Lettuces and Leeks

 

So while my husband was whizzing around with the lawnmower ....

.... I went up into the vegetable garden to check on my garlic . 

 I follow several really good Vegetable gardeners on YouTube and one of the best is Cliff and Diane's - Castle Hill Garden .  I highly recommend this YouTube channel ! 

 🌿Oh ! I will talk about some of my other favourites next time 🌿

On yesterday's video , Cliff was saying that the garlic could benefit from a bit of a feed now .  I will have to have a rummage about in the shed to find some ! Also I can take off the grids now and do a bit of a weeding around them . I'm pleased with how they're looking .

Rhubarb is looking good too . I still have to plant out the clump that was coming up under the fence and another lot to give to my next door neighbour .

Primroses are coming up in the labyrinth .

I have been taking lots of photos of them with a view to doing some watercolour painting .

I was enjoying watching this little ant and took several photos of him until I noticed someone else in the picture ! 

 

Uploaded this by mistake . It's my second Monkey Puzzle baby that I planted out recently . I grew it from seed/nut about four or five years ago I think . They are fussy about where they want to grow . The one I planted in the far corner facing West was not happy and didn't make it . The one down in the lower garden facing South East is doing very well . So this one is also facing South East ...maybe more South actually , I am happy about all the rain we've had to get it settled in and get it's roots down .

I moved the cucumbers and tomato plants into the greenhouse for more all around light . I haven't filled the pot/bags with compost yet .   I'm still upset about the rubbish Verve compost and can't afford to buy another lot . I'm thinking that maybe it won't be so bad , as I will eventually be feeding the tomatoes .

Over in the shed , this water pumping sprayer thing has been brilliant , but now , a year on , has begun to splutter and not work properly . Husband needs to look at it . 

Tomato feed at the ready ....thinks to myself ...I need to find the other fertiliser for the garlic .

I got most of the leeks pricked out and potted on  . I don't usually do that . I usually wait until they are bigger . Not sure why I even did that really ...not really necessary . 

 We love leeks and grow lots of them ! I prefer to put my effort into growing leeks rather than onions . Onions don't do very well for me . They used to , but not any more . Having said that I have ordered a small amount of onion sets , Centurion white ones and Red Baron red ones . I wasn't going to as I felt I was falling behind in everything I had to do , but I feel like I'm catching up again now .  I also bought a packet of Spring Onion seeds - North Holland Blood Red . Simply because they look so pretty on the plate ! 

I love it when we have everything we need for a delicious salad . These are my Lettuce seedlings all potted up . Mostly Romaine varieties which we like . Flashy Trout , Jericho , red romaine , Paris Island  I think .  Time to sow more to keep them coming .

 I grow the lettuces in the shed to full size . I water them lovingly , sing to them and watch that no nasty slugs go crawling over them . 🐌🌿🥬🌿

The Tomatoes are Super Sweet 100 f1 and Alicante . I have stopped trying out any other varieties as these always do so reliably well for me growing as I do in the greenhouse .

 I must remember to bring down the Sweet Peppers from my bedroom windowsill and put them into the greenhouse . I might even move them up into their final size pots now . Just thinking about it .

Time to sow some more veg seeds , I need to have a sort through my seed boxes .

Too soon to sow beans , courgettes and butternuts ...but I,m thinking about it and getting their pots ready !

I think I'm going to wait another week or two and sow some flower seeds instead .

 I have ordered some Sweet Corn , Spring Onion and Parsnip seeds .

             So that's all fer now folks ! 

                        I'm off to put my feet up and do another sort of sewing ! x

                                                  🌿☀️🌿    

Good Morning Sunshine !

 

       Lovely morning . Blue sky . Sunshine . Sparkling dew . 

                The Spring surge is happening at last .

              Good morning little fern ....it's time to wake up ! 

                   Good morning little honey bee ! 

Now I must go and get the washing done , it should be a good drying day ...at last ! 

I'll be sorting out my seedlings up in the shed after brekkers .....see you later !  🌿

                                             🌿☀️🌿

Cucumbers

 I was up early and got the Cucumber seedlings potted up .

I am determined to have lots of cucumbers this year ! 

These are Cucumber Beth Alpha F1 , which have the small cucumbers that are best to harvest at about 16cms . We like the taste of these . 

I'm not all that happy with Verve compost though , it looks horrible ! Now I've bought it I will have to use it . 

🐌🐌🐌Watch out for the slugs and snails everyone ! Aargh ! This one has eaten about 20 or so of my leek babies 🐌🐌🐌🐌

                                                                      🌿☀️🌿

🌱Meanwhile on my Bedroom Windowsill 🌱

 

I had sown another lot of seeds about a week ago .

A selection of my favourite lettuce , a few more cucumbers and some Evening Primrose .

I hadn't expected anything to be happening for a while yet , but I happened to glance towards the window and noticed this .

                          We have germination !

 

The red romaine lettuce seeds in the middle pan are a little behind the others  .

