Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

Beautiful gates and drive Dusty 
Beginning to look like a stately home. Are you going for charging admission or weddings?

Blue, no more sowing - I don't think.
If they didn't come up twice it's off to the garden centre if they have any left.
I only have a small plot and me to feed so it's really cheaper to just buy the plants!
You're tree is what we used to call a May tree. We had 2 in the garden when I was a kid. The birds adored them.
My birds suddenly vannished when the weather got better. Now a few are back sans babies.
I'm thinking of using them as a weather forecast instead of the ones with fancy computers 

Thick mist over the hills this morning and no sign if sky. 
But it's 'warm' and that's fine.

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

That looks very neat and tidy and clean Dusty, I wonder how long it'll stay like that for

In the immortal words of Martin Luther King, “How long? Not long!” especially with tractors using it. However, they're the main reason for the substantial nature of the kerbing etc. Our neighbours think we're lying about that, with some nefarious scheme up our sleeves, but hey-ho. No Caravan Club site, for now, anyway!  There's room for another bungalow in the garden, as it's an obvious infill site, but if we were planning for that, we'd do a separate, smaller entrance, not requiring planning nonsense and wildlife surveys.

The advantages Mrs Dusty and I spotted 15 years ago still apply; it's the key to staying long-term somewhere and building a lifestyle, but we're too ancient when it comes to the cut-and thrust needed for business development. That may be for the next generation. It's always an advantage to have youth and ££ on your side, and we had neither when we bought this place for the same money as a semi-dee in the city. Wasn't a hard choice!

Now, it's still possible to have a slice of rural life, but the prices have risen. I spotted this one recently, and envied the location, but you don't get so much bang for your buck in 2024:

https://www.michaeladey.co.uk/property/3579/2-bed-detached-house-for-sale-little-mill-cottage-ashreigney/
 Edit: I'm astounded to see mains gas listed. It may be a mistake, It's not even available in my nearest town!

YoungBlueEyes

Maythorn, thanks 2p In which case start casting them clouts! 

I'm not sure about the internal decoration but that's a lovely cottage Dusty. Bit toppy on the price though even with a stream  

Edit I'd sooner have this - https://www.propertypal.com/4-shinn-forth-road-shinn-newry/940395

Farway

Morning all, another warm & sunny day ahead, with forecast of comparative scorcher on the way, the Beeb reported this morning that the seas are now boiling , presumably fish are now caught ready poached.

Agree with, 2P cat wee tree is May, hawthorn. Makes lovely hedges, ideal for birds. And some sort of caterpillar that makes a huge multi nest and itches every one who glances at them. 

The sort that need council warnings and clearing.

I remember they appeared locally, and it made the local rag, I drove a few miles to see & photograph them, the caterpillars munched the whole hedgerow before they went, like locusts

No premium bonds again, so will ignore the house listing, staying put for now. Nice gates BT Dusty, ideal for nailing things, which can't be mentioned here,to.

With my toms cracking on, I may get round to sorting the pots in my conservatory, and plant some in them this week. I'll need to refresh the compost first, well actually I need to have clear up first, try & get it a bit tidy after the winter.

I was watching a YT with tomatoes, and now I want some Tumbling Toms. Anyone tried them? How about taste?

These Piccolo non seeds have got now, I bet I find them when I'm looking for Christmas wrapping paper

YBE, rasps, wide & shallow roots, and just to spur you on, here's my older yellow one yesterday, but don't be fooled, it is not covered with flowers, could be enough for a good handful on your breakfast.

pink_poppy

That tree is lovely, YBE, but shame about the smell. It obviously doesn't bother the birds though   

The new entrance looks amazing, Dusty, very posh. I bet the neighbours are just jealous haha.

Your trip out yesterday sounds lovely, twopenny.

Nice pic of your rasps, Farway. I do love a handful of rasps on whatever breakfast cereal I'm having.

It's a bit grey here this morning. I'm going to see if I can do something with the pond this afternoon - it's got grass growing in it and looks a mess. I'll leave whatever I drag out of it at the side so any wee beasties can climb back in. I haven't seen any frogs or newts this year and am still thinking of filling it in and having a smaller one elsewhere - not yet though, because the birds love having a drink and bathe in it...

LessImpecunious

Farway said:

I was watching a YT with tomatoes, and now I want some Tumbling Toms. Anyone tried them? How about taste?

Grew them last year, in greenhouse pots, disappointing flavour and crop - but I'm not a very good tomato-grower!

