Magazine style - all inclusive

[Zenj]

Morning all well after a couple of dry days ,back to the norm rain rain and more rain cold too Have a good weekend all.

 

[alp]

Not that good! Wet and cut myself taking cuttings again. This time, it's the little finger on the left hand. Had some 3 different dahlia cuttings. Those I took for Manhattan Island has rotted. Actually, there was only one!

Cooked the broccoli from the allotment. And I dug up a big clump which I thought was Giant parsley and planted at home. But a taste of the leaf revealed that it was CELERY! Huge and short leaves and green stems - short and hard. I think I will juice it with carrot juice. Rained siince 2pm but not heavy. Let go of 3 butts, thinking that it would be deluge! More like a steady trickle.

Planted 5 erythronium pagoda. Was wondering why I bought them. I then realised that it was cheap. Like 5 bulbs (fat, and healthy) for £4.99. I have never seen such a lovely size or healthy size from Taylor bulbs. Glad that I ordered. Those Den canis bulbs were near dead and 1/10 of the size of those I bought. Now I just hope spring comes soon. Withdrawal symptom already set in. Can't wait to be in March! Dreaded winter time is coming!

 

[Perki]

Rain all day yesterday upto 1- 2 pm this afternoon . Weather forecast is for it to freeze for at least the next 3 nights so the Ensete maurlii had to be lifted out of its pot , I snapped my towel trying to cut / lever it out of its pot, its in the kitchen now in a bucket draining excess water out. Think I'll be very busy packing away the dahlias and tidying up over the next few weeks. Need to take in tender plant from the GH into the house tomorrow and take some cutting of saliva and fuchsia. I have rehemans firecracker myself , it were only a small tuber when I got it so grown it on for next year , its just about to flower just opening now I am not sure whether to fleece them and risk it or use them for cut flowers .

Went GC yesterday and got 4 bags of compost and a bag of manure for potentially replenishing the soil for a new grape vine . Also cleared out the clearance section for any worth while plants mostly bought them for mum garden but I think I'll have 3 of the 6 agastache blue fortune £1 each also some salvias at 50p each 3L pot and some over bits and pieces .

 

[alp]

Wow! 50p for 3L! AMAZING! Here in my corner, everything is expensive, a Weigela without any label and with one stem, they wanted £3! I have one orange, one yellow and one blue/violet agastaches! Not every keen on them and they give out very heady smell, but they do well here and flower almost non stop in the heat.

Went to Wilko yesterday and all the horticulture related stuff totally gone. All Halloween and Christmas! Sad! Even the flower stall selling £1 alstroemerias was not there, making way for 1076 some kind of radio programme show.

Yesterday had my little watermelon removed from the front and was disappointed with the amount of rain. A banana? Perki! That's big!

When I heard of the cold days ahead, I went to the allotment and cloched some salvias, but especially my only flowering Green Twsiter! I even used a stick to increase the head space. I hope I can get some seeds.

3C??? I thought it was 6c!

I need to put up my strawberry runners. The trouble is where. I don't really want to open up another space in the lawn. I will take more cuttings so that I will have 5 or 7 at least of each plant and plant them seriously in drifts next year! I think I will leave my dahlias in the ground and just top up with mulch! Too lazy!

 

[Perki]

Lashed it down again this morning unexpectedly so that put plans on hold.

Popped down to B&M this dinner time to pick up some pansy / viola, not a huge fan of them but they provide vital colour over the coming months

. Good selection really were only going to get 1 mix tray cause that what they normally have , grabbed 9 trays ( 6 cell ) of single colours at 3 for £5 got to the till 99p a tray instead , got home and had a reckon up how many more I need and walked back down and got 5 more trays . I am on a roll with the bargains at the moment

Got back home had huge pieris shrub to plant for mum so went round and did that and moved / lifted other plants.

I just been rushing round the rest of the afternoon / evening taking cutting of fuchsia / salvias and moving pots of pelargoniums into the GH which I want cutting off , got jam jars everywhere with cutting in

. Covered one dahlia up with fleece which is just about to flower rejmans firecracker , was only a small tuber so weren't expecting much but will be disappointed if the frost gets it.

 

[alp]

I have the same feeling as to the value of pansy and viola until I saw Sophie17 had hers in baskets and they were real cute. But they were so cheap when Wyevale changed over to Upminster garden centre, it would be rude not to have them, especially 50p a tray cyclamen. Also, they weren't even using pellets and you could see the roots beautifully filling the tray and not root bound.

