Mid Summer Bits and Bobs - 2016.

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

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Pa Snip
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Just goes to show that not all the normal 'rules' for planting times apply to all areas.
Local conditions have to be taken into account as well and that's where we all fall down unless we are replying to someone we happen to know lives just up the road or we are familiar with their area.

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
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Geoff
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The latest copy of 'The Garden' has an article about Blackberry hybrid berries. They say 'Primocane blackberries are a promising development; Reuben had good flavour but needs an early season and a warm Autumn to crop well, it does not ripen many fruit most summers. I look forward to earlier cropping primocane cultivars in future as they become available'.
Ours has died (or almost died) so it might not be your position. Not sure if non-members can access it but there is a full report on hybrid berries, go to RHS Trials Database and search for Blackberry.
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Ricard with an H
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Thanks for that Geoff, I'm not good with failure though I don't seem to be able to focus on more than one project at a time. Its been bread-baking so the garden whilst being used sensibly hasn't used any of my focus. Focus for me means everyday research for a short period during the morning then spending the remaining time considering what I learnt. (If at all)

This-all possibly explains why I didn't place pellets down for the slugs and lost three sowings, I just don't seem to be able to multi-task. My brain has been thinking bread and I did throw a lot of bread away into the composers, thankfully Aldi flour is cheap though I intend going organic once my failure rate diminishes.

Have a slice of this and you may never go back to the goo thats mostly available and do beware, or be-aware of pseudo sourdough.
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How are you supposed to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle if it completely removes a wine lover’s reason to live?
Richard.
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Geoff
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If you are talking about distractions, my garden is a shambles as I have been distracted by windows. Not that Windows, that just drives me to distraction, real windows.

When we converted the barn in 1985 we put in pitch pine windows. Over the years they have been re-coated with all sorts of things, the latest coats were Sadolin, with hindsight I don't know what possessed me to use that stuff. Got to the point where quite a number of sealed units had failed, some wood was rotten and the good wood had lost all character so it looked like it was painted brown; so something had to be done. The economics of this placed are based on the principle if I can't do it myself it doesn't usually get done but I've changed sealed units before and hate doing it. Decided to strip down all the windows to bare wood then get somebody in to change the units before varnishing them with Sikkens. The trouble is I have 16 window frames with 24 panes of glass, a front barn door with 6 more panes, a back door with a pane, garage door surround and French windows. 10 of the 24 needed new units, front door needs all 6, back door is OK and French windows are rotten and need a total replacement. So I've stripped down everything with a heat gun and three grades of sanding disc. When the units are done I then give them 2 coats of Sikkens base and 2 of top coat. Here's the kitchen window as an example:

As installed before glazing in 1985, it was a little darker than this when glazed and finished.

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The state it had got into before I started.

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And yesterday after the fourth coat of varnish.

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Not finished yet as only 7 of the 10 are replaced, he hasn't started the front door and the Douglas Fir sliding doors to replace the French windows don't come until next month. It has been a monster amount of work. Small warning, don't purchase Bartoline Clean Spirit it is rubbish, wondered why cleaned brushes were going hard then realised it wasn't White Spirit, when I changed to the right stuff everything was OK.
Westi
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Blimey Geoff, that's an amazing difference even if going to create a lot of work! Love the stone work around your barn, it must have been a pretty impressive barn, let alone house now!

Richard, that bread looks delish! I know what you mean about pseudo bread, it varies enormously! I'm not a bread baker, total disasters, but I'll move on in case I mention my cakes! :D It's on my to do 'when I retire list' to master the skill! Along with improvements in my vegetable gardening! Time poor currently!

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Ricard with an H
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Geoff, you can hang your head on my shoulders. You're in good company.

Quite why window frames don't get either dipped or extensively treated before installation mystifies me and then there is the use of silicon when we have at our disposal a number of none silicon sealing materials that actually cure just like silicon. Mostly water enters window frames into the end grain at joints or the end grain where it's exposed, not a difficult problem to deal with.

My annual distractions also include replacing failed sealed units and paint that has lifted or oxidised by UV. it's a weather dependent task. If the weather isn't perfect for the task you may as well leave them in for another year and yes, if I can't do them I'm not paying someone to make me more work within a couple of years.

A neighbour who can afford to pay for a regular painter/repair man doesn't know he paints over the bird poo and wet/damp material is hurriedly wiped over and painted.

