Big plant out time 🌿🌦️

 

A beautiful morning , but with the promise of rain on the way .

One more big push to get vegetable seedlings planted out .

 My second sowing of Sweetcorn "Swift" all coming up nicely . Only four of the first lot came up .

Out in the surrounding fields the maize is coming up  and I'm thinking that next year I'll just sow the seeds directly outside .

 

I got them planted in a block in and around my Runner-beans .

 Next came my beetroot .....I kept forgetting to plant it out ....hope they'll be o.k.

I really love beetroot ..mmmm

 Beetroot all planted out  and I will sow some more , up in the shed ,to keep them coming .

 Celery and a few spare dwarf kale  squeezed in .

 Jaune du Poitou Leeks  - I have Bleu de solaise Leeks waiting in the wings to plant out a bit later on .

Glad to have got these in the ground . I have put grids over them just until they settle in and get their roots down .

I also planted out some Shallot sets this year . 

They seem to be taking ages to get going . Does anyone else find this ?

 I love their blue leaves ! 

I planted out the last remaining celery seedlings .

 The lavender  is really coming along well now too . I'm looking forward to making lavender sachets 🪻💐🪻

Look at the size of that Teasel ! How could I have not noticed that coming up ! It seems to have just popped up over night !

  I'll leave it for the Gold Finches .....  ☺️💛

Ricardo has done a great job of cutting the Labyrinth pathways .

 In the Keyhole bed I spy a first flower on my Butternut Squash .

               It seems they always start off producing male flowers first .

Meanwhile down in the ornamental garden .....

Ricardo has somehow managed to cut the grass with the small lawn mower ...as the big one has broken .  The chap came to fix it and after he left .....it still doesn't work .

  So we are doing the best we can with the small lawn mower ....takes ages ...but he's done a great job anyway .

  I look across and see all the weeds coming up around the Agave on the gravel area !  😱

                          Oh ! My !   😱 

.

So out with all the equipment . 

The wire fencing surrounding it is for safety reasons . I don't want my grandchildren running into it or the football being booted into it  . Although they are quite big enough now to take more care . 

 The fencing makes it easier for me to protect it over Winter .

                           I might leave it off now .

                                  I love this thing !

                            It feels so smooth .

           Look at those shark teeth !

                    And that spine on the tip of it's leaves !

It is the most wonderful monster ! 💚 I am thinking it might flower next year .

Then it will wither away , just leaving a few off-shoots . I have more waiting in the wings and will choose the best one to replace it when the time comes .

 Anyway , back to weeding ....

So I made a good start on it . The weeds were evil brambles and stinging nettles  😱🌿.....and wild strawberry ...🍓yes beautiful , but it can be one heck of a thug ! 🌿🍓🌿🌿🌿🌿🍓🌿

 I'll do some more tomorrow ....... maybe   ☺️🌿🌿🌧️🌧️🌧️

                        Peace and Love 🕊️ Debbie x

              

🌦️Enjoying Garden Flowers and a "Debbie in the Shed " update 🌿🌧️

 Enjoying some flowers in the garden today . This Clematis caught my eye .

          It goes so well with Humulus lupulus "Areus" 🌿 The Golden Hop .

A lovely rose that I planted up in the vegetable garden .

It's getting blown about in the wind .Losing her petals ! It is still sunshine and heavy rain showers here today .

 We needed the rain though . I'm not really complaining .

I am loving these scarlet Snap Dragons . . . . me and the bees ! 🐝🐝🐝🐝

Debbie in the Shed -Update 💐🌻💐

In between the showers I am in the shed , taking and potting up cuttings and repotting an old Epiphyllum the pot of which had been standing on the greenhouse bench  right underneath a part of the roof that was leaking .

 The pot was full of water to the brim and I have no idea for how long it has been like that !

So this particular Epie is very special . It came from Helston Library ...from back in the day....when there were lots of lovely plants on top of the book shelves .

                🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿

I had noticed a huge Epiphyllum up there 🤩 and plucked up courage to ask if I might have a cutting 🙏🏼" Please ? "  ☺️

  The lovely librarian said yes of course and gave me a piece . I asked if she knew what colour the flower was ?   I was expecting her to say "red" as red is probably the most common one .....but she surprised me and said "Apricot " .

 Wow ! 🤩💛Apricot !   

So about fifteen , possibly twenty years later ....it still hasn't flowered ....grown but not flowered .

With the business of taking down the old greenhouse and putting up the new one and the plants all being moved around and some left outside over winter , somehow this one has been neglected ....and now it is in a terrible state . And I mean really terrible !

                                 Really , really terrible !

Also ,a tiny pot of now rooted cuttings that I had taken from it some time ago ....also full of water .

 .....but they look like they're just about hanging on in there !

I drained out the water , tipped them all out . Pulled apart the rooted cuttings .Cut off the rotten bits . 

The roots looked o.k.....ish  ....  😨

I think I can save them !  

                                         Finger's crossed !

I might cut the ones on the right in half .   I am going to be over-run with Apricot Epies . 

We'll see how they do and maybe I will have some to share later on .

    So I know that you have to have plants names properly registered , but just between you and me , for the time being , these will be labelled Epiphyllum "Helston Library " (Apricot maybe 💛)  

    I am really going to pamper these now , make sure they're not under the leaky greenhouse roof . 

Other cuttings I've potted up today , some I have no idea what they are !

                     But there are happy vibes going on in the shed !

 The Cosmos cuttings ( using the tops after pinching them out , to make them grow more bushy)   Still looking good . I thought they would wilt and die but no , they are surprisingly quite strong .

 Acacia -  I had to take off, quite a large branch . So rather than throw it on the compost heap I thought I'd try taking cuttings .  I would normally only do this in the Autumn , but it's worth a try ....with the help of a bit of hormone rooting powder .

               That's all fer now folks !

                                                🌧️🌦️🌧️

                                   Love Debbie  x

Time to Plant out Musa Ensete maurelii ,

                  O.K. It's now safe to plant out my Banoonaahs  .  

                Shuffle and bump technique to get it out of the pot .

Last end of August I had a serious spine injury and I am very grateful to my lovely son-in-law who not only got the Banana plants out and under cover for the winter , but dug out nice big hole and put a large pot in it to keep it open . This has really helped me for the replanting of the beast today .  Well one of them.  I've actually got two of these . I'm just planting out one of them today .

 All I had to do was a little bit of weeding , enlarge the hole a little bit , shuffle and bump it out of the pot and roll it , until it just dropped down into the hole !

                             "Little bit of weeding "

                     Rolling and dropping !         Boomph !   

                        Straightening it up a little . Firm it in .

                                   Perfect !    

                  🌧️  And now we have rain to settle him in !  🌧️⛈️

               I am off up to the shed to pot up some cuttings .

                                        🌿💛🌿