Dozens of swallows are flying overhead. Then they're perching on the
phone wires and the ridge of the largest greenhouse. It's both a
beautiful and a sad sight! We rarely get many here at all, so this is
unusual for us. Today is cloudy and humid, so the flies and other
insects must be flying quite low, judging by the height the swallows
are feeding at.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On 23/08/2013 14:33, Sacha wrote:
Dozens of swallows are flying overhead. Then they're perching on the
phone wires and the ridge of the largest greenhouse. It's both a
beautiful and a sad sight! We rarely get many here at all, so this is
unusual for us. Today is cloudy and humid, so the flies and other
insects must be flying quite low, judging by the height the swallows
are feeding at.
And there's an old wives tale with some truth, when the Swallows fly low
rain is due, even the Met Office agrees with this.
Tonight and Tomorrow looks wet here in Beds, hope it clears by Saturday
evening as I am of to see an open air concert with Status Quo.

Barry

On 2013-08-23 15:43:17 +0100, Corporal Jones said:

On 23/08/2013 14:33, Sacha wrote:
Dozens of swallows are flying overhead. Then they're perching on the
phone wires and the ridge of the largest greenhouse. It's both a
beautiful and a sad sight! We rarely get many here at all, so this is
unusual for us. Today is cloudy and humid, so the flies and other
insects must be flying quite low, judging by the height the swallows
are feeding at.
And there's an old wives tale with some truth, when the Swallows fly
low rain is due, even the Met Office agrees with this.
Tonight and Tomorrow looks wet here in Beds, hope it clears by Saturday
evening as I am of to see an open air concert with Status Quo.

Barry

It wouldn't surprise us if it did rain. I've heard that saying, too and
certainly experience has borne it out, so Ray is mowing some grass in
the field now. X fingers for your concert!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On Fri, 23 Aug 2013 14:33:43 +0100, Sacha wrote:

Dozens of swallows are flying overhead.

Not been aware of swifts/swallows/martins this year as much as
normal. Don't think I've heard a swift all year. We did have a few
martins chattering about early on but that's all. I think the warm
spell followed by the cold weeks either did for them or kept them
further south/lower down.

The rowan berries are reddening up nicely, the birches starting to
yellow, yep summer is definately ending and autumn approaching.

--
Cheers
Dave.

"Sacha" wrote

Dozens of swallows are flying overhead. Then they're perching on the phone
wires and the ridge of the largest greenhouse. It's both a beautiful and a
sad sight! We rarely get many here at all, so this is unusual for us.
Today is cloudy and humid, so the flies and other insects must be flying
quite low, judging by the height the swallows are feeding at.


6.9mm of rain here in the last 24 hours which is more than for some while,
actually all summer.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

In message , Martin
writes

I had to look up canicule.

Canicule - as in dog days.

Don't hear that expression much these days.

David

--
David Rance writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France

David there are a couple of words, one of which was familiar to me, which
will be used quite a bit soon, 'parbuckling' which as I say knew, but
another a very well known, but given a new meaning, 'voltage'.

And they are linked within the salvage of the Costa Concordia ....

http://www.giglionews.it/20100224409...o-stefano.html

Mike



"David Rance" wrote in message
...

In message , Martin
writes

I had to look up canicule.

Canicule - as in dog days.

Don't hear that expression much these days.

David

--
David Rance writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France

On Sat, 24 Aug 2013 17:15:11 +0100, David Rance wrote:

In message , Martin
writes

I had to look up canicule.

Canicule - as in dog days.

Don't hear that expression much these days.


Hi David,

I expect Judith is a fluent franglais speaker, which would make the word
more common!

Are you down in France now? The nights are getting cold, and fall colours
are starting early in some of the maples. It will be mushroom season
soon...



--
Gardening in Lower Normandy

On Fri, 23 Aug 2013 22:42:02 +0100, Dave Liquorice wrote:

The rowan berries are reddening up nicely, the birches starting to
yellow,
yep summer is definately ending and autumn approaching.

The rowans are positively weighted down with berries this year!
Spectacular. I wonder if they enjoyed all the rain in the spring, the
dry in summer, or the combination.

