Awful weather - typical Brits talk

pink_poppy

So sweet, twopenny I did believe you, btw   

I've been wafting as well - I've earthed up the tatties and watered them. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or something right, but the foliage is peeking over the top of the bags now. Considering I only planted them out on 2nd May (same as AR??) they've gone mad. I can continue earthing up some more, but tbh the foliage, even after adding a LOT of double handfuls of compost to each bag, is taller than the recommended height - I just can't keep up...


This pic was taken before I'd earthed them up, unfurled the bags, watered them (& prodded a few more holes in the bags for drainage) and weeded around them. The Saxon, on the right, has nearly caught up with the rest of them. The one in the middle is the one I snapped a stem, so it's not quite as bushy as the rest - I thought it was Maris Piper but it's actually one of the Roosters.

So sorry to hear you're still getting aggravation from the neighbours, Dusty - we should all chip in so that you can get that outline planning permission on the go...

Very, very warm here - I've come inside to cool down.

goldfinches

Oh pp I am having spud envy, I was too late to plant any this year but yours look magnificent. I thought the calves in the road were very funny and also enjoyed your scenic view. We are rather overrun with tourists here this year and they do things like move a selfie stand into the middle of the road and then walk backwards under your bike wheels while posing madly for the camera. It all makes for fun and games when you're trying to get to a meeting on time.
Dusty I think you could be right about the harlequin, I had a look at the other photo I took of the little bl*ghter but I didn't realise that the leg colour is important so next time I'll have a good stare at those as well. That sheep vs motorbike sounds alarmingly nasty but I do agree that I couldn't fancy badger stew or kebabs.
I'm enjoying all the photos and am just about to pedal off to my plot so will try to remember to snap my chives which are also flowering although they're nowhere near as impressive as everyone else's alliums. Catch you later if I haven't got washed away.

-taff

Dusty, that was scary then...and I agree, sheep are just stupid creatures.Your neighbours seem the same. Farway, and you with your suicidal deer..and impressed with your figs. I have one left clinging on, whichmay or may not ripen. We'll see what the rest of the year brings. 2p, awww, double cuteness overload. PP, expect yet more hright. Mine this year [ first earlies of some kind, grown for OH because he likes them] are quite short in the foliage department and are already flowering but I do recall others which were 2nd earlies being stupid tall, so tall I had to put string around them...GF, can you not plant some frist earlies now? They should be done by the end of august..

So I succeeded in my quest for therapy with some statice seedlings, colour unknown, achillea, colour unknown, some ginormous marigolds, two echinops and a rose for a quid. {it came off the rose for a quid stand at one of my local GCs] so naturally I had to buy a pot to put it in. I have no idea what colour, what growth habit, but it looks healthy so it'll be a surprise...It was a posh type rose, very big pot, label fell off and/or was destroyed.

Dustyevsky

I was tired last night and the promised photo of our tomato deep bed didn't get here.So here it is on this bright, sunny summer's morning:

For the photo, I covered the floor of it half in comfrey and the other half in branches rejected when sawing firewood, but comfrey and branches went all over the floor of it in both parts. The rotting of the wood is supposed to aid the growth of beneficial microorganisms in the soil.

The next step was to fill with layers of ordinary soil, manure compost from the heap, and old soil from the original polytunnel's beds. By late afternoon, with a siesta, I'd got this far:

It won't be filled to the top. I'll want to add more organic stuff in future years, but this lot is bound to sink in a shortish time, so a bit more will go in before the toms.

twopenny

Oh I used to grow Comfrey, the dwarf variety, and nettles for garden tea. Good stuff.

Wow those potatoes! I only once got plants like that when I went to Australia and the garden did it's own thing pretty much. It survived better than me fiddling with it  

Taff those chive flowers look nice in a vase. The bees love them too. I've stopped chopping them off with no ill effects, The chives still grow.

Goldie I sympathise with the tourist thing. They wander into the road with dogs and babies, car doors open into the path of oncoming cars and massive motorhomes try to drive down out little high street.

I was hoping to go to a talk about the life of a NP ranger but there's not a chance of parking or getting a bus on a Saturday half term.

Legs gone again at the mo so not sure what I'm going to do in the garden or the house on another sunny day.

Sun is shining, I have expanding trellis for the badger run.

So if I can stagger it's looking for brussels plugs, blocking boards, chopping up brambles or maybe just laying in the garden with my new book and ignoring the jobs that need doing.

I guess I could waft..........hands and knees job.

Oh and I need to chase down a Supersoaker and the local DIY store has decent garden tubs for £5. I may get one or two more. They are easier to deal with than bags when it's prickly stuff.

