I suffer the great grape disaster and the chickens get a foot spa

Cruella (my wife) is still away at our English house over mothering our idiot son. I meanwhile am gardening all day till I pass out with the heat. When I come round I drag myself under a bush and rest for an hour or so and then get back at it till I gets dark; I am thinking of buying a head torch!

Anyway the real problem is that I have suffered a terrible attack of brown spot on my grape vines and I have only one bunch of grapes. When I phoned up sobbing to tell Cruella (my wife) about the grapes, all she said was “are my girls too hot in this heat”. I am thinking of consulting divorce lawyers, but I’m afraid she would find out. On with the gardening.

27th June 2026. Things I have been doing lately in the garden

• Dealing with brown spot on grapes
• Lightly trimming hedges
• Pruning back a fig for netting
• Some rockery planting
• Mulching my lawn
• The chicken foot spa

Dealing with brown spot on grapes. It has been a wonderful year for grape vine growth. The heavy spring rains have ensured that grape foliage growth has been profuse. The photos below show the heavy early growth.

This lovely spring foliage has been my downfall. At first glance all looks well and this meant I concentrated on other areas of the garden. Normally I would check the vines and begin to dress them (cut back excess foliage to expose the grape bunches to air and light). But because they looked so well I left them too long.

The lush foliage meant a lack of penetration by air and light leading to ideal conditions for all sorts of mildew and pathogens to get a grip. By the time I began to look at the vines it was too late. Brown Spot had attacked the vines harming leaf development and inhibiting fruit production. These two vines gave us 20 or more big bunches of grapes last year, but this time just one!

The photos below show the extent of the devastation on the leaves. The discolouration and the spotting on the stems shows the pathogen at work. The only solution is to cut the vine back, let in air and light and take off all the affected leaves and destroy them.

The photo below shows all I have left, a single bunch of bagged up grapes. Sometimes I don’t know why I bother.

Lightly trimming hedges. By now all your hedges will be growing like “Topsy” falling and cascading over paths and lawns.so now is the time to give them a light trim. I am not talking about the big winter cutback type of trim, nor am I recommending that you destroy poor little late nesting birds. Instead, just feather the edges of your hedges to keep them in shape and to stop them overshadowing lawns, paths and flower beds.

The photos below show some of my hedges before and after their trim. Remember, if in doubt take off less.

Pruning back a fig for netting. Most fig trees in Spanish gardens are huge behemoths with unreachable fruit that eventually end the year in a messy sticky bird feast. Now if you don’t mind the birds getting your figs, then just skip this section. However, if you like figs – and I do – then you need to net your tree.

You won’t need to net it yet, do it just before the figs get ripe. The trouble is if your tree is too big, then you will need a Cherry Picker to get up there with your net. Instead, I recommend you carefully prune back excess growth and bring the tree within manageable netting potential.

The photos below show one of my fig trees with just this years growth which is enormous thanks to those early spring rains.

To bring this back into netting range is a two day pruning strategy. Cutting fig branches is a dangerous practice this time of year as when you cut the branch it quickly oozes corrosive sap that will badly burn your skin. Don’t rush out there and hack at your fig. Instead wear trousers and a long sleeved top, use eye protection and where possible use long handled lopers.

Day one cut back the bottom branches of the tree making sure you work upwards from the bottom so no sap is dropping on you. The photos below shows day one. Do not touch the fallen branches leave them to fully dry in the sun overnight.

Day two is the same process but this time you are working on the top of the tree. Again, make sure you work from the lower branches to the top. It is important that you do not attempt to touch or pick up the fallen branches leave them again for another full day. Once the cuttings are fully dry -day 3- you can safely gather them up and compost them. The photos below show the end of day 2 with the tree cut back and the big clean up starting.

Some rockery planting. Some year back I created a water feature using large rocks which I then in turn tried to plant into. My planting was obviously a failure as the soil would just fall through the rocks leaving the plants stranded without soil. To overcome this I instead tried to conceal plants in pots between the rocks, but this just looked silly.

