General Chat

Mandy hope the smoke has completely died down.

Vera thank you for the photos, how beautiful.

I checked what was an empty bucket left outside my door and there was two inches of water in it. the ground is still very wet.
I have just potted on one plant I have bought recently and have another to do but came in for a rest after carrying soil,grit and ceramic pot around.

Cynth is away for two nights but I don't need to water this morning.

Morning all,

Very windy this morning with lots of clouds and the odd glimpse of the sun , yesterday we had lots of thunder one down pour which lasted all if two minutes and that was it not enough to do any good.
We just looked over the way and I could see lots of smoke so it looks like there's fields alight ,just looked again and it's calmed down thank goodness ,the fields are all tinder dry .
Well what do you think Colin found near the back door another hawk moth caterpillar, this one a bit smaller so I chucked it over the fence into the churchyard which is what I did with the other one, don't want them stripping my Fushias.

Mel, it sounds like you have lots of kind people around you ready to help which is lovely .
Better get the kettle on and I'll just have another check on the smoke .

Good morning everyone

You've done better than us rainwise AnnG. I was pleased we got some rain yesterday but they were just gentle showers. The heavy, thundery rain predicted for overnight and this morning hasn't materialised. The latest is that we can expect a few light showers from 3 pm. At the moment it's about 22 degrees and overcast with just an occasional gleam of sun but the air feels "heavy".

I've just been doing a Sainsbury order for delivery on Monday and have been shocked by how many items seem to be out of stock at the moment. I'll do a final order at the weekend and hope that some stuff is back in stock by then.

I can't seem to get myself moving this morning but I had better get on and do a few jobs as I am at a friend's for a cup of tea this afternoon.

Good morning Mel and everyone. Slept quite well as it was a lot cooler. It is 18 degrees here. We had heavy rain all evening which was very welcome but it is dry this morning, although the sky is very overcast. Nothing planned for today. Just about to put a wash on.

Hope G feels better today Ann and the migraine has gone. <3

Morning all,

Dullish here this morning but there is a little blue sky and its 17 degrees and pc says rains coming.

Was up at 7.05 but threw myself back on the bed for a while. Morning are starting to feel chillier here as I have had to put a cardy on.

Yes we must be very wicked indeed Vera! lol :-) We would have been worried as you say and it would have been a flying visit if we'd carried on and we were particularly worried about our laptops disappearing and all the stuff on them! It's good your travellers left. Maybe the council placed the concrete blocks as a temporary measure to stop them coming back, possibly with more vans another time. It's happened around here that they come back with re-enforcements.

The gardens sound like they have had more water than ours AnnG and sound interesting and different. I was looking at our garden today and noticed that the house leeks in the soil on the flower beds are shrunken and dry looking, whereas the ones I planted surrounded by slate chippings and ones that planted themselves in the gravel look healthy. Neither have been watered for a few weeks now, so it seems the gravel and the chippings are acting as a mulch and stopping water evaporating. The front garden hasn't been watered at all through the drought and has slate chippings on the beds and I noticed the Lemon fizz cotton lavender is holding it's own quite well (Santolina rosmarinifolia ‘Lemon Fizz’). It has pretty fine bright yellow foliage in spring and yellow button flowers and is a Mediterranean plant, so copes with drought. It might grow a bit too big for a pot, but I might try one in a pot. You can cut them back hard too.

Well we just had a torrential downpour at last! A river was running down the road and the noise on the conservatory roof was really loud. It does seem to have found a leak in the gutter by the front door, unless they couldn't take the amount of rain. They are aluminium ones welded together so I would be surprised.......something to look at if it happens in normal rainfall though. I always think 'MORE EXPENSE' as Frank would say.

Mel how nice of the young delivery man to say he will pop in and see you. It was so kind of him. The pork and stuffing bap sounds really tasty, I would have enjoyed that too. :-)

OH hasn't had a good day all round now! The antibiotics for his tooth have given him tummy trouble, so he gave up on going to a match tonight and now he's gone to bed with a migraine.

Oh dear Ann, you really did have a disturbed night again. Fingers crossed that it will be more peaceful tonight. Now you have the lorries and the skip. You know what they say – no peace for the wicked; you must have been very naughty, lol. That was annoying to have to turn back from your trip to check your conservatory door was locked but if you hadn’t you would have been worried the whole time you were out.

People are generally kind, aren’t they Mel? It’s good that chap said he would help you with the grass cutting as you have so much to do, and nice of the driver to say he’ll drop by. Your pork and stuffing roll sounded tasty as well.

It sounds as though your gardens visit went well AnnG, and all of them very different. It sounds as though there might have been a lot of watering going on, particularly if there were still green lawns. The painted mural’s a good idea. It will brighten everything up even when there isn’t much in bloom in the garden. We had a shock with our garden this morning. Yesterday everything was OK, this morning we went out and both our hydrangeas had dropped virtually all their leaves overnight. If it had been the heat the leaves would surely have turned brown and dry before dropping but this was as though there had been a massive shock to both plants. I hope they recover. We also have 2 physocarpus shrubs. They are the same variety and get roughly the same amounts of sun, shade and water but one is flourishing and the other looking very sorry for itself.

