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Ozzy Osbourne. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn0qq5nyxn0t

A shopping trolley is cheaper and has other uses.

Umm - not sure what's caused those lines on my cover piccy...

Amity sold out the Elgar Room Amity at the Royal Albert Hall and the standing ovation just went on and on and on......... Amity's now taking this show to the Durham Festival next week. Details at https://durhamfringe.co.uk/events/bite-me/ He's also doing a solo show at the Durham Festival. See https://durhamfringe.co.uk/performances ... the-brink/

The only downfall of mushroom compost is it's unsuitable for acid liking plants as it has chalk in it .Fine for toms though ,I usually use a very expensive fertiliser which contains calcium to prevent blossom end rot ,I skimped it this year and used some lime instead ,my susceptible strains got blossom end rot ! Not a good year slow start every tom in that compost died ,two that didn't get it fine and hanging baskets thriving on yet another compost .Hopefully my stripy toms make it this year in the center of my tunnel they just started to show signs of ripening last year a day of rain ,next day a sign of blight ,two days later stalks going black we took the biggest and watched them rot within a week . The 4 hanging baskets not in the tunnel have dog umbrellas over them ,my sister was very amused Whilst on gardening this is probably the most useful and money saving thing I have ever bought .Now I don't recommend using the previous years compost for the same plant but it's great for saving money recovering compost to use in other containers but you will get random seeds germinating as there's no way of steralising the compost in bulk. Forget sore arms trying to move soil on a round riddle this only makes one arm sore saving 50% sore arms https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gr8-Garden-Compost-Screener-Gardening/dp/B0DFQ6ST5Y/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=2JJVLREDPJBY0&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.xc3jr7YX5OTEvpg-hALHt56nhMfQrNsLzmO2TSycGIuW93bTTtnvacuCgIdjm7-rmTks3VZRNiAhMmlJEz6nB6eoYjEujXOJGA6a9fj4DwgYs6-8enxekYjXRT72vYsmX8sni114NpLuUEgZP0tHw1yBOml3rSmiX0JVibyYvvBUU1qGrX6FUbnu6o4L6gZuF2PLuckMxtod3Py-EY6X5g.4zvEqTDVxAm7rBWs204O-l1dKtVOMq9ftW0oAbAC-dE&dib_tag=se&keywords=rotary+soil+sieve&qid=1752913885&sprefix=rotary+sei%2Caps%2C492&sr=8-3

I like the mushroom compost idea. A quick check shows it's available in bulk at a reasonable price. Irish peat moss is also available, but the only cheap supplier I could find is collection only from Spalding.

Yes I bought 5 of them ,not for tomatoes but 3 for strawberries (which also failed in that compost) one of carrots (still tiny in that compost) and ones still empty as I got them late in the season. Hopefully I find better next year unless I can find 100% peat bales ,I remember buying 300ltr bales of Irish peat 25 at a time setting up the garden at Crooksbury and lorry loads of mushroom compost and the same of manure ,I bet the EU banned poop like everything else that actually had some value in the garden . Pleased with our new half tunnel greenhouse ,for a couple of years we rigged up a 4 x 2 m "tent " in clear tarp at the back of the house to keep off the rain after having lost everything 2 years running with late blight but walking along it in the morning you got soaked as the angle had to be pretty steep so it could be attached from the house to the fence and you rubbed along it once the toms in their hanging baskets grew. It did it's job so this year we bought 5 metal arches from Temu ( including a picture of an arch ! Luckily this was free ,yes I was temu'd ) and put up a 6 x 3 m clear tarp .It's brilliant we will leave it up year round and store stuff out of the rain .We put up stainless hooks and attached a rope running through the tarp rings and it's pretty strong .

River Kennet - Brimpton 0500 - 1100 Warm and sunny after a misty, murky start. AT 16ºC - 25ºC. River low and threadbare. 5 Chub: 5lb 2oz, a 'pounder' and 3 chublets. 14 Dace nothing noteworthy - though they weren't tiddlers either. 6 Roach: hand-sized. 5 Brownies: a 'pounder' and 4 small-uns. Target for the morning was to try and snaffle a 4lb+ chub for the first time this season - achieved at the second swim of asking after my first one was trashed by a trout. Nice to see some silvers showing. First time in 4 years I've caught more than a dozen dace in a session here. I fished 4 swims in rotation and had dace and/or roach from all of them. First 5 of the season...

