🌿Bringing back the love 🪷🌿

  

                           🌿   I have arrived , I am home . 🌿 

          I gently carried Lord Buddha back to his place in my greenhouse .

                                    It was a beautiful sunrise .

I have been slowly pottering about , determined to get my seedlings potted on . How one week can make such a difference ! 

I normally prick out my seedlings at the cotyledon or the first not true leaf stage , just as they first germinate . This way helps stop the roots from getting tangled and damaged as I separate them . 

So ,a week on and the first true leaf has appeared and they are getting leggy  .  It's o.k . I will do my best to save them and they will probably be o.k. . 

I could probably sow some more cucumber seeds at this stage , it's not too late . 

These Alicante Tomato seedlings were a second sowing after I muddled up the first lot .They'll soon catch up .

Passiflora seedlings each popped into their own pot of fresh compost . Should quickly give them a boost . 

So good to get my hands into the earth .

I have many trowels / hand spades lying around here are there .

I mostly use my bare hands for potting up sessions .

The hori-hori has become a trendy thing .....but for me ...not so useful ...I still prefer the good old fashioned trowel or hand spade ......or my bare hands .

It is very sharp .......another reason why I'm not so keen on them . It does have a safety cover .

However , today while up in the shed , it did come in useful for sharpening my plant labelling pencil !

Just as we are using up our leeks which have stood this horrible wet and windy weather , so it is time to be sowing next Winter's larder . Always overjoyed to see the leek babies hatching .So much easier than onions in my opinion . Those are Poppies coming up next to them ,can't wait to see their flowers .

                     Now all in the unheated greenhouse  . 

 

Tonight I'll fix up the roof insulation stuff along the rafters and cover everything over with fleece and newspaper sheets . 

I'm feeling like I 've caught up again ...hopefully . 🙏🏻🌱🌱🌱🌿

Weather update - Sunshine by day ☀️ - blinking cold by night  🌑 new moon 

Also will light my candle lantern .

This morning I had my little incense burner going on top of it . 

 The greenhouse is beginning to become my happy place again .

Now I'm going to put my feet up again for the rest of the day !

Fed up !

 

Did you all enjoy your half term break ?  I hope you had a great time and are now thoroughly rested .

So..... this post was supposed to be the one where I tell you all about our fabulous mini holiday , two day trip to Lyme Regis , how we walked up the beach to the Golden Cap and about all the fossils that we found .

And of how I'd got all my tomato, pepper and cucumber seedlings all pricked out and potted on .

☹️

Sigh ....All had to be cancelled due to me getting sick with gastric enteritis .

 This has been a whole wasted week of time . A whole flaming week !   I'm feeling so cross about it ! 

 

                                                       🦖🦈🦕🦈🌱🌱🌱

                             Ever get the feeling you're being watched ?

                                              🐿️🐦‍⬛🌳🦊🦡🐿️🦦🤎

The Ugly Side of the Garden

 

                Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day with not even the slightest breeze .

I knew this would be a good time to tackle the "ugly side " of the garden .

My new little folding saw had arrived and I set to sawing off the one last branch of my favourite Russet Apple tree . 

The idea being that one could throw a cap through the centre of the tree . 

Due to poor health , I haven't pruned this tree for quite some time . 

I hope it wasn't one branch too many ! 

I still need to clear some of the grass from around the bottom of this apple tree.

But I just really have to get on and sort out this ugly area . It is full of Bindweed . I tried laying old carpet down on it ,thinking the carpet was wool and so it would kill the Bindweed and then biodegrade .

Wrong !  The Bindweed came up through it !

I covered it with black plastic , but this was very thin plastic which strangely had tiny pinprick holes all over it , so the Bindweed came up through that too !

Well , I spent the whole morning pulling all this plastic off.

The carpet would not come up , no matter how I tugged and pulled and tried with the shovel . 

I had marked out roughly the edge of this area with rope . The carpet went out beyond and under the grass . I had to sort of slither the grass off the top . Roll back the carpet and then patch the edge up with the slithered turfs . 

  Tried again with the pulling and tugging ..... no luck . It would seem I did a really good job of laying the old wool carpet down there fifteen/sixteen years ago ! 

 I don't want to use pesticides .

So I am going to give it one more try with an even heavier black plastic sheet .

 

 Arm aching from sawing the apple tree branch down . Back aching from moving heavy fence panel , tugging and pulling ....I stood up to stretch out , take a little wander about . Admire the Snowdrops and the Cyclamen leaves .

..... and the beautiful yellow stems of this willow .  ( Another job to be done ! Has to be coppiced down so it will make even more beautiful golden stems . ) 

  LUNCH TIME 

After lunch , I don't know how , but I managed to get my aching bones back outside to finish off .

 I laid down the old thin sheets of plastic towards the back and lay the old fence panel down on it to hold it down . 

 I am going to try and find an old pair of scissors and little by little , cut the old carpet back as far as I can .

Beyond this are all my young tree saplings (the Jane Goodall mini forest 🌳🌳🌿🌳🐒🌳) and beyond that I have planted Griselinia bushes . I am thinking of fixing up some windbreak mesh along the wire fence at the very back , to protect the young trees from the North wind ,while they get going .

