Wednesday, 30 September 2026

Lettuce - continued 🌱🌱🥬

              🌱  Pricking out my teeny-tiny Lettuce seedlings  🌱🌱🌱

The weather turning cooler should suit them better now .


I have put three or four in each 3"pot . I will grow these on the bench in the shed .

Meanwhile in the kitchen .....

I have tried all kinds of methods to grow Sweet Potatoes....every method failed .
Then yesterday I find two Sweet Potatoes at the bottom of my potato basket in the kitchen .....with shoots growing out of them ! 🤩🌿
  So I think I'm correct in thinking that you are supposed to cut these shoots or "slips" off and pot them up as cuttings ?
    I think that you're supposed to do this in the Spring , but anyway , I guess I have nothing to lose to try and get them rooted and see if I can keep them going through the Winter  . 
    Maybe I'll bring them indoors on my windowsill propagator ......hmmm  🤔


          So off we go to the shed again ....

I cut the shoots off with a little bit of the potato still attached and dabbed them with a little bit of Hormone Rooting Powder .


                       ....and potted them up .


This is not a tutorial . Do not copy me ! I do not really know what I'm doing ! 🤣


                  Also we now have diminishing light levels going into Winter .
                             Anyway , I thought it would be worth a try .
       They will probably be dead tomorrow .....I'll let you know how it goes .

                                       Peace and Love  🕊️🤍🌿

                                                    Love Debbie 💐x
p.s. Oh ! My goodness it's October tomorrow !

Sunday, 27 September 2026

We shall have Lettuce ! 🌱🌱🥬

          Lettuce seeds all germinating ! One or two red Welsh Onions also .

Very happy to see these all germinating . Parris Island and Red Romaine Lettuce.
         Now I have to prick them all out and pot them all on !

What an amazing day !  🎉 Today I had a two hour taster session of Cotswold Morris Dancing ! 🎉

We had a great teacher and live music with a lady playing the accordian .

It was really hard work and I am going to ache like hell tomorrow , but it was such fun !

Obviously since I was dancing , I couldn't take any photos ; but my granddaughter did a little video and I will post it as soon as we figure out how to do it .  😃 

                                        Peace and Love 🕊️🤍

                                               Love Debbie 💐x






Saturday, 26 September 2026

Harvest Moon 🌕

 

                                     Harvest Moon this evening .

✨Labyrinth Update ✨✨

Autum equinox and the grass is growing away fast again after the long drought . 


                        Just a few weeks ago , it looked like this .  


                            In the early morning mist .


Friday, 25 September 2026

Just Pootling about in the Greenhouse 🌿


  I had strict orders not to do too much today . So I thought I'd just pootle about in the greenhouse . Make a start on getting it ready for the winter months .


The cucumbers are still coming but I need the space to get the Agaves under the bench .

I cut them down and dragged out the pot/bags . Tipped all the spent compost into the wheelbarrow . Folded up all the pot/bags ready for next year .
On top of the compost pile you can see one of my Epiphyllums .

                                       Epiphyllum "Lollipop"
             I needed to sort it out it has a touch of the mealybugs .
It is a healthy looking plant and has amazing flowers , so I don't want to lose it .
                 I think I have got to it just in time .


Took down all the paracord strings . Tied them into neat bundles ready to use again next year .



I repotted that Tumeric into the next size up pot .


I tidied up this Agave americana  . I noticed it had an offshoot / pup growing out of a tiny hole in the bottom of the pot . So I tipped it out . In fact I had to cut the pot to get it out !

 
            And this is what I found ! Lots of offshoots !  
I gently pulled them all off and I have set them aside to callous over any roots that I might have damaged in doing so . I'll pot them up in a couple of days .

                                          💚 Agave salmiana ferox 💚
Look at this beauty ! Shiny , dark green , bitey sharks teeth ! 🦈🌿

The thing with Agaves is as soon as you pot them up into a bigger pot , they very quickly grow and fill it . Small pot/small Agave .


