Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

Nice bird pic Dusty, nothing comparable from me. There's a car show in town tomorrow so OT, but I'll be snapping away there, perhaps find a Mayflower? 

You'd have to be a certain age to get that tenuous connection. How about a Lotus?

Ha, I remember! Not sure if that's a good thing, though. I recall the Triumph Mayflower all right. The Dad of a girl I fancied used to park his, across the road from us. It was a sort of murky grey; probably close to 'Downpipe' in Farrow & Ball parlance.   It was the sort of car young lads like me noticed, as there were never many of them, and it was angular.

PP, your fungi are an impressive bit of multi-cropping, but be wary, in case they're magical.

goldfinches

@Dustyevsky - I'll see your lovely bird photos and raise you a police horse being unloaded next to the station. I'd never realised before that their manes and forelocks are clipped off entirely, I assume that's so that they can't be grabbed at.



They got a lot of attention from people and the grooms encouraged everyone to touch them too.

YoungBlueEyes

Thanks for the tree help all, I'm pleased it isn't deffo gonna die. I'll see what occurs when I scrape at it and then chop a good bit off. Hopefully it'll decide it wants to live. So is your cherry basically alright now Arb?

Your oaks story made me chuckle Farway - that's karma for the fellah who complained eh. Be even better if he had to foot his own bill  

I had to go back for a look at your pic pp... did anyone else have Homer Simpson in their head saying booooobieeeees?  

Nice 'osses gf. I never realised that about police horses either but then I don't think I've seen one in real life. If it's for their safety I wonder why they don't do their tails too...? The blonde woman doesn't half look like my sister  

How are your ants and screen white-out issues going 2p? Any improvement in either? 

Nothing as swish as siskins here sadly so I do love your photos Dusty

Pea souper out there this morning but it's lifting now. We're in for a couple of hours of sunshine before the cloud and rain rolls in with rain about 1700 / we're in for a lovely sunny warm day right through 'til it clouds over and rains about 2300. Cool last night though Himself announced last night that we should Do Something for the bank hol and why don't we go to Leeds. Ok fine but I wanna be up and on the road early to miss all the crazies. How early is early? Well we could be on the road for 0700. Yes he said. /me looks at the time and then looks at the ceiling wondering if his medical wonderment snoring will actually shake the whole thing loose and come down on me...

YoungBlueEyes

Here’s my contribution to the pics. Mrs Blackie getting a good feed before the squirrels arrive - 



… and some pretty dew drops on my rose leaves (I’ve never seen them settle like that before ) 

ArbitraryRandom

Morning all. Looks like a nice day today (not that I've been out yet). 

Yesterday was a very lazy day and a very early night. Didn't even finish my book before dozing off   

Cats are all telling me they need to be fed, so only a quick post from me, but I wanted to share my potato progress. Left to right: Planted in a full tub (no hilling) to grow as it wants; Planted in full tub (no hilling) to be pinched back after first lot of flowers set; planted 'traditionally' and hilled up. 



All three tubs were started on 2nd May with 3 tubers in each 35L pot (it looks like only two have come up in each). Bf&b mixed into the compost under the tubers, and a planted in a mix of basic compost and tomatorite grow bag. All three have had a top feed of bf&b a couple of weeks ago and are due another this weekend (so every 2 weeks). All three I'd say have grown about the same amount - the 'traditional' tub has just had a lot of its growth buried. 

King Edwards apparently take around 125-140 days to harvest, so that's around 4-19 September, assuming no signs of blight before then. 

Edit: YBE - yes, the cherry is the one I put up a picture of the other day. Not a huge amount of fruit this year (but others are the same so could be the weather) but plenty of leaves and healthily enough. Might stunt it a bit height wise, but that's not a problem for me as I'd need to be trimming it to keep it manageable anyway. 

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

I had to go back for a look at your pic pp... did anyone else have Homer Simpson in their head saying booooobieeeees?  

Nice 'osses gf. I never realised that about police horses either but then I don't think I've seen one in real life. If it's for their safety I wonder why they don't do their tails too...? The blonde woman doesn't half look like my sister  

Nothing as swish as siskins here sadly so I do love your photos Dusty

Homer didn't come to mind, but Dolly Parton did. I expect getting hold of hosses' tails could really only end one way! I like that in gf's picture of urbanity, there's still wee bits of grass struggling through and some real granite (possibly Devon granite too! ) Like your dew drops around the rose leaves, seeing details brings rewards.

