I've had an idea ! 😃

 

                                    I'm thinking a pool would be cool !   😃

                                                        🌿🌿🌿

Lettuce Seedlings - not today 🌱🌱🌱🌱

 

So this morning I had planned to prick out and pot on this tray of lettuce . Simples !  😃

          Not so simples .... because first I have to make space in the shed  🙄

All those Epies have got to be moved .... 

.......  into the greenhouse  .......  😃 

     Don't panic ..stay calm ....we can do this  .... just need to shift a few things around that's all !  

I moved the Tarantula Fern and the Stag horn /Elk Horn into it's new shady position on a low shelf under the bench . They will be much happier in there .

I squeezed in a Disocactus macranthus in behind them  ...it also would prefer to be in the shade . Those tatty leaves / phylloclades have sun scorch marks on them . 

   

I moved out the shelving unit that was in the middle and found a smaller one to go under the bench along the back of the greenhouse . At the moment I have put some of my cacti on that....sort them out later .

Most of the Epiphyllums are on top of this bench with shade net fixed up overhead . 

that big Aloe in the orange tub is the one my brother gave me a few years ago .  It is amazing . It has not had any water all through this past winter , not one drop .  Cacti and succulents are fascinating and amazing plants !

I will probably put this one outside for the summer maybe next week . We are having a mini heatwave right now , which will almost certainly end with a deluge of rain at the weekend .  I'll put this Aloe and a few other things out after the weather has settled again .

Aloe vera...got to get that out too . I'm not so in love with that as I used to be  .

While I'm down here on the floor ,I might as well show you the Cucumber plants .....coming along !

On the other side , the tomatoes are now pushing up through the bench .

So all is looking fairly well , it's so hot !  Then as I started to get up from the floor , my brother sent me a message on the mobile phone which I opened and read but didn't reply to , because I passed out .

I'm o.k.  I think it was because I tried to get up too quickly and answer the phone at the same time . I got dizzy . I'm a newbie to the mobile phone and still get into a bit of a panic when it plays the music whenever anyone calls me . Gawd ! Don't like it !

Anyway , all is well ! I'm o.k. ! I'm O.K. !  

                   And I'm liking how it looks now . What d'ya think ?   

 That's all fer today . It's too hot for me . I'll do the lettuce seedlings early tomorrow morning .

                                                     🌿☀️🌿

Marilyn Monroe - another Epie update !

  Lettuce Romaine Cos type red and green and Pak Choi - ready to prick out and pot on .

I grow these on the bench in the shed . It works for me . They get early morning sun then the sun goes behind the trees behind the shed , so it doesn't get too hot in there .  There is a window , but I have to be very ,very careful as I open it , that the glass doesn't fall out .

It's still a bit of a mess in there . I am still trying to get some order back with my plants after the new workshop/woodshed and greenhouse were being built . Everything had to go in there , chaos ! 

I have more Epiphyllums in here . 😃🌿When they have all finished flowering , I will be tidying , pruning , re-potting and re labelling them . So many things had their labels muddled or lost !

For the time being  I have got to shove them all up to the other end of the bench ....to make room for the lettuce plantation . Which I may start tomorrow morning while it is still cool . ( We're having a mini heat wave right now )

I am unable to move one of my more precious Epies as she has two buds coming . 

Yep ...I've had Marilyn Monroe locked away in my shed all Winter ! 

                           Epiphyllum var "Marilyn Monroe " 

For the time being , she has to stay here and not be moved ....not even an inch .

                                    Or she will lose those buds .

                    I can't wait to see those gorgeous soft pink flowers again  🩷

Then I will cut her down to encourage a better shape and more stems to form . 

                I should get a few nice cuttings too .

                        Watch this space for more Epie updates !

                                      

  It's too hot for me , I'm going to have a flop beside a nice cooling fan and do my embroidery .

                          Cheerio fer now !

                                                               ☀️

                             

Beaucarnea recurvata

 

Not the best photo sorry . So on the next trip to B & Q  I acquired  a Beaucarnea recurvata in a tiddly little pot . It just said "Nolina" on the label ....there are several different types of Beaucarnea , but Beaucarnea recurvata is the one you most usually find here in garden centres in the U.K.  So I'm assuming it's this one  .

                                 It needs sorting out !

The bulbs and tubers have all just been reduced to half price ! It says three for £8.00  so we assumed that meant the total would be £4.00  .

 I spent ages rummaging  through all the dead pieces of Peony roots to find three with any kind of a decent living shoot .

So we got to the check out and she began to check out everything , but hang on , hang on hang on... the total was not correct , we queried it , only to be told that the manager said it was half the price for each single one not half price the price for three .  You know ..that moment where you stand there feeling well and truly puzzled ? We decided to put one back . My husband presented his £3 voucher from our last sale , which then meant we hadn't bought enough items to make it worth while . I was told to go and find something else for three pounds . We then realised a long queue was forming . So we decided to just have all three of the peonies . 

 We asked to speak to the manager ...who was not around . Checkout person said that everyone has been annoyed about this !  

