Showing posts with label meanwhile in the greenhouse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meanwhile in the greenhouse. Show all posts

Sunday, 3 May 2026

Waiting , waiting , waiting ! 🌡


 Every morning I am dashing up to the greenhouse to see if those buds have opened up yet !

Sorry to say , not yet ! They really are keeping us waiting !


                           There are five buds on this one ! Five !

             They are getting bigger and more yellow everyday .

      Just a little hint of pink on this Echinocereous viereckii ssp.morricalii .


Thursday, 30 April 2026

Waiting for Buds to Open

 




                               πŸŒΏ      Any day now !     πŸ€—    🌿

Wednesday, 11 February 2026

Driftwood 🀩 🌿


                        🀩   Me finding lovely piece of driftwood on the beach 🀩
Well no , it didn't fit in my bag but yes , I managed to drag it back back up the beach and sneak it in behind and partly under the front seat of the car without Ricardo noticing it ! He was far too busy up in the Charmouth Heritage Centre having a fossil identified anyway .


                                                       Yes !  I got it home !   


     Isn't it beautiful ? Look at that ! Appears to have been tarred down the middle and holds water .


         What ever was it ?  Part of an old ship ?  It looks like the head of an eagle  .


                                       Fallen in love !  πŸŒΏπŸ’šπŸŒΏ


                                                   πŸŒΏπŸ’šπŸŒΏ          



                     The new ferns I bought in Groves Nursery Bridport  πŸŒΏπŸ’šπŸŒΏ


                                                       πŸŒΏπŸ’šπŸŒΏ         

                                              Peace and Love     πŸ•Š️πŸ’šπŸ€ 
  

Tuesday, 10 February 2026

Meanwhile in the Greenhouse 🌧️⛈️⚓

 

I haven't been in the greenhouse for quite a while , beginning of September I think . After my back injury it was as much as I could do to throw this fleece over everything .

The garden table and chairs were brought inside or they might  have blown away in the storms . We are still getting frequent yellow weather warnings for rain .


The brand new greenhouse is flooded ....and it seems that I will just have to live with it ....sigh ....


I made a start by taking out the table and chairs , it's not so windy now . I need to get to the plants at the end under the bench .
 I have not watered anything in the greenhouse , mostly the cacti and succulents are dormant over the winter months .
 I thought the ferns might have suffered .....


...but of course the prefer the damp shade ...


..and look just fine .


The Tarantula and Elkhorn Ferns look great ....also surprisingly the Brahma Kamala Epiphyllum oxypetalum is looking especially lush !  I am looking forward to seeing that bloom again .


The Epies on top of the bench look a bit sad , but now I've removed the fleece the light levels will be better for them ...although they prefer not too much . They can easily get scorched by bright sunlight .


Hylocereus undatus however seems to prefer more sunlight ....

It has once again pushed through the shade net to get more sunshine ..... well maybe it has been a little disappointed for not finding much sunshine , but certainly a bit more light anyway .


I very cruelly left some Hylocereus undatus outside over the winter as an experiment . It has survived ! I also have a broken piece hanging on hooks in the front porch . It has put out ariel roots and is also still alive !  Hylocereus undatus is a tough guy !
  I would dearly love to see it in flower , alas I have only seen pictures of it on the internet .


It is my cactus collection that I am most worried about with the greenhouse leaking , I have now lost some of my most precious and rare ones . 😞


I use polystryrene from packaging to stand pots on and as you can see along the sides of the windows , to keep them cosy . This is an unheated greenhouse .
  I haven't had to use the candle lantern or my stone hot water bottles this winter .....but we could still get a cold snap .  The sheets of newspaper and fleece wrap are waiting in the wings .


It is the rain coming in that is really worrying me .
 This Lophophora williamsii , I have had for about thirty years and it blooms every year . I think it wants to go home to Mexico !      Crassula Buddha's Temple , is very small ...very precious to me ! 


Opuntia ..has a new friend , nasty bramble branch which has found it's way through under the window !
 They have something in common . They both bite !!
The nasty bramble's days are numbered !  😑 Where are my loppers ? ! 


I have had these Opuntias also for about thirty years . This one is Opuntia violacea , next to it Agave utahensis (notice how I put these dangerous ones in to the furthest corner at the back )
  And that's the fast growing Dog tail cactus in the green hanging pot ... er ..Echinocereus testudo I think  πŸ€”


Anyway I must get on and figure out a way to get all the water out . My friend recommended using a dustpan to sort of shovel it out with . 


I'm also trying to keep out of the way of the good gentlemen who are doing some handsome new fencing for us .  
One last thing ..
          I promised to show you all the "hagstones " that I collected from Charmouth beach πŸ˜ƒ


                                                      πŸ˜ƒ    Ta-daah !   

