Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Paspatur

The best compost I ever bought was Irish, Bord Na Mona £20 for 300l plus £5 delivery £25 in 2021
Never seen it again
This year I ordered same amount 300l and cost me £56 delivered and is a mix of Westland products
I need it delivered as I can't drive due to eyesight problems
My own compost is getting better now I have 2 'dalek' type bins
Beechgrove Garden also said International Kidney is same as Jersey royals

Paspatur

'The Birds' Hitchcock style

twopenny

That made me laugh out loud Pas, such a surprise

I had looked up Jersey Royals last week. I happily purchased 2 bags of them on discount in the Co op and I'm down to the last 2.

There is no sign of them producing shoots. I wondered if they were 'treated' so people couldn't generate them.

They weren't the same, all scrubbed and smooth with less flavour but lovely all the same.

I've made a note of International Kidney but don't think it's something ever got in by the 'stock the most popular only' brigade.

There used to be a shop in the county town in the 80s that was a real gardening shop with all sorts and real knowledge. I still miss it.

Bluey I too leave the washing out if it gets wet. I figure it will dry sooner in a breeze or whatever than sat in a basket inside.

Yes I go swimming in the sea/channel - but not till it's a decent temperature and then its a lot of fuss from me about the cold. Also go body boarding in Devon given half a chance. It does seem to help with aches and such. No idea why. It's counter intuative.

Paspatur

Ended up being twice as many birds as that but my dodgy eyesight and shaking arthritic hands made a mess of other photos.
Lawn is obviously full of leather jackets but the birds stop them damaging it
Needs cutting but 2 week holiday and 5 days of Baltic weather means no chance yet

Dustyevsky

Baltic's the word for it, all right! After letting the hens out at 06.00 this morning, I was so cold a hot water bottle was needed. Wiggy cat and I shared it for another long sleep on the sofa. 

We have the starlings in the spring, but they rarely come close to the house. There can be many hundreds, so not enough room on the lawn. I think they come for whatever the sheep droppings attract, but there are leather jackets too.

No sign of crow so far today, but here he or she is, going for Mrs Dusty's car..

Like mine, the vehicle's nothing special, and there doesn't seem to be much that could be damaged by a bird.

And we're definitely not holding this bird's young one hostage, so there's no need for the evil look!

YoungBlueEyes

Your bird pic reminds of my last house Pas. I had dozens of starlings come down multiple times a day, it's a wonder I had anything else The woman who lived next door to me, her daughter was something to do with nature reserves and reckoned that starlings were getting rarer and needed all the help they could get. Didn't make me any fonder of them. Nice sitooterie btw, I love the colour of your string chairs  

I can tell you one thing about jade wort, don't over water it. Well don't water it at all really. Anybody remember me saying a few months ago I was just waiting on something to get a bit further then I'd take a pic and put it up here? It was my jade, it'd produced a long stalk with all wee flowers on the end of it. Then I went home to help Beloved Cousin with the vet situation (he's been ...dealt with... ahem) and himself watered everything while I was away and I can only hope I've saved it. I think it's a goner but time will tell. If that's any help to you.

That's the thing with the old books taff, they're lovely and interesting but not a lot of practical use sometimes cos where would you get the chemicals. My Hessayon books are the same, so I don't rely on any of them now. Reading stuff on here and making stuff up as I go along and #shawshank is doing me rightly I think. Touch wood so I haven't just cursed meself. Thanks for ID'ing my orange flower too, I like both it's names. 

If seaweed is the answer to Jersey Royals - I saw bags of stuff by the exit of Aldi yesterday that was "seaweed enriched". Bit late for this year mind but in case anyone wants to get ahead of themselves for next year )

Yep my washing was out all night 2p, and it's not dry but it's no wetter than it was already. Hopefully it'll dry today. Forecast (ha ha haaaa!) is cloudy and cool and no real breeze today, which is right so far. 

Oh and speaking of Lugs - I saw a new £20 note yesterday. The woman in front of me at the till paid with one and the till girl got all giddy cos she'd never seen one either. I've gotta say it was a bit ...unsettling/upsetting.... just plain wrong actually cos it doesn't have the Queen's head on it. No I know it's been ages now but it did seem weird. I didn't like it

pink_poppy

I'll keep an eye out for the International Kidney potatoes next year - I like the taste of Jersey Royals so something similar tasting would be good.

YBE, I might be wrong in saying that the potatoes you were buying (from Tesco??) tasted like JR - I just remember you saying they were really tasty. I thought the ones you were buying began with the letter 'J' too, but I might be wrong haha - it wouldn't be the first time   

Are they Starlings, Pas?? You've enough there to make a decent murmuration   they always seem to stick their beaks right into the lawn, so good for aeration as well I would think.

A baby robin appeared in the garden yesterday and had a wee splash around in the pond   Parent robin was late this morning and I'd already thrown food out by the time he/she arrived - it still got to have breakfast though.. Two goldfinches also made a brief appearance, but were scared off by another bird (probably a bloomin' starling)...

I managed to get a few things done in the garden yesterday, including trimming a hedge with a pair of shears - good for the bingo wings haha. It's supposed to be dry all day today so I'll do more weeding and tidying up - I'll need to water the tatties too.

-taff

Pas, I bought some fire bricks from them, the kind you put on to keep the fire in overnight, such a nice smell. But they no longer do peat harvesting which is good I suppose [ the times they re a changing but I'm not completely there yet...] And bloody hell, that's a ton of birds! And more?

Dusty, poor thing, it isn't the reflection is it, a comment on how clean your cars are? [ not like the massive condor poo on my windscreen from going to Burnham..Didn't help the water in the windscreen reservoir has gone all lumpy for some reason so I have to investigate how to empty and sort that out. Glad your efforts to provide colour went well, apart from the handbrake obviously.

I'm another leaver of washing if it gets wet. Why go to the trouble of bringing it all back in when it can get extra rinsed by the rain? Even if it is acid rain

2p, there was a programme with Chris Hemsworth on Netflix about ageing with one section devoted to cold temperatures and what they do for your body. Apparently they reset inflammation [or something] but it's good for you. Well done you too, I can barely tolerate a lukewarm shower unless it's boiling...

Pottering today, I'm just going to waft but also maybe get some more compost.

And as you can see YBE, I did not refresh before I sent [ I do save draft though honest!] I did put the jade in a bucket with some water because everything was completely dry and the leaves were a bit squashy, so I'll try and repot in some gritty mix [ it is a big b ugger] and see what happens. It's definitely going to need a bigger boat. Thanks for tip re aldi compost..Might take a trip and see what flowers they have too, ::cough cough::

YoungBlueEyes

The only new tatties I've had this year were a few weeks ago from a farm shop and they were Majorcans. God they were good, first of the crop, dear but worth it. Yummy yum yum I only buy the smaller ones - big egg size - and boil them gently, then crush them with a fork a wee bit, slather them in good butter, a sprinkle of salt, a crunch of black pepper and you're away. Heaven on a plate that is. 

Dusty, I'm working my way through the Gerry Anderson podcasts re your bird. So far I've got 1) put a layer of clingfilm up on your windows then cover it in vaseline so it can't see it's/an intruder's reflection, 2) blow up balloons and hang them at your window cos it won't like the movement when they blow about in the wind, or 3) wait for it to get bored and move on. Or go fetch in one of it's predators RIP Geordie Tuft.

I don't have a 'before' pic, but here's my 'after repeated waterings because they were so dry' jades - 

-taff

I've killed some of those YBE, but no, this jade plant

definitely doesn't look this happy...

I think, after a bit of googling, we have both killed some echevaria..