However, the other day whilst rooting around in my shed I had a brainwave that will revolutionise rockery planting. I found some old shade netting which will soon become the future of rockeries – patent pending. The photos below shows the new wonder material.

My big idea is this, by cutting this into set lengths I could push it into spaces I had created in between rocks, thereby creating pockets which I could then fill with soil and plant into. I could then trim the material tight to the space and the plants would eventually grow over to give a completely naturalistic rockery -ta dah!

I telephoned Cruella (my wife) to inform her of my invention and how it would make me a fortune; she just called me pathetic and slammed the phone down. Well we will see who has the last laugh – I am thinking of calling my yacht “Cruella’s Folly”. The photos below show the development of the rockery revolution.

Mulching my lawn. I know not many of you have lawns in Spain, and if you do you know what an expensive indulgence it is. But for the idiots like me it’s time to stop cutting your lawn and instead begin mulch mowing over July and August.

Mulch mowing involves using the mulching attachment to your mower and thereby just mowing off the top centimetre or two of your grass and not collecting it in your mowers collecting bag. The mulching process cuts the grass into small pieces and scatters them on the top of your lawn allowing the nitrogen to seep back into the soil and nourish new growth.

When you mulch mow water the night before and let the ground dry before mowing. If you water afterwards you are in danger of creating a soggy mat on your lawn. The photo below shows my mower after a successful mulch.

The chicken foot spa. As I mentioned earlier Cruella (my wife) phoned me up screaming that her girls must be overheating in this weather and what was I doing about it. She claimed that because of their feathers the only way they could lose heat was through their feet and because I hadn’t bothered she had found the solution on Amazon. It turns out she had found a specialist luxury foot spa retailing at £800 that would be just right for her girls.

The proposed luxury foot spa had various functions including:

• soothing waves
• light spray that gently sprinkled on your feet
• vibrate that massaged your tired feet
• music mode that played soothing classical music
• light mode that changed the water to different colours in the evening

Given that I had spent all the money she had left me on the bees and some new gardening tools I had to improvise. The photo below shows the not so luxurious compromise. I am hoping that the weather will have changed by the time she comes back and I can tell her someone stole the foot spa.

On board is a pair of rose clippers that can cut stalks, twigs, and small branches.

From time to time, when the vegetation has ridiculously overgrown the canal from the side or from above (I'm looking at you, weeping willows), I will stop, float in place, and spend 10 minutes pruning and trimming.

It's important not to leave stubs that will scratch the paint off boats that pass too closely.

#CanalLife #canal #BoatingLife #boating #BoatLife #boat #narrowboat #vegetation #CRT #pruning #paint

Hobby gardeners: You must prune fruit trees very carefully so the tree can heal.

Commercial fruit producers: We strapped 10 table saws to a tractor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HiyX6u6-Ic

Tutti frutti distrutti!

#Machinery #Tractor #Orchard #Fruit #Garden #Pruning

Podcast Episode: The chickens drink champagne and eat grapes whilst I finish succession planting

Pip: Welcome to the Spanish Garden podcast — where the garden gets tended, the chickens get champagne, and the gardener gets toast.

Mara: Today we're covering one post from spanishgarden, and it's doing a lot of work: succession planting from seed, summer bed management, and the delicate matter of poultry diplomacy.

Pip: Let's start with the chickens, the grapes, and everything else that happened while Cruella was away.

The chickens drink champagne whilst succession planting gets done

Mara: This post covers the end of a full summer succession planting cycle — everything from clearing out winter plants to deploying the final reserves — while also managing a small domestic crisis involving chickens with champagne tastes.

Pip: The post sets up the stakes plainly: "Cruella (my wife) has gone to our English house to mother our idiot son. She has left me strict instructions on the dietary requirements of her girls whilst she is away."

Mara: So the question the whole post is really answering is which got prioritised — the garden or the chickens. And the answer is: both, in sequence, with varying degrees of success.

Pip: On the garden side, this is a genuinely detailed run through a working system. Osteospermums go out after two years to make room for summer annuals. Alyssums get cut back hard and bounce. Spiral grass gets chopped right to the corm.