     I have been known to find the occasional awesome fossil ..... 




      I found this along Black Ven ..... had it identified in the Natural History Museum in London .

                             πŸ¦–πŸ¦ˆπŸ¦•  Very happy me !   πŸ¦•πŸ¦ˆπŸ¦–
  
                                             Love Debbie x

      P.S . Tomorrow I will show you my amazing driftwood !  I know you can't wait !! 🀣

                                 Love and Peace 🀍

Thursday, 12 June 2025

The Solar Floating Pump Fountain - part two

 

So I had no idea how to clean it , but gave it a good shake to get the remaining water and any bits out , left it to dry  and had an idea !! πŸ€”

Come with me to the greenhouse ! πŸ˜ƒ




                                           πŸ€£  I'm SO happy ! lol ! πŸ˜‚

( of course it's not working again at the moment because it's raining  πŸ™„ )

           ( but that's o.k too , because we've been hoping for rain for the garden πŸ˜ƒ)

                                                    🌧️⛈️🌧️

Sunday, 14 February 2021

Valentine's Day Jobs to be Done .

 

Here on the study windowsill , my little Leeks seeds are making good progress , more and more are popping up now . I will probably take these  up to the solar shed in a couple of days , where they can slowly get their roots down . 

Leeks are so easy to grow and they stand well through the cold winter weather  . They make a pleasant change from onions ,with a deliciously mild and mellow taste . I'll be sowing lots more up in the shed and also in pots outside in a few weeks time .

Off out into the garden again and there are a couple of things I need to check on .


What's in the box ? lol !  Well ,while the weather was freezing cold and blowing a gale with the odd few snow flurries over the last few days , I decided to cover the young Agave on our front Cornish hedge with a cardboard box .


So now the weather has changed from cold and dry to warm and wet . I lay in my bed listening to the rain and began thinking that the box was going to fast turn to mush and the heavy rock that I had placed on top to hold it against the wind , was now in great danger of collapsing onto the poor Agave underneath !


I rushed out to take it off  and actually I think if I can dry out the box, then I will be able to use it again if Winter returns to Mullion .


I planted it into the Cornish hedge a couple of years ago . It has survived two winters . It is not going to be very happy in this heavy rain but it has very sharp drainage here amongst the rocks .

I have more Agave babies waiting in the wings , if it doesn't make it . Fingers crossed .


Next , to check on my Sweet-peas . Sown end of November .


I stood on tippy-toes to try and take a photo of the Sweet-peas all now about three or four inches tall now ., but my camera did not like  being turned pointing straight down from above and refused to take the picture every time I pressed the button . So this was the best I could do to show you through the fleece . And all is well ! 

Next , on we go , up to the greenhouse again .

The wind was blowing so hard that I had a job getting in . I had to hold onto the door handle ,while undoing the windbreak mesh across the inside , get the key into the other side of the keyhole and lock it from the inside again , because the door doesn't stay shut otherwise !

Once in , I am worrying a bit about the leaking roof .  Not a very good picture , but the floor is very wet now . I must see if I can find another bucket to catch the rain coming in .



I paddle about uncovering everything , now that it has turned mild again , to let the light in .


Everything is a little scruffy . Winter scruffiness !



 Everything is sleeping .


Cobwebs here and there .


No watering . Everything is to be kept dry through the Winter months .


If we get a dry and sunny day I will open the door to give some ventilation and try to dry out the puddles on the floor .

I can open the side windows too but  not the roof windows as they have been nailed down , or they would have blown off in the gales . One of them is crooked and so I have an old washing up bowl underneath it to catch the rain . 

I have some cuttings rooting away in it ! 


A lucky find and rescue from a local charity shop a few years ago .It is now twice the size ! 


The Epiphyllums and Pelargoniums have been under a fleece covering . 
I cant wait to see them flowering again . I have one or two new ones that I am very excited about . E. var. Marilyn Monroe which has pink flowers , E. var. Acapulco Sunset  which has amazing yellow flowers and E. Empress Josephine , the Nopalxochia  also known as Disocactus phyllanthoides  which has masses of gorgeous pink flowers .


I bought some new hanging pots for the trailing Epies , but am a bit nervous about hanging them on the greenhouse rafters in case the roof should collapse !

This old one I bought at a boot fair over twenty years ago . It is right at the very back of the greenhouse , I can hardly reach it ...more importantly it cant reach me !

So I think everything is fairly o.k in the greenhouse today , I wont cover everything up again tonight, as it has turned so mild .
I will see if I can find another bucket to catch the drips though .

As  I walk back down to the cottage , I spy a patch of snowdrops that have opened up their petals .These are in a very sheltered place in the back garden .


One last thing ,to remind you again , if you haven't done so already .......

                                    Don't forget to wrap your outside tap !