                                         Here's one I grew earlier !


                                I think it might flower next year !

Anyway, back in the greenhouse I'm still pootling about ....


           Look ! The Sweet Peppers are producing a few more fruits ! 
   I will leave these for a bit longer . Very pleased , Ricardo loves them !
Epie pollinating and propagating update - 


                                      Almost ready !


                  Also almost ready . Need to colour up a bit more .
I will take the seeds from these in a couple of months time and start them off on the heated propagator on my windowsill . It will be fun to see what we get .


I was saddened to see this Rhipsalidopsis rosea was falling to pieces at the back of the greenhouse bench . I hadn't realised it was so close to an open window .


It's going to be o.k. though.....I can save it !


                 Some of the pieces have already put out roots ! 

I had just started to pot them up when there was an unearthly scream from the garden .....also ...I noticed the sound of the strimmer had stopped . ...memories of my neighbour Sue telling me how she had strimmed the top of her finger off came flooding back 😱.......I ran as fast as I could .....  so there he was sitting in the middle of a huge thicket of brambles , arms ripped and bleeding (but thankfully with all his fingers ) , completley trapped and unable to get out . Said he'd fallen down a hole .

  Now knowing he was o.k .....

I asked if I might take a picture for Facebook .....I always ask first ....
       he said " No ! "
 "Go and get the loppers !"  


He was stuck sitting in there and it took me ages to snip and lop all the brambles to free him .
 I managed to get him to roll out onto his side , I couldn't lift him no matter how I tried .
  It was only with the help of that garden kneeler contraption he finally got himself up  !


Now up and laughing and nothing more than a bit of TCP couldn't sort out .....cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit !  
 
                                     Just look at that crater !  🤣

                                        Peace and Love 🕊️🤍

                                            love Debbie 💐x

                                                            

 











Wednesday, 23 September 2026

Banana Plant Number Two - Winter protection - Cornwall

                           Musa enseti maurelii
                    O.k. Banana number two I'm coming to get you !


                 Being careful not to damage the beautiful leaves .

I carefully loosen the earth around the roots . It is mostly soft compost that I planted it in with back in the early summer time and it had the fresh compost that I gave it to over-winter in last autumn .


I get the wheelbarrow as close as I can to the rootball . I try to get as much of the earth and rootball as I can without damaging the roots if possible .


                                Done !   😜     That was one heavy beast ! 



I plant it up into a nice mix of fresh good quality compost and perlite and watered it in .
   This will give it a boost and it can be getting it's roots down and settling into it before the cold weather starts . 


I have old polystyrene packaging under and around the tubs . If we get an Arctic Blast or snow warning I will lash more polystyrene around the front . 
  There is light above through the clear plastic corrugated roof.

                                     Mission complete 🌴🐒💚

                               Musa basjoo - survived Storm Gorretti !

    Musa basjoo is staying out - I have a cloche to put over it , if need be .

                                       🍌🐒🌴


So then feeling very pleased with myself ..... I got a bit carried away with pruning overgrown bushes  .......and this is as far as I got !

                I'll come back to it tomorrow !

      Other news -  My Everlasting Onions arrived 🤩

                                       Beautifully packed !
    

                    Good root system .


I got them potted up into a better pot and clearly labelled them so no one will take them for spring onions . I want to build up a nice colony of these Everlasting Onions before we start taking them .


My Red Welsh Onion seeds also arrived and I have sown a first batch  . 
  These are also useful in that they clump up . I hope these will be successful . 
Tomorrow I must sort out some more Winter Lettuce seeds and get them started . 
 Lettuce Vailan didn't germinate.....very disappointed . Oh well ...If at first you don't succeed ...try again tomorrow . 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱


Off for our afternoon walk and a picnic now . I'll probably fall asleep in the car !

                                           Peace and Love 🕊️🤍

                                     See you tomorrow !

                                               love Debbie  💐x