Meanwhile in the Greenhouse 🌧️⛈️⚓

 

I haven't been in the greenhouse for quite a while , beginning of September I think . After my back injury it was as much as I could do to throw this fleece over everything .

The garden table and chairs were brought inside or they might  have blown away in the storms . We are still getting frequent yellow weather warnings for rain .

The brand new greenhouse is flooded ....and it seems that I will just have to live with it ....sigh ....

I made a start by taking out the table and chairs , it's not so windy now . I need to get to the plants at the end under the bench .

 I have not watered anything in the greenhouse , mostly the cacti and succulents are dormant over the winter months .

 I thought the ferns might have suffered .....

...but of course the prefer the damp shade ...

..and look just fine .

The Tarantula and Elkhorn Ferns look great ....also surprisingly the Brahma Kamala Epiphyllum oxypetalum is looking especially lush !  I am looking forward to seeing that bloom again .

The Epies on top of the bench look a bit sad , but now I've removed the fleece the light levels will be better for them ...although they prefer not too much . They can easily get scorched by bright sunlight .

Hylocereus undatus however seems to prefer more sunlight ....

It has once again pushed through the shade net to get more sunshine ..... well maybe it has been a little disappointed for not finding much sunshine , but certainly a bit more light anyway .

I very cruelly left some Hylocereus undatus outside over the winter as an experiment . It has survived ! I also have a broken piece hanging on hooks in the front porch . It has put out ariel roots and is also still alive !  Hylocereus undatus is a tough guy !

  I would dearly love to see it in flower , alas I have only seen pictures of it on the internet .

It is my cactus collection that I am most worried about with the greenhouse leaking , I have now lost some of my most precious and rare ones . 😞

I use polystryrene from packaging to stand pots on and as you can see along the sides of the windows , to keep them cosy . This is an unheated greenhouse .

  I haven't had to use the candle lantern or my stone hot water bottles this winter .....but we could still get a cold snap .  The sheets of newspaper and fleece wrap are waiting in the wings .

It is the rain coming in that is really worrying me .

 This Lophophora williamsii , I have had for about thirty years and it blooms every year . I think it wants to go home to Mexico !      Crassula Buddha's Temple , is very small ...very precious to me ! 

Opuntia ..has a new friend , nasty bramble branch which has found it's way through under the window !

 They have something in common . They both bite !!

The nasty bramble's days are numbered !  😡 Where are my loppers ? ! 

I have had these Opuntias also for about thirty years . This one is Opuntia violacea , next to it Agave utahensis (notice how I put these dangerous ones in to the furthest corner at the back )

  And that's the fast growing Dog tail cactus in the green hanging pot ... er ..Echinocereus testudo I think  🤔

Anyway I must get on and figure out a way to get all the water out . My friend recommended using a dustpan to sort of shovel it out with . 

I'm also trying to keep out of the way of the good gentlemen who are doing some handsome new fencing for us .  

One last thing ..

          I promised to show you all the "hagstones " that I collected from Charmouth beach 😃

                                                      😃    Ta-daah !   

     I have been known to find the occasional awesome fossil ..... 

      I found this along Black Ven ..... had it identified in the Natural History Museum in London .

                             🦖🦈🦕  Very happy me !   🦕🦈🦖
  

                                             Love Debbie x

      P.S . Tomorrow I will show you my amazing driftwood !  I know you can't wait !! 🤣

                                 Love and Peace 🤍

Several wheelbarrow loads later 🌿

 

In case you were wondering where I'd gone , I had a bit of a nasty old migraine and had to take a break from moving plants , embroidery or even looking at the computer screen .

I'm ok. again now and have pretty much filled the left-hand side of the new greenhouse .

I remembered that I'd left this big Agave utahensis (the truly evil one !😱) outside .