I have six sealed glazing units waiting to go in, the front of the barn to clean with algaecide and repaint together with one side of our garage store.
How are you supposed to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle if it completely removes a wine lover’s reason to live?
Richard.
Westi
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Well they're a coming! Finally it's courgette time at lottie. Pumpkin is supposed to be a QLD Blue but doesn't seem ridged enough but will see. Remind me of this post in a month or so when I am moaning about how many courgettes I have! :oops:

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robo
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I decided I only needed four courgette plants so I planted four seeds then four more some weeks later after the third attempt I gave up no courgettes for us this year , same with Pease and French beans but I've finally got both showing after around seven separate sowings
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Johnboy
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Hi Robo,
Are you sowing these seeds directly into the soil or pre-germinating them?
JB,
robo
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Hi johnboy ,I tried both ways the first two attempts where started in my pollytunnel they where about four inches high when I planted them out as where the second lot the rest went straight into the ground , I don't normally have a problem last year I had thirteen growing at one point until I ripped nine up
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Ricard with an H
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Is it possible we can end up with seeds that are past being useful ?

I know I had other reasons for poor or zero germination, being able to identify the reason for poor results is useful as is the reason for 100% success.

I had duds in the past, mostly with saved flower seeds. I just sowed a handful of cosmos seeds to get about twenty seedlings, the previous sowing was 3 seeds in every small pot of a twenty pot tray. I got four plants.

When I sowed courgette I sowed twenty seeds and got twenty plants, fortunately I was able to give some away though my plants have now been pulled out because I just don't eat more than the odd courgette. It was fun watching them grow overnight though. Like trifids.
How are you supposed to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle if it completely removes a wine lover’s reason to live?
Richard.
Westi
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Hi Robo

My plants I put in died so I tried sowing with failure then sowing again. I bought plants in but then found one of the squash family in my tomato bed, so I think the culprit was probably mice & this is one that they missed in their stash! Fortunately I don't have any tomatoes thanks to blight, so have room for it, but am going to have a load of squash as some of my sown ones a bit slower germinating have popped up in the holes where I planted the bought plants. Given 3 plants away to date, but with disclaimer that I don't know what they will be, as got lost in the multi-sowings. :oops:

Any chance mice got your seeds?
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oldherbaceous
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Not a lot of gardening work being done by me, as i'm lurking about in Ludlow, Shropshire....off up to Cheshire tomorrow for the day.
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

There's no fool like an old fool.
robo
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Hi westi, the first two lots I planted I started off in the pollytunnel both lots where doing well untill I planted them out then just died I put it down to snails I planted forty peas in a tray that had a plastic top on it thinking it would stop mice having a free feed I did the same with cobra beans not one germinated I tried twice the same with sweet corn none germinated in the end I binned the potting compost as I think it was the problem next year I will make my own, all the cabbage and cauliflowers as well as sprouts and everything else I planted was ok
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Ricard with an H
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OH, are you on holiday ?

Shropshire and Gloustershire I find as very nice counties though I get stressed with traffic as soon as I'm away from home. Yesterday I met one car doing a rat-run down a lane that joins farms, only four residences along this mile long lane with only four people so cars are rare. Tractors yes. I'm irritated because I have to reverse 100 yards, most people can't reverse and they can't remember a field access they just passed where they could have reversed into.

I'm painting a picture of my intolerance to summer visitors and I'm ashamed as I describe this intolerance.

It isn't cold outside, it's warm and drizzly. I lit a fire this morning because the barn seemed cold though it was more about a comforting glow on a miserable day. Beti came back in after performinokg her morning evacuations, she was wet-through and now drying in front of the fire.

Beti enjoys a fire.

All the log stores are full, I didn't cut any wood this year and I will sell my chainsaw. It's getting too much work, cost me £240 to fill the logs stores though one was still half full. All-in-all I have around 8 cubic meters, 6 of it needs to dry a little more.

It made me realise that the chainsaw paid for itself over and over. A good chainsaw is close to £500 new, cared for it'll get me £250 from someone who recognised a sound purchase though to be honest there is some pleasure in ownership for good tools.

French beans are prolific and those old Maris piper spuds I found in the shed and planted are still providing so I planted Charlotte.
How are you supposed to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle if it completely removes a wine lover’s reason to live?
Richard.
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