Sizzling Summer Bits and Bobs.

A place to chat about anything you like, including non-gardening related subjects. Just keep it clean, please!

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tigerburnie
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I don't grow runner beans, I prefer French beans and they have been very good this year as have the Broad beans, the brassicas seem to be doing well too, had our first Romanesc the other day and white cabbage and some purple broc are not far away.
Been gardening for over 65 years and still learning.
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Geoff
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Rang EON and he processed my reading and got the same error. "I'll put it through our extreme weather system and see if that works". Processed OK should get my payment on time, 3 months solar payment will cover more than 6 months cost.
Bit different when I put the ordinary reading into nPower, they stopped nagging me to increase my Direct Debit and said I was now in balance.
Now what can I do about silly oil prices as I usually give my tank its annual fill in August?
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Motherwoman
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Pleased you managed to get your reading through Geoff, they must be getting a lot like that this year.

We gave up on oil and got a wood burning range that does cooking, heating and hot water. Keeps me fit in winter but I have warned the old fella that I will not be barrowing logs uphill when I'm 80! Used to irritate me no end when that gas advert showed them taking a reading from somewhere half way up a mountain... yeh, right....

And my climbing french beans are much better than the runners, look like their normal selves despite the hot weather.
Westi
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Funny Motherwoman! I bet it is pretty much like that when Geoff rings! :) :)
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oldherbaceous
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Another little quiet spell.....I hope i'm not missing out on something..... :)
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

There's no fool like an old fool.
Westi
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It's cool OH! We're just melting again....!

Well I am anyway as was at work today & we can't open the windows more than about 3"! All the windows have this as a preventative measure as whether offices or wards (they can be transfigured into either), we don't want our poor old souls falling out or jumping out - or me just catching a whisper of a breeze! :(
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Shallot Man
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My runner beans a complete flop this year. Plenty of blossom, but no beans, keep giving them a light spray, to no avail;. :( :(
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Primrose
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My climbing French beans have virtually died on me and given up flowering now so reckon I can give up the hope of any more crops. certainly the freezer won't be crammed full of them this year. I did sow a few more in situ a couple of weeks ago and have been keeping them watered in the hope the heat would help them geminate quickly and I might get a small late crop when the weather eventually cools down. Unfortunately the heat seems to have cooked them as nothing has germinated.

How come the weeds still seem to be growing though. Complete mystery to me. They're hardly little perishers! The oxalysis in my borders is growing a jungle speed and just loving this weather, especially if it can piggy back on the back of some water for my tomatoes and beans.
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Pa Snip
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Some of my neighbouring plotholders have been cutting their runners beans down this week due to leaves burning off and lack of any crop.
At the moment we are lucky enough to be harvesting around 2lb each time we pick. A long way below usual but better than nothing

Have you noticed a distinct lack of black fly on the runners this year? which in turn means there has been a noticaale lack of ladybird larvae.

Harvested nearly 100lbs of first & second earlies and as yet there has not been a single slug mark on any of the potatoes. A little bit of scab on some but not much.

The danger when people start to believe their own publicity is that they often fall off their own ego.

At least travelling under the guise of the Pa Snip Enterprise gives me an excuse for appearing to be on another planet
tigerburnie
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I'm lifting some Charlottes and they are nice and clean, not a massive crop, but very tasty.
Been gardening for over 65 years and still learning.
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Primrose
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I think black fly really prefer some lush growth Pa and probably a lot of beans not showing it this year. I,ve had no back fly on mine either. I usually have a number of self seeding nasturtiums which the blackfly also,love but it,s been too dry for any of them to germinate this year which probably means their succession growing in future years will have been halted.

Even the frogs seem in short supply this summer. Usually in the course of gardening and weeding I come across them lurking in the shady undergrowth. All my tadpoles died or were eaten by newts earlier in spring so not a single baby froglet to be seen and only one adult frog.has so far made an appearance this summer -the same One apparently as noticeable by its bright yellowy green markings.

Plenty of wasps though. They appear as if by magic whenever we decide to have an al fresco meal !
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Geoff
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Considering the wind damage we had earlier in the year the runner beans recovered remarkably and are now producing a huge crop. viewtopic.php?f=8&t=14357&start=30 Red ones are Firestorm and white ones are Moonlight.

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Lots of coloured butterflies today including this well coloured Painted Lady on the buddleja, our Painted Ladies are usually quite pale, I thought it was something else at first.

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Primrose
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I am totally envious of your beans and your cosmos. YOu,ve obviously had more rainfall than we have. I wouldn't ever dare post a pjoto my beans. Most of the leaves have already dropped off despite almost daily watering. They have just hated being baked in the sun against a south facing fence with soil which dries out almost as soon as it's watered.
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oldherbaceous
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That could be the fence that has made your situation worse this year, Primrose....where in most years your fence has offered the beans protection from cold winds, this year it will have reflected even more heat onto the beans.
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

There's no fool like an old fool.
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Primrose
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Yes I was thinking the same thing. Unfortunately I have nowhere else really practical to grow them.
I,m comforted that at least the tomatoes have loved the same environment. Win some, lose some I guess.
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