Physalis - planted

 It has been the perfect day today for planting out my Physalis seedlings . Blue sky and warm , with a bit of cloud to take the edge off the heat while I finished the frame to give them some support .

 I,m sure my mother used to plant them into the ground and let them scrabble about without any support  ,and she would get lots of fruits too , but I am going to try growing them the way they do in the fields in Columbia and Peru . Rather like I also do my tomatoes  up in the solar shed , just gently winding the stems of the plants around the strings to give them support .

              The strings are wound around and over the cane at the top .....

   ..... the ends of the strings are knotted with very big knots which are buried into the ground .

The ground is so dry that I was unable to push the Hazel poles into the ground very far , so in the end I also used  bamboo canes to make the frame more rigid .

 It doesn't cling nor climb around the bamboo canes like Runnerbeans ,rather the stems and branches will be wound as to lean horizontally against and along the strings .
 My only worry is now I,ve heard that Physalis can grow to be eight feet tall ! If  it begins to look as if this is the case , then I will have to get some taller canes .

                           Look !  There are flower buds coming already !

      So I watered them in and spread some bark chippings around their feet to discourage the snails .....and fingers crossed they'll still be there tomorrow .

                  Then I watched the bees popping in and out of my Foxgloves .

This one looks different with it's stripey tail .
    I also spotted my first Humming bird moth of the year on the Centranthus rubra , more commonly known here as Cornish Valerian .....but try as I might ..I could not get a decent picture of it this time round , it was darting about our Cornish hedge so fast !

I do love our native purple Digitalis purpurea and I will let them be and flower where ever they come up , but I am also so happy that some of my foxgloves are white again this year .... I was worried that the bees would not like them as much as they do the native purple ones . I have started off a tray of Apricot ones for next year and the year after . I think my husband got them free with this months Gardeners World Magazine . Fingers crossed again for germination  ! I keep going to see if they 're coming up yet , lol !
  Lastly ,  .... Please God can we have a little rain tonight , my water but is empty and the garden is so dry ....Amen .
 

Meanwhile up in the Veg Garden - end of May

         Meanwhile up in my veg garden , it's all going on ! Busy busy ,busy !
French Beans Blue Lake , Black Tuscany  Kale , Romaine  Lettuces, Shallots , Celery , Woad . Also experiments with perennial  Kale Daubenton's ..if the snails haven't eaten them ! The Purple Tree Collard is in a hanging basket for the same reason !

                                                  Purple Tree Collard .

                                          Anyone else growing this ?

 This bed is stuffed with mangetout peas ( which may have failed or been eaten by a very fat mouse ) carrots , onions , beetroot ,pak choi , dwarf beans . climbing courgettes , butternuts , one Big Max Pumpkin and cucumbers ..I,m using pig wire for the squashes to climb over .

 The Runner beans and Blue Lake Climbing beans were beginning to germinate the last time I looked  and if the snails haven't eaten them they should be starting to climb up the frame .

                At last , the potatoes are beginning to show themselves !

......and the Pumpkin Patch (which is the African Key hole garden method ) is all planted up with a variety of Squashes this year . You cant see it from this picture , but , I have put a panel of pig wire in here around the watering hole for them to scrabble over .
 The watering hole encourages the roots to go down deeper to find the water and the surface of the soil stays dry which helps to discourage the slugs and snails .
 My back is aching ! How's yours ? 

Glorious Sunshine ! Mullion Cornwall

 After so much icy rain it has been wonderful to have two full days of  glorious sunshine and blue sky again !

 I ventured up to the greenhouse ...I hadn't been up there for a couple of days ..although we'd had these torrential squally showers with hail , It hasn't been so cold that I,d need to light the lantern with the 8 hour night lights .
 So horror of horror !....one of the window panes had slipped (again ) and the floor of the greenhouse is flooded !
 Stress ! Husband came to the rescue and fixed the slipped glass .

At this time of the year the cacti are kept completely dry , fortunately the most precious ones are on the other side of the greenhouse .