Pulped hay would be a prime candidate for grazon. I ordered my compost from Amazon this year and while it's not peat, it has done okay, when mixed with perlite. My tomatoes and a couple of fruit trees went into these, which are a bit bigger than a builder's bucket. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363133840918

Connie Francis, 87 "Where The Boys Are", "Baby Roo" (on A & B side) and many more (I had that single) !

No we are few now not sure if Newts still going but there's few going from the start .I pop over to Elton's car site now and again but I think driving is behind me now unless I can find a cheap non existent zundapp and sidecar to relive my yooof ,they are rarer than hens teeth I have never seen another combo since I sold mine!

I don't know but going through the feedback about the compost on Wickes I am not the only person losing tomatoes using it : Wickes Peat Free Multi-Purpose Compost - 50L | Wickes.co.uk https://share.google/N2Qp6B9v45ile2MfK The green zelouts dont seem to realise in most places peat is being laid down almost as fast as it's being excavated now .The Holes left behind can be far more beneficial than the bog it's from (fishing (wink) I will get peat bales next year but even that is being changed ,the local tree grower can only get it at a decent price from Lithuania and that's now mixed with 25% tree mass (cannot hold water and needs tons of nitrogen as rotting tree pulp uses it all up) You can see the crap in this stuff it's definitely pulped hay and a fraction of sedge peat ,water goes straight through it and it dries out in a day ,the rootball shrinks in the hanging baskets and the water bypasses it and comes straight out the drainage holes .I resort to using 500ml plastic cups frozen and put in twice a day .The water then slowly permeates the compost rather than being diverted .The pots are not so bad each one is a builders bucket with a few holes 2 inches above the bottom and the bucket itself sitting in a 4 inch deep tray full of water ,the roots can be seen coming out the holes to drink .

Picked 4lb of blackberries last night - they are really early this summer!

Warwick's Water - Thatcham 1900 - 2300 Warm and overcast. AT 24ºC and still 19ºC when I drove off. 2 Tench: 8lb & 3lb 7oz. 2 Perch - small. Mug tench visits the bank again! I'm pretty sure it's the same fish as last year - though its tail has got even more frayed. All bites after 2130 again - place appeared pretty lifeless before then.

There's not many of us left.........so we have to keep an eye out for the ancient old moaners like you Dave. Good to know that you are back and are ok.

Relieved to see that you haven't kicked the bucket, old fruit. You had us worried for a while! Could your compost be contaminated with Grazon? If there is any chance, chuck it out. Do nor chuck it on the compost heap etc, because it's incredibly persistent.

I am still here ,been busy in the garden ,moaning the compost I bought has killed everything it's touched (poxy peat free crap) but on a new tablet and the layout is different so don't see the AN link that used to be first in line . Lovely someone misses me ,thanks for that ,Dave

Sorry to hear this another AN stalwart gone

A great asset to the site. My condolences to his family and friends.

Final amount raised for Sue Ryder came in at £325. MANY thanks to all who came and gave....

Middle Kennet Weir Pool, Marsh Benham 0500 - 1100 Warm and sunny - though feeling a tad chilly when I arrived. AT 10º - 24ºC. River low and looking a little threadbare. 9 Chub; 3lb 3oz. a 'pounder' and 7 chublets. 1 Bream; 2lb 4oz. 2 Doz Dace; all a 'nice' size but nothing particularly noteworthy. 5 Roach; small. 2 Rainbows both 2lb (and possibly the same fish!), 1 Brownie C½lb. Pleasant morning's trotting by the shade of the bankside trees - hadn't realised how warm it had got until I walked back to the car! Nearly all fish from the weir pool apart from the 3lb chub which was from further downstream. An otter came up through as I was packing up - swam through the pool and scampered up the weir to head upstream!

I was wondering the same thing the other day. It's been a couple of weeks since he signed in. Hopefully all is well.

Has anyone heard from Chesters? It's not like him to not check in for a while.

Warwick's Water - Thatcham 1830 - 2300 Warm and sunny. AT 21º - 14ºC. 2 Tench: 2lb 13oz & 1½lb. 1 Perch 1lb 9oz. Summer tench campaign on this water starts with a (half) decent perch - my first over a lb from the water - which is rumoured to hold MUCH bigger ones! The perch came early in the session when the sun was still one the water and I wasn't really expecting a bite. Both tench, however, were caught after 2130.

I'm sorry to hear this, another one of the good guys gone. My condolences to his family RIP