Awful weather - typical Brits talk

YoungBlueEyes

Ooh that’s coming on eh Dusty, still on for a Friday finish? Did the fellah who said that see the weather forecast today…? You suvveners are in for a lot of weather Possibly. 

I can tell you they don’t have that lilac in morries where I went this morning for petrol They did have a few reduced things though, so I lifted 2 rasps (Allgold and Autumn Bliss) and a loganberry and an orange pyracantha cos it’s orange and I think my one’s yellow. And a clematis for Lovely Neighbour to grow up her pergola, she’s having terrible trouble convincing not to head for the fjords… 

I’ve got good info too. Talking to an auld fellah who was looking at fruit trees (£20+ now!) he said you should always come the day after their delivery day cos that’s when they reduced whatever’s left from the last delivery. Turnover is v important. I don’t know if they’re all the same nationally but delivery day here was Monday. Visit/avoid as necessary. 

Right. Builder has sent his plan through so I’ve got thinking to do. 

pink_poppy

Some lovely peonies in Lidl this morning, if anyone's looking.

My Christmas amaryllis is flowering - two trumpets open so far and another two to come. I'm a bit disappointed with the colours again - sort of orangey pink and white - I'll maybe do a pic later if my phone says yes.

I've been applying for jobs because I'm climbing the walls here... there's also a bit of emotional blackmail going on in the wider family that is annoying me, so I'm trying to keep out of it busy.

It's dry, but grey at the moment, with some light rain forecast for this afternoon. The forecast for tomorrow is sunny all day and 21 degrees   whoop   

YoungBlueEyes

Come down here and I’ll keep you occupied pp, my garden’s like painting the Forth Bridge ha haa! 

As someone with (when push came to shove) dreadful family members, I can recommend you use my line. “Don’t be ringing me with that horseship, we’re not children any more. And don’t ring me again til you’ve grown up. ” This is not medical advice etc. 

Farway

Yay, my Golden Delicious from T & M has arrived, not unpacked, just found, it was leaning against the front door

YoungBlueEyes said:

I can tell you they don’t have that lilac in morries where I went this morning for petrol They did have a few reduced things though, so I lifted 2 rasps (Allgold and Autumn Bliss) and a loganberry and an orange pyracantha cos it’s orange and I think my one’s yellow. And a clematis for Lovely Neighbour to grow up her pergola, she’s having terrible trouble convincing not to head for the fjords… 

I’ve got good info too. Talking to an auld fellah who was looking at fruit trees (£20+ now!) he said you should always come the day after their delivery day cos that’s when they reduced whatever’s left from the last delivery. Turnover is v important. I don’t know if they’re all the same nationally but delivery day here was Monday. Visit/avoid as necessary. 

Right. Builder has sent his plan through so I’ve got thinking to do. 

Good buy on the rasp YBE, I have both of those. My Allgold is old one and like me a bit out of puff, my Bliss is new this year, also from Morries in Feb, mine is just starting to grow now.

Is the loganberry thornless? I used to grow one years ago and did well, but had to leave the fruit on until it was really ripe to eat raw, easy grower and prolific for pies etc.

Don't tempt me with fruit trees

YoungBlueEyes

I remember you saying Autumn Bliss which is why I lifted it. The rasps are thorny (and literally half dead) but the loganberry is thornless and all alive.  Hasn’t come out well on this pic but still - 

Wondering now if I’ll be able to wrestle the rasps out from the thorns *sigh*

Anyway I came on to say hang fire starting your thread Farway. I’ve just taken ages on a new thread about further suggestions re my garden wall, with lots of pics and everything, and when I pressed saved draft to check it over before posting the whole thing disappeared :’( 

Farway

Damn & Blast, T & M have mislabelled me again, weeps in frustration

Unpacked my Golden Delicious, blooming thing is a crab , Sun Rival, whacking great big label on it as well, must have been packed while the packer's Guide Dog was dozing

Sun Rival reads like nice crab, but I don't want that.

Complaint lodged with T & M online, so awaiting developments, when they've got it wrong before they've always played fair, so I expect it will be sorted OK, just irritating

YoungBlueEyes said:

I remember you saying Autumn Bliss which is why I lifted it. The rasps are thorny (and literally half dead) but the loganberry is thornless and all alive.  Hasn’t come out well on this pic but still - 

Wondering now if I’ll be able to wrestle the rasps out from the thorns *sigh*

Anyway I came on to say hang fire starting your thread Farway. I’ve just taken ages on a new thread about further suggestions re my garden wall, with lots of pics and everything, and when I pressed saved draft to check it over before posting the whole thing disappeared :’( 

They look OK YBE, I expect you'll be eating rasps with thorny stabbed fingers this Autumn , actually rasp thorns aren't bad, more like soft prickles really. 