Some of the segments have fallen off this Tephrocactus .. I,ll pot them up but I have never had much success with Tephrocactus cuttings . Any tips would be most welcome .

 Adromischus cuttings are doing well though . Spiders webs everywhere !
 While the sun is shining I have opened the windows to try and dry up the flooded floor . I have all my Epiphyllums on the slipped window side . I keep them dry through the winter too ..but they have all been drenched . They can usually take more water ..sigh ...hopefully I can pull them through .

 Then to work in the Veg garden ..tidying up really , pulling up this nasty plastic fencing . It was cheaper than chicken wire , but has disintegrated ...In fact it was splitting as we fixed it up . We are thinking about putting up a chicken wire fence that completely encloses the veg garden .

 Autumn  planted onions are ..well they are still there ..hopefully they will begin to fatten up anytime now . Under the cloche is the Perennial Kale  Experiment .

                                             Still eating Leeks and Kale .

 More work to do here . Lavender to be lightly trimmed and Sage hard cut back .

 

                          Off to walk the dog .....cheerio for now !

Meanwhile up in the Veg Garden ....

 We,ve had a very windy night and heavy rain ... but the sun did make an appearance and I thought take that opportunity to wrap up warm and venture out to check my greenhouse hadn't blown away .
 On the way up I can see that I,m going to have to replace the windbreak mesh that I had sewn on to the fence that surrounds the vegetable garden .  Especially behind the Labyrinth ...I am also going to plant something along there that will look nicer too , although I do like that I can see through the mesh across the meadow ..hmmm ... will have to have another think about that ...but that windbreak is so important to shelter my veg beds .

 The VegTrug is full of goodies , but we're in for a cold clear night sky tonight so I have put on the plastic cloche cover and fastened it down with some of those metal tent pegs and some bricks .

                                           That looks so much better !

                                      Lettuces , onions , kale, cabbages .

Oh dear ! The greenhouse is leaking ! I,m not sure where it's coming in either !
 Anyway , So I tipped that water away , moved a whole lot of precious cacti and put a bowl under the place where I suspect it is coming in .

 I have covered over the more tender Cacti with newspaper to keep them warm over night . I will pop in again later on with two 8 hour candles to take the edge off the cold and everything should be fine . I will uncover in the morning .

In my husband's solar shed , the Gete okosomin is just fine..the two little ones have begun to turn black , I will throw these on the compost heap .The seeds I am sharing will be from that big one !

 This is the awesome no dig keyhole bed that I made over the last year and a half.
This is the basket in the middle , the watering hole that , has a large bucket/tub with holes in the bottom .....this was brilliant for getting the water deep down into the earth and around the roots ..it kept the whole thing cool and moist .
If you are in a really hot zone , or if there were drought conditions , you could weave a simple shade with sticks or straw ,to go over the top of this basket to help prevent evaporation .

 I did cover this now empty bed over with cardboard ..but it has blown away ,so I will have to start again..remember to weight it down with rocks ...note to self !!!

( For those who can see fairy spirits .. there's one in the middle of this photograph !   Can you see her ?  ..yes !....For those that can't...it will just look like a pink orb ! )  :)

Here's another no dig /lasagna bed being prepared for the next veg growing season .

I know all that cardboard and sludgy seaweed , newspapers and manure looks untidy to some..but it keeps down the weeds...cuts down on digging...and improves the earth and feeds the good worms ...and grows great vegetables !

 This bed has next season's onions, a leek soon to be taken and put into a meal .
I,m also trying to get perennial kale growing .

  The Tetrapanax papyrifer rex  is not really enjoying the winter ...but will revive in the Spring .

                                                   Lots of Leeks .

      Leeks are so useful and stand the cold very well and we love them !

                                           We use lots of Kale too .

                     The odd Nasturtium still flowering and romping away .

                                         A few Roses to surprise me !

               Brrrr.......time to go in..I'll just  top up the bird feeders  .

 What ?  No peanuts ? !   So expensive ...but the birds give me so much pleasure from my kitchen windowsill ..o.k..We're wrapping up warm again and off to the shops to buy some more .   Byeeeeee !