Mid 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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Shallot Man
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robo wrote:Tomorrow night 8pm BEECHWOOD
BBC Scotland
Sky 115
Freesat 106
Virgin 108



Thank you for that information.
Stravaig
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Primrose wrote:We had a huge swarm of flying ants invade the garden this afternoon - thousands of them. Interestingly they didn,t seem to be hanging around for long though. The air was thick with them for about 15 minutes and then they all disappeared. I don't know how high they normally fly but hopefully our village swifts will have had a tasty snack or two


Never mind the swifts, I wonder if they're the type that are edible for humans. Many years ago I was on holiday in Northern Thailand and the annual swarm, for one night only, of flying ants was greeted with great joy and excitement. The ants fly, mate, and drop dead on the ground. The locals were gathering them up as fast as they fell.

The following night the bars were full of hawkers selling deep fried flying ants with chilli and garlic. Well, who could resist at least trying them? I admit it took a couple of beers to find the idea appealing, but I had a go. They just tasted like deep friend chilli and garlic. :lol:

I can't wholeheartedly recommend them to you but they certainly have the novelty factor.
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I'm away at my sister's as she is on holiday on Studland, so I am watering her pots and my hanging baskets must be like dust. :-(
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Well I survived the allotment & had a very productive weeding & clearing morning. Very satisfying when you can just leave them where fall & they almost immediately they shrivel. It was 27 at the allotment & was misty to start but the temp went up when the sun broke through that, but nature sent a big dark cloud over the plot - full of rain & wind for someone in France or to dump in the Channel but I was grateful.
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My car read in at 40°C when I left work in North London.
Quote from BBC News
    The UK has recorded its second hottest day ever, with temperatures reaching 38.1C (100.6F) in Cambridge.
    It breaks the previous record for the hottest day in July of 36.7C, and falls just short of the all-time high of 38.5C, reached in 2003.
About twenty-five mile north of me and car reckoned 36°C when I got home.
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Primrose
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Oh the bliss of a cooler morning!. The heat was unbearable last night even with all the windows open, and as we're under a flight path and Heathrow had suspended night flight rules because of the heat so we had virtually no sleep. There is unfortunately no such things as a quiet aircraft!

Anybody having to travel by train and underground yesterday has my profound sympathy, as well as all those in public service who had to keep going. If more days like this is the result of global warming life is going to be unpleasant. This country just isnt geared up to cope with it.

Today,s lower temperature is very welcome. The birds all seem very quiet today. I think, like humans, they were exhausted trying to keep cool. Remember: important to keep their drinking sources topped up with clean water.
Last edited by Primrose on Fri Jul 26, 2019 12:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Stephen
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Quote from BBC News (ref: Peter)
The UK has recorded its second hottest day ever, with temperatures reaching 38.1C (100.6F) in Cambridge.


And about 8 miles east of where I have been all week. Yes, it was oppresive! How the cricketers at Lords managed (well the English ones didn't really) I find hard to imagine.
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Elmigo
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I tried to protect the growing area from the sun and the heat. One of my pepper plants just didn't get covered by the shade so one of the sweet peppers burned. Today the balcony reached over 46°C in the afternoon, it's bizarre! This was my burned pepper. Luckily it was the only one on here.

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Monika
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What a shame, Elmigo. Good thing it was only one! Our greenhouse temperature reached 43C yesterday in spite of all flaps (two top, two bottom) and the door being wide open. We have quite a few tomatoes with blossom end rot this year. I know what causes it, water everything very assiduously but the heat has just been too much, I think.
I really hope that these heatwaves don't repeat themselves too often!
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Primrose
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Yes that looks a bad case of scorching Elmigo. You're probably better off picking and eating the remaining edible part of the pepper before the whole fruit now rots.
I have an old white net curtain which I throw over all my pepper plants to protect them from the scorching heat of the midday sun but some fleece if you have it or indeed any lightweight sheet of cotton like a tea towel will do equally well.

Thankfully it's cooler here today but if we'd suffered one more day of heat like yesterday's I think I would be looking like that pepper!
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Today was so much cooler so decided to tackle the weeds in the tunnel - got an invasion of red clover & if that flowers I will be doing the same for years to come & the self sown cherry tomatoes will never give up! Tunnel/Greenhouse is North/South & vent to the West - where did the wind come from - yes obviously & unusually east! I was dripping sweat & had to keep going out to catch a breeze - but some sacrifices, some surprises - I harvested a beef steak tom perfectly ripe & noted more to come, found a wee aubergine under a sacrificed tomato & had to tie the sweet potato vines into the struts as they are reaching 1/2 way down so that is 10' - hopefully crop will reflect that! Outside the pumpkins & squash have woken up & have QLD Blue fruit the size of a ball & ribbing! Bad start to the season but I've forgotten that now - but happy my neighbour gave me some runner beans as I lost loads of sowings & planting - (mice got the seeds - pigeons got the plants) & while the latest have beans no where near a harvest!
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Elmigo
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So scorching is what it's called. Let's hope it doesn't happen again! The temperatures seem to lower a little bit tomorrow and the rest of the week. I don't believe I ever felt so hot in my lifetime. It also harmed a few grapes on my grape vine that suddenly turned brown or fell off due to the heat. The remaining ones are still growing I believe.
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Primrose
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Elmigo, I imagine that in a fruit like grapes, where the internal material is largely liquid, the hot sun on them must rapidly increase the temperature of that liquid to such an extent that the fruit cannot take it any more. Whether the skin bursts at that point I don't know. In a vineyard situation I imagine that some of the grapes in any bunch will be partly sheltered by other grapes or by leaves, but I'd be interested to know how grapes respond en masse in vineyards when temperatures get this high for prolonged periods.

Perhaps some of the skins burst, they just shrivel up and turn into sultanas ! I imagine your grapes are currently still at the stage where they're very small and haven't yet swollen up to be full of liquid. The ones on my vine are still very tiny and haven't started to swell with liquid yet.
Elmigo
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They haven't fully swollen up yet but they were getting close. I already placed the grapevine on the shaded side of the building so it can heal. Hopefully the grapes are not all lost...
Stravaig
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It seems to be watermelon week here. The shops are full of 'em. The usual fruit and veg have been crowded into about 70% of their usual space while the remaining 30% is taken over by large watermelons. Think of how UK supermarkets are invaded by pumpkins around Halloween. Bah! That's an imported American custom anyway. Where I come from (Scotland) we always had neep lanterns.

Well, I wouldn't usually think to buy a watermelon back in the UK but, not wanting to miss out on the apparent excitement over the fruit, I bought half of one. It weighed 3.5 kg and cost the equivalent of about 60p. Dunno what the price of them is where you are. I saw a recipe for a watermelon and feta salad so that's on the menu for sometime next week. It's not Greek feta but a Ukrainian clone, so I've no idea what that'll be like.
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