Blessings of May and of the Summer to come 🌿

 Hooray !  The first tomato flower of the year !

These are the re-usable pot/bags that I use ....they seem to be lasting well , second year . I can squish more plants together this way. 

Alicanti at the back and Super sweet at the front because last year when I was harvesting the tiny one , occaisionally they would fall to the floor and I had to scrabble about on the floor and under the bench to find them ! Also closer to the door to make it easier for me to water them . 

Oh ...wrong picture , this was last evening after I had done as much as I could do . I had left these bags half filled with compost ready to plant up with my cucumbers this morning .I still need to clear away the plants on top of the bench above .

On top of the bench above !    All the Epiphyllums  !  The one leaning across from that black pot is ...

..... and she has one huge flower bud coming !

This was the cutting I bought from Beverly in Falmouth . She is supposed to have a lovely big pink flower . I am very excited to see it !

While I was sweeping away all the winter muck ,snails and general mess on the greenhouse floor I spotted this ...

                          Echeveria babies growing from a fallen leaf ! 

                                       I have to rescue everything ! 

                                             I take after my mother ! 

My dinosaur friend Mr Polacanthus is going to stand guard over them .

And Beni the naughty gnome is looking after a second sowing of dwarf beans and mixed lettuce .

My perennial Celery hasn't yet reappeared after the winter , still time , but I have sown some more as we love it in our salads and sandwiches .

The Butternuts all came up . I had almost forgotten to sow them and we really depend on them for over the Autumn and Winter months .

 

Spring onions grown in clumps  ready to be planted out and Black Kale .

Runner beans at the end of the bench , have not done so well . Germinating very erratically .

I am not planting them out just yet . I am thinking of growing all of the climbing beans in large tubs up by the back door of the cottage , to make it easier for me to water them .

We have a hose pipe ban here in Cornwall until December . And it is important that people abide by it for the sake of the wildlife in the reservoirs and lakes around here . 

Lettuces ready for a second picking . I have sown more and must try to keep up the successive sowing .

Oh that's just an Epie cutting . I have them all over the place . If you're local - would you like one ? 

So I got those Cucumbers planted early this morning . 

The Swallows arrived a few weeks ago but I still haven't heard the Cuckoo yet ! It should be here soon . I always hear it around about my birthday . 

                        In the porch - the Dahlias are racing away ! 

Do you remember that I'd started a couple of tubers off early with a view to taking cuttings ?

Well , I forgot about them and now they are about the flower !

 I haven't got the heart to cut them down now . My heart is yearning to see this bloom !

I promise ,  to prune it hard back , after it has opened that flower  .

 Forget about doing cuttings this year ! The new Dahlia bed is almost ready .

 I can't wait to plant them all out but won't do that for another two weeks or so . 

  Dahlias and Bananas ...do not put them out just yet !  DON'T !

We have bluest of blue sky here today , it is lovely and warm . We are as far South as you can go in Cornwall .....in the U.K.  It is warmer here , just a tad , but it makes a big difference and we can plant out  earlier than elsewhere in the country .

Please check what other growers are doing in your area before planting out precious plants and seedlings .

                               I'm a sometimes dig and sometimes no dig kind of a gal . 

                             This end is no dig and the top end is definitely dig !

No digging is better for my back , but I can not afford to buy the amount of compost I would like to have to do this . The compost for my seed sowing , tomato and cucumbers was expensive enough .

I make my own compost as best as I can  and replenish the earth with autumn leaves , seaweed , manure dropped in the lane . I work in harmony with the wildlife which I love and would not harm .

Man has "dug" and ploughed successfully for hundreds of years . I prefer not to , but will not be made to feel guilty for the times when I feel that I have to . I'm not an expert  . I sometimes fail . I have been veg gardening successfully for many years . I just record here what I do , so I can refer to it in following years .

I treated myself to a couple of rooted cuttings of this beautiful variegated Solomon's Seal .

I potted it up on the advice of the lady who sold it to me .

Isn't it gorgeous ! I am going to plant it into my shady and damp fern garden .

 

               Wishing you all blessings of May and of the Summer to come  .🌿🐝💚