 

 Very thankful that the wind had died down today while trying to lay this plastic sheeting .

I have laid down some old fence posts around the edges to hold the new heavy black plastic sheeting down and the upsidey down broken old wheel-barrow .

 Eventually , I will be putting my potato tubs on here which will also help to hold it all down .

Sarpo mira potato seed arrived and are now chitting on egg boxes and I have Red Duke of York in small pots sprouting in the garage .

 

                                             Upsidey down broken old wheel-barrow .

Some hazel rods which I have cut ready to make an attractive woven Hazel path that goes between this ugly area and the bonfire heap . This little path will enable me to walk around to the back and tend to the hedging  .

I can't do this until the bonfire heap is gone . 

I want that bonfire heap gone because this area is facing South and would be perfect for growing lovely tropical things .🌴🌿🐒

  I still have three gorgeous Gingko biloba saplings to be planted out along the back here . ( which I grew from seeds  🌱🌱🌱 ) It will soon be too late to plant them out and then I will have to re-pot them into large tubs now .

           Above all ...I WANT THAT BONFIRE HEAP GONE !   

So that's what I did pretty much all day yesterday ......(.not the bonfire )

One more exciting thing ....

Cucumber Beth Alpha F1 -  have all germinated !   

                                  🌿Hope you're having a lovely weekend . 🌿

                                                            🐒🌳☀️

                                                    

🌿Happy St Valentine's Day ! 💚🌿

 

   🌿So here's a little bit o' passion for you .....🌿

      🌿First true leaves are coming  .🌿

                🌿   Passiflora manicata and Passiflora mollissima .🌿

  Oh ...and a very nice heart stone that I found on the beach  🏖️🌧️💚

             Wishing you a beautiful "feeling loved " kind of a day ! 

                                               🌿💚🌿

🐎🌿Horseradish 🌿🐎

Husband loves Horseradish .

So I thought I really ought to have a small patch of it growing in my garden .

I  found someone selling it on Ebay . Put in my order and today here it is . My favourite kind of parcel !

                           Just look at those gorgeous roots ! 

                        Gorgeous roots and some sturdy looking shoots !

I got them potted up straight away and then into the greenhouse .

               🐎🌿🐎Now what I need is a good Horseradish Sauce recipe 🐎🌿🐎

We are having coldish weather this week . So I think I'll just bring them on for a bit in here and put them out when they've got their roots down and when I can see some signs of growth .

I gave them a little water , not too much .

Also gave a drop of water to the Geranium Maderense plants . I am so glad that I held back a few in the shelter of the greenhouse .The ones I planted out , firstly got nibbled by the bunnies and then were finished off by those angry scorching gales of Storm Eowyn .

I need to replant my Lavender plants for the same reason . They really did not enjoy all the recent storms .

When I plant these out , this time , I will surround the bed with chicken wire .

                                                        🌿🌿🌿

                       Veltheimia bracteata has two flower spires coming !     

It is the first time in a very long time that I have done anything in the greenhouse .

I took a look around . All the Epiphyllums look very dry , but that's o.k. They will be fine for a little bit longer . 

Dioscorea elephantipes - the Elephant's Foot plant has sprung into life . I gave them each a little drop of water . 

That's a Euphorbia cactus thing growing in with it . Shouldn't be in with it really ! They were just some pieces that had dropped off of the mother plant and I had just laid them there for the time being .

Forgotten and now they have taken root . 

Maybe I will start bringing all the plants back into the greenhouse .

Just a few at a time .... maybe .... slowly bring the love back in  .

                                                         🌿💚🌿

🌿Meanwhile up in the Shed - 🌱🌱🍅

 

Pricked out and potted on 8 Cocktail Crush Tomato F1 seedlings . Only eight seeds in the packet !

12 Roma VF seedlings - a very generous seed packet , which I accidently dropped and ended up sowing far more than I need ! 

                                                     ☁️🌥️☁️

Spring Restore Labyrinth

 I spent most of yesterday restoring the labyrinth ,which always needs a good ol' tidy up in the Spring . 

We've had so much rain and the ground too wet to cut the grass , but I managed to give the labyrinth it's first cut of the year yesterday morning . The lawn mower stopping and spluttering as I went around !

These precious grass clippings were cast onto the two vegetable beds that are covered with the Autumn leaves , shredded cardboard and seaweed . 🌿🍁🍂🪱My good earthworms will , this process  into lovely crumbly compost for me . 🪱🍂🍁🌿

Next I went about kneeling on a cushion , pulling out weeds and grass that in some places completely covered rocks . 

I have more of this still to do .

I haven't put rocks all around the labyrinth  , just in a few strategic places that mark the formula . This helps me to keep the whole thing in shape .

Next job is to rake the dead grass / thatch out of the pathway walls . A little bit as and when I feel strong enough to do it . This raking out of the thatch job makes my back ache . So little and often is the way to go .

As you can see we had a visit from Jack  Frost this morning . ❄️ Only the second frost of the Winter here , we rarely get frost . I am always delighted to see it ! 

                                   It makes everything look so beautiful .

                                                      ❄️🌸☀️