1st November 2014, is banana time!

Yep its that time of year again. Dig out bananas ready for over wintering. I could probably have left it a few more weeks, as its so mild, but we have don't have many free weekends and I'd much rather dig them out on a sunny day than a rainy day.

So here we have our before picture, it is a glorious day, definitely T Shirt and hanging washing on the line weather.

I prepared the greenhouse awhile back, just in case, I got the solar blankets this year to help reflect light a bit better and being south facing, I will probably line the whole of the door area with them, might help keep temps up abit!

So here they are all dug out, not that easy may I say, I have to try and remeber which is which! The Maureli have not grown well this year and looking at the roots you can tell. I stand them like this for about a month, then turn them round, its amazing just how much water they hold, to overwinter them they need to be as dry as possible.

these are the 2 Maureli's the top one has really only got roots half way round and the bottom one has a great hole up its centre. I cleaned all the muck off and trimmed back the roots, the hole is not rotten at all, so will give them another go, next year I plan to plant them somewhere totally different, so if they come through winter they hopefully should have alot more space!

 It always seems so empty after :(

As for my dog!!!! Well as you may gather he is not supposed to be on there, but where the sun is, he likes to be!!

Back to GMT

So the clocks went back on Saturday night, and we all got an extra hour in bed!!! That is so untrue, you just wake up at your normal time, which is now an hour earlier and feel tired all day!!!
So out in the garden all is good, it is still very mild so most things are still outside. The greenhouse is prepared for the mad rush and we wait!!
Its all a bit wind blown after 'ex hurricane Gonzales'  whizzed through.

I love what the wind has done to the leaves of the Montbeliardii, the winds came in from the southwest as you can see, I rather like the look!
 

The poor tree fern has disappeared under the passionflower, which is supposed to be growing up the wall! This one has not been good this year only had about 6 flowers!!!

The Cleome, still flowering away, has been gorgeous, I am now a big fan of this and will definately grow again next year! I am collecting seed as well so should be able to give some away.

The Waggy has grown loads again this year. Another one that needs to be brought in as it doesn't like the low, low temps of winter. Just to its right you can see the big dark leaf:-

Black Magic, I grow this as an annual as I cannot get them through a winter in the greenhouse, funnily enough there is one in the greenhouse and it is dead but look at this one still alive. Really surprised as they definately do not like the cool!

The Trex I think is trying to flower

 and the black eyed susan, another fabby plant, just goes on and on..... I really love the colour of this flower
thats scrambling over my bay.

I love big leaves, this is the same height as me

The sunshine through my Hiniba.

My husband is really thrilled with the new bed, which, I find rather funny as he was dead against it to start with. Everything is growing well.

I even have self seeded tomato plants and a Ricinus as well!!

The new area is looking good, even for this time of year. I think I will plant Ricinus to the side of the Phormium next year, we will see. 

I have great plans (again) for next year. Over winter I am hoping to redo the flower bed next to the veg beds. I have always felt this looked 'bitty' so I'm thinking dig eveything out, try and get the bind weed roots then put some plants back in, Monty Don says you should only have 7 plants in a bed, with duplicates or triplicates of said plants. I think I have 37 individual plants in here!!

In the veg bed opposite, I haven't said anything yet, but I am tempted to plant some of my Ensetes, instead of veg thus extending the jungle and giving me more space to show off my plants.
We shall see, you know me, my mind changes at the drop of a hat!!!
See you again x

Time to Wind Down?

Well not in the garden, it is still growing madly.
I am full of some virus or other, which annoys me no end. I wouldn't mind if I ate junk food all the time, but I don't. I eat more than my 5 a day and I also take supplements. I was checking bacl through my blog and it seems to be a regular occurrence for me in the autumn. I am seeing the doc next week, so will ask.

Back to the garden. I am afraid this will be a post minus photos as my camera has gone 'caput'!
The patio currently has 2 potted brugmansias flowering madly, a San Guinea & Grand Marnier. The yellow brug, I planted in, is covered in blooms and the scent here is AMAZING!
The pink passionflower next to the tree ferns has just decided to flower, whilst the Cobea Scandons Alba has scrambled all up my neighbours fence and is currently trying to get in the house is also flowering.

