Autumn Bits and Bobs.

[Westi]

Well I was a bit surprised at the temp when I poked my head out this morning; I had ventured out the back & it seemed OK, but going out the front with the wind resulted in a quick trip back in for my beanie & an extra fleece! Was OK when I got going and it warmed up quickly when the sun decided to show.

The Chinese bed is all cleared & the plants in, along with the garlic bed prepped & they are in with some back up onion sets. Took a wee harvest & had a good review of everything. The French beans & runners did not appreciate the dip in temp at all so they will be out next. The food bank got loads of lettuce as most are soft leaf so won't stand much longer. Except for tomorrow it looks like a longer spell of warmer weather again so all might be sorted soonish plant wise & I can mooch a bit more with general DIY & shed tidying type stuff.

[Westi]

Been watching the weather closely today as my phone weather has a new set up that sends you messages on changes in the weather in just your local area from what predicted. I got my first one today which was to say the predicted rain for tomorrow morning was coming in this evening. It did, well is still; much to my joy! Good oh a nice dry start then, but going to be breezy. I cross checked against the BBC weather & no change in their report with no rain tonight, still saying tomorrow. It does not say on the app where they get their forecast from & of course what I'm getting now could just stay around longer!

[oldherbaceous]

Looks like we are in for a wet evening and an even wetter tomorrow….very little done on the allotments today….really just veg picked for dinner and edged all the grass paths…..did have a good bonfire, as the wind was blowing in the right direction, not to trouble anyone!

[Clive.]

The forecast said..rain this evening...and it wasn't wrong.!!

C.

[Westi]

Well it rained all night on & off & today gales were in the mix, mind the new thingie on the other app did tell me regularly I had 7mins (or whatever) until the rain returns, & pretty accurate, but it's never gonna be my go to. Got it right this afternoon & said something like next precipitation was 15.00hrs so we scooted down to the supermarket at lunch time for the perishables & pet things & stayed dry!

Now looking good for 4 or 5 days & temp a little higher so can get back to the plot & get on with the chores, along with the extra weeding no doubt!

[retropants]

Got soaked in York yesterday, and will get soaked again in Whitley Bay this morning!

[Clive.]

Pumped out the old boiler house today which allowed the potting shed to then drain...
Local river and beck are into the fields that they visited last Summer/Autumn/WInter....

C.

[Westi]

Well the blight in the tunnel was back today, so I cleared that patch to save as many toms as possible, fruit looks fine so . The ones at the other end are still looking fine so given them the benefit of the doubt for now, but did take all the ripe ones in case. Very little else done as a result but I did totally prep that bed for next year as well with both some chicken flakes & my compost from last year dug in to raise the height a bit. Thankfully it wasn't too hard as moisture had seeped in under the cover so easier to dig. Basically took most of the time as I was right in the zone & chased all the clover inside & chased the bindweed all the way back outside to the other side of the path - still my favourite job!

I have a lot of toms to take home but I will take more than comfortable to carry to just the bus as I'm now considered a regular & having chats with the older folk, I said I would give them some next time I was down which ignited a good chat about 'tasteless tomatoes'. They were still organising between each other who would collect & deliver to them if they weren't on the bus when I got off.

[oldherbaceous]

Another beautiful day here…made work very pleasant indeed!
Put some extra hours in to try and catch up with some grass cutting….set my hip/back off a bit but, nice to get back on top of things again!

How are you keeping, Peter….haven’t seen much of you on here lately!

[peter]

Reorganisation at work, been helping a colleague do three question mock interviews for those who have to apply for jobs and now got the joy of doing real interviews on a bunch of people.
Allotment not been too good this year, poor and erratic germination, some are wondering in our Association if the drought a couple of years ago and subsequent rather erratic weather has affected seed quality.

Ruby season is in full swing, so Saturday is now bar duty and I have a sad event to attend next Friday, our past president's son passed away on a train to work, he was thirty-one.
Dad is an ex-policeman and ironically an off duty police officer on the train fought to resuscitate the son without success.
Son was getting married to his fiancé in a few weeks time, instead of a stag do there's a wake at the club, it'll be messy as son was the 4th Team Captain.

An appeal was launched for Cardiac Risk in the Young in his memory, quickly reached £31,000 and with gift aid it stands at £38,456.97 this evening.

Some days are just 5h1t, he was a lovely young man, we miss him

[oldherbaceous]

Gosh, Peter, that is awful….sounds like his short life will affect so many people….when I read something like that, it makes me realise just how lucky I am!

A very interesting thought about the drought affecting the seed germination….

[Westi]

Hard to follow reading someone so young with plans & ambitions has died. Just thinking, shouldn't trains be equipped with resuscitation equipment, like the proper machines that can talk non medical people through the process? Even if to protect it from vandalism if it was in the drivers area, but with alarm buttons in the carriages to alert them? Or perhaps even on the next station but keep the alarm buttons so driver can alert them & they the guys/girls that can shut down the network in the area ??

[Westi]

Quite a productive day, finally Mr's man flu abated so I got down! Planted the little overwintering plants, or some not so now after the delay; in the tunnel. I kinda thought I be taking some more spent plants out but as raggy as they look they are still producing. Weeded, fed & covered a little bed & the pumpkin bed, more lettuce, cuc's & toms for the food bank. The asparagus has not yellowed nor have the sweet potatoes & looks like the Indian Summer is continuing for a bit, temp dropping but not to frost point - well down here anyway.

[Myrkk]

That’s terrible Peter. My thoughts are with the family. It must be so difficult to make sense of when the person is so young.

I agree Westi, there should be a defib in every train. I was on a first aid course yesterday and the stats for survival if one is available and used correctly within a few minutes is much much better (70 odd % iirc) than if there is not one available (3% or some such)

[oldherbaceous]

Managed to get all the allotment grass cut this afternoon, so looks a lot tidier….
The torrential rain we have been having, has ruined all the cut flowers, so very few to send to the Harvest festival…..have sent along a 32.2 kg pumpkin….that should make people smile….