Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Apodemus

twopenny said:

Ha!ha! I thought the Saharan sand was a gardening term for a minute.

Was Saharan Sand not a 1970's British Leyland paint colour?

Davesnave

Apodemus said:

twopenny said:

Ha!ha! I thought the Saharan sand was a gardening term for a minute.

Was Saharan Sand not a 1970's British Leyland paint colour?

Probably. I recall a lot of muck coloured Allegros. Marinas and other ghastly vehicles BL produced. That was a golden age for me, as an unpatriotic weirdo who preferred a Renault 12 estate. It was so much more comfortable and modern than the long-in-the-tooth Longbridge losers.. Bought one with just 22k on the clock for peanuts and it saw service for many a year.
Not a lot of hope for outdoor activity today, but better times are heading this way tomorrow. 

Farway

I'm on the fringe of Dave's manky weather, just the odd shower, however today I made the first sowing of 2021

Some Escala F1 radish, into modules in the unheated conservatory, where it is nearly 60F today

I'm trying growing radish in modules this year because I saw this method mentioned somewhere and I don't need bunches of them, just the odd couple in a salad and for some reason normal outside sowing just fail to produce much of substance for me lately. I grew better ones when I was 13

Davesnave said:

Apodemus said:

twopenny said:

Ha!ha! I thought the Saharan sand was a gardening term for a minute.

Was Saharan Sand not a 1970's British Leyland paint colour?

Probably. I recall a lot of muck coloured Allegros. Marinas and other ghastly vehicles BL produced. That was a golden age for me, as an unpatriotic weirdo who preferred a Renault 12 estate. It was so much more comfortable and modern than the long-in-the-tooth Longbridge losers.. Bought one with just 22k on the clock for peanuts and it saw service for many a year.
Not a lot of hope for outdoor activity today, but better times are heading this way tomorrow. 

I had a muck coloured Aggro, terrible car, but the muck coloured Maxi was excellent, once one got used to whacking the starter solenoid to free it.

I carried a two pound "starting" hammer in the car at all times

I progressed to a Lada

twopenny

What a wonderful thing to have Ras. During the first lockdown we almost immediately had a family of 3 Buzzards calling and drifting over the quiet town.

Sadly this time multiple factors have meant they and the small birds have long gone chased out by people and their habits.

Mind the strength of the wind and lashing rain for weeks may have a bit to do with it.

Did hear frogs calling last night. So wet they must have thought they were permently in a pond! Interesting though. Planned to dig  a pond this winter but the sodden ground put paid to that.

Still raining, still blowing.

greenbee

Thanks for the reminder about radishes Farway! I might start some off in the greenhouse as I haven't got round to clearing the planters I used last year and they seem to have a lot of moss in them. 

It was dry this morning, so I cut the road side of my hedge (which hasn't been done for over a year). I can't currently lift the electric hedge trimmer (or deal with the extension leads), so I used the very lightweight G-tech rechargeable. It has dealt with enough to make it less obvious that it still needs cutting back hard. And the 1/3 I haven't cleared of ivy and dead branches is definitely looking less happy than the rest. Still, I got it cut back and cleared up, and the stuff that was either chopped down or planted last year is looking very happy. In a few years' time I might have a decent hedge!

This afternoon I've tidied the greenhouse and built some seed tray racks, so I can move all the seeds from the overheated dining room to something slightly more suitable. Plus it'll get me outside before work checking up on them.

Farway

And back to rain this morning, darn I was hoping to clear the last straggling remnants of the nasturtiums for the front

I'm sure the forecast was sunny. Just checked weather radar, it's all over the South , with even more on Dave

So unless it dries out by this afternoon no gardening today for me

Apodemus

Farway, last year I tried growing radishes - probably for the first time since I was thirteen - and it was a complete disaster, only got a couple of radishes to eat, out of half a pack of seeds.  I might try your suggestion of growing them in modules and see if it works any better but, seriously, how can I be failing with radishes?! 

Yesterday was my first full gardening day of the season.  Got a veg bed cleared, dug over and incorporated a pile of wood ash and compost.  Then treated the hoop cloche cover for the bed to a new plastic sheet and got the bed all safely closed up.  I finished pruning back the gooseberries and separated a gooseberry bush and forsythia that had merged together - neither will thank me for being pruned at this point in the year, but needs must and I'm not putting up with a forsythia with thorns! 

Final job yesterday afternoon was to clear, clean and weed the summer patio and it was looking so good in the morning sunshine today that I got the patio table and chairs out and we had breakfast in the sun!  I'll not pretend it was warm (about 5C), but it helped mark a psychological spring!   

Davesnave

Yes, 'even more' on me, but at least I'm not sending it your way today.

Still clearing up the polytunnel, so it's OK and there may be a brief window of drier weather this afternoon before more rain arrives.....

Set pretty fair from here onwards though. Will be planting many seeds this week.

twopenny

It's raining.
Hasn't stopped for a month.
Bought a ceonothus from the supermarket but no idea what type. Could be big or small. Got all sorts of odds and ends for when the ground doesn't squelch.
The garden centre has decided not to have rescue area. So having to look elsewhere for my fillers in a new garden.

Farway

Apodemus said:

Farway, last year I tried growing radishes - probably for the first time since I was thirteen - and it was a complete disaster, only got a couple of radishes to eat, out of half a pack of seeds.  I might try your suggestion of growing them in modules and see if it works any better but, seriously, how can I be failing with radishes?! 

Precisely what I thought, must be climate change / covid / Brexit / insert whatever here