🍇🌿I'm still here 😊🌤️🌿

 

                                  It's starting to look a lot like Autumn !

This was this week's "Flowers for the Table " ... not sure about that Miscanthus sinensis "zebrinus" !

Hydrangeas pink and blue ,Rosa "Bonica", Cotinus coggygria and the lovely variegated and lemon scented Pittosporum tenuifolium "Elizabeth".

If you were wondering where I'd disappeared to , I caught some kind of an infection , felt really rough for a day then absolutely washed out for three days . I'm o.k. !

Managed to pull myself together for my physio session . A couple more new exercises to add to the ones I already am working with . I have scoliosis , born with it.... never been a problem ...until now . ANYWAY .....I have to strengthen the muscles that support the spine and I also have some exercises which stretch out the vertebra slightly which gives some relief  from the pain . I'm not always in pain by the way ....but when it's bad ....it's bad !

Got my DNA results -  very interesting - because I know one of my ancestors came from a very far away country that is not listed on the results ! So I have not inherited his DNA .  

Also I have done quite a lot of my crazy family history back to early medieval , possibly further back .   Going down one line ...took me to Uppsala in Sweden .  English 38% ,Scottish and Welsh 28% I have no idea !  Ireland 12.2% is there ( thank goodness !), this I already knew and France ....

........ but  6.9% Dutch 😮? !

                                         

     I have never found any ancestor that comes from Holland ...yet !  Very interesting ! ...and 14.3% four more ethnicities . 

  DUTCH ! !   

         🌍        Intriguing ....I obviously have more family research to do !      🌎

              🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿

ANYWAY .... back in the greenhouse , the Tomatoes are coming to the end . 

I pick them at this stage , just as they begin to blush and they finish ripening in the kitchen .

Some we eat fresh and some I cut in half and open freeze to make free flow packs , to use as I wish over the coming months .

I am itching to clear the tomatoes out of the greenhouse and get my cacti put back in there .

Lettuces in the shed  are at their best now !    Kale waiting to be planted out .

The Geranium maderense that I grew from seed are huge now . I think these will flower next year .

So this is what I am working on at the moment . I'm having fun in the jungle ! I only cleared about eight feet and filled two wheelbarrows !

I'm just clearing my little trackways , up and around this slightly sloping area of the garden . So that I can then go in and prune shrubs and trees  .  I will not be touching the bushes and trees until the birds have finished nesting .

I got a bit emotional when I came across my old Meg's bowl in the undergrowth  . 

                                               Me 'n' Megs

                  🌿 Oh ..this is at  Men an Tol - West Penwith - Cornwall . 🌿

   I am being ruthless on the Acanthus mollis . The beautiful flower spires are very elegant .

We enjoy them for a little while , but do not let them go to seed . 

It is a beautiful spikey thug ! Every year I cut it down to the ground . Sometimes I dig chunks of it out  . The roots spread fast underground too !  I keep in under control and in return it keeps out other horrible monsters , like brambles and nettles .

          Grapes need thinning ....need to find my snips ! 🍇 A therapeutic job .

The whole thing needed pruning .  Needs a new frame . Grapes do very well here .

Monkey Puzzle number two ( that I grew from seed/nut ) is doing o.k. Needed to clear the grape vine off it  . Branches like razor blades ,but I love Monkey Puzzles !  

 

Hydrangea " Strawberry Fraise "              Oops wrong picture .... my teddies !  

It was a tiny rooted cutting that I bought from someone on Ebay . It is doing fine , just growing a bit higgledy-piggledy  . I am going to take a couple of cuttings from it . This will give it a more balanced shape , plus a couple more plants to put elsewhere in the garden . 

This variety is a special one ...much nicer than the boring old pink and blue . .....I can't stand blue Hydrangeas .....shouldn't be allowed !!  sorry ...lol !

Typical Cornish mizzle again here this morning ....but mild . ☁️🌦️☁️

Right ..that's all fer today folks !  🌤️   Hope the weather is behaving wherever you are !

                                                  Make it a great day !

                                                           

                                           🌿🐒🌿🐒🌿🐒🌿🐒🌿

Monkey Puzzle Nuts and Trees

           Back in 2012 I managed to germinate four Monkey Puzzle nuts .
            ( So happy me ! Oh ! I can't tell you ..I was over the moon ! )

         On the bathroom windowsill , in pots sealed in ziplock plastic bags  .
                  At this stage , I had just opened the bags a little bit  .

                                    Hey ! Hey ! We're the Monkees !
So there were five nuts to begin with . So exciting ! Four germinated and then one of those didn't make it . I was then very worried about the others.

                                                 This was in 2012.
                                                          BUT
                                 The other three grew healthy and strong .

                               I decided to plant this one out yesterday .

  After a great deal of thought as to where it should go and they need a lot of space . I decided to plant it in the top corner of the Vegetable garden .
If you follow up the tippy top of the baby Monkey Puzzle tree in my wheelbarrow , you can just see my spade in the far corner of the vegetable garden , marking where it would look best in fifty or sixty years time .
Here it will have plenty of space to grow into a magnificent specimen  . Probably not in my lifetime ...but this is planting trees for future generations and for the planet .

                                                Araucaria araucana
                In my opinion , the most beautiful tree on the planet .
  Central and Southern Chile and Western Argentina , where it grows in Auraucaria forests and National Parks .
 Sadly I read on Wikipedia ,that, as from 2013 it's conservation status was changed to Endangered by the IUCN , due to dwindling population caused by logging , forest fires and grazing .
 This is so ,so sad ..... TREES ARE THE LUNGS OF MOTHER EARTH !

    This is a tree that was around during the time of the Dinosaurs !
 It is known as a living fossil tree . Fossilised  Araucaria wood  or lignite can be found , famously at Whitby ,where it is made into pieces of  jewellery .

 I hope that my tree will live a long life and delight generations to come .

I planted another of my Monkey Puzzle saplings down in the Ornamental garden and am still deciding where to plant the third one.
 I,m hoping that I have one of each sex of these trees so that in the future there will be flowers , bees and nuts .

I knew that there was rain on the way , so I didn't have to worry about watering it in .
 What I didn't realise and my husband told me after I had planted this little tree, was that another big named storm Gareth is on the way !
 So I have pushed in some laurel branches and laid down the wheelbarrow in front to give it some shelter .
  Well it was very windy last night ..... but only our garden seat was overturned and no real damage to worry about .
     I was right about the rain !
Take care in this Storm Gareth where-ever you are !