Poor Old Neglected Cactus !

So I was pottering about in the greenhouse  , looking for a cactus that I knew I had in there somewhere .

My brother had sent me a picture of an enormous cactus in his collection . An Opuntia consolea falcata . Huge , a veritable whopper , standing at about 5ft tall  and maybe even taller but he didn't get it all in the photo . Sadly I couldn't get the photo to upload on here . I will have another go later on . Anyway  , this is said to be quite an endangered cactus .

See this link for some more great info about Opuntia consolea falcata -

http://llifle.com/Encyclopedia/CACTI/Family/Cactaceae/9724/Consolea_falcata

So after admiring my brothers cactus , I,m now thinking to myself , I used to have one of these up in my collection . . . . 

If I still have it , then it will probably be in the furthest back corner with all the other most dangerous Opuntias  . In the sunniest place ,but well out of harms way !

Sure enough , there it was ! You might want to look away now .

Oh dear.... not good ...half of it is all dried up and half of it has had rain dripping on it from the slipped window pane above and is now a dark green squishy segment of mush .

It looks as if I have somehow just been missing this poor thing out every time and for goodness knows how long . 

I can see a very small segment in there though , which I may be able to save !

I pulled off the mushy segment and tipped it all out to get a better look at it . 

The main plant is very dried up , but still green . 

I gently pulled the nice green healthy looking segment away and was pleased to find that it has a couple of nice looking roots .

So after a bit of a rummage about , I gathered everything I needed together to pot it up . I usually use this " Levingtons desert cactus and bonsai compost "for potting up my Epiphyllums , they romp away in this , but other proper Cacti really need to have much sharper drainage .  However , this is all I have at the moment .

I mix in a good handful of horticultural grit .

                                    He's looking much happier already ! 

                                        Hmmm ..... what do you think ? 

                                       So I potted up the other bit too !

                                          Well , you never know !

Epiphyllum crenatum

I love them all , but I really look forward to the flower of Epiphyllum crenatum .

               This opened up very slowly indeed compared to the others .

                                            One petal at a time .

  I could smell a slight lemony fragrance , which usually gets stronger as it opens into the warmth of the greenhouse .
 The greenhouse is not heated except by the warmth of the sun , which was shining up in a beautiful blue sky today.....unfortunately there is a chilly East wind blowing. This combination is not good , as I think I,ve mentioned before....if I close the windows it gets too hot ..and if I open the roof windows , I am always afraid that the wind might catch it and tear it off !
 So I do hope it eases up soon . I have now closed it up for the night and covered my seedlings up with a piece of fleece . Runnerbeans , French beans and and a tray of Nicotiana sylvestris . It is going to be cold tonight in Mullion with this clear sky .

                                              Nearly fully opened .

 It still was not quite fully opened when I went up to the greenhouse to close the windows . Oh ! My goodness it is just so gorgeous !

                    I hope it will still be there tomorrow and fully opened up  .

Cactus Rescue update - needs identification please anyone ?

  So , back in December 2017 my friend had given me this beautiful cactus . It had belonged to a dear friend of hers who had sadly passed away . It needed to be re-homed and she knew that I loved cacti and would I like to have it ?
  Unfortunately , it had a bit of an accident , as in , a bit of a tumble on the way over to me in the car .  Most of it's roots were completely torn away  . Not one to give up that easily , I re-potted it , in fresh cactus mix compost , a nice new terracotta pot , a handful of sharp grit on top and four pencils to keep it propped up while it re-adjusted and grew new roots .

 As we were going into Winter , I decided not to water it in , so the only moisture was what the fresh cactus compost already had in it .
 It looks to be quite an old cactus and definitely worth saving .
My friend told me that it used to flower every year without fail !

 I placed it on the kitchen windowsill which has a radiator underneath it , to give it a little warmth from below to encourage new roots .
 There it is , with a few other cuttings ( Epiphyllums ) and a Dicksonia antarctica  -Tree Fern looking in through the window for company .

Anyway , it seemed to be doing fine , I removed the pencils and decided to move it upstairs to my South facing bedroom windowsill .
 In the last couple of days it has begun to put out flower buds ...about six of them , and yet another one seems to appears every-time I go to look at it .

 We are  having some beautiful hot and sunny days again here in Mullion on the Lizard in Cornwall ....Saturday , Sunday and Monday all forecast to be very hot .
 This cactus is loving it ! I,ve never had a cactus in flower on this windowsill before . It closes up when the sun goes in, so I expect it will last longer than the Epiphyllums out in the greenhouse which only last a day and a night usually .
  Anyway , I,m just delighted to see this in flower  !
The main body of the cactus has sunken down..I suppose while it was using it's  energy to heal it's self and partly because it was the Winter .You can compare the first pictures with this one . It should expand again during the Summer as and when I begin to water it .
 Please can anyone identify this cactus for me ? I just cant find one like it in any of my books .
  Hope the sun is shining where-ever you are  !

