Weeding again ! ☀️🌿

 

                                       Aaah ...at last the sun has returned .

So much I want to do in the garden . It is very squelchy slippery underfoot . I decided to make a start and just do one small area .This little bed  was choked  with Ivy and three Sloe and a Sycamore sapling .  I still need to do some more work to get the Sycamore out .

I pruned the Cornus alba siberica  back down to about two or three inches .I want lots more of these lovely red stems which we enjoy through the winter .

I left a couple of the ones at the back , to enjoy for a  bit longer .

I may plant these out somewhere, I have bundled them up on the Summer house deck , for the time being while I have a think about it .

Those are some of my Agave babies and cacti sheltering from the winter weather on the table inside . I am longing to put them all back into the greenhouse . . . but the greenhouse is no longer my happy place  , with it's leaking roof and the bad atmosphere that the greenhouse builder men have left up there .  Nothing more is going to be done about it now . Husband gets angry . I have to make the best of it ..at the moment it makes me feel ill .

I will begin to try and take my plants back up there soon and make it a happy a place again .

We are having a new fence and gate built up there , which I went up to see this morning  . Gave my heart such a lift ! I didn't expect anything so smart !  

We occasionally have visiting deer , which I love to see , but don't really want getting into the vegetable garden . 

Anyway , I pulled out lots of Ivy , revealing  Hellebores and Primroses underneath ....

.....and this .  A seedling Phoenix Canariensis which has somehow found it's way there . Maybe brought in by a squirrel from my giant palm up in the vegetable garden . I'm delighted , but it can't stay there !

So all it needs now is a nice mulch of woodchip . 

 Mission complete .... well almost ....I still need to do a bit more tidying up around the back .

Tomorrow I will work on the bed on the other side of the Summer house steps .

Sweet pea update -

I sowed these in November . I wrapped up the tub as you can see with fleece .They are tough little things as far as the cold goes , they can take the cold , but their stems can snap in the severe gales that we often get here .So the fleece wrapping is a good idea .

However this past week we have had wave after wave of big named storms . Storm Eowyn actually blew this big heavy tub over onto it's side ! Twice ! I need to have a peek inside . 

Hmm...a little bit bashed about but not too bad . I will pinch them out a little bit , which will make them bush out and grow even stronger  . 

This will give me lovely early Sweet peas and when they finish I will be growing Black Eye Suzie's again ....because my mum loves them and I have the seeds of the ones I saved from the ones I grew last year just waiting in the wings . 

But they can wait .... because tomorrow... is the day ....I sow my Tomato seeds ! 

                                       🌿  Happy gardening all ! 🌿

                                                               ☀️☀️☀️

                  

Storm Ivo ⛈️🌧️ Cornwall

 Yet another cold windy rainy miserable dark and gloomy day . We have Storm Ivo rattling through .

I'm just sitting on my bed with my hot water bottle , deciding what to do .  Sowing ....or sewing  ?

I sat and shuffled through my seed packets . 

⛈️Please note - With regard to sowing seeds . I am in the very far South West of Cornwall - this may be far too early for people further up country . 

So far I have only sown a few Onion and Sweet Pepper seeds , on a heat propagator on my bedroom windowsill .⛈️

I am going to sow my Tomato seeds on 1st February . It is what I did last year  . I have it written in my little red note book .  We had a good harvest .  

I usually grow Alicante , Supersweet F1 , and last year I tried Roma VF .   All very nice !

This year I am switching out the  Tomato Supersweet 100 F1 for Tomato Cocktail  Crush F1 ,this is because I want a slightly larger cherry tomato .  I am definitely growing Roma VF again . It has lovely plum shaped fruits .

I start them off on my heat propagator on my South facing bedroom windowsill .

I plan to grow just a couple of each in the unheated greenhouse and give away any spares .

I am also going to start off a few Cucumber seeds Femspot and Beth Alpha ....but not too many . 

So I checked on the Sweet Peppers and I will be gently pricking them out and potting them on , maybe later today , once again ,I don't think I'll be needing all of them . After a couple of days I'll take them up to the shed ....or maybe the greenhouse . 

The new greenhouse roof is still leaking even after the men came to fix it .  I am so disappointed  . I can no longer recommend that particular portable buildings company . 

Here are my little darlings  . Sweet Pepper babies .