Will pick up some ice creams on the way

-taff

2p, wafting involves no effort, so just sit a do nowt until you feel like it..Dusty, that is an impressive looking polytunnel in the background there I do like seeing things being made too,. Does that count as a chelasea chop on the comfrey? I'm wondering when to chop mine down for a second flush, but I don't want to disappoint the bees.

By the way, the colour unknown plants came from a gardening project supporting people to garden, I may have to return and peruse again...she said there was a greenhouse full in the back but I said no in a vain attempt to rein myself in from getting yet more plants I have no room for...

Farway

Supposed to be a warmer weekend, with sun, hope so it's been dire the past few days.

2p, cow bums now? Those cows do look cuddly from a distance.

Hope your super soaker turns up, between wafting about scoffing ice cream

pink_poppy said:

Well done on the figs - when will they be ripe enough to eat??

Not sure, they've never been this early before. Normally it's August / Sept. I know we joke about Global Boiling, but TBH early figs and grapes would be a plus for me.

Maybe not for here, but there has been a debate about what's the harm if it got warmer? Greenland was green again & jungles returned to Antarctica?

Dustyevsky said:

pink_poppy said:

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.>

The mention of “walking onions” reminded me, first time I'd heard of them was a few weeks back, sounded similar to what I call Egyptian onions, and having searched I see they are the same. And now I want to grow them next year, plenty of time to start my search.

That new tom bed looks like it'll be a cracker. Will you get any in there this year, or just let it settle?

Already watered my new sweet corn ready for potting on later, plus the bedding geraniums that have been waiting forever to get planted, now I know the fate of my squelchy tubers I have space.

The offer T & M courgettes I sowed, on the off chance of a crop this year, have germinated. Just two sown and both germinated. I usually fail with courgettes, mildew gets them before I do, but I can take or leave the eating of them so no worries either way.

Today is Plum pic day. Stanley plum, in a pot. Only about a dozen plums on it after a full tree of blossom, but that's what happens with early blossom. Plum moth squadrons are on standby.

YoungBlueEyes

I love all the coos bums pictures Are they the successor to Bee Bums? We've room for both I think.

Sorry I think I've given the wrong impression. My flowering onions aren't planted, they're a bunch of sm spring onions that I've sat in a mug of rainwater. I know they do keep growing if you trim them and use them, but I've never seen them burst into flower before. They do make me smile  

Nothing spotted yet as a filler for the ex bramble space 2p but we're out today so I'll keep looking. Hopefully your leg doesn't hold you back much? 

Your tatties are zooming along pp, surely with that lot you must be the front runner! You'll be eating tatties morning noon and night  

Apples and oranges I know but do the figs make up for the dahlias Farway?

Dusty d'ya want us to have a whipround so you can apply for your infill bungalow   I think I'v enough brownie points in my karma to stand it
I'm envious of your tom bed - my toms are romping away now they're in a good compost. I wasn't sure I was gonna be successful this year but if they keep going I might just get to the same state I was in this time last year  

How#s your allotment going gf? Have you planned what's going in where? 

I love this thread - reading about hedgehogs and harlequin legs etc While we're off topic, people keep mentioning books without naming what they're reading... so what are you reading and is it any good?  

OT erm rinse and repeat of yesterday really but with gentler winds. Grey and cool but dry, so far. Himself is in bed with a horrendous hangover so I need to find a job today that includes drilling and hammering 

ArbitraryRandom

Lovely day today. Sky is that strange grey/blue rather than Mediterranean, but the sun is out and it's warm enough for a t-shirt again. Just got my wash from yesterday out and debating a second load for tomorrow... may as well. And I can put the kettle on while I'm in the kitchen. 

Not much planned for today. It think tomorrow I'll have to water, but there was a bit of rain yesterday/overnight to just dampen the soil a bit. 

Wondering if people can help me diagnose/fix what's going on with my rosemary? Was a bit wilted /not happy when I bought it and a little root bound, but 3/4 of the plant has steadily died over the last week. Is it just a case of leave it be to recover from where it's healthy or is it telling me there's a bigger problem? 



Re the dog rose, I'd be quite happy to try rooting some cuttings and sending them over if anyone wanted them - but they're common around here outside train stations etc. And as they're a species rose there's no issue with rootstock/grafting or any of that faff. Just be aware they do have quite wicked thorns. 

Farway

Arbs, rosemary, can't help because mine is the same. I put mine down to pot bound and neglect. In your case the root bound bit may be the clue.

Did you buy it as a kitchen herb from supermarket?

I intend buying another one for a quid and treat it better this time. One from same source [Asda] is thriving in the dry volunteer border.