Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Farway

Late clocking in again, so still catching up. Dull and needing light on as well, I think I'm on the fringe of the rain, which is a shame really because I could do with a good tipping down to ensure yesterday's planting gets watered in properly.

 YBE, hope the compost works for you, BTW I don't do refunds, no guarantee offered or implied

I guess you have not found my hand fork or garden knife yet?

Apple colours, fall into the “it all depends” slot. I know, some "blush" on the sunny side. 

Which if you have time on your idle hands you can write words, rude or otherwise, onto apples by shading them.

I've never tried Blenheim tea, but I did, do, like Cornish tea, using some grown in Cornwall. It used to be on sale in RHS Wisley café but no longer. I guess it could be bought online, but these days I use loose-leaf Pompey, blended specially for the hard water here. https://www.tea-and-coffee.com/buy-tea/extra/portsmouth-tea

Bloom me away sounds a good'un Dusty. And well done on cake resistance, we make some tough calls at times.

Put some fresh broad bean seeds onto damp Kitchen paper last night, maybe sprouting by next week & take it from there, only six to get on with

It's a bit manky out but hope to put out my streptocarpus cuttings for a spruce up & reinvigorate them after the winter. They have been neglected by me, but now all the tom forest has gone, there is space for other things.

My new furry friend, so far, just permits me to inspect my apples provided I don't get too close. I say Hello and it ignores me, of course.

pink_poppy

Love the cat pic, Farway. Initially I thought it was leaning on the wall, neighbour stylee, but then realised it was laid on top. Very cute anyway, even if it is ignoring you.

That Gertrude Jekyll rose is amazing, twopenny. I could be persuaded to have another rose if I could get it to grow like that. Or the other one you've mentioned before, but the name escapes me (I've got it written down 'somewhere')...

I'm still reading, but have been really busy, so I know I'm missing loads of stuff. My tatties are going daft - they're growing a lot faster than I expected them to and I've had to earth them up two or three times. I'm regretting my choice of bag and won't be using them next year - I'll buy some proper tattie sacks.

It's dry here at the moment, but we're due some rain this afternoon. We had heavy rain last night, so at least I didn't have to water anything. Which reminds me, lovely Geum, whoever it was that got one recently. My old, neglected one is growing leaves, but I can't see it flowering anytime soon.

YoungBlueEyes

I rather like that Tarka statue Dusty. It looks very leopardish to me. Nicely aged too Very pretty blue camassias too, a mix of those and the white would be lovely.

Taff we have an "enriched bucket" of water that gets ...topped up... when himself is lollygagging about the place doing jobs outside but I've only used it on the grass so far. I've bought some good stuff now but I didn't think of enriching the poor stuff when I replanted my toms etc. That might have worked you know. Ah well, too late now. The queer thing is, even though I keep that bucket down the garden so it's away from my open windows, it doesn't actually smell after a few minutes. I'm a great one for opening windows (even in this weather, they're all cracked open now) and I don't want it close to the house when I know what it is ha haa!

2p how about dealing with your ants the other way round - what's attracting them in? Have you a packet of ginger nuts down the back of a cupboard or anything...?  It's funny to think of us all syncing up, "ciggies and Bushmills" made me giggle! Tbh I do copy a lot of the things I read about on here, this thread and the Old School money saving one mainly. Maybe what's his name is right - sershul meeeja is turning us all into one homogenous Blob, and we're letting it  

Think you've labelled your pic wrong there Farway, shouldn't it say "Cat may rip your face off, when it finishes thinking about it"   But yeah, there's a genuine chance that I could turn up a garden fork, or just about anything really, given enough time. I'll put your name on the top of the 'first refusal' list  

It's me with the geum pp. Have yous got Aldi up there? I think you should lift a couple if you see them, using the money you didn't spend on not buying another calamondin, so that'd make them free really. Yes it does work like that in my house  

twopenny

Ha!Ha!Ha! That cat is in a grump. I wonder what happened?
Beautiful shot 

YoungBlueEyes

Extraneous diddy apple results  (no connection to either of these websites) -

https://www.ruralsprout.com/windfall-apple-uses/ 

https://www.gardenergardens.com/listing/how-to-make-use-of-unripe-windfall-fruit

I'm not sure I'll try any of the suggestions tbh, I'm not sure my tree will kick enough of them off to make it worth my while. 

wort

Dusty so sad to hear of your nieces daughter, much too young and my sympathies are with you all.
The big tree is apparently a Ficus Macrophylla, if you search big trees in Cadiz it shows much better pics than I took, and they’re over 100 years old.
Still not caught up with you all yet.

Bucketing down today after the sun yesterday, been to see eldest Sister who has just had stents put in after a heart attack ,such a shock, as she’s healthy and wasn’t on any meds. Medical stuff these days are miraculous.

pink_poppy

Sorry to hear about your sister, wort, hope she recovers quickly. Agree with medical stuff being miraculous.

I’ve nipped outside to take a couple of pics...


Pics seem to be out of order...

I can’t believe how fast the potatoes have grown - they’ve been in just less than 3 weeks 😳

The Aquilegia look so pretty, all entwined. A cheeky little poppy has popped up beside them and a foxglove is just opening behind (ignore the anthill in the background 🙄).

Farway

wort said:

Bucketing down today after the sun yesterday, been to see eldest Sister who has just had stents put in after a heart attack ,such a shock, as she’s healthy and wasn’t on any meds. Medical stuff these days are miraculous.

Like you say, miracles daily. I knew someone who went in for a checkup and came home with stents, the checkup results were so bad they operated there & then.

Lovely pics of aquilegia entwined there, PP.

Goes back to checking flights to Zurich clinic.

wort

Oo PP love those pastel colored aquilegia together. 

I’ve go Geum envy , and Aldi envy as I was there yesterday and they only had acers. My geum hasn’t sent it’s stalk up yet it’s a dark red one and it’s much later in the year, had it years and it’s never spread. 

Erigeron daisy things I love and was given a piece by BIL and now has spread everywhere, 😍as the campanula.
My poppies are yellow and orange scattered about , don’t think I planted them but could have been in with cuttings from sister, I did plant a red one from the Royal British legion but it flowered once then disappeared.
love the roses 2p and YBE I have 1 think it’s tranquility a David Austin rose my friends bought me when my husband died, it smell beautiful and is cream but it get black spot on leaves every year, even though I’ve tried all kinds. 

Dustyevsky

Black spot on roses is the result of this clean air we're not supposed to have, 'cos it's boiling. Back in the bad ol' days, the sulphur and other substances from coal fires kept the rose leaves clear of fungal diseases.

There was a very striking geum at the nursery on Monday. It was called 'Mai-Tai.' We admired, but resisted.

That was a crafty move, pp, dropping the aquilegias in with the tatties. Farway wasn't expecting that!

On the subject of these, Plant World probably has the largest choice. There are mixes, as well as definite types, though there's nothing definite about aquilegias!

https://www.plant-world-seeds.com/store/flower_seed_categories/AQUILEGIA_SEEDS

I'm not sure about the cat. Often they look scary, and they're fine. Don't rush the relationship is my tip. Start slowly. A tin of sardines won't raise expectations too much. You don't want to get into Sheba, or anything like that.