Until the old greenhouse was pulled down , it was kept in the furthest corner under the greenhouse bench , only getting the odd drops of water from when I watered the cacti above . In fact  I don't think I 've actually gone to specifically water it for a couple of years and it looks as though it has really enjoyed the rain and puffed itself up with renewed vigour .

 Into the corner it goes with all the other dangerous beauties !

 I grew this from seed that I bought from the British Cactus and Succulent Society many years ago .

The thing with an Agave is that no matter how big the pot is that you put it in , it will quickly grow into it and then stop . If you don't re-pot it then it will make off-shoots ,which I noticed this one has . I decided that this one was big enough and so I have put it into this pot and there it must stay forever more now as it would be far too dangerous to set it free in my garden .  I already have three or four less dangerous ones in the garden .

Tomorrow I will take a closer look to see if I can separate the off-shoot  . ...and send it to some other botanically insane person to love .

Here we have from left to right Epiphyllum var "Curt Backeberg " A couple of Epie cuttings , a beautiful Aloe that my brother gave me , somewhere in there is a plant label , unfortunately at this time it is swathed in cobwebs and I don't want to put my hand in !  I have already had a few nasty surprises whilst moving all my plants , I had to try and not look as I moved them for fear I'd drop or throw the pot !  

The plant behind the Aloe was sold to me as being Rhipsalis elliptica , although I'm thinking now that it might be Rhipsalis pachyptera .    Can anyone out there identify it for me please ? 

It was looking very sad after having been in the shed over winter and while the new greenhouse was being built .

I re-potted it into a hanging basket and stood it in the lovely terracotta pot ,where it can stay and recover until I fix up another hook to hang it from . It has lovely red phylloclades .... (leaves ) .

 I also need to put a big hook up in the beam from which to hang my lovely old Chinese lantern . 

         Some of the less dangerous Agaves..like Agave americana , Agave salmiana ferox , Agave medio-picta alba . Some of which I have grown from seed , some which were off-shoots .

                   Less dangerous but they still bite !

I brought in some of the Agave pups (offsoots ) and that has made room for my new season vegetable seedlings . The tomatoes are already doing well in their 3"pots and now there will be space to bring down the Sweet Pepper seedlings from my bedroom windowsill .

The sun shone all day ! It was warm . So nice to be able to open the windows  , after all the rain .  

One more pic of the Albuca bracteata ,  more familiarly known as the Pregnant Onion . Here we have a pot full of fast growing babies !

          The rain returns next week  .... and the grass never stops growing in Cornwall .

                                                   🌿💚🌿

African Coral Tree bean we have germination !

                 (This is not the African Coral Tree -- see further down ! lol !)

It is still fiercely hot here in Mullion ...and this is good news for farmers who are cutting hay meadows . Ted has cut our meadow and will be coming back  later today to bale it all up ....... then ..he says I can have the rain which I so badly need for my veg garden !

I was up and watering all my young veg plants at around 5am this morning and went up to the greenhouse to open up the windows and check on everything and see whats new .

 Hooray ! The Alocaisia  is waking up..Yes so I did plant it the correct way up !
   Then I spy something going on in one of my propagation baggies ....

I open the bag and peer inside ...to find one of the African Coral Tree beans has germinated !  Goodness me ! I only planted them the other day !

 I re-seal up the bags except for a little bit , a vent to just let a little of the steam out .
I will extract that seedling later on and pot it up in it's own little pot .

 Next to check on "my husband's Tomato plants . Between you and me I grew them from seed , pricked them out , potted them on and have been watering them for him ! Some of them need bigger pots now too ....I suppose I 'd better get on with it .

 The flowers are extraordinary I think and after a little gentle shaking to pollinate , soon begin to form some yummy fruits  .

                     As I said before...these are my husband's Tomatoes .

      He goes up to look at them ......he is very proud of his Tomatoes ! Lol !

One Very Happy Cactus !

Looking much happier today with a nice mulch of  Marazion beach shingle .

