Wednesday 28 September 2022
I'm on Mother's Worrying Duty right now !
Tuesday 27 September 2022
Growing Dwarf French Beans over Autumn under cover - update
Walking past the greenhouse this morning I spied a tiny purple bean flower through the window !
I went in to investigate and yes , there are lots of buds . I hope they can make it before the serious Winter weather arrives .
It is definitely turning cooler here now and the day light hours are getting shorter .
This is only a little experiment . I wouldn't want to buy in more compost or put them into larger pots in my little greenhouse and , by the way , I used the spent compost from my tomato plants . I am thinking that this would really work best if I had a polytunnel and planted lots of them into the ground . Then I could get a more respectable and worthwhile harvest .
Anyway you never know , we might get a few .
Started bringing in hanging baskets and pelargoniums . This one from my kitchen window . I planted it up with succulents and a couple of pelargoniums . So they can just continue to grow through the Winter and I'll put it out again next Spring .
Sunday 25 September 2022
Over-wintering Musa Ensete maurelii
It probably won't be too bad here on the Lizard, Cornwall , but the forecast is for much colder temperatures from this evening .
Musa Ensete maurelii is a tender variety of Banana and will not survive outside over winter .
I decided to get the Banana plants out and into their over-wintering corner in the shed . I'd rather do it while it is not too cold and the ground soft from the showers we had yesterday evening .
They haven't grown as big this year due to the heat wave and drought . My efforts for watering going only to the vegetable garden .
This little Robin flew down to me as soon as I took out my garden fork , eagerly awaiting grubs .
This was extremely heavy ,but I made sure to get out and not damage as much of the roots as possible .
I know that some people trim the roots and cut off the leaves , but I try not to damage any of my plants as best I can .
I plant them up again , with some of the earth they were growing in and a mixture of spent compost that I had used to grow my Tomato plants in and a couple of good handfuls of fresh multi-purpose compost .
I gave them a little rain water from the water-but to settle them in , but not too much , as the earth was quite damp from the recent showers .
Then they go onto wooden pallets , under cover and surrounded with polystyrene that I have saved from packaging .
They have just enough light from the clear plastic corrugated roofing .
(I make sure to move them away from the leaking bit of the new roof )
I water them very sparingly over the winter months and not at all if the weather is freezing .
My aim is to just keep them ticking over . This works for me and these banana plants are ....hmm ..quite a few years old now ..... maybe six , seven years or more .
I also made a start pulling all the grass and weeds from between the paving slabs that surround my greenhouse . Loathsome job !
Weeded and tidied all the pots and tubs up there too . All of these things should have gone into the ground during the Summer , but it became too hot for me to work in the garden , so I had just dragged them all together around the water-but...which also soon dried up . I thought I might lose many of my plants , but they are looking a bit better now for the drop of rain we've had .
I tried to fix the cracked window in the greenhouse roof .....
I thought that if I got some Copydex glue and squeezed it along the line of the crack , that it would run into the crack , set and job done . Well it sets like rubber doesn't it ? It does !
I couldn't find my tube of Copydex , but found a big squeezy bottle of children's craft PVA glue .
Same thing ...non ?
O.k so it ran down the window and I expected it to set and then I had in my mind to run a sharp knife along it to neaten it up .
I thought it wouldn't take long to set and left it for the night .
I could hear it raining during the night and felt quite smug with myself for fixing it .
Next morning I went to fill my watering can to water the salad leaves I am growing in the shed ...
....and this happened ! Bubbles ...lots of bubbles !
I looked up to see that all the glue had dissolved and run down the pie into the water-but !
So for the first time this year , the water-but was full to the brim and I had no choice but to empty it !
I,ve got it all cleaned out now , but I am back to square one with the cracked window .
I better go and work it out again ! ( as the song from Oliver goes 🙄 )
I'm now thinking sticky tape of some sort , duct tape ..or maybe Super Glue .....
Wishing you all a great week my friends !
Saturday 24 September 2022
Today's Nature Walk - Goonhilly - Autumn
We love nature and every day we get out to walk in it . Goonhilly is quite near by to us and here we love to watch the seasons as they change .
We try to have a walk and a simple picnic every day . Take in the sweet fresh air . Nature means so much to us . Nature means so much to us . Nature means so much to us .
