Through the Lens of the camera!

The plant in the last post was an Arisaemas as is this one too, apparently they have a habit of facing away from you!!!! This one could grow to 5ft!!!




These next pics where taken by K, I sent her down the garden and said lets see it through your eyes...........
this one was actually taken about a month ago by me..

this one by K, how things have grown....

This rose is a from a cutting I got from my Dad, who has been dead since 1982, it has black spot as you can see and I can't bear to part with it!

Babs as you can see is fully recovered from her broodiness, so I recommend the 3 x 12 hours in a cage to break the habit!

Oriental poppies such a cheerful flower but a very floppy plant.

The Gunnera, gets bigger every minute I see it, I'm surprised the fence is still standing

Hubby raves about it and says it is one of the best plants in the garden.

The pond has had a bit of a tidy up, we are going to give it, its four yearly clean out in September.

My cucumbers with there new frame which attaches to the greenhouse, I think this will be alot sturdier than canes shoved in pots, just have to construct something to go across the roof, as thats how far these plants grow.

I found these seeds in focus for 49p, so bought them for K, she trots down each morning and has a chat and checks whose grown, they are sunflowers! You can never have enough sunflowers!!

The banana at the bottom of the garden!


Now some more pics by me...
This is my Egg Yam, remember it taking over the greenhouse, well it got so big I HAD to put it outside and now its really taken off....

How sad am I to be measuring leaves at this time of year!! Currently 54cm, incase your interested!!!!

Not everything is rosy in my garden,I currently have a serious problem with the banana on the patio.......

after consultation with my Hardy Tropical friends, it appears my soil may be too alkaline!!!

How soil changes in a season I will never know!! So sequestered iron and foliar feed, but how I get up there to foliar feed, will have to be worked out! I will keep you posted!

Happy St Georges Day!

What a glorious day we had yesterday weather wise. I got alot done and am paying for it today with a dodgy back!
I did all the shopping in the morning, posted lots of parcels, a whole load of washing, prepared the tea............... then went outside..........

I unwrapped the greenhouses, which is quite a fiddly job as I take care in packing the bubble wrap away so I can use it again next year! The maximum high yesterday was 15.9C but obviously inside the greenhouses, even though all the windows and doors where open it was quite abit hotter.
The smaller one unwrapped with a piece of bubble wrap drying. I will have to tidy up my workbench abit now everyone can see in there!



The full view of the big one, I really must look into getting some staging.



All my Elephants leaves in full glorious view!



and finally my brugmansias got a very thorough soaking, my hat which should have been on my head, but my head got too hot and in the top of the picture a small radio and my chair.................. Heaven!!!!!!!!!!



Whilst I was inside the big one,unwrapping, I had done one side and the back and was steadily working my way up the other side,I kept catching movement out of my eye at the back of the greenhouse and when I looked on the other side of the glass (thankfully) was a Rat!!! Sassy was down with me but not close by as she usually is but sat just in front of the small greenhouse looking at a gap under the shed, I believe our rats have a new home, so we obviously still have a problem. So I think a trap will be purchased. Oh and to confirm the problem, I nipped in the house to get a drink and found



One reason not to have cats! But then we do live in the country and so far have not had any baby rabbits like we usually do!

I also unwrapped my bananas which seemed to have come through the winter just wrapped in fleece very well




I then went on and planted out my onions, peas and beans. As we have such a mild week, weather wise I thought I would grasp the moment! But have fleece on standby! We didn't shut the greenhouses up till 7pm last night! A first for the year! I have put greenhouse shading on my shopping list as I can see it will be needed!
Now it is raining which I am grateful for as I already have two empty water butts!!!!

A Lovely Week!

I have had a lovely week and spent most of it in the greenhouse.

The small one is full




I have pricked out and repotted loads, I'm not sure you could squeeze another thing in here! Once I've given away to people who want some, I thought I would sell the rest out the frontof the house, so if your around look out for a sign that says 'Plants For Sale' you never know it could be me!!!

I have just had to re-pot all my Colocasia's and Alocasia's (Elephants Ears)


there roots where bursting from the pots!

This is a pic from last year of one of my biggest leaves, maybe you can understand why I like them so much!

Growing Competition

Do you remember last year when I had 'The Great Pip Challenge' well I did fairly well and the date seeds are still growing merrily away in the greenhouse!
On the Hardy Tropicals we are having a competition using the 'Wilkinsons Alocasia Corms' (Elephants Ears)as to who can grow the biggest leaf, to be measured before the 30th September, from a corm bought this year!
So mine are in the propergator


I have 3 corms in here at the mo! The one on the left at the back is nothing to do with the comp, the label showed it had dark purple and green leaves, I thought a lovely combination. Sadly, when I got back and did some research it turns out the picture could be lieing and it may just be a plain old green!! We shall see!
The two on the right at the back are from Wilko's. One is planted in a pot I only bought that yesterday and its already sprouted a pink bud. The other is propped up on a pot as there is some discrepancy as to which way up it needs to go, so I am bideing my time to see which end sprouts first!
The other little pots have Basil and some of the very tall Nicotiana seed in.

The other competition is for who can grow the biggest 'Colocasia Leaf'. Because I have a heated greenhouse mine never really died back it just went dorment. So I potted it up and popped that in the propergater to but had to get it out when it lifted the lid!



This is my competition! Although its not yet planted it did get really big last year! But what I really, really want is one of these its a Alocsia macroriza. Do you see why I like these plants?

Now for some exciting news! Remember I started off some tropical seeds on the 8th February. They where given to me as an exchange for a brugmansia cutting. I didn't hold out much hope for the big seeds as the germination instructions go something like this:- Soak seed for 48hours. Sow in sterile seed compost. Daily temp cycle 9hrs @ 30-35C, 15hours @12-30C constant! Not being the most patient of gardeners I did what I always do and soaked them then put them in damp perlite and shoved them in the airing cupboard and forgot about them, but this morning I checked them, well look......



Dam things have sprouted, now what the heck I do I don't know but I will find out! I am sat here with a massive smile on my face, for having sprouted something that should have been difficult but also because I got two lovely parcels in the post

I received a gorgeous brooch from my friend Vallen all the way from California

Thank you so much, it is gorgeous!

and the Potting Shed held a February Swap and I got these

Lavender Bath Scrub, Peppermint Footcream, Orange and pumice soap 'ideal for gardeners' and a turquoise facecloth!

You can't beat 'Snail Mail' its so much nicer when small parcels arrive on your doorstep!