Mara: The spiral grass section is worth pausing on. The advice is to cut it back completely, give it water, and put it at the back of the potting bench until spring. The post is clear that it actually likes being overcrowded — separating it is optional.

Pip: Then come the mini sunflowers and Petunias, which close out a succession that started with seed catalogues last winter. The post makes the case directly: stop shopping for plants and grow from seed instead.

Mara: And on reserves — the post recommends always keeping seedlings back to plug gaps from snails, disease, or chickens. The plan was Salvia, but a bad compost choice forced a retreat to Marigolds. Reliable, fast-growing, flowers all summer.

Pip: Meanwhile, back at the chicken situation: Cruella's pre-departure regime involved champagne sips and seedless grapes. The post notes, drily, "Seedless grapes and fresh strawberries for the chickens, I got toast for my dinner."

Mara: The replacement regime — plain water and crushed cornflakes — triggered an immediate rebellion. Phones confiscated, Wi-Fi password changed. The chickens responded by going limp at bedtime and, eventually, starting a dirty protest.

Pip: The post closes with the observation that the dirty protest is hard to detect. Which is either a hygiene update or a philosophical statement about chickens.

Mara: Probably both. The garden, at least, is fully planted and heading into summer.

Pip: Seeds in the ground, Marigolds deployed, chickens in open revolt — a full week by any measure.

Mara: Next time, we'll see whether the stalemate holds or whether the Wi-Fi password gets leaked.

The chickens drink champagne and eat grapes whilst I finish succession planting

Cruella (my wife) has gone to our English house to mother our idiot son. She has left me strict instructions on the dietary requirements of her girls whilst she is away. Meanwhile I have been busy with finishing off my summer successions planting; read on to find which activity I have prioritised!

13th July 2026. Things I have been doing in the garden lately.

• Clearing out Osteospermums
• Cutting back Alyssums
• Putting spiral grass to bed
• Planting out mini sunflowers and Petunias
• Deploying the Marigolds reserve
• Overseeing the correct dietary requirements of chickens

Clearing out Osteospermums. I love Osteospermum daisies as they provide the backbone of my winter and Spring garden.They self seed profusely and I gather the seedlings in January and pot them up. They are then planted out and allowed to grow away for two years with a new bunch planted every year and the two year olds taken out. The photos below show the start of the removal process to make room for the summer annuals.

Whilst I was working on the flower beds the chickens decided to reenact the cover of the Beatles Abbey Road album (only readers of a certain age will understand).

Cutting back Alyssums. Another great self seeder that is wonderful in the winter garden is Alyssums. These low growing free flowering beauties are ideal in Spain as they are quite drought tolerant and just need cutting back to quickly bloom again. The photos below show how tough you can be with them and they still bounce back.

Putting spiral grass to bed. Spiral grass is an unusual plant that sits on some of my outdoor window ledges and gives interest and is often commented upon for its dramatic spiral growth. Once it has flowered with its unshowy flowering stems and gone slightly brown, it’s time to chop it back.

To ensure next years growth from its corm like bulb you have to be very brutal and chop it right back to the tip of the bulb. At this stage you can if you wish separate it, but to be honest it likes being overcrowded. The photos below show spiral grass just before the chop and afterwards. Once you have cut it back, give it a water and put it at the back of your potting bench, to be brought out next Spring.

Planting out mini sunflowers and Petunias. I am now at the end of my summer succession planting and the last things I am putting in are mini (Teddy Bear) sunflowers and Petunias. My Summer beds already have the following growing on:

• Gazanias
• Cosmos
• Alyssum
• Marigold
• Giant sunflowers

Everything is grown from seed and is planned to provide a profusion of flowers All the way through summer into the late autumn.

The process starts with laying out the mini sunflowers where I want them, this is followed up by bringing out the trays of Petunias I have managed to hide from rampaging Blackbirds. The petunias are placed around the mini sunflowers in blocks that will eventually give solid colour throughout this year including winter and into next spring.

The photos below show the planting out that ends a process that started with seed catalogues last winter and will now culminate in a riot of colour. Oh the joys of gardening.