  Paid and left store .....realising that we'd been charged the full original price .  

                          So be aware of this next time you are in B&Q .  

                                 Very disappointed !

I digress ....sorry ....

                          Just look at those roots !

                    Carefully teasing them out .

 And into new pot and fresh gritty compost .

Keeping the caudex above the compost ....I'm just crazy about "fat-plants" 

  I'm going to get or make some horticultural grit to go around the base .

I would have put this into a more shallow pot but the pot I was going to use was broken .

They do look and fare better in a more shallow pot . I will look out for one one our travels .

So I gave it a drink and then into the greenhouse for a while to get settled in .

 

                                                       🌿💚 🌿

                                                        

p.s.

I potted up all three of the Peony bits into one big pot and they are now down in the woodshed with the Dahlias .   Can you see them ?    You might need a magnifying glass .

                    Time for a cup of tea . Cheerio fer now . Debbie 💐☀️💐  x

🌿❤️Epiphyllum update🩷🌿

                     It's happening !  Lets take a look !

                                             🩷  Epie love ! 🩷    

                                                 🌿❤️🌿 

🌶️Growing in amongst the shade of the Sweet Peppers 🌶️ This is an Epiphyllum that was sent to me from a very kind person in Kent.....they called it simply "Yellow "and said it never fails to bloom every year .💛

                                                      🌿🤍🌿 

                                                               ❤️           

This sweet little one - Rhipsalidopsis rosea is one of my absolute favourites  🤍🌿

                                                           🌿☀️🌿

Autumn Sown Sweet Peas - update 💐☀️

Uncovered my Sweet Peas today , they were starting to force their way out !

I sowed these on the 28th October 2024 . They have buds on already . 💐

When these finish I will replace them with mum's favourite Black-Eye Suzie's same as I did last year .

The tee pee is leaning a little bit after all the winter storms and gales . I might sort that out ....... I might not .  😃

            Hope you're having a beautiful day !  ☀️

 

🌱Hooray ! 🌱

 And they're off !  🌱🌱🌱

 🌱 Here we go , the first lot of Climbing French Beans Blue Lake are waking up ! 🌱

                   I sowed this lot about three days ago  .

                                               🌿☀️🌿

🫘🫛Sowing Beans and Sweetcorn 🌽🌽

                                🌿English Bluebells in the hedgerow 🌿

So yesterday , all I wanted to do was sow more beans . Nothing else !  Just sow the Dwarf French Beans , Runner Beans and Sweetcorn . 

I'd been waiting for the postman to deliver two more Garland covered propagation boxes .

And hooray!  They arrived ! 

 These have the nice deep pots that are so nice and easy to remove the seedlings out from . They are nice and robust . I will be able to re-use these over and  over again .

But I couldn't do it just yet as there was not enough space on the bench in the shed .

 The Dahlias had to be moved out and taken down to the woodshed .

These are just beginning to put up shoots . So into the wheelbarrow and off to the woodshed we go .

But before I could put them into the woodshed , I had to move all the plants I'd been over-wintering in there . 

My heart sank .

But I got on with it and moved all of the smaller plants . Some to go outside and some cacti to go in the greenhouse ( I know , I know ! Not much space left in there ! I know ! )

The biggest ones could go in the corner where the Banana Plants have been over wintering .

Which meant I had to drag out the two huge Banana plants .

 But before I dragged them out , I had to ask my husband to drive out the ride on lawn mower ,which meant he had to get out of his armchair .

With some squidging about I managed to heave the nanas out by myself ....but then I still had to wake him up to move the ride on lawn mower , so that I could get the table out . 

As it turned out , he was happy to get the table and the rest of the garden furniture out and we did that together .....and it all went quite smoothly after that . He helped me lift out the table and we carried it down to it's place by the back door and he then was excited to give it a coat of wood-stain .

Which then meant I could drag  the little shelving unit into the woodshed , to put the Dahlias on to .

It'll do for the time being .

It started to get mizzley and actually became quite heavy during the evening . I left the dahlias and the banana plants out to benefit from the rain . 

It was very humid and the rain quite warm so not worried about leaving the bananas outside now  . I can always drag them back under cover . We'll see how the weather goes and maybe plant them out the week after next .

The Dahlias need more time under cover . Now they've had a good drink ,I have moved them onto the shelves in the woodshed .

I had to get two huge bags of compost that had been left by the back door , into the wheelbarrow ...

..and then back up to the shed , to sow the beans and sweetcorn . It's been quite a work out !

                                             Job done ! 

 It always seems that , nothing is ever as simple a job , as at first I think it will be ! 

         Weather update - there is the promise of a whole week of beautiful Cornish Sunshine .

        This usually means -  warm , with more heavy drifting sea fog , but we'll see !

                                                         ☀️

 (🌴 please note - I am in the furthest south west of Cornwall  - it might be too early for you to uncover your Banana plants , tree ferns etc if you are anywhere further up country . I know that there are some little pockets of places that seem to warm up round about now , but not generally and it would be better to wait until around the mid to end of May 🌴 )