Rainbow Mini Bell Sweet Peppers

 Can you see what I can see ? Lets take the lid off and have a closer look .

Yes ! My Rainbow Mini Bell Sweet Peppers are germinating ! I,m so happy !

Pottering about in the sunshine

 Woken up to a beautiful day ! Birds singing and blue sky ! The wind has gone , the sun is shining ....aah..doesn't it make you feel good after all that rough weather .

The  Camellia is flowering beautifully now .

I took the cover off the Agave and wiped away a few rain drops to prevent the leaves from being scorched by the sun .

I noticed these interesting golden fungi growing on the old wooden spade .

I went in for a closer look . You can click on my pictures to  go in a bit closer too.

                                            Somewhat irritated by this !

This afternoon I am going to dig the poor plant out , pot it up and bring it into the porch , see if I can revive it . This was a lovely Osteospermum . If it recovers , I will plant it out into a flower bed . They survive just fine in the ground . This was really badly blasted by the cruel East wind the other day,because it was in a tub out in an open area of the garden . The fleece covering should have protected it , but the fleece fabric disintegrated , sort of crumbled away and it  all then ripped apart in the wind .  So that is my job for this afternoon .

As I walked up to the greenhouse , I could see the young Buzzard who has taken to sitting in our meadow . I tried to creep ever so quietly up the path , to get a good picture of him , but he is now older ,wiser and very ,very aware . His sharp eye caught sight of my shadow and he was off and away !

 Last year he was just an inquisitive baby and quite happy to sit in this tree looking down on me just a few feet below!

I noticed the catkins coming into flower on the Alder tree . I am so happy to have this tree in my garden . So pretty with both it's long catkins and tiny Alder-cones.

My Winter veggies are looking great . I like to have this living larder .

                                        The Garlic is looking good !

And back indoors , on the windowsill , the leeks are really growing away !

So I continue into the greenhouse ,everything is bathed in sunshine and the puddles are drying, steaming up the windows . I leave the door open for a while to clear it .

This is Agave americana var.striata . It has beautiful yellow streaked leaves . I,ve had it a very long time now , but it hasn't grown because I haven't potted it up into the next size pot . If you don't pot them up, they stay small. I would like to try this one outside , but I will wait until it produces a few pups . I think I might push this higher up on my list of jobs to do . Update 26th Feb - now brought into the front  porch for extra pampering .

Finally after a morning of gently pottering around the garden , it is time for a cup of tea . As I come in through the porch , I notice that poor Cyclamen that I brought in yesterday .

                               It is recovering much faster that I thought !

I do love Cyclamen , their flowers last for such a long time and are so cheerful through the darkest of days .

  I need more of these lovely plants !

Valentine's Day Jobs to be Done .

 

Here on the study windowsill , my little Leeks seeds are making good progress , more and more are popping up now . I will probably take these  up to the solar shed in a couple of days , where they can slowly get their roots down . 

Leeks are so easy to grow and they stand well through the cold winter weather  . They make a pleasant change from onions ,with a deliciously mild and mellow taste . I'll be sowing lots more up in the shed and also in pots outside in a few weeks time .

Off out into the garden again and there are a couple of things I need to check on .

What's in the box ? lol !  Well ,while the weather was freezing cold and blowing a gale with the odd few snow flurries over the last few days , I decided to cover the young Agave on our front Cornish hedge with a cardboard box .

So now the weather has changed from cold and dry to warm and wet . I lay in my bed listening to the rain and began thinking that the box was going to fast turn to mush and the heavy rock that I had placed on top to hold it against the wind , was now in great danger of collapsing onto the poor Agave underneath !

I rushed out to take it off  and actually I think if I can dry out the box, then I will be able to use it again if Winter returns to Mullion .

I planted it into the Cornish hedge a couple of years ago . It has survived two winters . It is not going to be very happy in this heavy rain but it has very sharp drainage here amongst the rocks .

I have more Agave babies waiting in the wings , if it doesn't make it . Fingers crossed .

Next , to check on my Sweet-peas . Sown end of November .

