🐎 Happy Chinese Lunar New Year 2026 🐎

 Happy Lunar New Year to those who celebrate it ! 

It is also Shrove Tuesday ..... not exactly a celebration as such ...but from my kitchen we are enjoying Pancakes today .

Simply lemon and a sprinkling of sugar for me 🍋🍋🍋

Ricardo wants it all on his !🥞 Maple syrup , golden syrup , nutella , blackcurrant jam , everything !🥞🍋

Then up to the potting shed to sow coriander and cucumber seeds . 🌿🌿🌿

I'm growing Cucumber "Carmen " this year . These are a long variety ...said to be very good . Somewhere squirrelled away , I have a couple of seed packets of smaller sized cucumbers . I'll get these sown and look for them later on . I do prefer the smaller cucumbers .

I'm a little bit disappointed in only having five seeds in the packet . I like to be able to grow enough to share some plants with my neighbour . Also , to sow enough incase I lose a few . Premier Seeds Direct are fairly reliable , but it can sometimes happen !

Anyway , it feels good to have got these sown .They had better all germinate !

Watered.

Lid on .

And back indoors , onto the Garland heated propagator on my bedroom windowsill . I've had to move some of the Sweet Peppers and Tomato seedlings off to make room for them .  

We are going to have another little cold snap of weather over the next couple of days . As soon as this passes I am going to take all of the Sweet Peppers and Tomato seedlings up to the potting shed , where they can toughen up before going into their big pot/bags in the greenhouse . It is still too cold in the greenhouse for them just yet . The potting shed is a bit warmer at the moment . I don't know why , but it is ! 🤔........😃!

And then I will have space to start some flower seeds on the propagator .  🌻🌹🌼🌷🌱

Now then .... Oh !....

 I found out that my fern with the furry rhizomes is called a Phlebodium aureum  🌿

Also known as The Bear's Paw Fern

Also known as The Blue Star Fern ...which makes sense since the leaves have a bluish tinge to them !

Also known as The Golden Polybody Fern

Also known as The Golden Serpent Fern

Also known as The Gold Foot Fern

Also known as The Hare Foot Fern

...and those golden  furry rhizomes will grow longer and trail over the sides of the pot ! 🤩🌿Stop it ! Oh my goodness ! I'm in love !  💛🌿🌿🌿

                                     I am in love ! 💛😍

                             Love and Peace 💐 Debbie 🌱🌿💛 x

 

In the Potting Shed again 🌿🌿🌿

 

Did you do anything special for St Valentine's Feast Day ?

Here it was very cold and I threw the fleece wraps over everything again .

 I soon got pretty warm continuing with clearing out brambles and pruning trees , roses , shrubs and the grape vine on the vegetable garden side of what will be the new fence .

 I still need to dig out the bramble roots, or they will just come back again .

I came across a Ladybird warming herself in sunshine . The sun did come out for a while !

I cleared a lot of horrible overgrowness and tried to get it all over to the bonfire heap . Still more to drag over there !  

               Went to bed seriously aching again .

Today  it is slightly warming up again , which means mizzle and quite a heavy sea mist rolling in . 

I am still aching !

Wrapping up warmly , I spent some gentle time in the potting shed . Watering the lettuce seedlings and taking some Tradescantia cuttings .🌿🌿🌿

Checking up on this beautiful fern . I have lost the label unfortunately . It has lovely furry rhizomes .

 It is different to my Tarantula fern though .   I need to do a bit of research and see if I can identify it .

                I might treat it to a goodly repotting with some fresh compost .

                                                     Love and Peace 🤍🕊️🌿

Busy in the Potting Shed 🌱🌱🌱

 

Spent the morning pricking out and potting on the Tomato and Lettuce seedlings .

Yes I always do it like this . Some folk like to wait until the first pair of true leaves appear and that's fine , you do you ! I like to take each one up gently with a little clump of the compost they were already growing in . Pot up into some pre warmed compost . This way , the roots don't get tangled or damaged as they are pricked out .

 Everyone has their own way of doing this . This suits my set up and my way .

The lettuces stay on the bench under a sloping window in the shed .

The Tomatoes are coming back indoors and onto the Garland propagator with the Sweet Peppers just until this little cold snap passes . I'm going to sow some Petunias to hopefully come up over the weekend and then I will switch off the propagator . The Tomatoes will be taken out into the shed to gradually harden off and grow a bit more before they are then transferred into their pot/bags in the greenhouse . 

     I checked to see how the Pelargoniums are doing over-wintering in the greenhouse .

These have not been watered at all since about mid September . 

After all this lovely sunshine we've had today , this evening and tomorrow are forecast to be a tad icy.

 I will throw the fleece covers over everything  . We should be o.k. 4 or 5 degrees C maybe some sleet during Saturday .  

  Hot water bottles again tonight !

                                                                           

                                                                       ❤️

Some of the Pelargoniums have been flowering ! 

At some point soon I'll repot them with nice fresh compost .  These will be for my window boxes and baskets .

I spent some time pruning this Bay bush , so the new fence can more easily be fixed up . I need to do more maybe tomorrow . I needed some time to look and think about it . It really helps to shelter the vegetable garden . 

The Bay needs thinning out and reducing in height . It must be done carefully so as not to damage or tear the leaves . If the leaves are damaged then the torn edges of the leaves turn black and looks an ugly mess . 

 So now I have in my mind what needs to be done and I'll do that tomorrow . 

The Geranium maderense that I grew from the seed my brother sent me , is looking fabulous ! Especially considering all the violent storms we've been having . 

I am so looking forward to seeing this bloom ! 

                           Off for a picnic now , see you tomorrow !   

☀️🌤️Sunny right now but a very cold night followed by possibly sleet tomorrow !   ❄️🌧️⛈️

                                          Love and Peace  🕊️🤍🌿  x