Our gardening diaries - from latest toys, flowers to wildlife .. Please upload pics

[Logan]

Yes thanks, i appreciate it.

 

[Klona]

@Klona You see, I haven't been to anywhere... The furthest I went to was Germany and France.. Forgive my ignorance.. Nice to have chicken fertilising the plants.. People have to BUY them.. Yes, it might be a good idea to water the tree as it might affect the size of the nuts.. How exciting. I reckon you can grow mango or avocado trees your way.. Here, I had avocado growing from seed but I didn't have the room and I didn't think they would fruit here in the UK. My sister in law said that they had tons of them ripening at the same time in Australia.. avocado FEST! LOL!

I have never had an avocado in my life, but I have been thinking of growing mangoes! I'm trying to germinate mulberries at the moment. I took two photos of my mini germination greenhouse with the mulberry seedlings inside.
Mum brought some mulberries and I found 3 seeds. Thought I could germinate them like this and BAM. All three germinated faster than I thought. It's weird to see them germinate in less than a week because some weird guide in google said they took 2 weeks to germinate after placing them in the fridge for months, but I did NONE of that.

 

[alp]

@Klona It is wonderful to see how people germinate their seeds with their intuition. It must be very hot your way and you use foil tray whilst here in January, I always use polystyrene tray as it is so cold. We bought a mulberry tree and were very disappointed that the fruits were tiny.. Initially, I was told that I had to wait 10 years to see any fruits. I didn't wait that long, but the fruit size makes no sense of keeping such a huge tree in my small garden. Even now, the stump is still there flowing up the occasional sideshoots.. and I just keep ripping them off..

You've done very well.. Hope you can grow a sweet mango tree.. Avocado as well.. I bought 4 yesterday..and just love its creaminess.. Even my fussy son ate my mango and then I asked him, "How about me?" He said sorry.. I am such a failure .. to have a son who doesn't think beyond himself..

 

[alp]

Would have loved to post these in the showcase, but I don't really like the format, so I showcase my acer leaves here instead

These red ones have been raised from seeds two years ago.

These are from a tree which I air-layered and these leaves are from the air layered new plants.

These finely palmated leaves are from a £5 standard bought last year.. Love it so much .

These are always green and have been more than 15 years old.. but the heat has not been kind to it.. I had to down pipes installed from the gutters and the place is no longer that hot.. Have the feeling that one pipe is blocked..

This is the one I loved most.. A sweeping one - very elegant and I just love how understated and exquisite they are.. Hope to find a home for all of them...

 

[Klona]

@Klona It is wonderful to see how people germinate their seeds with their intuition. It must be very hot your way and you use foil tray whilst here in January, I always use polystyrene tray as it is so cold. We bought a mulberry tree and were very disappointed that the fruits were tiny.. Initially, I was told that I had to wait 10 years to see any fruits. I didn't wait that long, but the fruit size makes no sense of keeping such a huge tree in my small garden. Even now, the stump is still there flowing up the occasional sideshoots.. and I just keep ripping them off..

You've done very well.. Hope you can grow a sweet mango tree.. Avocado as well.. I bought 4 yesterday..and just love its creaminess.. Even my fussy son ate my mango and then I asked him, "How about me?" He said sorry.. I am such a failure .. to have a son who doesn't think beyond himself..

Maybe you can let it grow but heavily trim it so it can stay at a reasonable size? It's so sad to see such a tree go to waste. I'm developing a soft spot for plants.

My uncle has a mulberry tree. I haven't been there for years, but last time I saw, it was some 2 meters tall and it bore fruit (I'm pretty sure it was a mulberry). It's not that big isn't it?

 

[alp]

@Klona I only got a very small garden.. so I can't really have too many trees. All my trees are now in pots.. Because of the other trees of the neighbours, my trees have grown in funny way to reach out for the sun.. Quite bizarre. So I've promised myself that I won't put trees to the ground. Once I had a pear tree with deformed fruits - 2 a year. It was hard work sawing the trunk..

 

[Grey Parrot]

Larisa - your Dandelion made me chuckle

Alp - the urns contain the remains of my much loved pets - deceased of course !. One African Grey Parrot aged 47 years and one Indian Star Tortoise aged 45 years. Well, you DID ask

My Hedgehogs are visiting regularly again now but my venture with a Trail Cam has been a bit of a disaster. Far easier ( and more reliable ) to keep running outside thru the night to take the pics on my Lumix. Tiring tho

 

[Logan]

Alp, lovely Acers.
Been potting on some cosmos

 

[alp]

What a clever idea - with a mat underneath .. They look so well, Logan.. I need to do something to mine soon.

@Grey Parrot You will get the hang of it. Have to be patient.. Be good! LOL!

Upload some photos - quite a lot, bear with me...

My first cistus of the year

My first Californian poppy of the year!

The followings are taken in a park near us.. Beautiful big lake

English Blue Bells.

Below is a bit of daff FEST! Love that Salmon pink

A very ordinary narcissus

Wonderful to see them still in flowers!

 

[alp]

Some more! The park - some snapshots

Lovely fern head!

We saw this family and we were thrilled .. Sorry. just can't get enough of them.. They are so blurry or downy or feathery .. all seems to be out of focus and we snapped and snapped..

The best highlight of the day! Wonderful..

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Logan, your Cosmos are looking very good, plan to pot mine on tomorrow, First time I've grown them, do you 'sink' them down a bit lower or just replant at the depth they were at?

alps...your poppies out already, yours are far more advanced than mine.

Love the pics, especially the ducks and unfurling ferns.

 

[alp]

@Upsy Daisy Thank you. I was very excited to see ducklings with spots and the downy feather were just a bonus.. Love to see all babies, but these ones were so different .. We walked back and forth with them as they were swimming all around the lake.. Really had an enjoyable day out and that is the prettiest park we have near us..

 

[Logan]

Their great, your so good taking them close up.

 

[alp]

Thank you for NOT mentioning the blurred chicks.. Awww.. they are so cutie ... So happy to have seen them.. Wish you were there, Logan!

Oh, by the way, we saw a golden retriever.. and I told my son to take a snap of it. Will upload tomorrow..

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Logan sorry to be a pain but can I ask you again, when I pot on my Cosmos tomorrow should I replant them deeper or not? Thanks