Planting my Colocasia esculenta

So first things first , a load of washing and another and then to hang out on the line ....we woke up to a glorious sunny morning ... so I like to get my washing done and out on the line good and early . I also scrubbed the kitchen floor and polished my Cornish Piskie bellows that I found in a wondeful bric-a-brac shop in Charmouth .
 All that before Palm Sunday 11am mass at St Michael's Mullion  ...and with the sun shining we were able to do the beginning of the service outside ..which we haven't done for years !
  Anyway after church we took off for Poldhu Beach ....yes coffee for him and a chocolate ice cream for me . There were even more people on the beach than yesterday. Lots of happy children playing in the sand  .
We,ve been pretty much relaxing for the rest of the day and I,ve just been pottering about  .
 I bought a nice Woodlodge terracotta pot , handmade and which is supposed to be frost free from Trevena Cross Nursery in Breage and a bag of compost in readiness to plant my Colocasia esculenta corm .

                                                    Top of corm .

 I have grown one of these before but lost it over winter because I had tried to keep it ticking over in it's pot in the greenhouse . Actually I,ve now been told that you treat these like Dahlias in the late Autumn you dig them up cut off the leaves and roots and let them dry out . Store them in a box of perlite or dry compost and start them off again in the Spring .
 Anyway the first thing one has to decide is ...which is the top and which is the bottom ?
 With my one, it is very difficult to tell ..but the smooth side with the concentric rings is the top  ....see picture above .......

 
                                          This is the bottom side up .
It usually has little holes or is pitted and some hair like roots.  Mine was the last corm in the box  and is a bit on the small side and it is very difficult to tell which side is top from bottom . You can plant it on it's side if you are not sure .

    

So I lined the bottom of my pot with newspaper and put some of the chippings from the drive on the bottom .  I usually get told off for doing this , but he didn't notice me doing it this time ...he he he !

I pretty sure that this is the top , if you look closely you can see little "eyes" which I think are where the shoots/new leaves will grow out from . The one in the right hand bottom corner is even slightly green .

   Here it is all nicely nestled into the compost ... mmm .....I love the fragrance of the earth .

 Beautiful thing . I will be coming along to check on you often , waiting excitedly for those first new shoots .

 So then I thought I,d give it a drink of water and the rose fell off the watering can ...compost went everywhere and the corm turned upside down ....

 I had to re-settle it with some more compost ....laughing at myself ..I wheeled it up to the greenhouse . The greenhouse is really quite warm after all the sunshine today , but I think it will be cold tonight if the sky stays clear .
 I put the pot on a large block of  polystyrene and will cover it with newspaper over night .

                     Blue sky here in Mullion today ,such a lovely day !

                                                          Primroses .

                                                       Cowslips .

                      I,m keeping everything under fleece again tonight .