Nature means the world to us . Earth our home .
My Butternut Squash Harvest
Well , what a very sad week it has been , with saying good-bye to H.M.Queen Elizabeth just a few days ago . I have no words , it was all so very , very sad .
Sending my thoughts and prayers of comfort to all of her family . Especially to our new King Charles who must be feeling pretty anxious about the enormity of his new role .
Hey ! Charles , you'll be fine ! ( Use a biro ! )
Also , make sure you have some time to yourself . Put your scruffy clothes on , pull on your wellies and get out into your lovely garden and see what's going on . Let Autumn enfold you in her arms . Relax and be comforted .
What is going on in the vegetable garden ?
Well , we were forecast some rain and then that it might turn very cold . So I decided to harvest all my Butternut Squashes .
This year I grew the varieties Waltham and Hunter . They did very well on my African Keyhole Veg bed . I harvested 21 Butternuts altogether .
Hunter ButternutsI brought in the largest ones to give them their two day curing on my kitchen dresser . They will all then be put up on a shelf in the shed to store over the Winter months .
As they ripen up , the skin toughens and the flavour improves .
Feeling blessed 🧡
Saturday 17 September 2022
A lazy Saturday
Another lovely sunny day ! Pleased with myself for cutting and trimming up some hazel branches for next years bean poles . My Runner beans were a total disaster this year ,but I won't give up , I will try again next year .
The sun shining through the greenhouse this morning .
I am keeping a very close eye on the Dwarf French beans in there . They seem to grow a couple of inches over night .
The thing is , if this works and I get a nice lot of beans , then I will do it again next year and sow even more bean seeds .
I'm wondering if maybe I should just bring the sowing date forward by a week or two might just make the difference .
If we have a couple more weeks with some sunny days and not too cold at night , I should have some success .
Albulca bracteata...Ornithogolum longibracteatum.....The Pregnant Onion .I'm not doing much today , my fingers and my elbow aches after cutting wood yesterday .
The big ratchet loppers sprung back on my head yesterday . I think I am going to have a bruise between my ear and cheek bone . It really hurt , made me cry and I couldn't open and close my jaw for a while , but it's o.k now .
I need to give the greenhouse windows a bit of a clean !
Oh ! One of the Sweet Peppers is changing colour !
Very pleased with these Sweet Peppers from saved seed too !
We also have some Sweet Peppers outside in the Veg Trug with one or two Peppers on . Not so productive as the ones in the greenhouse , they had been a couple of left overs or spares .
The interesting thing about these "outside " Sweet Peppers is that where they have flopped over in the wind ,they are putting out fresh and strong new shoots . Something for me to bear in mind when I grow these next year . If I had pulled them down like this earlier in the year , I might have had much bigger , stronger and more productive plants .
I tried over -wintering Peppers last year not very successfully . Maybe I'll try again with these . What do you think ?
Albuca bracteata ......Ornithogalum longibracteatum .....The Pregnant OnionSo I pottered about in the greenhouse for a while , noticing that all the South African things are waking up again . The bulbils that had fallen off my largest Pregnant Onion plant and that I had potted up last year are growing fast !
Another one has flowers on the way !
.....and this is the big mumma one ....with more babies that are ready to be potted up ...would you like one ?
Veltheimia bracteata from seed I sowed last year looking lovely .
A very weird and rare pelargonium , which my brother Martin gave me ....which looks like a dead stick all year and then comes to life again in the Autumn .
Tylecodon wallichii ...also known as The Pegleg Butterbush .
This is another South African , South Namibian thing that remains dormant through our Summer months and wakes up in the Autumn .
So this is the insulation foil stuff that I throw over and along the greenhouse rafters .
And this is the candle lantern , still tucked away under the bench , but ready to pull out and put into use if a particularly cold night is forecast .
Candles are in a tin indoors at the moment .
Enough pottering about .
Turned out really scrumptious - doodly !
Marie " Thankyou for this delicious recipe ! "
For this recipe and she has so many more lovely recipes follow this link -
https://www.theenglishkitchen.co/2021/02/bundt-pan-roast-chicken.html
Yum yum yum !
Then , off for a lovely walk around Goonhilly .
The sun is still shining . Hope you are having a beautiful weekend and able to find a little time for yourself .
xxx