Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

A single question for a politician, that's a good one Dusty. I'll have to think about that... So my erigerons aren't the same as your pond ones I think I like your ones better tbh but the pond could be influencing my decision! How did your littlest one cope being away from parents btw? Hopefully no screaming ab dabs or meltdowns?

Hurray for pigeons 2p, sounds like they'll take care of your rat problem Have you hedgehogs where you are? They'll hoover up the bits of seeds etc if the pigeons miss any. I don't know how you'd attract them in if they're not in your area already though.... If anyone knows how to do that I'd be interested

My favourite quote through life has always been “By their fruits ye shall know them,” and with politicians, track records are clearly more instructive than promises. Sadly, most people's memories about the 'doing' are short, or they fall for bunkum used to dissociate what was done from the consequences, following some time later. I won't go down this track any further....self-censorship's the worst sort, but you keep your friends!

Our hoover-uppers are house sparrows, dunnocks, pigeons, and collared doves in the main, but we sometimes have other more rare ground feeders, like the yellowhammer that turned-up last week. So long as what's supplied is cleaned-up, there's no rat problem; hence, getting the balance right is important.   The birds take time to adapt to the extra food supply, but we have so many in the local area, it's probably easier here to get the balance working than in town.

GCs have been better than before, and littlest doesn't have issues that couldn't be sorted quite quickly with tweaks to his regime. He's been fine. A very compliant child is the last thing parents should want. As someone who's watched hundreds of small people grow up, lack of assertiveness and determination is often followed by taking the easiest path and then being led astray!

Now I'm being led astray into the land of onions, having seen so many good ones this year. These were at Rosemoor a few weeks ago. They've almost gone over now, but I want a patch like this..

Our weather began suddenly today. I swear it was OK when I set off to let the chickens out at 06.20, but halfway down the path it turned into a scary scene from Harry Potter, with a sudden violent NW wind and huge drops of driven rain. I gave the chooks their 'worms' (last night's uneaten spaghetti!) and fled.

wort

Can you send the nice weather up here please, I’ve just had 3 days off and done nowt but read books as it’s rained, been cold and windy.

Enjoying the raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens , some of my favourite things as well as Julie Andrews.

Everything in the garden is growing a pace, but as I’m back in work tomorrow and an op at the weekend it may well be a jungle out there before I manage anymore gardening. More Tarzan than sound of music.

fantastic wisteria Dusty. I’m still having to get my peonies from the shop as mine are not showing flowers again..
still behind on your posts , due to reading 📚 rather than looking on here sorry, hope everyone is ok, and there hasn’t been any exodus to the fjords x

YoungBlueEyes

By their fruits shall ye know them. That's a good quote Dusty, I'm having that "... lack of assertiveness and determination is often followed by taking the easiest path and then being led astray!" That's definitely true too. I've had more trouble in my life (or brought it on myself, technically) than my sister's had, cos she's a yesman whereas I'll always stand up and say 'ach that's not right and you know it'. We both think the other is wrong tbf, and I don't think either of us could change our stance now. I don't know if I've told this story on here before but anyway. When I was about 10 ish we were doing a thing in school about family trees. Now mum's sister was called Rae and she married a man called ...lets say Bob. When teacher saw what I'd written she took a pen and changed Rae to Ray, then started on about gays and "ooh I thought you Oirish didn't go for all that". Etc. So I took the pen off her, changed it back, and called her a troglodyte. Loudly. When I got home I told mum and dad what had happened - mum was horrified I'd upset a teacher, and daddy just beamed at me. There wouldn't be so much to fight against if people didn't keep giving me things to fight against! Or maybe I'm just cantankerous and cynical and stuff    

Anyway, that's not a bit of use to anyone and nor is it on topic. So I'll add that the rain's stopped although it is still grey and cool. Oh and dam you and your onions you ratbag, I was waiting on a sunny day to get a pic of the spring onions on my windowcill cos they've come into flower now, not something I've ever seen before. They're very fluffy looking and mildly sweet smelling.

Also I forgot to mention this morning - your Boot Hill reference went right over my head Farway, but watching Michael Portillo coastal train thing last night he was up round Edinburgh/Stirling/Perth area, and I get it now. Very interesting it was too Edit - presuming son doesn't live in a place that is actually called Boot Hill and I've overthought the whole thing ha haa! 

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

By their fruits shall ye know them. That's a good quote Dusty, I'm having that ".

It was that Jesus chap. He said a lot of good stuff, but the PR guys re-worked much of it. 

If you want great examples of how clever people gaslight the population, turning things on their heads, look no further than organised religion.