                                  Identification needed please ? Anyone ? 

Happy Easter - Vegetable garden update .

                                  Shhh..... I think it's the Easter Bunny !
  There he sat preening himself in the early morning sunshine  6am this morning , as I approached the gate , on my way through the vegetable garden and on up to my greenhouse .

My vegetable garden is safe from nibbling Easter Bunnykins , with the new chicken wire fence all around . 
 My Peas and  Broad-beans are coming along nicely.
 Rather annoyingly though , despite pushing in lots of branches to deter them , the pigeons got to my Purple Sprouting Broccoli .

 Usually pushing in branches around the PSB would be enough to keep the pigeons off , but I missed one corner and those gorgeous purple bunches of heavenly deliciousness and goodness were quickly snitched and gobbled up by two fat pigeons ..who know just the right time to take them !

 The good news is that I can see more shoots coming . I need to make more gently Bird -Shooing  things , Whirligigs , Potato Hawks , Windmills , Streamers and sparkly old CDs on strings will do the trick .

             The Luminous Lizard is on guard against slugs and snails .

                             So upwards and onwards to my greenhouse .

Packed full of goodies ! Cacti , succulents,  Epiphyllums , rare , unusual and weirdly interesting plants ......and where I start off seeds that need extra warmth ...

  .........although unheated the greenhouse can get quite hot...I open the roof windows . Those are Cucumbers, Courgettes and Butternuts in the white box .

I took down that silver insulation from the roof today ..it is so hot here today, but the green shade net will stay up to protect the Epiphyllums who like it warm and shady .

                    I really need to clean the greenhouse windows .....

                         ....but it also protects the plants from sun scorch .

 These Epiphyllums prefer to be in warm shade ...the buds are getting bigger !

                                 I need to sort out that pot of bulbs.

 I think that label is wrong ..they look like Albuca bractata syn. ornithogalum longibracteatum ...other wise very well known as the Pregnant Onion !

For most of the year it sits in the pot looking like this ....yes ...like a large onion .
           Warning --- poisonous ....this is not edible ..and will make you very ill ....do not eat !
                 

Around about February , it throws up this flower spire and slowly opens with many pretty little star flowers .

I don't bother to collect the seeds , but simply gather up all the bulbs that form around the base of the "mother" bulb and ..well ....I obviously threw them all into one pot and forgot about them .  Another little job to be done , pulling them apart and re-potting and then giving them away to who-ever would like one  . 

A fascinating plant !

 So today I need to prick out and pot on these Yellow Tomato seedlings .
 I use slug pellets only at this stage in the greenhouse and shed .
 I got a free packet of special Dahlia seeds with my Gardener's World magazine back in February.....three germinated..and promptly all got eaten up by slugs....the rest of the seeds didn't appear so I suspect the slugs got them too before I even saw them , over-night .... I ,m sure these slugs are already in the compost that I bought from the garden centre or B&Q.  I,ve been growing vegetables  for long enough to know that if you dont get rid of the slugs and snails ...then you will have no vegetables ...simple as that ! These pellets dissolve into fertiliser when in contact with water and I make damned sure no other creature will be harmed by them .
  Out in the main veg garden , veggies are under cloches . Birds and  Hedgehogs can not get to them and I mostly prefer to pick off any slugs or snails that I find and re-home them across the meadow ..I lure the snails and slugs away by laying large cabbage leaves or lettuce leaves near to my vegetable plants and collect them in the early morning in  my bucket and once again re-home them top of the meadow .
 I tend not to buy or grow flowers that slugs and snails eat .
 I try to live in harmony with nature , I love animals ! Let me know if you need any snails .

                                               Mission completed !

 I have put them back into the greenhouse to grow on a bit before taking them over to the much cooler Solar shed . The other Tomato plants are getting quite large now over in the shed .I need to plant out all the other seedlings to make space for all the Tomatoes and I need to fix up the "rigging" to support the Tomato vines .

 Then I notice ...a few more of the Physallis seeds have germinated ! Joy ! I will pot them on next week . So exciting !!!

                        I also potted up some more Rossignol Kale  .

                                    Kalettes and Cosmos germinating !

 I,m very excited about the Kalettes . I ,ve not grown these before , but from what I am reading about them , they look really easy , good and nutritious .
 They seem to have all germinated very quickly ....almost over-night !
So my next job is to prick them out and pot them on ....and keep them somewhere cool to plant out later on .
  But that's all for now..it is very , very hot here in Mullion this afternoon ..too hot for me  ....time to go sit in the Summerhouse with a glass of lemonade and read my new copy of Charles Dowding and Stephanie Hafferty's  "No Dig Organic Home &Garden" . Yes I finally gave back the library book and  bought my own copy !

          From my home to yours , I wish you a very Happy and Peaceful Easter .

                      ........oh..and do watch out for that Easter Bunny !