The one that got away

Hello there, hope you are well.

There's always one that gets away! I was wondering why my cucumber plant had ceased its production of lunchtime snacks. This is why: one big, bad snozzcumber, hiding behind my garden store, stealing all the water and nutrients . Now it has been extracted, the others will soon be on their way to fulfilling their lunch time destiny. [This week's dress is a Judith Chalmers-esq, 'Wish You Were Here' 1980s dazzler / the hair is of someone who has had a hard week at work and needs more sun hats ]

  

I think time may have ran out for my Echium Tree (Echium pininana), which has failed to flower, even though it's in its second year. All I can do now is protect it from winter frosts and hope its multi-branches develop into purple spikes next summer. Although technically biennials, I have heard they can take longer to flower.

 

We have popped our collected acorns in these special grow vases. We don't really have room for oak trees, but it is nice for the kids to watch them grow and we could turn them into bonsai. The two on the right are avocado stones.

Aren't seeds just amazing!  At this time of year, I leave some in situ as I love their sculpted heads, papery filaments and rattling sound. Also, the birds love them. Even the fat wood pigeons, too heavy to land on the stems, have been having a go at the Vebena bonariensis seed by the fence. Fennel and Nigella are allowed to freely self-seed themselves around the garden.

Some seeds are collected in old ice cream tubs and kept in the greenhouse until they're fully dry. Below: Aquilegea, chives, sweet william, gerannium maderense.

 

Whilst Acorn and Avocado seeds are 'recalcitrant'  (moist , fleshy, do not survive drying or freezing and have a short viability)  the above seeds are all classed as 'orthodox seeds'. Orthodox seeds can be stored for long periods of time in the right conditions.  

It is an absolute marvel that seeds found in ancient Egyptian tombs and those encased in ice from the Ice Age have been successfully grown. Contrary to my kids opinion, I'm not Mumm-Ra from Thundercats and don't have an ancient tomb. Instead, I pop my dried seeds into paper bags, then into a sealed sandwich box with a silica sachet. Much to Monsieur's annoyance, this is then kept in the fridge all year round.

My second to last weekend before my RHS exam should have been spent all-out revising, but after a morning of study, I couldn't resist doing a little trimming and weeding. Above is the before and after shot of the Trachycarpus furtunei palm. Its straggly lower leaves were removed and the weeds at the base cleared. 

 

 Above it s a lovely sleeping bee that I found in the Cosmos this morning. One capsicum pepper is almost ready for eating.The feather top grass is spilling everywhere.

It really is time to try one of those apples! This Braeburn tree was found in a bargain supermarket bin. I've been training it into a 'hurdle over' (my take on a 'step over'). Braeburn apples need a long season to ripen, but it seems to be happy here by our sunny south facing wall, overlooking the creek.

That's all for today folks, take care and catch you next weekend,

Lulu xXx

 

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