Passion Flower Seedlings Planted !

 

Up at 5am ish ...to dash up to the shed to see if  Epiphyllum Marilyn Monroe has bloomed yet ...It's a very foggy morning .

Also to check for snails on my beans and butternuts 🐌and my newly planted out Passion Flower plants .

Hopefully the sun will come out later on .

I had some spare bean seedlings which I thought might as well go in with the Passion Flowers .

I grew these from seed , so I feel very protective over them !

Passiflora mollissima (pink) and Passiflora manicata (red)

A couple of Scarlet Pelargoniums for a splash of colour .

Posts with a trellis would have been the ideal thing for these Passion Flowers ....but fixing up posts and trellising , hammer, nails , concrete...just not my thing ....sigh ....so some sort of a teepee made from left over bean poles and hazel branches will have to do !

It'll be fine ! It will ! Wait and see !

What do you think ? 

Anyway  

If they do grow away really well , they can always climb over and scrabble through the climbing rose bushes on the garage wall .   

I used to buy Passiflora mollissina ( the pink one ) every year from the boot fair in Truro ....I never kept them going over winter . I have not grown Passiflora manicata (the red one)  and I have never grown these from seed before .

I'm hoping that these will survive the winter, with some protection .

I got them all planted yesterday evening . This morning I picked off six snails ! 

I have sprinkled sparingly some slug pellets . Also gave the young shoots some support with these clip things that I found on Amazon .

It all looks a bit untidy at the moment. There are a couple of Pelargoniums and I think there might be a Dahlia coming up that I had put in there last year .  The bulbs that I threw in last Autumn were beautiful through the Spring , their leaves have all withered away and will come back next spring . 

I put a nice fresh layer of compost over the top of them .

The only remaining bulbs still in flower are these . I am not sure what they are ? Some type of oniony thing ?

The bees are loving them what ever they are ! 

UPDATE - Thankyou Jane 💐  These are Allium siculum  /   The Sicilian honey lily 🐝🐝

Other news -

Up in the shed -  

A fresh pot of lettuce seedlings are waiting to be pricked out and potted on . This makes me so happy !

Yes , sorry , it was still quite dark when I went up to the shed ! 

A third and very late attempt to get some Courgettes to germinate  ....

                                ...........and ...here we go !   🌱 .... almost ! 

                         ....and 🤩  we have the first little tomato !   ❤️

                           Snack size Party Time Cucumbers on the way !  💚

       The one remaining lettuce from the last batch 💚.....oh no I can see a hole ! 🐌

              And a first Strawberry ....

Safe from slugs and snails ....but Mr Blackbird is probably watching and waiting....he knows when they are at the most perfect juicy stage !

This pretty thing ,with no name , is still in full bloom this morning . 

              Epiphyllum Marylin Monroe however , is keeping us all waiting .

                                   I will update as soon as she blooms !

                                                  🌿    🌥️🌤️⛅ 🌿

🌿Epiphyllum var Marilyn Monroe - update

 I last gave you an update at the end of April , when she had two buds coming .  Well , as predicted the smaller of the two dropped off .

So all the energy is now going into this one big bud . 

                                  I can't wait to see this flower open .

It is the 26th May ... almost June ......just a little bit spooky that Marilyn Monroe's birthday was 1 June 1926  ! 

                                                                 🌿🩷🌿

No Rain !

Tuesday 🌿

 So continuing on after last post ... with rain forecast , I desperately worked to get this bed weeded and the terrible mass of ivy off the fence at the back . 

The Dahlias here are already coming up , I still had the chickenwire to fix around the bed to keep the rabbits off ..... the sun was going down , it became all too much . I did not feel well and had to stop .

Wednesday 

Not feeling well , I promised to only potter about .

It didn't rain .....only mizzle ...the water-butts are now empty . Through the greenhouse window , the Tomatoes and Cucumbers are really getting away now .

I fixed up some shade net over the tomatoes , because it became so hot again .

I am thinking of getting a fan in there ....just thinking about it ....nothing fancy ...just a cheapo one .

Now that the flowers are coming , I will begin to add a bit of tomato feed to the watering can .

I will also now begin to selectively remove some of the side shoots .

  Up until this point , I believe that they need all their leaves to take in the lovely sunshine and give them all the energy they need to get going .

  Also , if they should begin to succumb to blight , they can still be saved by simply removing the tops and letting the side shoots take over .  This works . I have done it . ...but you really have to watch out for the first signs of blight .

 When this happened to one of mine , it was the plant nearest the door where the rain had blown in through the badly fitted door . Tomatoes tend to get blight if they get wet . 

  

                     The last trickle of  lovely rain water from the water butt .

              

              There are one or two flowers on the Sweet Peppers now .

 Now that the weather is warmer , I can move these Aloes outside . ( just not today )

The Cucumbers are beginning to romp away . Not quite up through the bench yet , but they soon will be and I will need to be able to reach in to pick them .

This Cucumber seems to have fallen in love with the Aloe vera .

   

                                                        🌿💚🌿

                             Above the bench is another tray of Epiphyllums .

I will wait until this bud opens before moving them all over to the shed . Looks like it's going to be a lovely red one !  ❤️🌿

The Cucumbers will continue to grow under the bench for a bit longer , I might put some sticks in to give them some extra support until they start to reach through the bench .

Over in the shed Epiphyllum var "Marilyn Monroe " has two buds , the smaller of which I think is probably going to drop off . They don't like being moved while in bud and I may have shoved it along the bench a little .

This produced a gorgeous flower last year ...I will show you when she blooms , so watch this space !

I save and dry out the spent flowers on a rack . I'll use these in a pretty potpourri later on . 

           Continuing with my gently pottering about , back in the greenhouse .

          🌿    Bowiea volubilis has awoken from it's winter slumber .🌿

     I hastily give it something to climb on , goodness this beast grows so fast ! 

Passiflora update -

Like everything else , they really are starting to romp away ....and I had thought to just let them romp away in the greenhouse , but now I think I'll grow them outside . I'll need to make a trellis of some sort .

Maybe keep one inside , what do you think ?

We have bought a couple of large pots to plant these in . Three in one and four into the other . Also some compost .

   But I am not allowed to do any heavy garden work for a couple of days .

The Banana plants are also waiting to be planted out ..... oh .....so much to do , to do , to do !

                           🐝  Love Debbie 🐝💐🌿 x

                        p.s. and I need to do my rain dance 😊💃🏻⛈️

                                                     ☀️                       

Epiphyllum Marilyn Monroe - the last update 6.30 pm 12 may

 

                                                 

At 6.30 pm her flower is just slightly beginning to droop now . 

The centre petals are ever so slightly ruffled . No fragrance that I could detect . 

So that's it ....."Goodbye Norma Jean "  Sorry I couldn't resist ! 

                                    " It's not true that I had nothing on .

                                                        I had the radio on ."

                                                                       Marilyn Monroe    💮