It's a bit cooler today, about 22 degrees at the moment and we have had some more rain this morning. They were just gentle showers but a bit more prolonged than yesterday and any rain is better than none.

Yesterday the treasurer of one of the local clubs we belong to came round for me to help her sort out something she had to do online for the bank. She hasn’t got a PC. She has got a tablet but isn’t computer literate at all. The bank had sent a letter to her as treasurer saying that she had got to fill out this form online and if it wasn’t done by a certain date the account would be frozen. She took it into the bank to say she wasn’t able to do it and they were no help at all so she was panicking a bit. We managed to get into this form by registering with a user name supplied by the bank and setting up a 10 character password and some other random information to prove who we were. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I saw it. The bank had us down as “Club or Organization” but this form was designed for a medium to large business and you couldn’t move on without answering every question and there was no way of saying Not Applicable. I won’t bore you with all the details but it took us 2 hours and I wouldn’t submit it till the treasurer had confirmed she was happy with what I had done. Submitted it, site said it had been accepted and then came up with more stuff it wanted that I couldn’t make head nor tail of. At that point we rang a help line and the chap I spoke to was able to bring the form we had just submitted up on his computer. He said it was fine, no further action was needed and we would have unrestricted access to the club account. What a relief!

All this meant I didn’t get any lunch till 3.30. We had a club meeting that evening and needed to eat at 6 pm but I wasn’t ready for food then and by the time we got back at 9.40 pm I was too tired to cook. Walking down the road to our meeting we saw a lot of large concrete blocks had been put on the field behind the locking anti-vehicle posts, presumably by the council. We can’t work out what is planned. They can’t be left as they are because vehicle access to the field is occasionally needed and they are a real eyesore at the moment. Well, I suppose we will find out in due course.

Time now for an afternoon cuppa I think. I suspect that while I have been upstairs at the computer OH has been looking at the back of his eyelids.

'Oh what a night it was, it really was such a night' Ann, how annoying that things happened with just enough gap in between to allow you to almost get back to sleep. And it was not your day was it, first going on your own then OH deciding to come then has he hasn't he locked the door. you will have to check before you leave the house to prevent that happening again.

All three gardens were different, one is very pretty with lots and lots of tagetes, Zinnias, flowers I didn't recognise, Cosmos all flowering beautifully alstroemeria in a tub and really healthy and several Acers which have survived and look really healthy. I think she must have a micro climate or the road has. The lawn was green and flowers all looked healthy, just almost like a normal summer. Likewise the second garden which is mainly lawn and trees with a huge apple tree, conifers, a beech and other trees and a very large passion flower, all very green. Here she also has the wall of the side of her garage in the garden and she has had a huge mural painted on it of wild flowers, a country scene, beautiful. The third and final garden is a strange shape on different levels and no grass at all and raised beds round the edge of a gravel garden. Lots growing here, all looking healthy including Cosmos and one I was taken by, Senecio Angel Wings which I must look out for as it looks like it will be drought tolerant.
With our donations we raised £16.40 each for three charities.

O dear what a night you had with all the lights works being done.

I had young Dan for a driver today hes the one I was saying is a nice lad. He was saying I had'nt ordered much this week so he said he would pop in and see me when he passes as he comes to others round here. Was'nt that nice of him.

Our relief posty came today and wanted to know if a ltter was for me and I said yes. It was only Cotton Traders trying to get some money out of me.

Hope Anng enjoys herself on the garden group visit to the garden and reports back to us what was still looking good after this very hot spell and if she got any tips for if it turn hot again.

Young Bex from next door called round and brought me a pork and stuffing bap which I have had for lunch and it was delish. I am not one for eating stuffing usually but I must admit it all went down very well. Not sure if I shall want anything tonight now. It was one of those cut burger rolls which I fing quite nice as they are light and airey not stodgy like a roll.

AfternoonAll,

No chance here Vera. I had another poor night's sleep! It was much cooler and I felt ok, went off to sleep and woke at 3.00am for the toilet. I was just starting to nod off again when the window kept being lit up with a moving light from outside. It was just like a torch being shone so I crept over to the window as it stopped and I could see nothing so got back in bed. A few minutes later a car lights shone on the window as it went by and as it was an odd time to hear one I had a look and it pulled up at the side of the house at the end through the gates and an asian chap and woman got out. I thought it must be one of the sons out late again and got back in bed. Half an hour later I heard beeping of something reversing, so had another look and it was an ambulance going to the asian house. After about three quarters of an hour it drove off with the car following so I think the elderly father must be ill again. I couldn't get back to sleep then after all the curtain twitching so was up at 7.00am getting showered ready to return the things to the retail park. I'd decided to go on my own as I haven't driven out of the county since the pandemic, have hardly been out on my own since then and I would be able to have a good browse, but OH decided he wanted to go after all last night and I relented so we took his car and he drove as I haven't driven his new car yet. He said to drive it, but with all the gadgetry I want to try it out nearer home first. Off we set in good time to be early and had driven 20 miles when OH wasn't sure if he'd locked the conservatory door!! As you can get into the bungalow from there we had to turn back and abandon the trip. Of course when we got home we found he had locked the door after all. :-S So I am going on my own tomorrow now.........I bet the storms will be here by then!