We have a rowan planted near the house for a traditional ward, (when your
house is called "the suffering" and the village "the coffin", you need
all the help you can get ), which has never had much fruit, but this
year it's laden.



--
Gardening in Lower Normandy

In message , Emery Davis
writes

On Sat, 24 Aug 2013 17:15:11 +0100, David Rance wrote:

In message , Martin
writes

I had to look up canicule.

Canicule - as in dog days.

Don't hear that expression much these days.


Hi David,

I expect Judith is a fluent franglais speaker, which would make the word
more common!

Are you down in France now? The nights are getting cold, and fall colours
are starting early in some of the maples. It will be mushroom season
soon...

Yes, we're in Normandy. We have a glut of plums (hasn't everyone?) and
I'm making plum relish every other evening. I forgot to bring my recipe
for plum chutney over which is a bit annoying! My wife can't face the
thought of more plum jam so what else can I do with them?

Going to have a good cider apple harvest this year, too.

David

--
David Rance writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France

No, we don't have a glut of plums. If you remember my postings last year, we
had a glut which took ages to ripen then they went bad on the tree before
getting to the picking stage.

Mike



"David Rance" wrote in message
...

In message , Emery Davis
writes

On Sat, 24 Aug 2013 17:15:11 +0100, David Rance wrote:

In message , Martin
writes

I had to look up canicule.

Canicule - as in dog days.

Don't hear that expression much these days.


Hi David,

I expect Judith is a fluent franglais speaker, which would make the word
more common!

Are you down in France now? The nights are getting cold, and fall colours
are starting early in some of the maples. It will be mushroom season
soon...

Yes, we're in Normandy. We have a glut of plums (hasn't everyone?) and
I'm making plum relish every other evening. I forgot to bring my recipe
for plum chutney over which is a bit annoying! My wife can't face the
thought of more plum jam so what else can I do with them?

Going to have a good cider apple harvest this year, too.

David

--
David Rance writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France

On Sat, 24 Aug 2013 17:57:51 +0100, David Rance wrote:

Are you down in France now? The nights are getting cold, and fall
colours are starting early in some of the maples. It will be mushroom
season soon...

Yes, we're in Normandy. We have a glut of plums (hasn't everyone?) and
I'm making plum relish every other evening. I forgot to bring my recipe
for plum chutney over which is a bit annoying! My wife can't face the
thought of more plum jam so what else can I do with them?


Actually we are without plums. Not really sure why, and others around us
have them. A friend in the village has given us carte blanche to
collect, they weren't quite ripe last time I was there to water.

I'll be grubbing up the mirabelle this winter, all the bark on one side
has died. Feh.

Going to have a good cider apple harvest this year, too.



Yes it looks like a good year for apples, needed after last year when
there were none at all. Not many pears though. A few peaches will be
ready in a week or so, but again a very small crop.

cheers,




--
Gardening in Lower Normandy

In message , Emery Davis
writes

On Sat, 24 Aug 2013 17:57:51 +0100, David Rance wrote:

Are you down in France now? The nights are getting cold, and fall
colours are starting early in some of the maples. It will be mushroom
season soon...

Yes, we're in Normandy. We have a glut of plums (hasn't everyone?) and
I'm making plum relish every other evening. I forgot to bring my recipe
for plum chutney over which is a bit annoying! My wife can't face the
thought of more plum jam so what else can I do with them?

Actually we are without plums. Not really sure why, and others around us
have them. A friend in the village has given us carte blanche to
collect, they weren't quite ripe last time I was there to water.

This is our first good plum harvest for four years. Last year they were
early, ripening in mid-July, and the birds had them. The year before
that the frost got the blossom. I think, though, that we're near the end
of the plums - just a day or two more - but the Reine Claude are just
beginning to ripen now so they'll be in full swing in a week or so.
We're planning a trip to Soligny-la-Trappe next Sunday and, if they
fulfil their promise and you would like some, we could drop some off on
our way through.