I stood on tippy-toes to try and take a photo of the Sweet-peas all now about three or four inches tall now ., but my camera did not like  being turned pointing straight down from above and refused to take the picture every time I pressed the button . So this was the best I could do to show you through the fleece . And all is well ! 

Next , on we go , up to the greenhouse again .

The wind was blowing so hard that I had a job getting in . I had to hold onto the door handle ,while undoing the windbreak mesh across the inside , get the key into the other side of the keyhole and lock it from the inside again , because the door doesn't stay shut otherwise !

Once in , I am worrying a bit about the leaking roof .  Not a very good picture , but the floor is very wet now . I must see if I can find another bucket to catch the rain coming in .

I paddle about uncovering everything , now that it has turned mild again , to let the light in .

Everything is a little scruffy . Winter scruffiness !

 Everything is sleeping .

Cobwebs here and there .

No watering . Everything is to be kept dry through the Winter months .

If we get a dry and sunny day I will open the door to give some ventilation and try to dry out the puddles on the floor .

I can open the side windows too but  not the roof windows as they have been nailed down , or they would have blown off in the gales . One of them is crooked and so I have an old washing up bowl underneath it to catch the rain . 

I have some cuttings rooting away in it ! 

A lucky find and rescue from a local charity shop a few years ago .It is now twice the size ! 

The Epiphyllums and Pelargoniums have been under a fleece covering . 

I cant wait to see them flowering again . I have one or two new ones that I am very excited about . E. var. Marilyn Monroe which has pink flowers , E. var. Acapulco Sunset  which has amazing yellow flowers and E. Empress Josephine , the Nopalxochia  also known as Disocactus phyllanthoides  which has masses of gorgeous pink flowers .

I bought some new hanging pots for the trailing Epies , but am a bit nervous about hanging them on the greenhouse rafters in case the roof should collapse !

This old one I bought at a boot fair over twenty years ago . It is right at the very back of the greenhouse , I can hardly reach it ...more importantly it cant reach me !

So I think everything is fairly o.k in the greenhouse today , I wont cover everything up again tonight, as it has turned so mild .

I will see if I can find another bucket to catch the drips though .

As  I walk back down to the cottage , I spy a patch of snowdrops that have opened up their petals .These are in a very sheltered place in the back garden .

One last thing ,to remind you again , if you haven't done so already .......

                                    Don't forget to wrap your outside tap !

Mother Earth

 

Torrential Rain and Gales

 

I had promised to take you with us on our walk  up the lane to see the Snowdrops again . They were only just beginning to push up on  our  last visit .

Well , It seems that the cruel and bitterly cold Easterly winds has held them back , they are still not fully out .

The weather has changed , it is slightly milder and the wind is now coming from the west . Over night and this morning we are having torrential rain . The tiles on the roof were clattering , no damage though .

So we'll have to come back another day to see the Snowdrops fully open .

Meanwhile up in the greenhouse , everything is under sheets of newspaper, fleece and blankets .The floor is very wet , since there are a few slightly slipped panes of glass . I think everything will be alright though. I had forgotten about the two most precious plants Veltheimia bracteata and the Marlothistella ,which I had meant to bring indoors last time I came up here to cover everything up and light the candles in the lantern .

I waited  for the wind to ease up , then quickly scooped them up and dashed back to the cottage .I have put them on the table in the porch .They can stay in there for a couple of days , to slowly acclimatise .

Then I will bring the Veltheimia in , so that I can enjoy watching her come into flower on my  kitchen windowsill . I grew this from seed . It gives me such a thrill to see it in flower !

I have some more seeds saved from last year's flower . I really must try and remember to sow them up soon .

Marlothistella uniondalensis , her flowers just beginning to go over , was not very happy under sheets of newspapers in the greenhouse . She will now will be much happier in the porch .

My lovely Cyclamen by the back doorstep , had been looking so gorgeous a few days ago , was now been completely flattened by the wind . I am so cross with myself for not moving it to a safer place .

I brought it into the porch . It is picking up already and I can see some more buds coming . 

So the Winter freeze appears to be over and we are back to normal ....rain , drifting sea mizzle and fog again !