It's 21 here and all we've had is a few spots a couple of times. I'm going to put the washer on and see if that makes it rain. ;-)

Yes it will be interesting to see how other gardens are looking on your trip around them AnnG, also which plants have stayed looking good.

Not only are lorries coming down our single lane end of the close to deliver materials for the house extension, now Mrs O has had a skip delivered and slabs are being thrown into it, so we have the noise from both the building work and concrete mixer soon over the road. After years of the 3 properties being built and all the alterations around us, OH said 'whatever made us think the end of a close of bungalows would be peaceful'.

Morning all,

Woke to a very misty moisty morning and theres rain in the air. Everywhere looks greener even the lawns. Its all been washed by yesterdays rain. Its 18 degrees here at the moment and only supposed to be 22 today so thats good.

Em's coming round today and the shopping should arrive this morning.

Need to get in the shower and get dressed and would like to wash my hair today.

Hope you enjoy the gardens today and it will be interesting to see how they have been faring in this hot dry weather.

Good morning. I slept quite well last night, it was not so hot. Only thing with sleeping well is I didn't wake until 5am for the loo which meant I then had had enough sleep so just lay there until 0620 when I decided to get up. (not showered or dressed yet though).

This morning our gardening group plus members of the garden visits group are going to three gardens in one road in our village to look at the gardens. Luckily we are all aware of how the lack of rain has affected our gardens but it will be interesting to see how they have managed.

Although it’s still 18 degrees I feel quite cool and comfortable with my fan fixed and blowing direct on me, but I just can’t seem to sleep. It must be all the excitement - we had some RAIN this evening. It was only 3 short, gentle showers but that’s the first rain for weeks. I had to open the blind and watch it as I’d forgotten what rain looked like :-D

I hope everyone else is having a better night. I’m going to read now for a while.

Afternoon All,

Had another awful night with the heat and ended up standing outside and then sitting inside with the patio door wide open in front of me for about an hour. We think the tree that was chopped down shaded the front windows more than we realised. My temperature control is poor at the best of times, so It has been better today but now it's fup to 25 and cloudy. We nipped to the Co-op earlier to get the things Asda sent that were wrong and for some more paracetamol for OH's niggly tooth.

We have had 2 short showers, but only enough to wet the ground, so no use to the parched garden. I deadheaded the geraniums and watered the wall pots and toms and am hot now.

That's good people are offering to help out Mel, especially with all your grass.

AnnG the print was on a metallic gold background and neither I nor OH could read it. Luckily with being a pack of 4 the card around them showed the date clearly.

That is great Mel, you will find that people are very kind and very helpful, it is good that you can have help with the grass. <3

22 here and drops of rain but nothing really helpful to the garden so far.

23 here and there's thunder about as I can hear it its dry at the mo but still hot.

Had one neighbour come down with a nice card for me a nd to say they would do anything I needed doing as Adrian is quite handy which was nice as they only live next door but one from our entrance.

Then the young couple from next door to them came down with a bunch of flowers two cards, one from them and one from her mum who they are now living with. I have known Beccy since she was small and now she and baby Winifred and hubby are living with Nicola. Arron said he would come and cut some grass for me, that was very kind was'nt it.

Its rained a bit and the thunder is getting louder.

I sometimes think they put the dates in the most obscure place in the smallest possible print so we can't see it and buy it anyway. However the one I had with yesterdays date on was actually very clear so no excuse. Still it was in date even if close so it was edible.
Well that shower was gentle and steady but very short. I suppose it is better than nothing and may just lay the dust, I can see it has wetted (is that a word?) the gravel but not all over so it has not penetrated any overhanging shrubs
But Island I agree we would prefer long and gentle rather than a short heavy downpour. :-)

~~~~~~ all

Thank goodness the temperature has dropped at last. It's clouded over here and it says 'rain on and off' on my laptop.- can we just have it 'on' for a while please?
As much as I'd like a good downpour I hope not as the ground is baked and nobody wants a tsunami heading down the hill.

I've noticed that instore supermarkets are less attentive with 'use by' dates these days. Are they trying to get full price for food that really should be on the reduced shelves? I've brought food home which needed using in a couple of days - not everyone has eagle eyes so has to trust that the full price goods are well within use by.

Steady gentle rain now, so it has reached us Mel, hope it continues for a while as it will at least freshen up the garden.

I have lots of empty pots to fill in the next month or so. Trying to keep a note of the things that have done reasonably well during this summer. For planting out next yesr.

Osteospernum seem to have done well and geraniums (Perargonium not hardy), Daughter says her begonias have done well too although it has not been as hot and dry where she is. nemesias, some have done well others not so well. Bedding petunias have done ok in tubs and the Petunia surfinias have just about survived but they have been flowering in baskets since June.

any suggestions for planting in pots to go through autumn and maybe winter?