We always try to fit in a visit to the Abbaye de la Trappe during the
summer to attend their plainsong services and visit their wonderful
bookshop. Another reason for us "adopting" them is that their founder
was a certain Abbé de Rancé whom we fondly imagine was my ancestor
dating from his libertine period before he took holy orders! Complete
rubbish, of course, but my father liked to think that we originated from
Normandy.

I'll be grubbing up the mirabelle this winter, all the bark on one side
has died. Feh.

That's a shame. We have a greengage back in Reading that seemed to be
going the same way but my wife cut out all the rotten bits in the main
trunk and put Arbrex on it and it seems to have recovered and is growing
again strongly.

Going to have a good cider apple harvest this year, too.

Yes it looks like a good year for apples, needed after last year when
there were none at all. Not many pears though. A few peaches will be
ready in a week or so, but again a very small crop.

We've never had success with peaches or apricots. The trees just die on
us! We had a reasonable apple harvest last year and made sixty bottles
of cider, but it'll be in excess of that this year.

David

--
David Rance writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France

In article ,
David Rance wrote:
In message , Emery Davis
writes

I'll be grubbing up the mirabelle this winter, all the bark on one side
has died. Feh.

That's a shame. We have a greengage back in Reading that seemed to be
going the same way but my wife cut out all the rotten bits in the main
trunk and put Arbrex on it and it seems to have recovered and is growing
again strongly.

That makes a lot of sense.

Plums regrow from their base and even rootstock all too readily - they
are very difficult to remove! Cutting it down to ground level and
letting one or a few shoots regrow might well work.

We've never had success with peaches or apricots. The trees just die on
us! We had a reasonable apple harvest last year and made sixty bottles
of cider, but it'll be in excess of that this year.

I am doing reasonably well with a peche de vigne - not great for
eating, but excellent for cooking! I shall discover how resistant
it is to peach leaf curl, as it is now 15' high and it isn't
feasible for me to remove all of the infected leaves.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Sun, 25 Aug 2013 09:57:40 +0100, David Rance wrote:

[]
This is our first good plum harvest for four years. Last year they were
early, ripening in mid-July, and the birds had them. The year before
that the frost got the blossom. I think, though, that we're near the end
of the plums - just a day or two more - but the Reine Claude are just
beginning to ripen now so they'll be in full swing in a week or so.
We're planning a trip to Soligny-la-Trappe next Sunday and, if they
fulfil their promise and you would like some, we could drop some off on
our way through.


Thanks for the thought! That's very kind. We're fine on fruit for this
year though, I think Adele would murder me if I arranged more for her to
process. (Sadly we tend to fall into gender specific roles when it comes
to putting up fruit and power tools). I'm not sure we'll be here anyway,
the "rentre" is coming, our daughter is entering 1ere. Big stuff; thank
goodness for bilingual schools!

We always try to fit in a visit to the Abbaye de la Trappe during the
summer to attend their plainsong services and visit their wonderful
bookshop. Another reason for us "adopting" them is that their founder
was a certain Abbé de Rancé whom we fondly imagine was my ancestor
dating from his libertine period before he took holy orders! Complete
rubbish, of course, but my father liked to think that we originated from
Normandy.


Nice! I always like going to the Tapestry at Bayeux, you see lots of
local names. Probably no relation either.

I'll be grubbing up the mirabelle this winter, all the bark on one side
has died. Feh.

That's a shame. We have a greengage back in Reading that seemed to be
going the same way but my wife cut out all the rotten bits in the main
trunk and put Arbrex on it and it seems to have recovered and is growing
again strongly.


Glad to here it's doing well. This is a FS graft, and it was never a
very healthy tree. It partially blew over 2 winters ago, then refused to
stand up again. Now with the understock half dead, it's done.

[]
We've never had success with peaches or apricots. The trees just die on
us! We had a reasonable apple harvest last year and made sixty bottles
of cider, but it'll be in excess of that this year.


I tried apricots but the tree died. The nursery swore it would do OK
here, but I think it was just too wet. The peach tree does pretty well
against a south wall, although leaf curl is a constant battle. It
flowers pretty early, so that sometimes the fruit sets before a late
frost and survives. Very hit and miss though. I looked at it this
afternoon and what peaches are there don't look terrific.




--
Gardening in Lower Normandy