Farway

Dull at the moment, but sun is trying hard between showers

All these onion flowers pics, my neighbour has lovely purple balls flower heads, all stood in a nice soldierly row at the front. Curses, even my chives are just leaves so far.

YoungBlueEyes said:

Also I forgot to mention this morning - your Boot Hill reference went right over my head Farway, but watching Michael Portillo coastal train thing last night he was up round Edinburgh/Stirling/Perth area, and I get it now. Very interesting it was too Edit - presuming son doesn't live in a place that is actually called Boot Hill and I've overthought the whole thing ha haa! 

The Boot Hill comes from my reading too many cowboy comics, before mobile phones were invented.

Every cowboy town had a Boot Hill, the cemetery, outside the town limits, where gunslingers who "died with their boots on" were buried.

Ii is normally depicted as dry, dusty & barren, which aptly describes the dry & dusty mound at the front of DS garden

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_Hill

Arbs, that there T & M have a lot to be blamed for, just sooo tempting though. 

The lavender seeds, from T & M offer I sowed are coming on, nowhere near large enough to do any more than look at them, but it's a start.

Blue, my aquilegias are not cleverly spaced, there should be forest, but the blighters failed to germinate

Marching to the beat of a different drum, ah yes, that's my Linda Ronstadt / Stone Poneys memory.

Dustyevsky said:

 Somehow, we managed to convince the GC, Rosemoor's a really fun place, with two play areas hidden away among some well-manicured gardens. Being half-term, with other kids around, everyone had a good time and I snapped loads of extra photos.

Taking GC round gardens helps them a lot, I know Wisley has lots of grass they can run around on, plus spooky [for GC] woodland walks & paths, and a greenhouse with huge cactus [no Boot Hill] and a play area now.

DGD, the horticultural one, always went with us to gardens and I suspect some may have rubbed off

If the sun stays out I will have to check my dahlias, outside in pots, no show yet and beginning to think they've rotted off this winter. For years, they have survived, but maybe this past wet winter did for them?

Not a big problem, they weren't prize winners, just from seeds

Now, before they vanish, here are some of my cherries

YoungBlueEyes

Ah ok, sorry Farway, I got Boot Hill all the way wrong then. I thought it was ref this - https://www.scone-palace.co.uk/stone-of-destiny. This is from memory so any inaccuracies are mine. The Stone of Scone is set on a mound that is officially called Moot Hill but was always called Boot Hill, because when they crowned a new king on the Stone all the other tribal leaders/lords etc who came to the proceedings would bring a bit of soil from their land in their boot, which was added to the mound. So Moot/Boot Hill was literally all their lands, and was definitely and defiantly not English land. I thought that's what you meant ie you taking plants and bits and adding it to DS's garden. Worth looking up the episode if anyone's interested, it was a good one  

You don't have to tell me about organised religion Dusty   Here's another good one (taken from the comments section of the news website I read) "You don't need to be afraid.The people you think you need to fear aren't your enemy. It's the ones that tricked you into being afraid that you need to worry about."

OT still grey and cloudy and cool, 15' and pouring down my phone says. Doesn't smell a bit like rain to me like. 

twopenny

Got loads done yesterday. Cutting down the massive blackberry as my feeble Poundlnd roses are still alive and the grass, ivy and weeds in the badger run to get rid of cover for rats.

I'm going to get rid of the blackberry entirely. It's too vigourous for me to manage and dispose of the bits. So on the lookout for cheap thorny roses to go in their place.

Sky has been going grey and blue the whole morning with talk of showers so I've not made it out yet.

The work and heat after so long not being able to walk etc took it out of me. Even got to sunbathe at the end of the day.

So today I'm not sure what to do, should I continue the garden - go out on a reccy (jolly) or rest?

Wild winds as a gift from Dusty perhaps but typical May, no idea what the weather's up to.

Yes Bluey, hedghogs here but they're strictly carnivors I think. I had to dig a hole at the side of the path for them to get under the gate once I had the new path in. As soon as it's warm enough I'll open the solid gate and they can get in the ornimental one easier.

The rats come at 8am ish when the little birds are feeding and I'm out chucking jugs of water at them. Only 1 this morning after my clearance.

My aliums haven't come up this year at all so I'm particularly envious of Dustys photo.

I had thousands of Grannys Bonnet germinate. Only one or two flowering. Don't know what happend to them all.

Those cherries look healthy Farway. If my two are still there then they are rubbish obvs.

Anyone know why my strawberries are rock hard? Never had it happen before. They are the ones given by a friend and he's not the most caring of varieties.

