Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Dustyevsky

LessImpecunious said:

Talking of other threads I was surprised no-one (I'm looking at you Dusty) jumped into the pond one (so to speak) when the discussion turned to the relative merits of depth versus circumference... 

I thought I did enough unintentional damage on the shed thread, though it was doomed anyway. In today's world, few of us have the time or inclination to rush out and measure our sheds, and even if we did, would we still have the blurb stating its dimensions?

Regarding hedgehogs, gf, you could usefully add badger to the diet list, though the thought makes me lean several degrees towards vegetarianism!  We've had a badger cull around here, and there's been a corresponding increase in hedgehog activity. Observing poos, I'd say we'd get one a night on average if we set up the trail camera, provided other stuff, like wavy branches, moths, and cats didn't keep setting it off. By the way, anyone know if that's a Harlequin ladybird?

Dustyevsky

pink_poppy said:

Dusty, that Nymph wotsit you said was growing in a copper... a copper what?? I'm intrigued. And is that really what onions look like when they're growing?

It's a cast iron washing tub. Originally, I think they were made from beaten copper, but as that's expensive, and mass production became a thing, they evolved. They'd often sit in a brick enclosure, a fire would be set under them, water and soap added, and with a long pole 'dolly' to poke the items, voila! a washing machine.

Here's one, and loads more below it:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353699557335

The 'onions' were at Rosemoor, and I just meant "members of the onion family." i.e. alliums. I didn't get a chance to see the label, so couldn't name them exactly.

I can have a go at naming your mystery plants. The first might be Deutzia 'Raspberry Sundae' or something similar. The second is Persicaria Bistorta Superbum. I think you did ask about it before. If only I could get mine to fight and win against the grass like that!

ArbitraryRandom

PP afaik, cultivated onions are supposed to be biennial (which is to say they flower in their second year if not harvested before then) but sometimes the weather can trick them into flowering later in the growing season. When they do, the flowers are the same kind of little balls at the top of the stems (less colourful). It's not generally a good thing as it can cause the bulb to stop growing and they won't store well. 

Lovely day today (contrary to the forecast earlier in the week, we're now not expecting any rain until at least Monday). Just put the wash on to go out either later or tomorrow morning (or, when I forget, to be 'freshened' via quick wash and go out on Monday...)

Nothing exciting happening in the garden today. I have a bit of a sad looking rosemary that I need to work out why it's not doing well. I also want to seriously consider a couple of my tomatoes that are not thriving and if I can hoik them out to replace with a couple of brassica when the plugs arrive. At the moment I've vaguely identified where I can put one of each type, but I might end up taking back out the strawberries from last year that I put in the middle bed (they did okay in pots last year so I doubt they'll complain too badly) and the cabbages can go in with my fruit bushes. I'd need to get some more bags of compost as the soil in that bed is terrible. 

Re the other thread. I think there is a difference between that one and this one - at least in my mind. I use this one to kind of 'chat' about the garden and garden (world) related things going on in my/our lives. Leaning on the garden fence chatting to neighbours about how things are doing. The other thread I see more like a fat club support group re the bits you know you need to do but really don't want to It's going to be more repetitive than this one I think and less 'gossipy'... plus I do think the sheer size of this one and the speed at which it's added to can be off putting/make it difficult to stick with sometimes?   

pink_poppy

Thanks for the plant id, Dusty. I thought I'd asked about the Persicaria before, probably last year. Sorry about that - my memory is like a sieve. I'll google the Deutzia as I wouldn't mind one of them in the garden.

goldfinches, we nearly had venison on the menu last night when a young deer literally jumped in front of the car - we'd seen it in the field and it had obviously clocked us and decided to run in the direction we were going in (why do they do that?!) DH was driving and the words "be careful, because sometimes they jump over fences" had just left my mouth when it did just that. Another metre or so and we would have crashed into it or it would have landed on the car.

Later on we had a close encounter of the bovine kind. Highland coos and calves all around   We stopped the car to take some pics and just after I'd taken some, one of the calves decided to wander over to the front of the car and then refused to budge. We were sat there for a good 5 minutes trying to encourage it to move - DH eventually got out of the car (tentatively because the mother was close by, even though she wasn't in the remotest bit interested as she was too busy eating) only for another calf to wander over to see what was going on, so we now had two of them blocking the single track road   After another go at shooing them, we were finally able to make our escape, but not until after they had given our car bonnet a good licking - you can still see the tongue marks haha.

