Another Day in The Garden.

I know I have been abit down, I think its becuase I miss my hubby. He hasn't gone or anything he is just working exceptionally long hours. Anyway we chat, even after 23 years together we still chat and there has been very little of that going on recently.

Anyway he managed to get home a little bit earlier last night about 9pm (thats from 7am in the morning) and he had a lovely surprise for me




aren't they the most beautiful colours? Bless him. love him to pieces!

Anyway as it was due to be a dry day yesterday, and it had been dry for the few days before I decided after hanging out the washing I needed to mow the lawn, one last time. So here is before



and this is after!



There is a difference honest!!!

Having decided that the end of the world was nigh, with reference to gardening. I gave myself a good talking too. I have coped and live with M.E. I'm sure I can cope and live with a bad back! I just have to manage my time better so I don't overdo it. So with this in mind I decided to do a little bit!
The other day I showed you behind the green house, do you remember





it was in a bit of state.

Well I decided to have a go and tidy just this small area up. So all the plant pots got put into here



I shall wash them in the spring, all the rubbish got bagged up, all broken plastic pots etc also got bagged up as they can now go to the tip for recycling.

I brush tidied and moved stuff around





It was only an hours work and to be honest, not a good height for my back! I probably did too much but at least I stopped at an hour and that one area is now alot tidier than before! I am relatively happy, but you know me. Taking little steps is very hard!

Lots of Interesting Things

It always amazes me how much is going on in the garden as the nights draw in and get chilly!
I have a passion as you know for the tropical type plants and lo and behold I have quite a few in flower.
I adore white flowers and would have lots more around if allowed. When a white Brugmansia flowers it is an amazing sight



this one has the most beautiful evening scent



The cup and saucer plant is flowering like there is no tomorrow




I hope I can collect some seed from this as its such an amazing plant!

I also found this sweet little fuschia, how its survived I've no idea as it is so neglected, but up it comes year after year. Quite unfair really as my mum faithfully lifts hers in each winter and pots them out again the next year!!!




This is a bizarre pic. I'm trying to show you my 'Zebra Grass' it has grown so much this year and has the most amazing colourings on the leaves!




Should be quite a clump next year!

Due to the large amounts of rain we have had we have a large amount of these!!



T has been embelishing her jeans





I love what she does when she does these bizarre things, I wish I could photograph her everyday to show you what she wears as she has such an individual look about her. She is blossoming and it is so lovely to watch!

Jake has been feeling the cold




so decided to get into bed! It was a sad day yesterday as Jakes 'Mummy and Daddy' moved out. I shall miss them alot as they have been such wonderful neighbours! Prior to them, on both sides, we have had some horrendous neighbours, so I wait in trepidation of what is to come! But shall greet them with a smile and keep an open mind!

The trap was set for the first time last night



thats Sassy you can see the other side! Baited with scrummy pilchards. Alas nothing caught. I shall reset it tonight as he rarely visits during the day!
The good news is I managed to contact the lady at Cats Protection who has arranged for me to get an RSPCA neutering voucher, so I can get the feral cat neutered, then once he is done I think we will re;ease him somewhere far away and if I have to go through the same process next year I will!

plus


Happy Birthday 'ickle' sister!

Pottering

The other day after hanging the washing out I decided to take a few pics. The rain has certainly helped my garden this year and had we had a bit more sunshine I think I may have needed a machete to get through the jungle plot!

The Red Tiger, banana at the back has grwn immensly, so much so I think I may have to move it as I think its a bit close to the fence!



Can you see why I love the Maurelli so much, isn't this leaf lovely!



The sedums are all a beautiful colour at the moment.



My Queen Elizabeth rose still flowering madly.



Further down the garden I have a few bananas still in




the problem being is I can't find the labels so don't know which is what?? Do you lose labels, I seem to be brilliant at it and that is not good!

In the greenhouse is one of my Alocasia's



I have always loved this one because of the markings and the shiny leaves. I moved it in as we have had quite a few cool nights!

In my other greenhouse is my very special Manihot Grahamii



I will over winter this in the greenhouse as it is so small but I need it to lose its leaves so it will have to be placed in a cooler part of the heated greenhouse!

Behind my small greenhouse my neighbour grows this



it is now invading behind the small greenhouse but my side of the fence



and I expect it to arrive in the greenhouse next year, as you can see I have quite a problem as the space is not big enough to fit a spade down let alone my bum!!!!!!

Do you remember the size of my Tetrapanax Rex when I planted it, no? Well look here to remind yourself! Now look at it.




Imagine how big it will get next year!

This corner will need sorting as yet again I have to much in a small space...



I'm glad I potted the bamboos into these pots they have really taken off



and I couldn't really complain to my neighbour about her invading grass if I had let the bamboo run free!!!

