Awful weather - typical Brits talk

YoungBlueEyes · 2 October 2022 at 10:25AM

Goldfinches has had a few quotes as their signature from The Devil's Dictionary - they've all made me chuckle wryly.

Agree about gasping for air from ISIHAC!

YoungBlueEyes · 2 October 2022 at 6:55PM

The geese just came back over again, heading west (?!)

Did the leader remember he’d left the gas on..?

Woolsery · 2 October 2022 at 7:35PM

YoungBlueEyes said:

The geese just came back over again, heading west (?!)

Did the leader remember he’d left the gas on..?

They probably went to a feeding ground for the day and returned at dusk to somewhere safer to spend the night .

It turned out as warm and bright as predicted here, so we cracked-on with the polytunnel woodwork . However we ran into a snag, because it's actually a wee bit longer than the 24' it's supposed to be. The wood's now sold in metric, so something was lost in conversion and we were 150mm (6") short.

We've done a work around and it'll be OK, but progress was slow.

I managed to plant out more leeks today and some garlic I'd started in pots, so the deep beds are earning their keep. It's time to pull out all the squash and cucumbers as well. It's been a poor squash year, with only about 20 supermarket-sized fruits, when we normally have at least double that amount.

On the ornamentals front, I've been pleasantly surprised at how easy it's been to root Corokias, Almost all of those I borrowed from SiL's plant grew. Similarly, a nice Hebe from Morrie's car park, rooted last year, has now produced 6 healthy babies.

Farway · 3 October 2022 at 10:30AM

Dull day here, and my gout is back in the right foot so no chance of even mooching in garden today

Car park cuttings are the best ones, and from a practical viewpoint, not only free but usually the donor plant was initially chosen because it would survive in a neglected & abused car park setting

Next door that has been sold, the "gardeners" are in with a pneumatic hammer now, breaking up all the paths and steps, I suspect it will become a big paved patio area, what they fail to realise is we are on clay & heavy rain runs off and goes right in their garden and settles, being lower on the slope than the rest of the houses.

I await the winter with a slight schadenfreude smirk, but with a good frost they could have a skating rink

liberty_lily · 3 October 2022 at 2:41PM

Welcome from me too, YoungBlueEyes 🙂

We've had a few warm, sunny days here since Friday meaning that DH has been able to make progress on the rebuilding of the extension frontage. An extra day off today has enabled him to reach the *putting things back together* stage, although that in itself is no mean feat as it involves huge oak timbers and even bigger DG panels 😬 We're running out of time as I imagine it'll take longer than the six(ish) alloted days he has off before he needs to head to Brighton to do DS's bathroom at half term 🙄

We'll be tarped till the weekend at least so hoping the next round of wind/rain isn't too bad!

Meanwhile, I've also been planting bulbs - I think they're 2020's paperwhites - to fill gaps in the walled courtyard raised beds. These beds are supposed to be for veg/herbs but DH likes a bit of contrast with flowering stuff in amongst them and who am I to deny him when he's creating a better living room for me 😁

Found these little fungi on the side of one of the raised beds....

I've barely ventured out into the main garden for a few days other than to take the dogs out, but this morning I did spot that the Persicaria Taurus are still going strong....

YoungBlueEyes · 3 October 2022 at 5:18PM

Thank you to you too liberty_lily

Woolsery · 3 October 2022 at 6:16PM

Farway said:

Car park cuttings are the best ones, and from a practical viewpoint, not only free but usually the donor plant was initially chosen because it would survive in a neglected & abused car park setting

I remember the cutting falling off in 2020 and I expected it to root quickly, but it was a year before it started romping away. I took further cuttings from it last spring and they've done the business in half the time. I expect I'll give some of the babies to others in the village or donate them for raffle prizes next year. It's good insurance!

Speaking of insurance, I haven't forgotten the Coronilla seeds. We'll be visiting a friend who has one and I'm hoping she's had more luck than me,

Either way, she owes me a Hakonechloa!

My gardening today has been all lawn mowing and weeding, forced on me because it looks like more rain's on the way.

Farway · 4 October 2022 at 9:26AM

Just clocking in to report my gout is still going strong, so no gardening in any form today except maybe look in the Pomona catalogue and dream of more fruit trees even though I have no space. I did notice the prices seem to have shot up, but I suppose a fruit tree is a lifelong investment so should pay back mover time

I like the fungus LL, at least no mistaking those for mushrooms

Woolsery · 4 October 2022 at 9:43AM

Farway said:

I like the fungus LL, at least no mistaking those for mushrooms

Forgot to mention those yesterday. They're far prettier too, especially now the slugs are slurping ours!

Sorry to hear of Gout 2, Farway. I have a few aches today now I'm back to the mowing routine. The grass must surely slow down soon? I know it won't stop these days, but a lot of plants seem to be making up for the torpidity of the dry summer.

A 'flat' weather day today. I have to take the car back to have it's wheels re-balanced, so looking for a wet one to do that.

liberty_lily · 4 October 2022 at 12:40PM

Sorry the gout continues to trouble you, Farway 😪

The weather forecasters got it right for us today as it's wet with the wind beginning to pick up, so I'm keeping an eye on our heavily tarped area and pleased we did everything we wanted to yesterday. I shan't be going further than the postbox (just received a jiffy bag of black cardamom pods courtesy of fleabay, so a lamb curry is on the agenda for Saturday 😋) and to take the dogs out....although they have the right idea, having not moved from their beds since first thing 😁🙄

I really need a run of dry weather to catch up on moving soil in readiness to plant the last of my bare root hornbeam hedging!

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