 Made up a wreath for our church grotto .... sore fingers...got a bit of flower arranging wire stuck in one of my fingers too ....ugh !

Cactus Rescue

                                                What's in the box ?
Well the day took a funny turn ....I felt better...but my poor husband developed a nasty abscess on one of his teeth .... so we had to cancel going to the Christingle service at St Grada church and go to the Helston Cottage Hospital instead  ..anyway to cut a long story short ..the abscess  burst and he is feeling a bit better now .
      Not long after we got  home my good friend came round to see how I was and to give me her beautiful Christingle orange and to tell me how the service went ..I hope I can go next year ..it sounds really lovely !
 Anyway , earlier this morning at our church , she had given my husband this huge cactus , which had once belonged to a dear ol' green-fingered friend of hers who had recently passed away .
 The greenhouse was to be dismantled and another friend , Doug , rescued it ...worrying about it being left outside in the cold wind and rain ..but he was worried about the condition it was in...well she told him that I might know  and took it and gave it to my husband who gave it to me when he got home from the morning service at our church . hmmm....it was very loose and wobbly , which is why we put it into this cardboard box , to prevent it from falling out of the pot , while it was in the back of the car ...you see it was at that moment that we had to dash off to the hospital ! 
             Are you still with me ? lol !

So this evening I decided that I,d get it out of the box and see what needs to be done .

I love cacti and have quite a collection both up in the greenhouse and on every windowsill in the cottage .  I try to remember what they all are and keep them properly labelled .

 I am not sure what this cactus is and would be really grateful  if anyone could identify it for me .
 I was told that it flowered regularly every year..but I should have asked..and will ask my friend if she knows what colour the flowers are ?

 Some of the roots have come away, but I think there is still enough of the root system to keep it alive  .

                                             What do you think ?

How old would you think it is ? I,m guessing about twenty-five years or maybe more .

 I have put it temporarily into this nice new terracotta pot and put back into it the soil that it was planted with in the old pot .
 The earth had a delicious sweet patchouli like scent ..mmm.....it's good earth !
  I will go to the garden centre tomorrow and pick up a bag of cactus compost to fill it up a little more mixed with horticultural grit and top it off with a nice thick layer of more horticultural grit  for drainage and also to steady it a little while it recovers and puts down new roots . 
 I wont water it until the spring , there will be just the slight moisture that will be in the new cactus compost , but that's all .
  So it's an emergency dash to the Trevena Cross Nursery Breage tomorrow ..that's my excuse anyway ! :) (....unless we have to dash to the dentist that is !)

Hopelessly in love with Cacti !

                                 So I went back and bought the other two !

        Not sure what they are yet..the label on that tall one says "Lithops " !!!!

That other thing , is a thing for doing one of those beautiful Advent Wreath candle and flower arrangements on a pedestal at church ..... more on that later...I need a bit more practice  !
 It's not a Lithops  , I do know that , because I have a few Lithops , those are the so called "Living stones "...but I,m not sure which cactus it is . Please can anyone tell me what this is ?

Sun is shining in Mullion !

Housework done . Veg garden - slugs ate my newly planted Kale seedlings ..crushed eggshells didn't work..I have one more pot of kale seedlings...will use slug pellets ( very sparingly ) this time ...covered with cloche and surrounded with chicken wire to protect my birds , hedgehogs and other wildlife ...I hate using them ..but if we dont ,then we will not have any vegetables . The labyrinth is looking good .
In the greenhouse my Monkeytail Cactus cutting is really beginning to grow away ! (Thankyou British Cactus and Succulent Society Dave )  ..so happy me !
I tidied up the Trachycarpus fortunii which I had moved from the compost area is looking great ..I trimmed the grass around it and pulled out a few weeds..much smarter . The last pic in the bottom right hand corner is the Pumpkin bed ..going crazy !
 So all is well ....

                                            The sun is shining in Mullion !

                                                     Lets go to the beach !