Sunshine ! ☀️

                     What did I tell you  ? !!!  🎶🎵 There'll be Sun !!🎶🎵

I want to have a bonfire but can't because Jessie's incredible Giant Echium is too close !

That monster must be eight feet tall !  It should be flowering soon and then it 'll be twice as tall !

Then off to prune and tidy up my little Pear tree and make a start on the Apple tree .

  It's the Ivy that is the main problem here ....but  I will sort it ! 

There's something very therapeutic about ripping off Ivy...I should do it more often !

The Ivy has made such a mess , but now it can get some air in there and dry out . 

I will go back and pull out any Ivy that is growing around the base tomorrow .

It is a right pain . I need to get the Ivy off my tree fern too . 

           ⛈️🌧️🌧️🌿🐌 2026 Year of Ivy , Slugs and Snails 🐌🌿🌿⛈️🌧️🌧️

I lopped off the water-sprout shoots and a couple of branches that were crossing over one another .

 Branches removed , it looks much better and will grow better .

I like to prune the apple trees myself , I know what I'm doing and we always have beautiful apples . 

I am a little late but it had to be done .

 I made a good start on the apple tree but will do some more work on that tomorrow .  

The Pear and the Apple trees will soon be flowering . 🍏💚🍐

A few pics from around the garden . I am in love with Hellebores at the moment . 🩷

                                Musa basjoo   ( the Banoonaah 🍌🐒🤣)

 So far , it seems to have survived the worst of the wild Cornish winter weather  .

 This was it's first year left in the ground . In the end  I had a cloche over it to protect it while we were having the big storms . It had a vent which I tied open to let the air circulate . The beautiful red bricks are what I use to hold the cloche down with ...in case you were wondering .

 Musa ensete "maurellii " the red  leafed bananas are still under cover , and I have started to give them a little rain water . It's time to start waking up ......but very gradually .

Today I noticed the Arum Lily is starting to flower ...but of course this has really enjoyed all the rain .

 In a really cold winter , this will completely die back . It's been fine this year .

I brought the washing in off the line and did two more loads and got them dry on the line also ! 

I took the remaining tomato , cucumber and sweet pepper plants up to the shed . ..to join all the others .

The plant labels finally arrived from Amazon , so now I can label everything .

And more seeds arrived from Premier Seeds  Direct 🤗💛😃

 

I think we're off for a walk now while the sun is still shining ....sort of.....maybe clouding over a little bit now . ... who cares ...it's been a beautiful morning ! 

                                              ☀️🌤️🌥️

                     p.s. They are saying it's going to turn cold again  ❄️😒

Sansivieria cuttings - Propagating 🌿(fingers crossed 🤞🏻)

     Sitting in the car at Pendennis Point with our coffee , looking out to sea .

 You can just make out the sea , at the bottom of the photo ... through the fog .

We took a drive over to Penryn  . 

Wow ! How Penryn has changed !    Husband's grandparents lived in a house on the Square .              His grandfather was A.J.Thomas  a great Cornish rugby player .  His grandparents wouldn't recognise the place now ! 

It was St Piran's Feast Day a couple of days ago .So it was a nice time to remember a bit of our Cornish family history .

    He's the good looking one standing on the right , with his muddy knees !

Anyway ......

Then Ricardo wanted to go to B&Q for some boring bits and pieces  and while he'd gone to get them I went off to look at the plants and wild birdseed  . 

 I came across a trolley with half price plants .....which even at half price I couldn't really afford ....but then I noticed these broken bits lying at the bottom of the trolley  .

 I plucked up courage to ask the nice lady if she might do me a little deal on them for me and she said she'd ask Diana ......and Diana said " Oh! Go on then !"    🤩🎉🎈🎊🎉...  SO kind !

Thankyou Diana 💐, you have no idea how happy this made me today . I haven't stopped smiling ! 

                            FREE !!   Very very happy me !