ArbitraryRandom

YoungBlueEyes said:

Arb, I agree with Farway, just relax with it a bit   I think I've got the same brain as you (when you said you were researching every source you can before starting something so you can do it right - or similar - I was sat here nodding). The books might say this many inches but probably that many inches is fine. If square foot gardening would be a bit demanding, just do normal planting. The onions won't care. Well the ones that die will but you've too many anyway ha haa! This is why I say about Shawshank so often. I wanted to learn all the different bits and get it all right first time but my *ahem*  'turning against me' brain wouldn't absorb it. So while I'm buying cheapo flowers/trees and reading the labels and trying to do it all properly, I end planting them wherever I've currently got a space. Some stuff dies, some I've moved, some thriving, and then something different dies, but I think a lot of it is down to how much the thing wants to live before I get it itms. Like seeds that don't come up...  So if the onions/cherry stick wants to live, they just will It's hard to flick from Do It All Right to Shawshank but I promise if you persevere it gets easier. Good enough is almost always good enough. Jeez I hope that all comes across right.

Yeah, and I think maybe I'm not coming across right in words? I have no problem with planting differently or thinking it HAS to be the way it says in the book - but if I'm going to do something differently or there's contradicting info then I prefer to understand the logic behind the advice before deciding to ignore it or not. I never do things just 'because that's the way they're supposed to be', but I assume there's some reason people are saying it should be that way if that makes sense? Like not eating pork and shellfish at a time when food storage was such they're likely to be tainted/make you sick - not really a problem nowadays but it was good advice at the time... 

I've not been away. That's next week, so this week is packing and going over the presentations/stuff we're going to be talking about. Plus I actually need to book my train ticket at some point. That would help. I went awol because it was a bank holiday - so no work requirement to be chained to a device and a good chance to have a few days screen break I read lots of books. Which is always excellent. 

Garden is coming along well. Still vexed at the lack of rain meaning more watering than I enjoy as things get established, and annoyingly my 4 cabbage seedlings all got eaten by slugs last night (all gone in one night!). I didn't really have space to plant them anywhere, so no great hardship and I'm not going to try resowing, but I will try again next year (I really do like ht idea of growing Christmas dinner). 

More positively, my tomatoes seem to be quite happy and my peas survived being planted out. I think my runner beans aren't going to make it, but the broad beans look a bit better  Similarly, of my 8 squash, 2 have been eaten/not survived being planted out, but the others are doing reasonably well (touch wood) and I've put out some little blue sweeties (for as much good as it will do). 

twopenny

When I started gardening I trawled the books and made a note book with what needed to be doing when and when and what feed should be added.

It was really useful.

Also we had a lot of experienced older gardeners around with hints and tips if asked.

As time goes on you assimilate this and it allows you to go free-style

I guess the net has taken over from people but the essence is the same.

Except I'm now one of those 'older' gardeners

Dustyevsky

pink_poppy said:

The new entrance looks amazing, Dusty, very posh. I bet the neighbours are just jealous haha.

I wish it was just jealousy. By taking the dispute to the council, the Numpties in Charge made our dispute formal, with  records in the public domain, so now anyone in their complex intending to sell must declare this as a dispute on Property Info Form TA6. (I know it's different in Scotland) It's not something we wish on any of them, so we're making contact soon to see if the matter can be resolved. Given the background, I'm not sure what will happen. They're worse than NASA. (Never A Straight Answer!) We're going nowhere, so.....

In other news, collecting the prescriptions today, I found myself standing next to an overgrown Escallonia carparkii.

Farway said:

Morning all, another warm & sunny day ahead, with forecast of comparative scorcher on the way, the Beeb reported this morning that the seas are now boiling , presumably fish are now caught ready poached.

Agree with, 2P cat wee tree is May, hawthorn. Makes lovely hedges, ideal for birds. And some sort of caterpillar that makes a huge multi nest and itches every one who glances at them. 

The sort that need council warnings and clearing.

I remember they appeared locally, and it made the local rag, I drove a few miles to see & photograph them, the caterpillars munched the whole hedgerow before they went, like locusts

I think it's Oak Processionary Moth. We saw that where we used to live; a very apt description, too. Like locusts.

Our Hawthorns aren't out here yet, but the elders are. I smelled one before I saw it. Don't understand the cat wee thing, but like tomatoes, maybe it's personal taste.

twopenny said:

When I started gardening I trawled the books and made a note book with what needed to be doing when and when and what feed should be added.

Me too. I loved those spiral bound RHS guides.

Farway

Dustyevsky said:

pink_poppy said:

I think it's Oak Processionary Moth. We saw that where we used to live; a very apt description, too. Like locusts.

Our Hawthorns aren't out here yet, but the elders are. I smelled one before I saw it. Don't understand the cat wee thing, but like tomatoes, maybe it's personal taste.

twopenny said:

When I started gardening I trawled the books and made a note book with what needed to be doing when and when and what feed should be added.

Me too. I loved those spiral bound RHS guides.

That could be the caterpillars, aren't they becoming more of a problem now? I think they have just been spotted in two RHS gardens somewhere.

Your hawthorns are late, I thought the rule was open by May day? They're out here, I like the smell but maybe like elders, some do smell of cat wee.

Another garden book trawler, mine were the "Be your own ***** Expert" series, by David Gerald Hessayon, still going strong I believe. 50 million copies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._G._Hessayon