Well, I did buy some pellet grown chrysan 20p a tray. All I need to do is to remove the dead buds and Bob is your uncle. 60p for 3 trays - now is the time to go around! Also, now is the time to take basal cuttings. Went up to the cafe to get egg shells and coffee grinds. Life is hard as there are so many coffee shops and soon KFC will be next to this Turks run place. I gave one girl one hoya and the following time I went, I was minded to give one to Amber! Oh, dear! I was useless. My late mother in law loved dress making and every time the girls had a birthday, she would SEND TWO dresses to her fairy granddaughters. I had no such luck. I have a boy! Any way, I will only give away anything if I have TWO! Thank heavens that I am good at layering although rubbish at making them flower! I want to build up a good collection of egg shells and coffee grind. Yesterday, I even picked up the banana skills at a supermarket. Better than buying Tomorite, especially when they were not reduced yesterday! Went to Wilko to have a quite dash and walked right to the end of the shop and saw what I wanted. Sadly, all the good stuff jad gone. I was left with yet another ericaceous slow release, but the Hozelock sprayers were reduced from £10 to £2.50. Got 2 and some tape to join up some bubblewrap. A layer pellet for my hens reduced to £4.25 from £5.50. I am feeding the mice too. Occasionally,a dead mouse is found inside the drinking tub. Well, as long as they are not inside my house ...

Yes, Rajman is so pretty! How can you not like it? A distinctive striking dahlia! i took cuttings on Saturday. The Manhattan island is not showing any buds and actually looked dying. It looks like a spiderwoman, but prettier! The cutting (only one) has taken. The rain and cold help, This woman head gardener said she took 3000 cuttings the year before. Well, if you ran a garden open to public, you easily need to hit that figure. My aim to hit 300. I wish I hadn't killed my Hazy Days. Some dahlias are still growing first leaves!

Yesterday is a lovely day for all of us! I tried to dry my clothes outside, but ended up with drying the last bit inside the house. They were mostly dry. So it's fab! Nothing better than sundried clothes. Computer screen went black again! It wants to tell me something.

Today is not so bad

 

[alp]

New Zealand newspaper! LOL!

 

[alp]

Un jour sans soleil!

Finally, potted up my strawberry runners and 2 new AGM strawberries - Pegasus and Alice. I think I made about 4 pots.

Also, some Amethyst lips salvia cuttings and I was very annoyed when I got seeds like this.

I actually left a negative comment. A distinct lack of tidiness and there are supposed to be 20 seeds in them -- Can't tell the chaff from the wheat!

My little melon which will be useless

This little melon, however, tasted delicious where the seeds were! Yummy! Shame too late!

Potted these chrysanthemums up. This tray housed the worst lot. But 20p - it's OK. The bronze ones seemed to be healthier!



Another cold day and there is a race to take all the cuttings. I took some Myrtle Folly, some Veronne's Obsidian, and Creme de cassis cuttings home from the allotment. All looked grim after yesterday's severe frost. Some dahlia leaves were stewed by the frost. And they only started to flower last week.

 

[alp]

That's more like it - a bit of sun!

Camera is playing up again!

My Salvia Amante photos have not appeared.

Penstemon Arabesque F1 First stem of flower!

Cirsium Trevors Blue Wonder

Of course, I took more than one photos! This camera is telling me something!

Penstemon Sour Grapes M Fish!

Not bad for end of October!

My Jacaranda has caught the frost and I have now taken it inside the lean to. Very sad!

 

[alp]

Looks like a good day! Last day of October! Who would have thought?!

Took some cuttings for A Shropshire Lad climbing rose, and will take some more today for all my various roses. Some are actually flowering. Very pretty. Neighbour came out and told me that his other neighbour had died! . All very sad. His late wife was a perfect gardener and his son said he had never been the same since the wife died and that was more than 7 years ago. All very sad.

We were talking about fig tree and he said that his was the only one that would fruit properly in the UK! I have the feeling that the one in the allotment won't fruit properly. The fruits were just green and stare at me, mute!

Took 7 cuttings of the Lobelia Hadspen Purple by splitting the basal growths. I then returned the mother plants into water and hopefully get more.

Here my purple Lobelia and it's a pereennial

6 more of cuttings of Helenium Early Sahin. Aster Monch is still struggling to flower, but I will take cuttings as well.

My last and only apple Red Rocket - looks pretty, but tasted not a patch on my Lidl apples! Very powdery

My very first Hellebore anemone

This could be Madame Lemonnier or Anna's Red.