I will be sowing Leeks , as they are so easy , reliable and useful in the kitchen . They don't need any heat to germinate . I'm growing Leek "Bleu de Solaise" this year . I also found an old packet of Leek "Neptune" .

 Anyone know where I can get hold of some seeds of a French variety called "Jeune de Poiteau"  ? I used to grow it together with Bleu de Solaise and they just looked very handsome growing together . 

Anyway ...

Only one Passiflora mollissima seedling so far . They can be a bit erratic germinating . I am overjoyed though to have even just one of these lovely plants ! I might carefully prick that one out and pot it up  . 

The Lemon scented Geranium plug plants that I bought on Ebay , are doing fine  . There are lots of other different scents to choose from , but I just love this one .

During a very short interval of the horrible weather , this sweet little charm of Long-Tail Tits turned up on my feeding station .  

I think I need to add "more fatballs " to my shopping list  . 

 Happy Chinese /Japanese New Year  to those who celebrate it . 

Sigh .... I think it will be a sit on my bed sewing day after all . Take care in this stormy weather . 

                   Hope you are all o.k. Sending a hug to you  💐x

                                                  🐉🐲🏯🎏🎊🐍🐉

                                     

Hope you've had your breakfast !

 

                                         ...... amazing camouflage !

So , no sleep during the night of Storm Eowyn .....but thankfully , no damage as such  ....hope you survived o.k ?

                   Another named storm coming in for tomorrow  . Storm Herminia .

                                                  🌧️⛈️🌧️      

🌦️Waiting for Storm Eowyn 🌦️

 It just seemed like the most perfect place to hang my belly dancing anklets  ......

                                                Husband says  "NO!" 

Not a lot going on in the garden today apart from making sure everything is moved into shelter zones and secure .  Brought in some more fire wood  .

        Waiting for Storm Eowyn , coming in tonight / tomorrow .

                                  🌦️🌧️⛈️Take care everyone ! ⛈️🌧️🌦️ 

🌿🤍Snowdrops 🤍🌿

 

Then as the sun was going down and the light fading , I noticed a couple of Snowdrops in the garden !

Other happy news - one of my Sweet Pepper seeds is germinating  !  🌱

                                                         ❄️🤍❄️

🌿🥔🥔Seed Potatoes 🥔🥔🌿

 

Red Duke of York seed potatoes arrived and this year I am doing this with my grand-daughter . She hasn't done this before and it's a fun lesson to learn where potatoes come from other than the supermarket .

SO

I'm not doing the chitting them in egg boxes thing , nor am I planting them in the ground .

                                                    We're doing it this way 😄

The potatoes arrived a little bit early , so we are going to start them off in pots . However these pots we decided were too small and I had to have a bit of a hunt to find these nice long pots .

We put a good handful of compost over them , but not all the way up to the top .

Covered them over with netting to keep mice out . These are now on a shelf in the garage , where it is dark and cool , to get their roots down . 

They may begin to put up sprouts and we will cover them again with some more compost .

Then as we go into March  I plan to re-plant them into my really large tubs . 

Eventually we will have the fun of tipping them all out , to see how many we can find . 

Meanwhile in the shed , I have a foil survival sheet , hanging on a line ,to reflect the light on to the bench .

I have not grown onions this early before . I was worried they might have shrivelled away or been eaten . ...but all is well . I gave them a tiny drop of water each .

The weather has been beautiful and I have been busy doing laundry , very happy to get sheets and towels dry on the line .

The sun has tried to make an appearance and it is quite mild , but it is pretty much over cast again .

 Right I have to go and make lunch .Husband's been playing working so hard having a bonfire and is hungry -  Vegetarian Shepherds Pie .

                             🌿  Cheerio fer now my lovelies !🌿

                                                           ☀️

Sowing Sweet Pepper🌶️ Corno di Toro Rosso

 So referring to my little red book - 13 January 2024 - this was the day I sowed my Sweet Red Pepper seeds .     

Last year these did really well !   🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Husband loves them , so I'm doing exactly the same thing again with these this year 2025 .

Check with your own local growing dates - I'm in Cornwall .

I wasn't going to give you any birdie news and then just as I'm about to go down stairs , through the landing window , I see this Buzzard landing on the telegraph pole .

Always a thrill to see !  (Not brilliant photos I know ! )

He puffed himself up . Very handsome boy .

                Then he spotted me watching him through the window ....

                                           ....and flew off !

             Weather - mild , gloomy , overcast   ☁️☁️☁️🌧️☁️