               Looks like I've got some pricking out and potting up to do ! 

                                                                  

                                                           🌱

 

Aeonium arboreum var. atropurpureum "Schwarzkopf "

 

 A very kind lady in the village was offering free Aeonium cuttings to anyone who'd like them .🤩Oh ! you bet ! Wow !

 It was quite late in the evening , she said bring a carrier bag and torch . We jumped into the car and got over there as fast as we could . I wasn't sure which variety of Aeoniums these were going to be , but delighted to see that they are  Aeonium arboreum var. atropurpureum "Schwarzkopf " ..yep....the beautiful black ones ! 

I took some for my daughter who has caught the gardening bug . Also took some for my next door neighbour .

                                       Feeling very thankful .

                                           Everybody happy ! 😀

I have just been potting them all up , and using the compost from the veg trug which will make it easier to lift when we come to move it . The compost really needs to be changed anyway , but will be o.k. for these cuttings I think .

I got them all potted up. I found some nice deep pots to give them a good chance to make lots of good strong roots . I have been re-using all my plastic pots for years .

 

                                                 All done .

Look at all those lovely new shoots !

There is talk of another cold snap   .

🌿They'll be o.k.🌿

I have put them all into the greenhouse to give them a good start .

 I managed to get a lot of washing dry on the line today and cut the grass pathways in the labyrinth .

I have some fleece ready in case it gets really cold .

🌿💛🌿 

Several wheelbarrow loads later 🌿

 

In case you were wondering where I'd gone , I had a bit of a nasty old migraine and had to take a break from moving plants , embroidery or even looking at the computer screen .

I'm ok. again now and have pretty much filled the left-hand side of the new greenhouse .

I remembered that I'd left this big Agave utahensis (the truly evil one !😱) outside .

Until the old greenhouse was pulled down , it was kept in the furthest corner under the greenhouse bench , only getting the odd drops of water from when I watered the cacti above . In fact  I don't think I 've actually gone to specifically water it for a couple of years and it looks as though it has really enjoyed the rain and puffed itself up with renewed vigour .

 Into the corner it goes with all the other dangerous beauties !

 I grew this from seed that I bought from the British Cactus and Succulent Society many years ago .

The thing with an Agave is that no matter how big the pot is that you put it in , it will quickly grow into it and then stop . If you don't re-pot it then it will make off-shoots ,which I noticed this one has . I decided that this one was big enough and so I have put it into this pot and there it must stay forever more now as it would be far too dangerous to set it free in my garden .  I already have three or four less dangerous ones in the garden .

Tomorrow I will take a closer look to see if I can separate the off-shoot  . ...and send it to some other botanically insane person to love .

Here we have from left to right Epiphyllum var "Curt Backeberg " A couple of Epie cuttings , a beautiful Aloe that my brother gave me , somewhere in there is a plant label , unfortunately at this time it is swathed in cobwebs and I don't want to put my hand in !  I have already had a few nasty surprises whilst moving all my plants , I had to try and not look as I moved them for fear I'd drop or throw the pot !  

The plant behind the Aloe was sold to me as being Rhipsalis elliptica , although I'm thinking now that it might be Rhipsalis pachyptera .    Can anyone out there identify it for me please ? 

It was looking very sad after having been in the shed over winter and while the new greenhouse was being built .

I re-potted it into a hanging basket and stood it in the lovely terracotta pot ,where it can stay and recover until I fix up another hook to hang it from . It has lovely red phylloclades .... (leaves ) .

 I also need to put a big hook up in the beam from which to hang my lovely old Chinese lantern . 

         Some of the less dangerous Agaves..like Agave americana , Agave salmiana ferox , Agave medio-picta alba . Some of which I have grown from seed , some which were off-shoots .

                   Less dangerous but they still bite !

I brought in some of the Agave pups (offsoots ) and that has made room for my new season vegetable seedlings . The tomatoes are already doing well in their 3"pots and now there will be space to bring down the Sweet Pepper seedlings from my bedroom windowsill .

The sun shone all day ! It was warm . So nice to be able to open the windows  , after all the rain .  

One more pic of the Albuca bracteata ,  more familiarly known as the Pregnant Onion . Here we have a pot full of fast growing babies !

          The rain returns next week  .... and the grass never stops growing in Cornwall .

                                                   🌿💚🌿

🌿Wheelbarrow load of Epies - no 1🌿

                                     So here come the Epies !

                               Wheelbarrow load number one .

I put them in , but I think there was another tray of them that should go in first . 

Stands thinking ...

    they all need repotting and where did I put the other tray of Epies ?  

I have to get all the Epiphyllums in , as they should all be beginning to show flower buds soon .  

I hope they haven't suffered too much from being moved about .  

Dreaming about beautiful Epie flowers , usually about the beginning of May .

                                        Epiphyllum "Marilyn Monroe"    

 Get called in for lunch .  

               🌿🌿💚 🌿🌿 See ya later !  🌿🌿💚🌿🌿