Blackbird babies have a love of raspberries. I managed to get one tiny one before they did. Time to net.

Pigeons eating brassicas. Going to try gluing ribbons to sticks to keep them away. That should ensure the wind will die down   Kiddies windmills work if planted nearby but they've got so expensive.

Still feeling lazy so off to the garden centre. Doubt there will be any bargains with the weather and holiday time and look for some boards to barracade the garden.

What happened to swanning round the roses with a trug and pair of secutars?

I've got the floppy hat with ribbons, the trug and secateurs even the roses but I'm in the alley chopping up dried brambles in thick leather gloves!

ArbitraryRandom

Just a quick one from me today with the previously mentioned aquilegia showing. I ended up with 4 packets of various types after picking them up here and there at the end of the year. Sown about a month ago, two are showing signs of being alive

As YBE, I've made myself a job pricking them out down the line. But as long as they actually get that far... 

 

-taff

Farway, at least you have some and they also seem to be immune ot slugs and snails..nice cherries! and I can say that without the hint of a double entendre.

pp, that's also really sweet that you kept them, and it is thoughtful from a wee scamp. We had fibre installed yesterday so the landline works no longer, I managed to download an app and record the calls I made to my mother and accidentally recorded, so I did enjoy hearing her voice and my fathers shouting in the background. It's been 9 years since she died and 5 since my fahter did. Make some video's for her so she always gets to see you. Too morbid? Sorry, but I do recommend it, because they might not think of it till it's too late. The peas will probably still grow too!

Arb, ooo, perennial kale. I had some but it didn't read the memo and died. Must find more...

Dusty, we are not tin foilers, we are just more clued up than most, and also subversive...which is the best way to be.  Lovely aliums too! Also envious, mine disappeared, it appears thy should have been deadheaded and weren't. But I do have a Babington leek coming soon.

Religion...hmmm...I've never believed in that stuff but the nail in coffin of why people actually do came when I found out that Armageddon was named after an actual place. And I though, well, if the end of the world was named after the most populus center at the time of 2000 years ish ago, because that was where they thought the biggest war would be fought, shouldn't that tell you it was a load of old rubbish anyway? I was tolerant before, now I just think they are idiots. Except the ones doing good you never hear about only the loud shouty stupid people. And it never fails to amaze me how much people want to be led. And don't get me started about people getting old and deciding now is a good time to believe 'just in case' ...rant over...

2p, I sw an actual backbird in the garden yesterday, don't remember ever seeing one before in the garden only fat pigeons and annoing magpies. It decided to rootle through the compost looking for the worms. Luckily there were lots.. I hope you get to waft one day...then you#ll decide you don't like it and just go back to normal:)

Nothing much going on today, there's some stuff to plant out and I resorted to blue sweeties last night, they've all gone today so today I have become snail death. Now I'm playing the seedling waiting game of when is it big enough to pot on or plant out...

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

Dustyevsky said:  Somehow, we managed to convince the GC, Rosemoor's a really fun place, with two play areas hidden away among some well-manicured gardens. Being half-term, with other kids around, everyone had a good time and I snapped loads of extra photos.

Taking GC round gardens helps them a lot, I know Wisley has lots of grass they can run around on, plus spooky [for GC] woodland walks & paths, and a greenhouse with huge cactus [no Boot Hill] and a play area now.

DGD, the horticultural one, always went with us to gardens and I suspect some may have rubbed off

It does rub off, though more on our youngest, who liked selling plants. She gained much confidence, chatting to the public, and still works in retail. She has slightly different views on the public now, though!

Oldest GC looked at the Skunk Cabbages by the lake and said "Wow! Water spinach!" Then, spotting the Gunnera, it was "Water rhubarb!"

2p, I can't be blamed for your wind, if you'll pardon the expression. I'm getting the same, from the NW. Rather reluctantly, we advised DD and brood to head south for a beach today. After the cryptosporidium scare, they can do with more tourist footfall!  

What do folks think about the 'other' thread, doing more or less what I thought we're doing? My view is they're welcome, and I'll join in too, when they get to Page 900. : Plants are flowering their socks off now. I snapped the normal-sized water lilies yesterday, but here's a photo of our more diminutive Nymphaea pygmaea rubra, that grows in an old copper that has its capacity neatly cast into the top. 

EDIT: Forgot to mention, my task today is  rebuilding part of my new tomato bed. Just finished when Mrs Dusty came in and said, "That's not level." I pretended not to care but the bubble in the spirit level mocked me....