Busy , busy , busy ouch !

We took a walk along the cliffs and watched the squalls coming in , we thought that we might have to make a run for the car but it soon cleared well ahead of us .

It has been like this for a couple of days now  .

We had some heavy rain here last night  .

Just what we needed to refill the water-butts and refresh the garden .

The postman left a parcel in our box and I was delighted on opening it  to find one very generous sized Epiphyllum  var "Acapulco Sunset " that I had been so excitedly waiting for . Actually it arrived super fast !
 I immediately set about potting it up .
 This is only a temporary pot as it turned out to be too heavy for me to lift . Also the compost that I bought recently turned out to be complete rubbish and I am waiting for another bag to be delivered which I,m sure will be much better .
  I mixed the small amount of compost with some lovely earth from the bottom of our compost/bonfire heap and gave it a gentle watering in .

 I bought it from Bilsdalecactus on Ebay UK . I have had some nice plants from them over the years and this time I wasn't disappointed either . A very healthy looking and generous rooted cutting indeed !

                    It even has another shoot coming up from the bottom .
It is a lovely variety with yellow flowers flushed with red towards the centre .
 I cant wait to see the flowers !

 I lifted it up onto the shelf amongst all the other Epies . It was at that  point that  I realised just how heavy the pot was ! Ouch ! I must  have  pulled a muscle !
 Anyway it can stay there for a while now , until I can find another pot and a good bag of compost . It looks happy , maybe it will be o.k. after all .

I had intended to plant out the last lot of Leeks  but I,m hurting too much at the moment, so I have been doing some less strenuous jobs instead .
 The Blueberries are fattening up with all the lovely rain and I thought it might be best  to cover it over with a net now before the berries fully ripen and the birds take them .
  I have also managed to find some Ericaceous compost at last . Another re-potting job to be done . I,m just waiting for that to be delivered too .

 It is only a very young plant/bush but I can see that there are enough Blueberries to make some muffins with , coming along  nicely .

It is the Midsummer solstice and we are tidying up and redefining the bottom edge of the Labyrinth which has become a little out of shape .
 I have been asking people what they think .

                                      Does it  look better with a tail ?

                                             Or without the tail ?

                Another  little job to be done , is potting up my mint cuttings .
The sun was shining so bright it made my pic of them appear in silhouette .
They have been on my kitchen windowsill for a couple of weeks  now .

   There , that's better , I have put them onto my little kitchen table to take a closer look at them.
The one on the left is Peppermint and the one on the right is Chocolate Peppermint ( It smells like After Eight Mints ! Oh ! My  goodness gracious me Heavenly ! )

   I want more  ! I don't care if it spreads I love it ! The bees love it too !
So look ,they have roots already ...I will pinch out the tops to make them bush out  , pop them back into their water pots  and I will pot them up as soon as that nice compost arrives .
        Hurry up Mr Postman !

I noticed that my Aloe striatula  is flowering . I grew these from seed that I,d gathered . They are quite easy to grow and do very well here on the Lizard .

The Cornish Leeks are flowering too , here and there in our Cornish hedgerows .

                                                    Mullion Cove

          We ended our day with another walk and another beautiful view .
                         Weather forecast - hot weather is on the way !

I,m going to put my feet up and do some stitching . Have a lovely day all !

First Cucumber on the way !

                                        First Cucumber on the way !

Little Jenny Wren

 As I walked past the wood shed , I happened to notice a bundle of leaves caught at the top of the windbreak mesh .

 I reached up and nearly went to pull it down , before I realised that it was a bird's nest !
 I,m sure it wasn't there yesterday , I always draw the two panels of windbreak mesh together and tie them up to protect the plants that I have in there from the gales .
 It is a very odd place for a bird to make a nest , we are constantly  going in and  out of there .

 Even more strange , that it turned out to be a tiny Jenny Wren . I thought that wrens usually made their nests low down in bushes ?

 There is no ledge at all up there , she has pushed long fern leaves in-between the curtain wire and that is all that's holding it up there !

     I hid around the corner inside the woodshed to watch her , bringing in some nice soft moss with which to line her nest .

     
       We are going to have to be very careful as we go in and out of there now .

                       A work in progress as they say ! Watch this space !

One man came to mow , he came to mow a meadow ......

 A quick catch up for you , it's been a very busy time here .
 Colin came to "mow the meadow "in his little red tractor .
We have worked hard throughout the year , digging out the more undesirable thugs , which in our case are Docks and Thistles and a small area of Bracken . We have also not allowed any dogs to come in and romp about or do anything else undesirable  in it .
  He got a really good harvest , of excellent quality hay bales , despite having a bit of trouble with the baling machine  !

It got me thinking of the old nursery rhyme ..go on ..sing  ....
        🌺🌸🍀🌸🌺
One man went to mow ,
Went to mow a meadow,
One man and his dog ,  woof woof !
Went to mow a meadow !

Two men went to mow ,
 Went to mow a meadow,
Two men , One man and his dog ,woof woof !
Went to mow a meadow !
         🌺🌸🍀🌸🌺
Just two men came to mow our meadow and no dog , so I,ll stop there. lol !
I used to  love singing the really old nursery rhymes to the children in the nursery where I worked many years ago . I think it is a wonderful thing to teach  children these old traditional rhymes that have been loved and passed down through generations . Nice to learn new ones too , but the old ones are so special .
The children always loved this one .

                               Look at that blue sky ! It was so hot !

Here the picnic table has been tipped up for the tractor to pass through .
  It was a very hot couple of days , the men worked so hard . Rain had been forecast !

The baler was not working properly , but he came back and went round again the next day and got even more bales .

              All ready for the Winter , who knows what Winter will bring ?

Then all the bales were carried away on the trailer and got under cover before the rain came .  Which turned out not to be very much after all and I had been praying for rain for my vegetable garden .

We have been visited  by five beautiful Red  Kites , people seeing them in various places around Mullion . I never seem to have my camera to hand when they come , but I did manage to snap a photo of this one .

So there we are ,the meadow is cut and bone dry . It will soon be green again .

            Sure enough , last night we had some very heavy rainfall .

The puddle where I stamp about to wash the mud from my boots has been replenished and my two wheelbarrows are full of lovely rain water to water my rain-forest Epiphyllums , Clivia miniata  , carnivorous plants and a few other special things . Most plants prefer fresh rain-water , but these , my more precious ones really suffer if given tap water .

  I was so happy to have collected two wheel barrows full and my water-buts are also full again .

 I have only recently given Carnivorous plants another try . In the past  I have bought them only to watch them slowly shrivel up and die .
    In fact I have usually bought them , when they have been reduced in price , thinking that I could revive them .
Alas ! Too late ! They had already been given tap water , or no water and were on their way out already !

 This time , I have read up about them and managed to keep them alive over the whole of the Winter . Yes , sad looking , but alive !
 I am about to re-pot them and tidy them up . They also have to be fed , yes fed ! They naturally attract and catch their own prey or you can feed them occasionally with small insects .
 I have a little tub of dried bloodworms with which to feed them and fatten them up !
 I,ll give you an update on these when I,ve re-potted them . The Venus Fly Trap on the right has a flower coming , but I,m being advised to cut it off to make the young plant grow stronger .
    I,m presently growing them outside but any advice would be most welcome .
I,m just pleased with myself for getting them through the Winter !

Other news - the Blue Tit family have fledged and I will miss all the little squeakings and peepings beside my back door .
  So that's all for now folks !
Keep on staying safe , it is still out there !