Roses and Potatoes

 

                              Lovely climbing rose back in June .

Early this morning we had a very mean sprinkle of mizzle .  The water barrels are still empty .       Anyway it meant that for the first time this summer , I was able to do a few jobs in the ornamental garden . 

The climbing rose which looked at it's very best last month , now needed some serious attention . 

The petals were dropping into the crown of my Musa basjoo below .

So now the rose has almost finished flowering , I thought I'd give it a good tidy up and tie in some of the remaining branches to encourage it to grow the other way .

I went in quite hard , but there are still some sprays of fresh rose buds to come .

                            Musa basjoo  ( fairly hardly in my location )

It's looking very dry . I'm going to give it a good feed and a drink , put a good mulch around the bottom .  I want it to get nice and strong in order to get through next winter . This banana plant is quite hardy here in my location S.W. Cornwall .

  It has been cooler this morning , but they are saying that we are going to have another period of very hot weather , coming by next Wednesday .

      Musa ensete "maurelii  ( needs to be brought under cover for the Winter )

As for this banana plant , well , Musa ensete "maurelii" looks to be doing really well . . . . but I will give that a feed and a good long drink . . . I'll be digging it up again in a month's time and dragging it under cover for the winter .

Ricardo has been on Spuds in tubs duty and with all the joy of an eight year old proudly presented me with all of these from just one Spud tub !   🤗

                      ....and he scrubbed them all nice and clean too !  

          That's all fer today folks , hope you're having a great weekend .

                                             love Debbie 💐x

                                                   🌿☀️🌿🌦️🌿

Meanwhile in the greenhouse ... 🥒🌿🌿

 

Meanwhile in the greenhouse I had a big tidy up of the Cucumbers . 

Topping up with a bit more compost over any exposed roots and making sure they're not drying out at all .

I am SO grateful for the second water-barrel that was fixed up . It has made life so much easier for me not to have to drag up the hose and water through the window .

Any yellow or withering leaves were snipped off and of course a thorough hunting through the jungle for cucumbers .

                                                          🤩

Carmen  F1- beautiful long ones ! I will definitely grow these again next year .

Merlins F1 - these are a short variety , but bigger than Party Time F1 that I grew last year .

              I think I've found my two favourite varieties !

Meanwhile in the shed ---

 I thought I'd sow a selection of Cabbages and some more Beetroot .

  The first lot of Beetroot are doing really well and I'll be pulling them up soon .

I'll bring them on in the shed and plant them out in about eight or ten weeks time , we'll be going into Autumn then .  I will also have cleared some space in the vegetable garden by then . 

My next job will be planting out the second wave of Leeks Bleu de Solaise ....I think I'm going to put these into the tubs I grew our potatoes in . 

If it cools down I might do that this afternoon .

The potatoes were delicious by the way ! Oh ! My goodness they were so good ! Albert Bartlett and Soraya . Still got another four tubs to go . Very happy me !

               Beautiful little gardener's friend - the Lacewing Fly .

    

                 Eats greenflies , so he's welcome in my garden .

          I haven't seen any greenflies, so he must be doing a great job !

                         I know ......I know ! 

                          Bye !!  🤣 

                     love Debbie 🌿💐🕊️ x

                     

Spuds in Tubs - update 🥔🥔🥔🌿

 

              They are doing really well !

         I earthed them up a bit more . Almost at the top of the tubs now .

                    I gave them a good drink .

                Very happy with them !

Meanwhile in the greenhouse .....

The wind has eased up today , but we have had three days and nights of a bitterly cold , roof tile rattling gale blowing in from the east . I hung this palm flower pod to stop the wind blowing in through the keyhole .

Pelargoniums are beginning to flower  and there is a nice bud coming on this little cactus . Not a very good picture , I will take a better one when it opens up .

                        Buds are coming on the Epiphyllums ! 

                           Five buds on this one !

                              All fer now ..... love Debbie x

                                            🪷🕊️💚

What I actually ended up doing - Today ☀️

 So first of all I wanted to move all the seedlings from my bedroom windowsill into the shed . So to make space , I had to get this hanging basket out and move it into it's place under the kitchen window . 

             I still have a few tomato plants indoors....just incase the worst happens .

I have some fleece to one side should we get cold weather , I also have a foil survival blanket which I pull down that reflects the light from behind them .

Next I shovelled earth into the wheelbarrow to partially fill the potato tubs .

Next the potatoes went on top and then I used some nice compost for the next layer to give them a good start .

 I will just keep earthing them up as they grow . These should be ready to harvest end of May I think .

I do this so my grandchildren can enjoy harvesting the potatoes 🤗🌿

                🌿  So that's the spuds in tubs done ! 🌿

                    And then this happened ......blue sky ! 

I was told to go and put a pretty frock on , we're going to Godolphin Manor .

We love this place ! There is a second hand bookshop in there and a lovely cafe  , loos and ramps for prams and wheelchairs .  I'm not sure if wheelchairs and prams can access all parts of the garden and today we were sorry to see so many fallen trees after the recent storm Goretti . Much of our usual favourite pathways were therefore closed off .

It is a splendid house . We didn't go into the house this time .

   I just love to walk around the beautiful gardens and enjoy seeing it change with the passing seasons .

 Then home ....

 

   .........and straight off up to the shed to check on my seedlings . I hope they'll be o.k. tonight .

I didn't get everything done that I had wanted to do ...never mind .

                  I'm aching from shovelling earth ...tomorrow I'm resting .

                        I hope the sun is shining where you are . ☀️

                                     🤍 Love and Peace 🕊️