Magazine style - all inclusive

[alp]

Just to say this year with the coronavirus I have grown mini salads radish runner beans ,potatoes ,courgettes ect .All in pots with that compost with the added seaweed which I posted on here it’s been a success and will do it every year from now.Example cougettes
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Well done! And nothing feels better than cooking what you've just cut. I have several very long and very big courgettes. I planted them in between flowers. It's a shame that I didn't harvest my radishes early. They became tough stalk and had to be discarded. I love the zingy flavour. Must try again next year. My carrots germinated, unlike Monty, but an inch and a half long! Ooops!

 

[Perki]

Another wet day well morning / dinner but brightened up this afternoon . I dug up one of the Hellebores and divided it , I replanted some back into the garden and will probably give the rest away . I put one of my new hellebore in its place a apricot variety I bought earlier this year. Mowed the lawn and some watering in the GH and deadhead one of the roses , I really need to give the roses a fed its been on my to do list for weeks I'll make sure I 'll do it tomorrow.

I've not be out today but for work this morning , bit of time in the garden then watched the fa cup final sadly Arsenal won .Rain forecast tomorrow so I'll probably not go tomorrow either .

I've got some swede - carrots - lettuce coming on good , my spuds are rubbish the frost really did a number on them. My melons are going a bit funny as well it looks like cold damage but I not usually successful with them anyway. I still don't know what courgettes are for ? I believe they don't taste of much and are just a filler are something like that.

Join the breeding programme I have enough work looking after myself let alone another person.

 

[alp]

We had rain, about one sec and it was rubbish. So sad another an hour and a half of watering. My pocket bleeds .. I hallucinated and thought it was sloshing with rain, it was the dishwasher in the kitchen. Mirage ...

We were out since 10 to 9 and bought tons of border irises for £2 each. Some seaweed concentrate for £3.49/L by Doff. Before we went, friend told us the a house 2 minutes down the road when loads of compost because it had been raised by the police. A huge greenhouse frame could be reassembled and there were tons of big tubs of compost. When we came back, we made 4 trips to get the freebies.

You can see the cannabis plant jiffy pellet in the middle. Big and useful compost (lots of fibre and even perlite). Great job police have a done a good job. Apparently, the raid happened about 4 months ago. We had 3 bags of this and there is still a pile to be collected. Fan, heater and tin foil everywhere!

This was the nearest I had to rain and 1 sec of rain - loud, but useless. Yet the whole day it was so humid!

This weak plant asked for £9 Blue Niles

Some nurseries are situated at the best of locations. This one not near the motorway and surrounded by huge swathe of green and mature trees. Just lovely site!

Some strange looking Nepeta sub???? in Blue Diamond

See this lovely area dedicated to indoor plants. Very pretty!

Yes, we watched FA and I am glad that at least Arsenal can now play in Europa league now that they are not in the top 4. Great for Arteta and I was so moved by the tear jerker goal keeper. He had a nasty fall catching that ball. Must have meant a lot to him and his family.

I bought my Red Duke of York very cheaply and the harvest was a bit mean. The flesh was brilliant to peel, but some had inside brown holes. Taste wise, not that brilliant. I should really buy either Charlotte or Piper Maris now to put into its place. But I prefer to buy from supermarket and cook some. I am always too mean.

I have one long yellow courgette and yesterday I found that I actually had cauliflowers forming! I have 3 different heads. A big small but OK. Courgettes are delicious if sliced thin and just steamed until the slices turn translucent. It has a very delicate sweetness. I have 2 or 3 Seno de piel green melon growing and uchiki kuri is doing very well. One was growing in the allotment. I really think you need a lot of water to keep courgettes, lettuce and tomatoes. For that reason, I bought £15 of Irish peat moss 200L and hopefully it will make the soil more moisture retentive. Might be a good idea to get more horse manure. Need to go to the allotment to plant a lot and now I have to water my plants and another hour and a half.

