Awful weather - typical Brits talk

YoungBlueEyes

Onions. It’s a shame you can’t smell through a photo, they’ve a queer creamy sort of smell to them 😊

Oh and a was going to be a perfect shot but was called away on urgent business bee bum 

LessImpecunious

Lovely pics everyone! Never seem to have time to add one as it takes most of my time to keep up with the thread... Yes to the Harlequin ladybird I think - useful id guides at https://www.coleoptera.org.uk/sites/default/files/Ladybird descriptions_Info pack_NEW_v.5.pdf and https://www.uksafari.com/ladybirds.htm

-taff

I know you shouldn'tsay this about big hairy creatures but those calves [ and cow] are so cute! I used ot watch money for nothing and that scottish blacksmith guy does some amazing sculptures. I'd love one...Maybe one day...And I want a copper pot too now. I think today is going to be retail therapy. There's a plant sale near me, and a garden centre on the way back and I have vouchers yet to spend in another one. I obviously don't need anything but if something were to jump in my hand, then che sera sera innit.

PP, check out Babington leek, edible and huge and pretty. I saw some last week, it was about seven foot tall and flowering like mad. and no supports needed either which is a help.

Very pretty ybe, it may be time to let some of the going over ones in the basket go and get planted. I can't cook anything savoury without onions so I always have loads. And my FIFO is suspect.

Dustyevsky

twopenny said:

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

I've seen them. It is mostly sheep, though, and like pp's deer they can be unpredictable. As a student doing biological field work back in the 1970s, I found my small motorbike a boon for getting to all the locations where I was taking quadrats. Flat-out at about 40mph, I had no chance to brake, when a daft sheep suddenly leapt into the road from behind some gorse. I have a recollection of the bike passing me in slo-mo, upside down,a crunch, and then nothing else till a lady horse vet started looking for vital signs. I was only winded, but some whortleberries I'd picked were inside my jacket, and it looked serious!  The top of my helmet had a big gouge, so that had done its job.

As for the sheep....no sign of it. Vanished. They're hardy old things. So was the bike, though the gorse helped save it. They don't make 'em like that any more!

Not many photos in my bag right now, but after snapping several very out of focus robins this year, I finally found one prepared to pose in the kids' play area on Wednesday. Bit of a long-distance shot, though!

Jealous of those mountains in your last pic, pp!

Farway

Only popped out to squeeze my tubers and now loads to catch up on. Apologies if I miss someone.

My tubers, dahlias BTW, are deceased, no more, gone to the fiords :'( . Nothing much lost, as I said, from seed.

And now gives me the chance to change tack & get something else in there.

Glad you liked the dog rose suggestion 2p, growing from hips may take years. I tried, and failed, to even get them to germinate. One of those fiddly ones, stratification, and a spell of cold weather.

Cuttings would be the way to go, if one handy they also grow from tip layering, like blackberries

I bet soft cuttings this time of year would strike

Or maybe a cultivar but just as nice

You'll still need your thick leather gloves for them.

YBE, thanks for onion flower picture, my sprouted one is not at flowering stage yet, I planted it out a few weeks back so just a case of waiting.

Not sure if I mentioned before, I ran over & killed a deer years back, it jumped over the hedgerow and wham under my Maxi. I had the kids in the car at the time and luckily someone came out and said they'd dispose [in a freezer I expect] of Bambi's Mum before the kids got too involved.

The car was undamaged.

Into Morries this morning, still good crop of dying plants, including standard olives at £20 each, no wonder they are in financial trouble if they let the stock die

However, I found some growing sweet corn, £2.50, and now I'm going to try that again after decades of not growing it.

As it grows quite tall, I think at the front in tubs. Should be fine because I doubt anyone will even know what it is, plus no one even picks the blackberries growing on the verge opposite.

Who was looking for fig? Some in my Morries today.

And to tempt you all, here's a picture of one of mine ripening already, it is in a sheltered spot and not normally this early

pink_poppy

Ooh, I didn't know spring onions did that, YBE. I was meant to grow some years ago, but never did. Love the departing bee pic   

Dusty, I'm pretty sure it's Ben Cruachan in the distance. Loads of sheep on that road too so we had to be careful. Lovely robin pic we've had a robin return to the garden in the last few days, always when I've just been outside. It's definitely feeding little mouths/beaks.

We couldn't see the deer coming, Farway as the field was so overgrown. Thinking about it, we and the deer were extremely lucky. Well done on the figs - when will they be ripe enough to eat??

pink_poppy

Sorry taff, I forgot to say thanks for the Babington Leek suggestion - sounds good. I seem to remember someone on here mentioning they had one growing?? If so, we need a pic  

twopenny

Just to prove I wasn't kidding

Ive done a bit of wafting. Dead heading, dead seeding, trimming the dwarf box hedge with a pair of scissors.

The box moth is supposed to find the hedge if you trim in humid weather and it's dry as a bone so fingers crossed.

The little birds had better come back with a second brood though.

I may look for some Brussel Sprout plants when I'm out as I didn't get around to sowing the seed.

Then try and plant the overflow plants, dig out more lawn, get the massive blackberry cut back and disposed of. Not all at once obvs

Dustyevsky

pink_poppy said:

Sorry taff, I forgot to say thanks for the Babington Leek suggestion - sounds good. I seem to remember someone on here mentioning they had one growing?? If so, we need a pic  

I have bolting Elephant Garlic, which is better than having a bolting elephant, but nowhere near 7' tall.   It's got rust as well, and it isn't pretty.

Also not pretty, is the notification I've received saying another complaint has been lodged with planning enforcement about our new driveway. That's on top of the earlier complaint dealt with last year. It'll be one of the two who got triggered while we were building it, They're just wasting taxpayers' money. If it didn't cost so much, I'd apply for outline planning on an infill basis for a bungalow in the garden, just to observe the resultant apoplexy!

Filling up the tomato deep bed, I felt a strange sensation this morning. I was hot! It's a very decent day here. Being 31st of May, I can remove my vest now, which is the alternative meaning of “Cast a clout.”

<Ignores picture of figs and goes off to look up Babington Leek....finds 'Walking Onions' and wonders if it's just a euphemism for a slow bolt.>

Dustyevsky

pink_poppy said:

Dusty, I'm pretty sure it's Ben Cruachan in the distance.

Mee too. From my recollection of the area, now rather hazy, that mountain seemed to get into many of our photos.