Deploying the Marigolds reserve. When you are planting out your summer beds always make sure to leave some reserve seedlings on your potting bench. You will definitely lose some plants either by bad luck, snails, disease or chickens. Given that you don’t want gaps in your planting you need to have reserves ready to plug the gaps.

My go to reserve plants are Marigolds. Ever reliable fast growing and flower all summer. I was planning that my reserve would be Salvia this year, but through bad choices on compost I have had to revert back to the good old reliable Marigold. The photos below show the reserve being deployed.

I hope this discussion on succession planting from seed will encourage some of you to stop your plant shopping habit and instead enjoy the delights of growing from seed. Finally, a couple of photos of the fully planted flower beds.

Overseeing the correct dietary requirements of chickens. Before she left Cruella (my wife) was overseeing a strict dietary eduction and etiquette programme aimed at improving her girls chances of being accepted into “Society” and making a good “match”. I think she has been reading too much Jane Austen.

Anyway, the programme mainly consisted of Cruella (my wife) drinking lots of champagne and allowing her girls to have little sips to gradually introduce them to alcohol without the danger of unseemly intoxication. In addition to introducing genteel drinking habits, she has been feeding them solely on seedless grapes and strawberries. The photos below shows them midst drinking and eating frenzy.

As soon as I got back from dropping her off at the airport I immediately enforced a new regime. Plain water to drink and crushed up cornflakes to eat. As expected there was an instant rebellion and they demanded that I contact Cruella (my wife) at least that is what I think they said it was all Chickenese.

Luckily I was prepared for their antics and had already confiscated their phones and changed the Wi-Fi password. At the moment we have reached stalemate, they are refusing to go to bed so that I have to pick them up individually to take them to their coop. The problem is that they then they go all limp and floppy to make it difficult; Cruella taught them this when she was doing her “chickens for Calais” training.

The photo below shows them refusing to go to bed. To make matters worse they have started singing protest songs such as “we shall overcome” and “by the rivers of Babylon”; at least that’s what I think they are singing, but it was all Chickenese.

Гиперсвязные нейронные сети. Имитация биологических нейронов: ОС, прунинг, ингибирование и межбатчевая связь

Вы когда-нибудь задумывались о том, что принципиально отличает настоящую нервную систему от ее искусственных аналогов? Почему масштабирование модели не дает сопоставимого прироста качества? Не говоря уже об эмерджентных свойствах, которые теоретики пророчат для сложный моделей. Давайте разберемся в этом вместе, а так же подумаем, как доработать механику нейросетей так, чтобы каждый слой/блок имел представление о глобальной задаче всей модели. В этой статье я расскажу о собственных наработках, которые должны помочь связать признаки из разных слоев внутри одной сети. Как встроить возможность обобщения потока данных в саму механику модели, путем объединения показаний слоев на разных батчах. И о том, как адаптировать технологию для различных архитектур.

https://habr.com/ru/articles/1036164/

#нейроны #deeplearning #pruning #гиперсвязность #математика_для_data_science #граф_вычислений #обратное_распространение #backpropagation #python #программирование

Vines

https://guiltybyreasonofbeingwendy.wordpress.com/2026/06/10/vines/

RT @DJLougen: TRANSLASION: Open-Source-REAP-Idee, bei der ich Hilfe benötige.

mehr auf Arint.info

#CommunityAtlas #MachineLearning #MoE #OpenSource #Pruning #REAP #arint_info

https://x.com/DJLougen/status/2063001696427786735#m

Where a weeping willow hung low over the canal, the only option was to slowly boat through the hanging curtain of leaves.

Then: an enormous TWANGGGG. Something caught the solar panel brackets.

Amidst the twigs and leaves was a hidden limb with a diameter of 5 inches (12½ centimeters).

Out comes the electric chainsaw. That tree got a trim.

#CanalLife #canal #willow #tree #vegetation #pruning #maintenance #boating #narrowboat #boat #solar #SolarPanel #CRT #CanalRiverTrust #CanalAndRiverTrust