Epiphyllum Blattkakteen Epicactus "Lollipop" Steckling --- buds coming at Christmas !

 

I re-potted one of my Epiphyllums last week and accidentally left it on this South facing window . They generally prefer a North facing window .

I just thought it would be better  to leave it there while it's roots settled in to the fresh compost . Then I forgot about it . Not that we,ve had that much sunshine , but it  just shows what a little sunshine can do .

I bought this back in the Spring . A rooted cutting .A very generous rooted cutting.

 I didn't have much compost left and as we were going into the first lockdown ,I found it very difficult to buy compost as all the garden centres were closed . So I put it into a very small pot for the time being .

 Now I have put it into a much bigger pot and pushed a cage in around it , for support . Out in the greenhouse I leave them to scrabble all over the place . I just thought I might try out these cage supports for one or two of my more special plants . 

 Today I noticed a couple of buds , which is exciting . Not seen this in flower yet . I think the flowers are going to be orangey-red , smaller than the usual Epie flowers and the petals finer , more spidery . 

Most of  my Epies bloom from around early May , so this is very early !

I maybe have confused it by leaving it on the South facing windowsill .

There will be an update in a couple of weeks time .

I hope you are all having a nice relaxing Christmas and keeping yourselves safe .

   I can hear the wind picking up again outside and Storm Bella is coming in tonight and tomorrow . Take care everyone .

Happy Christmas

                                                    The greatest gift .

Sweet Peas !

 

I cant show you , because I tied this fleece all around it ....but inside here , my Sweet Peas are germinating . 

I sowed them just a few weeks back , end of November .

Something to look forward to next Summer . 

I,m glad the fleece fabric arrived in the post , before yesterday's 85 mile an hour winds !

Marlothistella uniondalensis

 

I have been waiting for weeks to see this pretty little thing open it's buds .

It needs a lot of sun and it has been so gloomy here , a storm is raging while I write this even now .

    Thankfully the sun did make an appearance yesterday for a little while  .

I keep it in a "long tom" pot , because it has a very long tap root .

I love this sweet little South African plant . It is my favourite in the greenhouse .

                                                  A little treasure ! 

Up early to see the Sun rising this morning

 

                            Up early to get outside and enjoy the sunrise !

                                            What a beautiful morning ! 

No frost this morning , a tad milder dare I say ...never the less I wrapped up warm to go up to check the greenhouse .

I have been laying sheets of  newspaper over everything in there over night and pulling it all off in the mornings this week . It just helps to trap a bit of warmth around all my cacti and succulents  . 

 For the last two nights I lit two candles in the lantern , which also helps a little bit .

This usually gets my plant collection through the winter . 

 The  Velthemia is slowly beginning to push up its flower spike . I,m thinking of bringing it in doors to enjoy on  my kitchen windowsill .

 I gather up all the newspaper sheets and being distracted by something else , I keep forgetting to do it !

This is what distracted me this morning . Marlothistella uniondalensis is smothered in buds again !  I am delighted ! This is my favourite , sweet little darling plant of all !

Time for brekkers !  Cheerio for now my lovelies ! 

Lovers of Clouds and our First Frost - 7th Dec 2020

                It has turned very cold this week . A week of wonderful clouds .

Bright winter sunshine , then sudden , torrential rain showers , with hail .

                                                  Beautiful rainbows .

                             It's been a great week for cloud watching !

                                             We are lovers of clouds !

I have also made note in my little garden note-book of having had our first light frost here, in my garden in Mullion .

 First frost date of winter Mullion Cornwall 7th December 2020 .

  Jack Frost has been dancing on the roof ......and a light dusting on the lawn .

I have put the cloche over the Agave to keep the worst of the icy rain off . I have laid slates and flat slabs of rock around the base of it , so that the water runs away from it's roots . Agave salmiana var.ferox . It is a hardy variety of Agave , but a small , young one that just needs a bit of protection from the rain  and ice through the winter months .

I think I did remind you all to wrap up your outside garden taps , but it's worth saying again !

Wrap up the garden tap.

Have the chimney swept .

