Another Day in the Greenhouse 🪾

 Four little cuttings of quite a rare or at least a quite hard to find plant .

Found nice person selling cuttings at a very reasonable price , very happy me !

 Irresistibly fascinating 🧐. Extraordinarily weird 🥸 - Euphorbia platyclada .

  Madagascar is it's natural habitat . Sub-tropical and tropical dry forests . Perfectly camouflaged to look like dried up vegetation and sticks lying amongst the rocks on the woodland floor .

Anyway .....

I have potted them up in a mixture of potting compost , grit and perlite .

I have no idea how fast or slow growing they might be .

I'll be watching closely for signs of new growth .

They don't have leaves .

They do have tiny ,very simple flowers that are typical of most Euphorbias . I look forward to seeing it in bloom .

👿Also like all Euporbias - it has a poisonous , milky looking , caustic sticky sap and great care should be made in handling it .Wear gloves and do not touch eyes ...if it does come into contact with eyes ...seek medical attention immediately !👿

Apart from that , it just looks like a bunch of dead sticks ! 😀  🪾

Allow cuttings to callous over before potting them up .

Of course it is more commonly known as the Dead Stick Plant  . 

              Please ignore this label !

It is a succulent ,  not a cactus  !   I have to make another label !

So , I am left thinking .....how would I know if these cuttings don't take ? 🤔🤣

             Watch this space ! 😀 

                                   Peace and Love    🕊️🤍

                   Make it a great weekend !  Love Debbie 💐x

                                               🌤️

💐Flowers for the Table 💐

 You may have noticedthat I didn't do my usual "flowers for the table"post last week .

This is because there are hardly any flowers in the garden to pick , due to the long drought .

I managed to find a few today ; enough to cobble together what turned out to be a rather extravagant arrangement !

Two very small blue hydrangea sprays , one small spary of Rosa "Bonica", a very small spray of red Pelargoniums . The rest is Bay , Pittasporum and Miscanthus sinensis .

                   What do you think ? 😀 lol ! 

Followed by a stroll along the beach .....

   

                                   Peace and Love 🕊️🤍

                                           Debbie 💐x

Still in the Greenhouse

 

Taking me longer than I thought !  I'm still clearing out the Tomato plants , pulling out the "grow pot-bags" , tipping out the spent compost and folding and putting them away for another year . 

It's a job that I had thought would only take me ten minutes . I've been up in the greenhouse for most of the morning .

 It's been a horrible mucky task and my back is telling me to stop now , after my spine injury last year and a week in hospital , I really don't want that to happen again .

Ricardo will wheel this down to one of the vegetable beds for me , I'll spread it all out and let the worms do the work for me .

               One odd shaped cucumber for sandwiches !

I finished off greenhouse operations with a bit of a sweep and that's my lot for today !

         Ricardo has done a great job of cutting the grass in the meadow .

We've had a few hefty rain showers over night . The water-barrels are full and the grass is growing away fast again after the long dry summer  . 

               It's sunny and breezy today 🌤️hope you are having a great week .

                              Peace and Love 🕊️🤍

                                            love Debbie 💐x

                               

🌿Another Day in the Greenhouse 🌵🌿

 It is so refreshing to be able to see into my greenhouse now the tomato plants have been cleared from the bench !

              Leuchtenbergia principis    and hang on ....have a look at the label ...

                  Passiflora manicata the one with a lovely red flowers  .

I want to train it horizontaly along the greenhouse window . I need to fix up some support for it . I think it should be o.k and look great there  . It will need a much bigger pot eventually .  I'm still thinking about it . It might be a better idea to put it into a tub below the bench , and have it grow up through the bench and then fix up some horizontal support .

  Anyway , that's a Turmeric plant next to it . I think both of these will die back and go dormant over the Winter months .

   ⭐  Bowiea volubilis - her tiny star flowers now forming little cone shaped seed pods .⭐

                                 Another Cucumber swelling up !

                            I will be clearing under the bench next. 

            All is well in the greenhouse .🌵🌿

I am off to pull out the lawnmower and tidy the labyrinth .  

                     Make it a great weekend !

                                   Peace and Love 🕊️🤍

                                            love Debbie 💐x

Goodbye Tomato Plants

 

                      Today's the day ! Out with the Tomato plants !

Time to make space for all my cacti and other plants . Growing on the bench but below the tomato plants , they have all been nicely shaded from this summer's hot sun .

I gave them all a little drink and enjoyed looking closer at them all .

          Especially this Maihueniopsis clavarioides .

Another very precious one I bought from Mr Pilbeam of "Connoisseur Cacti " .

   Mine must be more than ten years now .

  It is extrememy slow growing and perfectly hidden in amongst the rocks .

It comes from very high altitude regions of Argentina . Has a large tap root and is a creeping form . 

I have yet to see it bloom . I think it has large yellow flowers .

I need to make a new plant label for it .

Lophophora williamsii also has a long tap root and it looks as if I missed this one blooming under all the tomato plants ! 

                 New plant labels all round I think . I can't even read this one ! 

                               Anyone know what this one is ?  

                    Haworthia truncata is a fascinating plant .

                     It is beginning to put up flower buds !

Tomorrow I will clear the remaining parts of the tomato plants under the bench .

I'm going to leave the Cucumbers for a bit longer as they are still producing fruits .

  Room on the bench for my Pelargoniums / Geraniums now and I am starting to bring in some of my more tender plants .

Start gathering fleece and newspapers ready to cover things on cold nights .

                  Cheerio fer now !  Peace and Love 🕊️🤍

                             Make it a great weekend !

                                        Love Debbie 💐x

      

Autumn has Arrived 🍂🍃🍁

Well it certainly is "back to school after the Summer holibobs" kind of weather !

                                      The fog has returned !

              ..... and the puddle where I wash my muddy wellies .

              I need to start wearing my wellies now ! Need new socks !

 Are you all wearing your new ( or hand me down ) winter school uniforms and your new slightly bigger shoes to allow for growing ?

    Did your mum sew name tags in everything ? Dinner money and tuck money or a lovely new trendy lunch box maybe ? 

Your favourite old pencil case with some new pencils, rubber, felt tip pens , compass and protractor set ? Satchel or backpack ? P.E Kit + plimsolls  , recorder ,violin or guitar maybe ? A pocket full of sweeties ?   Signed permission slip to go see the Bayeux Tapestry ?   😄

Yes , the fog has returned . It's not cold though , still quite mild .

Not such a good apple harvest this year , but these Russet Apples are looking good and are my favourite . Taste like honey .

               The Christmas potatoes are coming on in leaps and bounds !

It was very windy the other day and the beans did not like it ! Still a few more beans to come though .

              Lots of sparkling cobwebs everywhere .

              Lovely Hops this year ! I will pick these for a sleep pillow .

 One very important Autumn job - we had the chimney swept .

 The sweep will be coming back to put up a new cowl as this one has holes in it !

I'm surprised it didn't come off during Storm Gorretti !  ⛈️🌩️🌩️🌧️😱

We are clearing brambles today and a rose that has got a bit out of control !

        All fer now !   Hope your walk to school is not too far or puddley !

                              Make it a great day !

                                        Peace and Love 🕊️🤍

 

                                                 love Debbie 💐x