I think the prickles are more to stop animals eating the canes than birds or us eating the fruit.

BTW, if you can try & leave distance between the rasps, the little devils just love to mingle, so you'll finish up with mixed yellow & red fruiting canes. Not that it will matter too much as both are Autumn fruiting and treated the same way, just one may be taller than the other.

Thanks for heads up [I hate that phrase] on the thread problems, I think I will write the words on Word first, then cut & paste

Rain has started, in for the day now with funder maybe tonight

YoungBlueEyes

Good tip, I’ll keep them separate. Thanks Farway. They can each have their own trug if they like, himself keeps bringing them home 🤨

Fingers crossed T+M play fair. They should do if they’ve wrongly sent you a rightly labelled thing. 

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

Ooh that’s coming on eh Dusty, still on for a Friday finish? Did the fellah who said that see the weather forecast today…? You suvveners are in for a lot of weather Possibly.

I hope it's done by Friday, or we'll have to sell the house to pay for it! 

Builder won't let his Dad work in rain and cold, so we'll have to see how it goes. Either way, Dad's off to his caravan all next week!

Your post makes me realise I've not been near a Morries for ages. I miss their pitta bread most! Still working on a remedy for their parallelogram-shaped olive rolls.....

YoungBlueEyes said:

Fingers crossed T+M play fair. They should do if they’ve wrongly sent you a rightly labelled thing. 

I can see a guerilla gardened crab growing next to the others on Farways green!

LessImpecunious

Potato experiment set in motion - I had 3 spare Foremost tubers (waiting to go in a big pot or similar, with longish chits - if that's the word...) - which, annoyingly, I was convinced I'd seen as a Determinate in Arb's list shared earlier but is not actually there now I've looked again, but which the European Potato Database describes as being short and having very early maturity, so a good bet I hope... For comparison I dug up one Sante (planted on the 4th April and just beginning to show above ground) - an Early Maincrop, and in Indeterminate Group 3 in the list.

Both placed towards the bottom of two old plastic dustbins, with about 6" compost beneath, then lightly covered with more compost. Should give plenty of room for topping up as they grow, and testing whether Sante (and/or Foremost) produces potatoes all the way up!

Foremost - I'd part-covered the tubers before I remembered to take a pic...

Sante

Both covered and labelled so I don't forget which is which...

Partly because it makes for a more interesting photo...planters in situ by compost bins - plus, OT (because I suddenly wondered whether I should have started a new post for this...), showing the semi-murky weather we enjoyed today - warm enough to remove coat (visible in background!) but only just...Turning damp this evening, for thorough watering in...

ArbitraryRandom

Less, you're taking a slightly different approach to me (I'm testing if earthing up is worth the effort or if it's just as good to fill the tubs from the start) - I've got three 35L tubs (no spare bins handy ) with two each King Edwards (recorded as indeterminate).

The tubs are ~14 inches tall, so each are started the same with ~7 inches mixed of coir and ericaceous compost, with two handfuls of blood fish and bone mixed in. Then the tubers were placed on opposite halves of the tub. They all had about 2 inches of tomatorite grow bag (with added seaweed), and then two are topped off with about 5 inches of CB fuels multipurpose (I can see after the rain last night one needs a little more). I considered mulching the top with straw, but it would change the soil composition as the one was earthed up and if I didn't put the straw on only that one it would impact water retention, so I didn't.  

The one will be topped up as the shoots emerge, middle will be pinched back as per tomatoes after the first lot of flowers has had chance to be pollinated, and the other will be left to do as it wants (with all three being fed and watered on the same schedule.) Expected harvest date ~first week of September. 

All in all I've ended up with 12 tubs of potatoes this year (5 varieties), and I've taken a fairly even split on filing or leaving low (mostly just based on when the bag of compost ran out that day ), but some of the tubers I received looked less promising than others, so these three are the ones that should provide the best 'controlled' results.

Questions to be considered - do any of the methods clearly produce a greater weight of tubers/more tubers? Do any of the methods encourage the plants to grow/crop faster (i.e. potentially an advantage to avoid blight)? How much work is involved in that method and is it worth any difference? 



Weather here is also on the damp side (rain overnight) and grey but warm enough I'm in a long sleeved T and forecast is for up to 16 with sunny intervals. No rain forecast until Saturday.