My cup and sauce plant (Cobaea Scandens) I have never grown it before and I highly recommend it if you have something that needs to be covered, fast! It is an annual, so if you don't like it you just dig it up at the end of the season. I like it



the flowers first bloom and they are a pale colour getting



darker as they age.



and the bees love the pollen




and finally the second meeting has occured, Jake has spent a fair bit of time in the cage whilst Tango & Sassy where around. Having had a very busy week trolling back and forth between home the college and the hospital. When Hubby came back from hospital yesterday he said how skinny Tango has got, and he's right, I hadn't noticed how much weight he has lost. So we decided that currently the biggest scent in the house was Jakes, as basically Tango only comes in to sleep then goes out in the morning till the following day. So we decided to push things along and T very kindly came in at about 5pm yesterday, so I locked the cat flap, Jake was in the cage and we shut the kitchen door. So Tango had to deal with it. Everything went so well we opened the cage and.................



nothing happened??? You can see Tango in the distance by the cat flap. They walked around, skirting one another, I expected Tango to take at least one swipe at Jake and nothing happened, no growling, spitting or swiping??? So we opened the kitchen door and they both wandered around, very wary of one another but it was so fine we left them to it, but kept our ears peeled. Jake stalked Tango where ever he was about 10 inches behind was Jake! He is so desperate to have a mate to play with and my two don't want to play at all! Maybe I will have to get a kitten lol! Shhhh don't tell hubby!!!!!!!!!!!!!
More to follow...............

In, Out, In, Out!!

Spent the day yesterday driving round the country! We left at 0700 to travel too Warwick Uni to take T on an open day! Which was very good, its currently her favourite. We then went over to Worcester Uni to visit K as she had left a few things behind, which she needed. We then came back home quite tired out after 2000!

Anyway today was a lovely day, hubby said he would help me sort out the greenhouse as I wanted to relay the slabs again, giving me a bit more space, (hopefully)



We have made a path around the central area to allow me to bring in some bigger plants!



I have had to dig up and pot some of my more tender bananas



The only worrying thing is, I'm not sure I have enough room????? I still have 3 large Ensetes, plus another 3 smaller ones plus my brugmansias??? Mmmmmmmmm!



Just look at that face. They love being out in the garden with us!



Meanwhile Jake has found K's 'moon chair' in her bedroom. We have a cage now, a big one, the plan is to introduce the cats to one another whilst keeping Jake safe in the cage! The only problem is, my two are never in at a set time and I can't keep Jake in a cage all day! This is turning out to be more difficult than I expected. I have even shut him in K's room and left the room he sleeps in open, in the hope that mine will come in sometime and have a sniff around, mine have yet to come in whilst he's not in the room!!!

We measured K's sunflower its 10ft 11/2inches



Love the colour of this one!



Right off to pop Jake back into his room!!!

Backup!

I'm back!! Some silly virus got past all my security, I ended up having to call a man in to sort it! I've yet to receive the bill!!! But what this has taught me is

BackUp

how long is it since you have backed up your computer, if its awhile, do it, do it now! We are going to buy a large external hard drive to back up too and I shall get into the habit of backing up once a week.
I realised when all my security failed that what I have on the computer could very well be totally lost.
Digital Photos, I have stored but not got round to organising.
Family Tree, both hubby and I have spent many years researching our family trees, these are BIG files!
Letters, sometimes are only copy, what happened to carbon paper!
Keep all your discs and keynumbers, know where they are as you never know when you might need them!! This I am good at and could put my hand to everything I have loaded onto the computer.
Most of my pics are stored online as well.
I use a web based email so would not have lost anything there.
So the biggy for us would have been letters and documents and the Family History files.
So if you haven't, go do it now, BACK UP!

Other things that have been going on:-

Cats

Jake is still isolated from the other two but gets out to play whilst they are outside, he loves balancing on the bannister!



Sassy has been feeling the cold and whilst K was home had spent alot of time with her, she has been missing her and I often find her down K's bad under the bed clothes!



Out in the garden, my jungle did remarkably well this year, surprisingly, I think it really enjoyed all the rain but we could definately done with more sun, I don't think we sat out much at all!





The tree ferns really loved the damp weather..



The transformation down by the pond has been amazing, a real jungle paradise.



I'll have that greenhouse hidden in next to no time!!



The T-rex as you can see has really taken off this year, so next year I'm hoping for great things!!!



Looking back up the garden, you can see the mist this morning, it was a bit nippy only 6.1C when I woke about 06.30, its now 09.00 and has only managed 7C!!!
Where the wood is will be a new veg bed, thats where the chickens had been and opposite I plan to have a strawberry bed in a traingular patch.



The Indian Bean Tree (on the left, yellow leaves) will be moved this autumn. The veg bed beyond where you can see the sunflower growing (more on that in a mo!) Is going, I have had very poor results from this bed for 2 years now so I shall be slabbing it and this is where the Bar-B-Que will go. In hope of some decent bar-b-que weather next year!!! The indian bean tree will move closer to the BBQ area so as not to cast too musch shade on the flower/veg beds as it has a very thick canopy!



The Sunflowers....

when K came home from Uni she asked if she could plant some sunflowers, I said of course. Anyway they where planted very late and bearing in mind the weather this is the best one ever grown in our garden. These pics are for you K!



Comparing it with the Rocket Tree you can see how big it has got



One of the smaller ones she planted, such a lovely colour!