 

[Perki]

Its not been a bad day better than forecast . Popped out to the GCentre after getting restless I had a Salvia on my mind and need to investigate. I had a good look round and rooted through the sale section see if any plants are worth saving, I picked up a salvia verticillata Endless love I couldn't make my mind up with ELove or purple rain that why I need to see it in person

. Wearing a mask is driving me bonkers its to warm inside for them , and I got something stuck in throat trying my best not to cough in case I get beaten with a shovel or a death stare

, especially as we have gone back into a more restricted lock down .

Back home I dug up a salvia Mainacht and replanted that in the front garden, it doesnt have the height i am after. I divided the s.endleess love and planted that where mainacht was. I've took some salvia Serenade cutting, I've got other plans for S.Serenade for next year when I re plant another border.

I've picked my first proper cucumber today

. I go out and feed the plant s now with a tomato feed.

What do you want the old compost far ? they be next to no nutrition in it , only really useful for mulching and improving soil structure .

 

[Perki]

Kniphofia Timothy which is the star of the garden at the moment for me , the salmon colour is divine

My Black tomatoes, I didn't expect them to be so black I am quite shocked really

Love this view of the garden , this is how it looks from sitting by the computer looking through the back window

This is a bit of the garden I replanted , I moved a huge eupatorium purple bush back last autumn ( its double in size this year its massive 5ft wide 4 ft depth at least ), some verbascum nigrum Album grown from seed - front Persicaria september spire ( new ) that to hide the gaping gap where the delphinium has been cut back to the ground , I can now see the hydrangea limelight which is due to flower anytime now. geranium orion front of border ( cant see ) with astrantia habspen blood. I do have my Rose lady of shallot which doesn't really fit , it was a impulse buy which is quite rare for me to do . The phlox is lynden monica bell highly scented .

This border is just warming up.

 

[alp]

I nearly wanted to buy a veronacastrum, but the pic shows only tiny stems. (This reminds me of the veronica which my neighbour gave me. I ended up having to compost the stems all the times.) Do they all have the grotesque crown? Without the interesting weird crown, I have no use for it. Rare to see it coming up for sale.

We went to Range in PItsea and it was a lovely place and there were queues in and out. We didn't buy anything. The weather was lovely.

Any way, went to Canvey Island and it was most interesting. Saw a couple kayaking, so lovely to see river meandering on the marsh land. Bought 2 yellow Moodz Echinaceas and neighbour couldn't believe his eyes, saying that not again! He thinks I have too many! Well, it's my drug.

What is the name of that lily - a giant one? I have 3 from Home Bargains, but they have been planted in the wrong place and so they were still short. Love Monty's white ones. This yellow one looks nice.

You should try selling your greenhouse plants using the word free in Facebook Market place and when people ask for it, you quote them a price. Everybody's at it. One woman said her greenhouse was £5. In the end, it went for £35! And yet they all advertised as free. This is what they call click bait!

I can use the compost for sowing seeds. No nutrient is fine.

Your crocosmias are putting on a good show!

 

[alp]

From the allotment - Echinacea Twister

San Marco F2

I think this is hydrangea Paniculata

Another Twister

A simpler version of flower Rejmans Firecracker

On the way to Canvey Island

Nice marsh land and there are meandering small river winding its way. Very peaceful.

hibiscus

Clematis Crystal Foundation

I learned that you could label the leaves of irises and so I did. What has happened is that the leaves died and I now have no idea what iris they are. Very annoying.

 

[alp]

Well, 2 hours of watering last night and half an hour today. I hate watering as it means money down the drain, but when you go close up, you see flowers and sweet surprises.

Apricot Lemonade cosmos. I have about 3 of these plants after showering 2 packets of seeds. I actually bought 3.

A dahlia which was sent to me as Blue Bayou. Now, where is Blue Bayou? Not in East London, naturally!

This tithonia is beautifully captured. The colour is this gorgeous red!

Harvest time for my Costoluto Florentino! Would be nice on top of pizza with tons of mozzarella and parmazan!

Love this Helenium autumnal Gold!

This is Rudbeckia Herbstonne! The cone is an intricately weaved artwork!

My little camera yielded more functions Superfine, reducce hand shake. Shame the screen has been ruined by me. I would buy the same one any day!