Feed the birds and make sure the bird bath water is not frozen .

Go get your vaccine when called !!! 

Lets all stay safe .

Christmas Tree 2020

 

                                                          Ta-daah !

I cheered us up by putting up the Christmas Tree .

Out in the garden I have not been able to do very much , having torn a muscle . I,m having physio and doing exercises to help heal it . It is very uncomfortable and quite painful when I lift anything or reach up .I think it is going to take a long time to heal .

So I,m still just pottering about the veg garden .

I,ve sown a few more seeds of lettuce , onions , Greyhound cabbages, shallots , Brussels-sprouts and sweet peas . 

 At the moment we are enjoying home grown leeks and carrots , spring onions , lettuces , coriander and mint .

I am a follower of "Steve's Seaside Allotment "- Youtube video channel . If you haven't discovered him please go take a look . I love that he continues to grow veggies all through the Winter and has a great database , lots of useful tips . He is very knowledgeable , successful and very interesting indeed .

    I like his recent tip for sowing Brussels sprouts now , not for the button sprouts , but to get an early crop of very tasty leaves for greens  . I have only ever grown them for the sprouts and I hadn't realised that you could eat the leaves . I did give them a try earlier back in the Spring this year and they are so much nicer  than Cabbage ...he is absolutely right ! 

So I want even more of those tasty leaves and I,m looking forward to seeing lots of little Sprout babies germinating in the next few days .

 It is very misty here today , quite mild in fact . Took a walk along the cliffs after lunch , very surprised to see so many people down on the beach at this time of the year !

It is "Stir up Sunday "today and I was going to make our Christmas Pudding ,but I didn't have all the ingredients , so I will have to wait until our next shopping delivery .... I think it will be on Thursday ...sigh ....we are still not going into shops at the moment . Very grateful when we can get a delivery slot .

I,m very worried about spreading the virus when sending cards and parcels . I think we will just make sure there are a few gifts for the Grandchildren and a romantic Christmas lunch just for the two of us . It will be nice . Really it will !

Staying focused on what it's really all about   .

We will put out our Nativity scene and make our own Advent Wreath . We are unable to be going into church at the moment . Mass is being streamed on line and Father Paul is doing an amazing job of it , I don't think he's ever had to do anything

 like this before .

We will wait until after the New Year for family get-togethers ,when hopefully we will all have had the new vaccine .

It is just not worth taking any risks with this terrible , terrible virus .

  So listening to some very cheesy and festive music whilst putting up the Christmas Tree and switching on the fairy lights really cheered us up . 

I am noticing people's nice Christmas displays in their windows around Mullion too . 

  Have you put your tree up yet ?  Is it too early for you ? Lol ! It will be the first Sunday of Advent next Sunday ! 

Take care , wash hands , wear your mask , continue to wipe everything down , keep your distance , respect other people's space , be safe..... and be happy ! 

Walk to Loe Bar

 

We took a walk to Loe Bar this afternoon.

We'd had some torrential showers in the morning , with sleet !

I dashed outside in it , to bring my washing in off the line , very surprised to see sleet .

Although there was still a chilly breeze , the sun came out after lunch and we set off for our walk .

If you look at my first picture , you can see the beach is a long bank of sand with the sea on one side and Loe Bar on the other .

The beach drops away very steeply and because of this is a very dangerous place to swim . Don't even think about it ! There are signs up warning people not to go near the water here .

 We sat down further back on the grassy bank watching the mountainous waves and enjoying our coffee from the flask we'd brought with us .

       I commented on how beautiful the sky looked and took lots of pictures of it ...

                                 ...... and then we got absolutely soaked !

We ran , but there was nowhere really to shelter us , nothing we could do except to turn our backs to it .

      Then there was a beautiful rainbow and the sun came out again .

           We squelched our way , a very long way , back uphill to the car  .

                                         Laughing and glad we came .

          

End of October Vegetable Garden Update

 

The weather is wild , windy and wet .

It's that muddy ,wellington-boots time of the year again !

I haven't posted anything for a while on here , due to having hurt myself . Pulled/torn a tummy muscle . Ouch ! I cant lift anything and I cant even reach up even to hang something on the washing line.....hurts !