  I seem to remember that these can easily be rooted in compost or water ....not sure and this plant is a fairly new one to me .  

My mother had one , I think they were quite a fashionable plant to have in the sixties and seventies .

I suppose I have been more into cacti and succulents .

Two of the pieces had a bit of a stump at the bottom and maybe a very tiny bit of a root .

And one single leaf , which was rotten at the bottom .

To begin with I hastily potted the two bigger pieces in compost that was too wet . I had been thinking about what to do with the leaf .

I sent a message over to my botanical brother and he advised me that I can cut the leaf into segments and dusting with a bit of hormone rooting powder , making sure to plant the lower side of each leaf into gritty compost . Growing side upwards . 

He told me that this is an African plant ......and it actually needs to be in very well drained gritty earth . 

So this is a sort of succulent and needs to be treated as such . 

So , I pulled the plants carefully out , tipped the damp compost out and replaced it with some of the dry gritty earth that I had left over from repotting the Agaves yesterday . I had just the right amount left !

There is plenty of horticultural grit in there !                 All potted up !

That's a fossil I found on out last trip to Charmouth . I was sorting out all the bits and pieces I had put into my coat pocket . It's the top sticky up bit of a vertebra of an ichthyosaur  !  It's not much , but I'm pleased with it .

I digress !  

So here are the three pieces that I gave the snip to ✂️ Chonk ! Very satisfying ! 😷 🤣

I repotted the the two large ones and I think the three sections are looking quite professional , don't you agree ? 

I hope they will be o.k. I have put them at the front of the bench in the shed but I might bring them indoors .

I will do a bit more research on them ..Sansivieria trifasciata var laurentii  .....also known as Snake plant ...Mother in law's tongue ...... 

I dug over one of the vegetable beds again , to encourage better drainage and put the cardboard back over the top . The Robin and the Blackbird had a feast while I was doing this . It makes me happy to see them hopping about around my feet .

I hung washing on the line this morning hoping the sun might come out  . It stayed foggy all day .

I have left it all out on the line and there it can stay . I'll bring it in next week !  🤣

                              Hope you had a beautiful day ! 

                                        ☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️

                🎼🎵🎶The Sun'll come out.....tomorrow ! 🎶🎵🎶

☁️ Fog ☁️

 

                                                      Gloomy again !

                  Saturday frost / Sunday fog

                                      .....but it's not too cold   🤍🙂

                                                 ....... hoping the sun will break through  .

                                              ☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️  

Agave mediopicta alba 🌿

 I took this photo at about 7am this morning . Very surprised !  It is quite rare for Jack Frost to come dancing here on the Lizard .

It was gone within the next half an hour , thank goodness ! 

Those poles on the gravel area are going to be a teepee in that red tub .  I had sown sweet peas back in the Autumn but after my spine injury I couldn't even fix up the fleece like I usually do and now we are waiting for the guys to come and empty the septic tank ....and that tub is on top of the manhole cover . So now I'll have to wait until they've been and gone .

I'm hoping the Black-Eyed Suzies  will have self sown  along with the sweet peas . Not sure if they will have come through this stormy winter . 

Anyway the sun came out and we moved the garden seat off of the deck of the summer house and I cautiously peeked inside ......you know .... 🕷️🕸️🐭🐁🕷️  !!! 

On the coffee table I had left these Agaves to over winter ..... looking a bit ..well ..it's the over wintered look isn't it ? !

I decided to repot the one on the far left .

                          

                                 🌿  Agave mediopicta alba 🌿

 It has two nice sized pups ....off shoots  .  Very happy me ! This one is a special one . Not as hardy as the others but very beautiful . I think this one is the most beautiful of all the Agaves . 

                       It's not rare , but is a hard to find one .

                 I pulled it out of the pot .

...and shook off the old gritty compost .The off -shoots were quite easy to untangle and wriggle apart .

I noticed a tiny pup in there , but decided to leave that on as at that stage it won't have developed any roots .

