Wednesday 9 November 2016

A Dog Walk Around the Village!

I decided to take a few pics of our 3.5 mile walk around our village, there are a number of working farms, so the roads are horrendously muddy and shitty too!!


Darcy loves this walk when its dry


Walking uptowards Heddington


Roundway Hill


Our own Meditation Temple



Darcy does everything not to walk in the running water down the side of the road!


Still going uphill


We have walked across the top of the village, turning down just before the church.



Passing the Village pub.



On down the hill we are now going through some of the muddiest parts of the village.


The hill to the right is called Kingsplay!


Coming back round into Stockley. Darcy is now trailing behind, he really hates wet and mud!




Coming to the home straight. I am now having to chivy Darcy along ....


More mud and puddles....


What is better than a bath after a long walk errrrr not, Darcy hates this,, but it is a regular occurence becuase this is what happens to a dog with short legs!


But then we have a grotty bath to clean out!!


Afterwards once he is towel dried


he goes mad running around downstairs, something he always does, I must try and get it on video one day!!!

Tuesday 8 November 2016

All Packed Away?

At my slimming club this morning I was asked, if  my garden was all packed away yet?

So I thought I would show you, my now very empty garden.

Hubby and I managed to get the last plants out of the ground on Saturday, just in time, as we started having quite white frosts that night.


Now it is empty and desolate. The Ricinus as you can see have finally succumbed, they where just starting to form seed pods too. Everything that is left is hardy so will remain until next year.

On the patio the TRex seems untouched by the frost


The same with the tree ferns,


The Arid bed all tucked up. My Olive tree, I have had this for years, I would really like to plant this in, but it is so small it would look silly. I suppose I could make a raised bed for it? Something to think about.


From the archway down to the greenhouse, all bare!


Had a fright Sunday night, when I went in and checked my thermometer and found it was -3C so set up and extra heater. That has obviously done the trick!!! 5C is as low as I like it to go.


So the Brugmansia are now in and will remain dry all winter. I had them planted in the garden this year, but they failed to flower , I will put them back into big pots next year.


The Ensetes (bananas) still upside down, I will turn them in a couple of weeks.


The cactus all seem happy.


Whats worrying me is how empty the greenhouse is? I have looked back over previous years and for some unknown reason, I have no pics of the winterized greenhouse.


Looking up the garden from the archeway! The hardy banana Musa Basjoo, will die right back then pop up again next year!!


So there you go, probably the last post for this year, I am already buying seeds ready for next year, just have to put them in a place I remember where they are!!!

Thursday 3 November 2016

Autumn Has Arrived!

This morning we had our first frost. 3C when I got up at 06.00 this morning. We have had a lot of fog the last few days, which keeps the temps up. But his morning was sooooooo pretty.....




I love these sort of days, cold, crisp and sunny, the ideal autumnal day. Realistically it is grey, murky and damp!!!

I thought I would share with you one of my all time favourite flowering autumnal plants. Grown from seed each year, this plant slowly scrambles over vast distances before it begins to flower in October.
I introduce Cobaea Scandens

Day one...


This is the purple one, but all the flowers start off cream.

Day two....


Day three...


also day three, you can now see other Day one flowers opening..


Day four...... I know, I know, looks very much like day 3, but I can assure you it is darker and obviously time to get a new camera.


all I can say is this is definitely worth growing


The other option is Alba, which is cream, but why have just cream when you can have cream through to purple?

We have had our first serious frost this morning


but the 'cup and saucer' plant  keeps on flowering.

The following pics are taken this morning after the frost and I would just like toploint out this is just one plant.





Highly recommended!

Thursday 20 October 2016

Dig, Wrap, & Cover! (very pic heavy)

I knew a frost would be coming, but had hoped it would hang on till at least the weekend! No such luck! We live in a very rural location so basically if it says 5C in a town nearby we will have a frost!

I have been very busy the last few days so have been unable to bubble wrap the green house. I know I started it but if you remember I was unhappy with how 'milky' the old bubble wrap has gone. I can't complain as it has, we reckon, lasted about 8+ years!


So this has been sat in my kitchen for quite a few days. I ordered some new attachments too as the old ones had become so brittle. This time it came with instructions, on the best way to insulate a greenhouse. Which is different to the way I did it last time, they are the experts so may give it a go!

But first I decided to dig everything out, turn it upside down to drain, (I will show pics as to why) then move on to insulating the greenhouse before putting everything in!
So here are the before pics. You can now see how the cold has affected the top leaves.


But funnily enough down at root level everything is fine.


And to be honest, yes they probably could have held on till the weekend. but I have always been 'ultra careful'.


The one I am most protective of is the Hiniba, below. Very, very rare plant. I am never likely to get another one of these ever!



The ones in this bed have not done quite so well, but then they where babies!




This leaf from the Hiniba is bigger than me.


This is why we have to cut them back for the winter, They are sponges for water, and need to be drained so they can be stored over winter at 5C.


I had a little robin join me during my dig out, it was singing its little heart out. When ever I see a robin it always reminds me of when my dad, a seafarer, came home and he used to love digging in the garden and a robin used to come and sit on his spade,  all the time, he used to feed it worms and things. 


This banana is the only one I will leave in the garden, it is totally root hardy. You can wrap them up in straw, I used to do this, but don't bother anymore, as they pop back up with no trouble.


Here is what is left of the bananas once they are dug up. I usually wash the roots to make sure all the soil is removed but, I am not sure I will have time today!


I have finished insulating the greenhouse, what a difference the new bubble wrap has made, really light in there now. It came on a roll and to be honest it was dam fiddly to put up as they suggested, but there are definitely less gaps!


I also line the bottom with celotex, this was left over from when hubby got his office built, I then cover this with survival blankets, these help reflect the light.


I must be mad, when I look back at this post and see just how much I do to keep my jungle growing, I am obviously a very dedicated gardener. The thing is I plan to expand it next year, the jungle garden not the greenhouse!


Anyway here it is, I have kept everything away from the celotex as I'm waiting for more survival blankets from good old Ebay to arrive.


This poor old frame, I have no idea how its still standing, thats why I have wedged the steps at the end with a bag of gravel on to help support it! I can assure you those bananas are not light.


All the cactus stuffed at the back for now, I will have to move some of it around as I still have quite a bit to fit in. A lot of my Colocasia and Alocasia, and my 2 Cycas Revouluta which are not small, plus canna and dahlia tubers , Some I leave out as they are hardy, but I will bring some in as a precaution.


Here we are, the end of a long day, The palm I had forgotten about (back right corner) this does not like the cold, every year I plant it out and it looks half dead, probably because I don't water it enough. Every year it grows bigger and bigger. 

Next post will be about how the garden looks after the 'big dig up'. Till then xx