 The doctor has organised physio and I,m waiting for a scan ......and my Flu jab .

 Difficult times right now for anything hospital related , the physio is by phone and over the internet and I have to say how I,m doing with each exercise everyday , so there is no getting away with it .

                            

So I,ve only been pottering about doing light garden jobs really .Which is very frustrating when I usually am very busy at this time in the Autumn .

 It was very hard work planting out my Garlic sets yesterday .

  See the picture above . I normally would have weeded out the grass and brambles that are growing around my African Keyhole Vegetable Bed , but pulling hurts , so I just weeded half of this bed and got the garlic in the ground .The other half of this bed I am covering with cardboard and all the spent compost from the tomato and cucumber tubs .I think I will just just keep that side covered from now on through the winter months .

We had torrential rain over night and  this morning .I dashed out to check on my newly planted Garlic sets .I thought they might have been washed away , but all is well . They've had a good watering in !

We had some of the Carrots that I am growing in this bed , they were both sweetly fragrant and delicious . 

Leeks and Onions doing well . I have a perennial Celery plant that my friend gave me in this bed , only small at the moment but looking happy enough and enjoying all this rain !

A medley of veggies under the netting . I have begun pulling some of the biggest Leeks . Ouch !

 Lots of different brassicas in here too . I have sown more cabbages up in the solar  shed .

In the shed I,m growing succession after succession of Winter Lettuces .

 I am also growing Lettuces ,Pak Choi,Coriander, Dill and spring Onions in the Veg Trug outside  . I have covered that with environmesh now , just to shelter them a little bit from the gales .I did take a picture of that but it was very blurred .....oh you want to see it ? ........ oh here you are then  ! ....

..............complete with planks of wood and bricks to hold it all down with and a plastic sheet wedged up at the end to protect it from the wind . You get the idea ! lol !

  I have a beautiful Strawberry plant in here too , which I,m hoping will put out runners so then I will have even more Strawberry plants :) ..but right now the other salad plants are doing really well and giving us a good variety of leaves for our salads and sandwiches .

                     Winter lettuces and good old reliable Greyhound Cabbages .

Every time I walk up to the greenhouse , I see the Buzzards resting /sheltering on the ground in the meadow . I try to remember to take my camera with me and walk very quietly ....but there is always something that I forget ....such as not wearing a bright red cagoule might help ! 

 I see Buzzard . Buzzard sees me . I take blurred photo as he flies off , turns to take picture of other two ......and they,ve gone too ! 

 Also I need to change over to my new camera , as this one is dying on me now ! New camera is waiting in the wings ! Keep forgetting to do it !

Our daily walk , along the cliffs of Mullion , is becoming colder and windier now . We will probably find somewhere a bit more sheltered inland to walk through the Winter months .

We saw the Choughs again the other evening , but it was getting dark as the sun was setting , so not a brilliant picture of them this time .

                                  The next storm coming in over Lands End .

                                       Always a beautiful sunset here .

       Wishing you all well , take care and stay safe . Go and have your Flu jab !

A Very Special Visitor !

 I know this is a very dark picture , it was quite early on this very gloomy morning and pouring with rain ....but look who came to visit me and is sitting on my front gate ! On my front gate ! Wow !

Sparrow hawk or Peregrin falcon ?  What do you think ? 

Very handsome boy ! He made my day !  :)

Veg Trug -update

 

The seeds that  I sowed a couple of weeks ago are all coming along nicely in the Veg Trug . Especially now we are having some rain . Lovely Lettuces , Pak choi , Coriander and Dill , Kale and lots and lots of Spring onions .

                                          I am so happy !

The compost has sunk down quite a bit and probably doesn't have much goodness left in it after a year of growing things . It must be quite exhausted , but I thought I,d get one more crop out of it . I,ll top it up with fresh compost next Spring .

 These young seedlings are at least sheltered from the wind . I will be rigging up some sort of a cloche with environmesh to go over it , for when the weather turns really wild and chilly , but for now , this,ll do .