                     I found a few more !  🤩  

It's easier to remove the pups when they are at this stage with this variety of Agave .

I needed to pull off the old dead and crispy leaves . I always try to tug them right off to the roots if possible , but if they won't come away , then I just snip off what I can .

I mixed some of the old gritty earth with some fresh compost . 

I can't find horticultural grit anywhere at a sensible price .

Agaves need to have earth which allows really good drainage .

I am careful not to bury the base of the Agave plant itself . I really need to get some horticultural grit to go on the surface , it is important  . (I might make some myself . Watch this space !)

I'm putting Mumma Agave back into her original pot .  She's so glad the two teenagers have moved out and now there is more space for her to enjoy !

.........and now they have terracotta pots of their own !  Everybody happy !

I'll let them settle in , with only the scant moisture from the fresh compost that I have mixed into the old  .  Then I'll very gradually introduce a little rain water in a few weeks time .

               🌻🌹🪻🌿    Hope you're having a nice weekend 🪻🌹🌷🌻

                                                       🌤️⛅🌥️

Agaves , Epiphyllums and Curly Wurly Kale 🌿

 

Up early - cut the grass in the ornamental garden....except for one last little bit ....because the damned battery ran out !

Anyway then spent a couple of hours up in the shed , pricking out and potting on the curly wurly kale seedlings .

 Pricked out and potted on more lettuces . Gave everything a drink . Tradescantia cuttings still looking good . Egyptian Onions looking great , I had thought I might have lost them but I had saved lots of bulbils and they are all coming up .

 Tidied up some of the Epiphyllums . Need to spend some more time pruning , repotting and generally pampering them . They will soon be showing signs of new shoots and buds .

After potting up all the seedlings I was somewhat aching , so then sat chatting on the phone with my botanical brother up country . 🥧🥟He of the wonderful pies ! 

Anyway , he told me he was repotting his Grape vine cutting and it got me thinking about the cutting I took last year , or maybe the year before . I haven't given anything any attention since the end of last August after my spine injury  .I'm only just getting back on track with my health . I am feeling so much better now thanks to my very patient doctors , nurses , therapists and physiotherapists .

So , oh my goodness , I went to take a look at my grape vine cutting in the greenhouse .

                                              Where did I put it ? ! 🤔

                                          Oh dear ! ...... There it is !   😔

                         I 'd better take it out and have a closer look at it  .

                              Oh dear !  And the compost is bone dry !

    Hang on a minute ......  can I see buds ?     🎉Yes ! 🤩

                        Dash about to find a bigger pot and some fresh compost !

                                 I teased out the root-ball a little bit .

                                       Into the bigger pot with fresh compost .

                                    Given a good long drink .

And into the greenhouse . Sort of intensive care unit .

 I have put it in with these poor Agaves that I had not been able to bring in to over winter . I was unable to do any gardening at all from the end of last August and so many things had to be just left to take their chance through the Winter months . 

I think I can save them . Some have pups (off shoots ) coming out of the bottom of their pots . Even if I lose them , I do have more healthy ones .

                                 Here is a more healthy looking one !

               It will eventually replace this monster  !

                                             Agave salmiana var ferox  

 I am hoping this one will put up it's huge inflorescence soon . Maybe this year .

 Then it will wither down , I will take it out , pull up all the off shoots and replace with that new one.

The fence around it at the moment, is so that I can more easily throw a cover over it if we were to get an Arctic blast .  It's been quite mild this year  .   BUT  we could , as yet , still get some cold weather . 

   They can actually take quite a bit of cold . It's the wet that Agaves don't like . 

                                               Last job of the day .

 I coppiced down this willow . It will now produce lots of lovely golden yellow stems .

               That's all fer today ! Have a great weekend all ! I'm thinking of you !

                                🌼  love Daisy Debbie x🌼

                                              🤍💐🕊️ 

                                                    ☀️