Siskins aren't rare, but they hang out in the countryside and suburbs rather than towns. We didn't see any for years.

Looks like our forecast is similar to others: nice, but rain spreading in around teatime. I might get out for a walk today, but there's shopping too and the coast will be rammed. Local open garden tomorrow + grandchildren arriving = more conflicting thoughts!   I need a calming scene....how about this stunning azalea in the shade at Rosemoor?

YoungBlueEyes

Your tatties are really coming on eh Arb, you'll be harvesting them before you know it. My cherries sound like yours - leafy and healthy and happy - but I'll not be knee-deep in fruit that's for sure! 

Now that's a beautiful azalea Dusty, it looks like a big puffy cloud that I would happily fall into and have a good sleep in Oh and re your choice of activities, you're not allowed to toss a coin when it comes to family. Apparently.

twopenny

Yup I;m here. Been sorting out filing etc so on the net. No answer to my question on the Feedback forum. I'll try a direct email eventually.

It's clouded over after a decent start. Warmish.

Still keeping up with the stories - I'm about to mow the lawn. No mow may has bought wildlife but in the theme of rats and I've got lots of couch getting in and the birds not enamoured any more so it's 'off with it's head'.

Got some brassicas in and there's some potting to do.

A home for my extra runners, no takers so I have to find a space somewhere.

Wow to all the potatoes coming on!

I've got lots of little birds atm Dusty which is brilliant they don't stay still long enough for photos. I think even the Blackies are taking a break from raising young. Perhaps that is a sign of a lot of dry weather ?

I took some photos of the big brassicas with water drops. They were like jewels and necklaces of pearls. Amazing what's out there to make your day if you look.

Latest, just drinking coffee with milk from Peppa the Jersey cow. Wayside shop from small holding. Shorthorn mild from Cresida and Daisy............wonder what happened to buttercup?

Farway

Another one here with nice weather, hot sunshine at the moment with rain maybe later tonight

I went into town early, also avoiding the crazies, specifically went to the car show [free] and used the bus for the first time since pre Covid. 

Actually I cheated a bit, parked up [free] & then caught bus, surprising my bus pass still worked . I did wonder if it would have dried up due to non use, but I suppose I can't be the only one returning after Covid

I used the bus because parking on a how Bank Holiday is manic, and the robot parking cameras make no allowance for "sat in traffic queuing to leave the car park"

Looking at the cars, it would seem gardening is a far cheaper pastime, No Triumph Mayflower though , Dusty I was another admirer of the angular lines, and even bought the Dinky car of it.

Nice lot of pics again, those dew drops even feel wet.

I have space for runners 2p, ever since the slugs invaded :'(The replacement broad beans have swollen but not yet emerged.

I bought a mixed box of Isle of Wight toms in the green grocers in town, mixed colours, cherry & small plum. Blooming expensive, but it's all local and small trader, so at least I'm trying to support local businesses.

My intention is to sample them & save seeds if any are very tasty. The two I have sampled so far are better looking than tasting. But that's often the way, isn't it? Buying with your eyes.

Here's my morning pics, mixed IOW toms from G grocer & cars that are not Triumphs. I think it's a Cadillac, but what would I know, far above my income and garage size anyway.

Car show

goldfinches

The dew drops on those roses are really beautiful Ybe and I like your anti squirrel baffle. 
I'm very envious of your potatoes AR, interesting comparing the various methods, I'm taking notes for next year.
Bloomin' gorgeous azalea Dusty, enjoy the grandchildren if you can.
2p fling some of that milk in this direction will you, it sounds delectable.
Great looking toms Farway, hope at least one tastes good enough to be worth saving.

We had our regular allotment working party this morning, so off I pedalled and all the way there my phone was chirruping away with notifications from the what's ap* group. I got there to discover that pretty much everyone else had cried off for one reason and another so there were just being three of us which made me wonder how many of the other allotmenters I'm ever going to meet. Ho hum. Anyway, then a visitor who wanted to chat about having a plot stepped on my raspberry root transplant, she pushed off to the pub pretty smartly after that and everyone else went home for lunch leaving me to enjoy the peace and quiet. I saw a charm of goldfinches while I was there and then a red kite flew over and frightened all the pigeons and blackbirds away.

The good news is that the rocket seeds I sowed the other day have germinated so I hope the slugs don't get the lot overnight. 



I don't recall sowing them quite so erratically so I assume some are lagging behind a bit.