The new jungle bed is looking empty, although the plants that have been planted seem happy. I have great plans for this next year.

The flower bed to the right of the veg beds is looking glorious, with sedums, verbena and dahlias all in bloom. I really need to get in and give the bed a good digging over as the bindweed has flourished this year. I am seriously thinking of digging everything out this autumn, getting the bindweed roots out of the roots of flowers and shrubs then digging in some manure.Then replanting, I may employ some help.

The archway that I had intended to replace this year is still standing. I kept spending the money on something else!!! Although one of the jasmines that scrambles over it is looking decidedly dead!!!

The passionflower by the pond is still flowering. The large raised bed had been emptied of plants which I was supposed to redo a couple of months ago but it never got done, so it will wait till next year now.

My pond is as healthy as ever but does need a bit of a 'sludge' clear out. The baby orfe are huge for babies, and if they over winter well, I will probably sell or give them away next year. The Gunnera has not done well this year and I am in two minds what to do with it? If I dig it out, it will mean having to be very careful not to damage the liner, then what to replace it with? The fence panels here are totally rotten, but trying to get the neighbours to do anything about it, is difficult as they have a serious hedge there side so can't see this.

If you remember we dug out the veg bed next to hubbies office and turfed it. This looks so much better now, especially since the neighbour at No2, took out some silver birch trees. The difference at this time of year is huge.
I am in the process of insulating the greenhouse, but its a slow one, with not being well! Hubster is not in my good books as he left the greenhouse doors open last night and we had exceptionally low temps last night!
Well that is all for now, will try and beg borrow or steal a camera for next time.
 

Plant and forget!

I do this all the time, I plant out plants in the spring/early summer and totally forget about them, only to be surprise later in the year when a flower appears.
This happened today whilst I was clearing the raised bed next to the pond. I had planned to fill this with succulent and cactus as this dries out so quickly so these plants would be ideal, but I am still not certain.

Whilst digging it out I came across this, isn't it beautiful, I do love white flowers. I don't even remember planting it!!! There are quite a few buds on it as well.

This plant has been so neglected, no watering, no feeding, nothing. Yet still it produces beautiful blooms like this.
I have a number of Passionflowers now and just love the blooms.
I didn't think this one was going to flower at all this year, but noticed these flower buds today!

Meanwhile this one, also down by the pond , had I thought stopped flowering but, as you can see it continues to flower, over and over again.

Cobea Scandon Alba, another neglected plant is covered in buds at the moment.

another favourite of mine just opening, a passionflower.
It amazes me how these beautiful these plants are and that I have actually grown them in rural Wiltshire!

Recuperating!

I am taking it easy after, another, necessary operation!!! For once I am trying very hard to be good. The frustrating thing is the weather is so good that if I was ok, I would be out in the garden.

Instead, I am gardening with a camera, making a list of things to do.

The neighbours wretched hedge is a right pain in the proverbial. Planted nearly 20 odd years ago by the then landscape gardener neighbour, who kept it well trimmed and below fence level. Two neighbours later we have this, we are lucky if it gets trimmed at all, when it does it is not done well.

I go along and trim back what I can. But this needs to be done again soon.

This honeysuckle is going, its driving me potty. The bushy thing, (forgotten its name) is also moving in the autumn.

The Passionflower is not flowering anymore but it has been stunning, we have loads of fruit now. This has done so well this year, probably due to the mild winter.
The raised bed has been emptied, of its palm and hibiscus. I am still deciding on what to do here. Its very well drained so I had been thinking of putting in some cactus/succulents.

As you can see from the next photo this area is a lovely seating area, especially now our other neighbour has chopped down 3 of her Silver Birch trees. So I am tempted to put in some lovely smelling plants in instead. Choices, choices!

I still love my big leaves though!!!

Da daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

For some unknown reason, I do not have a before photo. This area had become a bit of a dumping ground. The bar b que was also here, which meant whoever was cooking was very much left out of the chat. That has now been rectified.