This is the first of the cheeky calves to block our route, with mum...



Anyway, it's a lovely morning so far and I really, really need to earth up the tatties today - it's well overdue because they're all growing like weeds.

pink_poppy

AR, I must have been typing away as you posted. Thanks for the onion info - tbh I would grow the onions just for the flowers if they looked anything like Dusty's Rosemoor ones. I'm guessing I need to look at the allium family for similar looking flowers. Something else to add to the wish list.

ArbitraryRandom

pink_poppy said:

AR, I must have been typing away as you posted. Thanks for the onion info - tbh I would grow the onions just for the flowers if they looked anything like Dusty's Rosemoor ones. I'm guessing I need to look at the allium family for similar looking flowers. Something else to add to the wish list.

Chive flowers (same family) are nice if you want something purple and also useful (plus a pot is around a quid or so in the supermarket)  

twopenny

Ah Taff - blooming obvious now!

Definitely not wafting at the moment but I should do a bit once the detritius of the day is dealt with.

Sun shining again, the ground is as hard as rock and broke a couple of canes trying to get them in for pigeon protection. Gardens beginning to look like a defence baracks to protect my little veg plants.

Looks like I'm going to have to get the hose pipe out today.

Arbs you seem to have relaxed a bit (in a good way) with your garden now it's up and running. Enjoy awhile before you set to to make all the alterations you want - because that will never stop

Love the coos.......you know we have them down here on Exmoor?

They only have to stop for a scratch and they block the road with the width of their horns. The babies are just so gorgeous though

The farmer who owns them though they graze wild, sheers them if we get a heatwave. Now that's weird because the head is still very hairy.

pink_poppy

I didn't know you had Highland coos in Exmoor, twopenny, although I think they're up and down the country now, not just in the Highlands. I can't imagine what a sheared one looks like  

I'll have a look for chive plants the next time I'm in a supermarket (did a huge shop yesterday, so not any time soon unfortunately) thanks, AR.

YoungBlueEyes

Just quick bits cos I'm ever so late this morning, not even had a shower yet  

I've read that other thread, but it doesn't really appeal tbh. I'm happily settled here now and yous are all used to my nonsense, I can't be bothered starting again with new people. And tbh I'm not a time-table gardener, even though I'm a very organised in general sort. I don't know what 'flylady' means either - I see something about it on the Old School board but I've never read them. One of the best things about this thread is all the off-topic chat, we really are like a bunch of folks sat chatting in the pub and I love that. Being fair, I guess some of them might not have come in here as it's actually called "awful weather, typical brits talk" so thought they saw a need for a gardening thread. Good luck to them  

I'll get a pic of my fluffity onions in a min then pp. The bunch is looking a bit worse for wear cos it hasn't been the weather for snipping them into salads, which is probably how they've grown so much. Leave stuff be and it'll do fine without you ha haa!

Sounds like your anti-rat water jug system is working then 2p woohoo! I'll keep my eye out for cheapo climbing roses and let you know. 

I agree with taff, morbid as it may be go and talk to your old folks. Get the stories down and put a description on the back of those photos. Because before you know it you'll be sat in a maelstrom with a load of stuff you never even knew existed and no-one to ask about it. Your whole world can change in a heartbeat, my god but it does.

That's such a pretty little water lily Dusty, I like the petrol streaky colours on the leaves too. Lovely  

A dog (?) rose in the sunshine Arb, very pleasing. Does it smell as good as it looks..? 

Wort as it happens my daisy wosnames are bellis, and I know this for a fact because I left the label in there :embarrassed: 

I like the little one you 'spotted' on your walk gf , (ha haa) and hopefully your swish tom cutting will have enough life left in it to grow like topsy  

OT well it was raining, but isn't now, and is windy. Cool (almost dare-I-say-it cold) wind. Grey cloudy sky and this is it for the day. They say.

pink_poppy

Another quick pic - I'd forgotten I'd taken this one...