicef, thanks. That's the first recommendation 
Couldn't find the uk garden birds though. Do you have a link?

It's slightly lighter, slightly less cold.
Discovered that I have my little insect eating birds front and back so I can't leave the house   

Seem to be mainly sparrows and thats great.
Also been watching the birds eating from the bird table. Blackie always comes about 5,30 and the others too as well as morning. Coming from my overgrown ivy tree which I have for insects.
I've moved the bird table to the lawn away from the fence where the rat appeared. Seems to have made a difference  they like it being away from the edge. Who'd have thought?

alicef

@twopenny this is where I confess to pinching the OH phone and using his apps as I don't have a whizzy phone.  I did ask him what he did and he said he went to Google apps and download the app.  (Not sure if that will get you any further?)  

twopenny

Wizzy phones have eluded me also   
I'll have a root around as there are 2 I'd like. Birdsong and stars.

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

Now, Dusty, whisper quietly, I shall say this only once . 

There are positive signs of my Lakemont grape getting ready to flower, all primed and ready, just no flower bunches yet. Could this year be the year I get to eat a Lakemont grape? Everything crossed please!

Anything on your one Dusty?

I've had it since 2018 and never had a grape :'(

My 'Lakemont' (allegedly) has been standing wind-blasted from both east and west this winter, due to the hedge rejuvenation. It doesn't even have unfurled leaves yet!

 The wind dropped here and the sun came out, so I spent 2 hours down in the dell, planting things. It's always hit & miss. Many plants simply disappear, as the 'wild' molluscs, and other unknown species, munch things that aren't touched in the garden! Let's see what they make of our Chicory. It's grown so huge in the herb garden it's now been banished to the hell of streamside.

ArbitraryRandom

Hmm... all of my various soil/compost/other bags moved and in the respective beds. Focusing only on the two L shape beds (the middle one has fruit bushes and strawbs so a fairly immune to insult), I need at least another 400L by my reckoning... I can't believe how much soil it takes to fill a bed, and it's not even rained to start compacting it yet! 

I'll get another 8 sacks, then I'm just calling it a day for this year so I can get things in the ground. If I mulch them well at year end and cover for the winter then hopefully they'll be properly full next year  

I hope everyone has had a good day. 

Re the mention I saw of weeing on the compost - ask any ladyfolk and they'd be able to tell you that peeing in a bucket and decanting is much easier and sensible than trying to aim into a cup/watering can  

Re birds, I don't get many in the garden (thanks to the cats), but today I have been entertained by squabbling between the seagulls and (not sure if it's a crow or a rook?) that are both wanting to nest in neighbouring chimneys. I wish there was a way to encourage the corvids that didn't also encourage the gulls, but I can't think of one... 

LessImpecunious

Good point about the bucket Arb - my compost heaps are generally disorganised enough that I can access the front slope for giving them their nitrogen boost, and even that can be a bit hit and miss  though I have used the bucket method when I've got round to adding a front wall - problem is my garden buckets are usually the ones that have acquired a split at the bottom, so not the most efficient for any fluid collecting...

twopenny

Hmm.....brick steps beside the heap, split bucket on top and you sat atop that?
I'd pay good money for the photo   

twopenny

I feel the need to post a photo  to join the 'bee' crowd.

Especially as I managed to get the bee almost in focus

LessImpecunious

I misread that and thought for a moment you were posting a wee photo...

Lovely bee and blossom