One more pots of Salvia Amante cuttings, Amethyst Lips. Today I will blitz the asters. The wet and the cool seem to be doing magic to all my cuttings.

My amante taken on 26 August is now flowering

 

[alp]

It was a lovely day yesterday! Sun shining and I removed most of the hellebore leaves.

Yesterday, I was so pleased to see my chickens enjoying their food. Bought a reduced pack of pellets (bag torn) from Wilko and for the first time, they were happily pecking away until the trays were empty. So pleased. Always disappointed to see their response to their foods. I have added banana bits, some pear I bought from MS, some soaked raisin and some cooked stir fry for them.

Hope it's going to rain a bit as I took some rose cuttings yesterday: A Shropshire Lad, Purple rose. Today, I will take yellow rose Chinatown and my pink rose cuttings. I need them to line the back. to stop people coming from the back.

Flowering appearing - so if you are unsure of the weather, check your flowers. We're in for a bit of warmth!

Convolvulus flowering

First flower of Aster Monch! So happy!

Cirsium

Lovely climbing rose!

Salvia Amante - first flowers for me!

Apparently, it the season of foxes mating. Neighbour said he heard screaming at night. They even toppled his tree trunk left several years ago and dug a hole nearly 1 foot long underground. His daughter bricked it up. I hope they are not tunnelling to my chickens!

 

[Perki]

Well quite a few of the dahlias are totally black , all the dahlias are blackened and the one I fleeced ( R.firecracker ) has been severely damaged probably not flower before its totally wiped out , the dahlias in the front garden / next to the house seem to be fine .

I am going to have to wait until February at the earliest for the Hellebore I wanted I suppose it best i wait I'll get the plant / flower I want instead of a impostor . Were looking last night at grass I would like Miscanthus Memory I only want one plant, £10 P+P is putting me off but I am a sucker for paying over the odds for a plant I want . The erythronium search isn't going well either .

Think I'll go and clear out the tomato plants and pot a basket and pot up .

 

[alp]

You can take cuttings of the Rajman. I took cuttings of my Manhattan Island ( a dying plant with 2 forlorn stems) and my Natal red Pompom late August (I hope - only googled the pompon flower) and they both have taken. Best is not to buy plants now as you really don't know what the real McCoy is. I bought a supposedly black double hellebore and it turned out to be yet another Niger! Grrrrrrrrrr!

This year, i have already taken cuttings of my Black Honka, Myrtle Folly, Creme de Cassis and Rajman.

Can't you collect seeds for the Miscanthus Memory? I mean - caressing the seed heads .. They will all go to the wind any way! Hehe!

I heaved and heaved and removed Some Broadway Star and Indian Chief Irises out of the tiny 4 inches gap between neighbour's wall and my paved driveway. Amazing how many roots there were - all matted like Rastafarian hair style. Shocking that they actually flowered as there was very little soil and even less water. I am a wicked mother!

It's a very warm day. Been up the road to get some egg shells and coffee grind. I so want to have some seaweed.

On the list to buy dahlias next year - Hazy Days, Teesbrooke Audry ..

 

[Perki]

Its raining / drizzling so been in GH , removed some begonias from a basket which have good tubers so will dry them out and keep them. Wrestled dahlia Thomas Edison out of a pot , planted the basket up with dwarf orange tulips - muscari A - heuchera marmalade /- blue voila and one giant bellis , potted the pot up with tulip huis ten bocshi - yellow daffs - pinky / purple pansy and myositis .

Took the rest of the tomatoes off / cucumber and pulled out the plants for the bin , it takes ages just taking the ties off.

Done abit of tidying in the GH , turf out any wallflower and foxglove emptied a few more pots.

Took a lot of pelargonium ivy leaf cutting

I don't believe you can get seeds for M.Memory its is a cross between to others , I want a plant anyway to inpatient to wait years for a mature specimen .

 

[alp]

I really loved your greenhouse in Spring. It was choc-a-bloc with green. But if I had one here, it would be very, very hot and I would be crippled just watering. That's why I am hesitant about erecting one, let alone 2!

Why not go around nurseries? With a motorbike, you could go far and wide. Make sure you have something to carry plants though. Trouble is specialist plants are very difficult to come by! We went to Enfield and there were about 6 to 7 nurseries next to each other. We then went to Harlow and that Blue Diamond nursery was magical. A lovely nursery. Will go probably mid November when everybody is clearing plants for Christmas trees!

Tomorrow son is off, but rain is NOT! Might still chance it. Sadly, we haven't been to any National Trust properties this year. We were thinking of going to our favorite haunts - Nymans!