Sour Grapes or Mother of Pearl.

Dahlia Toto very happy and has been flowering non-stop!

So are these alstro

Last night super sweet surprise! When I saw the seeds, I thought they were wood chips from China, but it was cheap and the package front gorgeous. If a picture paints a thousand words ... Sorry that half of the photo is vandalised by my dirty fingers! Call the thought police! LOL!

Last night it was fully open, I wish I had acted quickly! Chrysanthemum Rainbow Mixed!

 

[Zenj]

Raining here again but brighter this afternoon ,cosmos apricot lemonade not impressed with mine poor germination small flowers and too much colour variations some as turned out beige will give them a miss in future.

 

[Perki]

Rained this morning but brightened up this afternoon and windy its blown over a few pots. Been trimming a monster privet hedge all day takes ages and with the kids jumping it in leave holes and being 5-6 week late cutting it made it a bit of a nightmare .

I find it really strange seeing flat landscape , here everywhere is up or down hill .

How come you use old compost for seeds alp ? Ideally you want a compost which has been rid of pests / disease . I just use MPC for seedling can't be bothered with potting compost

 

[alp]

Raining here again but brighter this afternoon ,cosmos apricot lemonade not impressed with mine poor germination small flowers and too much colour variations some as turned out beige will give them a miss in future.

Yes, flowers a bit small. I had to go to Enfield to buy another packet and sowed them again. The colours of the flowers were not as well defined or big as the others. I am trying to collect seeds, but there are so far 5 flowers and they are buried by the others.

 

[alp]

Rained this morning but brightened up this afternoon and windy its blown over a few pots. Been trimming a monster privet hedge all day takes ages and with the kids jumping it in leave holes and being 5-6 week late cutting it made it a bit of a nightmare .

I find it really strange seeing flat landscape , here everywhere is up or down hill .

How come you use old compost for seeds alp ? Ideally you want a compost which has been rid of pests / disease . I just use MPC for seedling can't be bothered with potting compost

Everybody is talking about rain! I wish I had some. Even when I had them on 2 occasions, they were noisy, but vanished after hardly one minute! Yesterday an hour and a half of water. Just not sustainable. Friend said the same. He left me with 1/3 bag of compost. think I will leave it to compost for a year before using it. He said it was full of nasty chemicals and would ruin his organic ethos. He is the only person I know that had covid. Every time he sneezes, I shudders!

How do you keep your mpc moist, Perki? They just got fried and dry here in East London and the pots have to be discarded.

Candytuft direct sown in June or July!

Salvia Uliginosa

The Chrysan and this Teddy Bear are this year's highlight for me! I have sown tons of seeds for Teddy and they all turned out to be something dwarf and common. Only this precious glory is the genuine McCoy so far. I had to pull the others out.

 

[Perki]

I dont do anything particular with my compost , I do have trouble drying it out though if left out over winter.
I grow Teddy bear a while back I weren't over keen on it, it doesn't resemble a sunflower to me very odd small plant. Best sunflower I grow were a good 5- 6years ago think it were velvet queen more of a browny /red but it was nice and tall

 

[alp]

Good morning to all. Come back from the battle with a new itch. These cretins just know where to bite you. Even scratching these spots look uncivilised.

If you lived here, Perki, not only would you see flat land, but dry out compost EVERY DAY! The reason I bought 200L Irish peat moss was because they said sphagnum moss would retain moisture. I do have some for living baskets, but I hope this trick might help. Rain is silver gold here.

Collarette from Blue Diamond - could be Pooh

One of the many tiny cauliflowers

Cosmos Lemonade

Cosmos cupcake

My favorite - reminds me of glorious Indian headgear!

Red onions indifferent result.

Only one rudbeckia

Love this cacti dahlia Big flowers and stay new for a long time - quite a lot of flowers as well.

Poor Totally Tangerine - not in a happy place.

Asclepias Incarnata Cinderella

A most horrid alstroemeria - I just hope the bees will cross pollinate all my lots. Looks like a 1930 plastic flower!

Big Omega

 

[Zenj]

Lovely warm day sun and cloud