I am so glad I found a home for my ball pool, I always loved it when it was on the patio. We are going to search out a solar powered pump for this, so no need for electrics. Just need to decide on what types of pebbles to use.

Then I think a nice sun lounger for me. Not that I am likely to sit there for long. I am quite naughty, I always find something to do, I very rarely sit and enjoy my garden, I wish I could, but I always spot something that needs picking, weeding, chopping or dug in!!!!!

Really chuffed, think it will look good next year with some extra planting.

What a Mess!

The garden is a total mess at the moment, due too extending the jungle bed! I had hoped the plants would have a couple of months settling in before the cooler temps arrived!! We are forecast a ground frost tonight!!! Shock! Horror! Its still August!!

Anyway the first bed has been dug and the main plants put in. You can see we have moved the trough of bamboo a bit further down the garden to offer some shelter from the winds.

Off course whilst we worked on this bed we got talking about what to do with the opposite side of the garden. This is where my beautiful Indian Bean Tree (Catalpa) had been until it got the awful Verticillium Wilt. and got chopped down! So we discussed varying ideas and came up with a plan.
The digging and clearing began today.


The Camaerops Humilis, was moved from the raised bed by the pond, to up here. The raised bed was very dry, and needed copious amounts of water for this Palm, so we decided to move it. We have more work to do here but hopefully should be finished soon.

The raised bed by the pond is now looking rather empty, but I have plans for this, which involves plants that do not like water!!

The pond has been good this year. We have so many baby fish that we will have to give some away, but we will see how many survive the winter first!

Looking up the garden at the very black cloud, we see my gorgeous sunflowers. These are a new seed for me this year and they have surpassed all my expectations!

Well until next time!

Beautiful Morning

It was gorgeous this morning, cool enough for me to enjoy without dripping everywhere. So toddled down the garden and took a few pics!

I love mornings like this!

My multi headed Sunflower, so gorgeous, I really must find the seed packet with the name of this one as it is so cool!

Bindweed, gets in everywhere!!!!!

I just love banana leaves.

Feeling relaxed until I realise I have 3 weeks to get the new jungle bed sorted, as I have to go into hospital for an op then!!!!

New Jungle Bed Begins

Today has been the first day in ages that I have been able to work in the garden, I really enjoyed myself, although my back has been playing up as I did some major digging in K's garden the other day when I was there waiting for the delivery of their new shed. I don't think its been dug over for years and unfortunately I did over do it but don't tell hubby!!!

I am really loving the jungle bed at the top, it is looking gorgeous at the mo.

I like that I have a few flowers mixed in this year. The Cleome in this picture, is an amazing plant and goes on and on. I am definitely   growing these again, I have also got some Rudbeckia's mixed in and the Agapanthus I am going to dig up and put into post as I have found out they flower better when pot bound!

So the veg bed is now emptyish! I need to clear all the gravel, move the trough with the bamboo in to the end of the bed on the right. Use the boards to edge the new bed, dig in some compost and 'Bobs you Uncle'! Although I do need some help at the mo, so it will be a slow process.

This Cyathea is not hardy so is left in a big pot but I will move it to the top bed and semi sink it. The Rudbeckia's have done so well.

The Passionflower has been amazing this year and I have quite a few large fruits which I shall be trying out when they ripen

Isn't this Zebra Grass amazing, just lovely. The stripes are so defined.

A while back we bought some cactus to see how we did with them, obviously what ever we are doing must be good as they are flowering madly!!

I planted some new sunflowers at the beginning of the year I am thrilled with them as they are huge and an added bonus, multi headed too!

My Cycas Revoluta has finally finished its flush and doesn't it look a-m-a-z-i-n-g. Now I know what I need to do to get it to flush, I am hoping this will happen each year. They are hardy to -7C but I may keep it potted up for a while and sink the pot before I plant it out permenantly.

Here is Tango, he doesn't like me at the moment as he has been to the vet because his right back leg keeps giving way. It turned out it was his back not his leg, so he has to have a tablet morning and night. I tried to crush it in some fish which he wouldn't eat, then some yoghurt, same result, So now he has to have it chucked down his throat. So he avoids me at all costs. :(