Hello m' foxtrots,
Do come in, I've got t' kettle on and I'm raiding the biscuit bunker.... I wonder if those in the northern hemisphere are missing garden programs on TV? It is always a sad moment once I've watched the very last Gardeners World and Beechgrove Garden of the year on BBC iPlayer. Monsieur, on the contrary, does a celebratory dance. He feels like he has his TV back for wrestling, horror flicks and guitar shreds.
Oh how I dream of a straight forward 'job for the weekend', such as simply planting bulbs in pre-prepared pots full of fresh crumbly compost. My version of planting bulbs involves a big shuffle of many steps.
1) Make room in the greenhouse for the overwintered cannas:
Old pots are tidied away into the storage box (this hides behind the greenhouse).
Some plants come into the house, such as the ginger and the chilies.
On a side note - I am feeling pretty smug that my ginger tuber, brought from Wilkos for just a couple of pounds back in February. It is now the equivalent of a £10 tuber, were I to buy one that size from the supermarket!
2) Empty the blue half barrel pots of the cannas and trailing ivy pelargoniums.
Split the cannas by clean slicing them, using my grandad's hand-me-down old trusty spade -
3) Re-pot the cannas into the florist buckets (these were cleared of tomatoes last week).
The patio pelargoniums are also potted up to store in the greenhouse.
They are all given a thorough watering.
4.) Being the tight thrifty arse I am, I refuse to buy any more bags of compost. So, I retreat to the compost heap at the bottom of the garden in search of some good stuff.
This involves turning one heap out on to another....
[ONE HOUR LATER]
Inspired by
Ellie, for the first time in my life, I decide to sieve compost.
[ANOTHER HOUR LATER]
By this point, it is going dark and the neighbours must think I'm a proper weirdo.
The sky turns pink, then very suddenly the light clicks out and I can no longer see what I am doing.
I retreat to the house for a hot shower and glass of Buck's Piss.
5) The next morning, I open the curtains .... ahhhhhhh ..... (cue the sound of cellestrial beings).....
to sunshine and the most lovely of sights:
two tubs full of fresh, homemade compost, all ready for planting.
The box of bulbs is cracked open, and the tulips pushed into the soft crumbly good stuff -
My 2022 blue tub tulip display will consist of -
Later blooming tulips ' Claudia', 'Kingsblood' and 'Orange Princess'
I found this picture, taken six years ago, the last time red tulips graced Long Mizzle -
(The garden was quite different then: the Trachcarpus palm small, the old diseased blossom tree (left) and mutant conifer (far right) still in situ. The child has grown a fair bit since then too)
I also popped in some more scented, peony type 'Foxtrots' that I loved so much from this spring.
This batch of 'Persian Pearls' will go straight into the ground, as they a reputed to be good naturalisers -
And I still haven't gotten round to the daffodils, but do you know what... it's about that time we had that cup of tea isn't it!
I will leave you with some pictures of this week's home grown cut flowers -
Hope you are well. Please send gossip.
Lulu xXx
You are so very organised. In my garden there is still so much to be done before winter, but I can't seem to find the motivation just now. Xx
ReplyDeleteHello Jules, thanks duck. There's still time and plenty of autumn and winter to get organised. Lulu xXx
Deleteyour garden is wonderful with all the late flowers!!!
ReplyDeletehere - after a week of torrential rain - only the marigolds hold on for dear life, all the other flowers are gone, even the asters......
your selection of tulips looks promising! "orange princess" & "foxtrott" especially. love it when tulips are mixed up in shape and colours - bought a mixed bag of 19 - all kinda flamed and/or fringed in different ways. i planted them in 4 big pots which i store in the shed over winter up on a table - mice safe! all fingers crossed :-D
i never bought soil/compost. the first thing a made in the garden was a compost heep - from all the cuttings that were nessecary - to find the house was a bit like searching for a maya temple in the jungle ;-D
thanx for the tasty tea and biscuits! next time @moi with hot wine and leek tarte........
xxxxx
Hello Beate, fingers crossed the mice don't find your delicious tulips! Haha, I love your Maya temple / jungle description. It must have been quite a compost heap! Luckily / unluckily we too have a LOT of trimmings to keep ours permanently topped up. The hot wine and leek tarte sounds grand. Lulu xXx
DeleteAnother military operation completed at Long Mizzle - well done Mrs. I put a few tulip and daff bulbs in strategic places and can't remember where or what or when - usually this means I get diddly squat, but it could also mean a nice surprise of blooms sprouting in Spring and me looking smug like I planned it all. Crumbly compost is something I don't have - my landscape gardener brother who lives 200 miles away but feeds me long distance advice, insists you have to make a compost pile or you aren't a real gardener - it's full of eco friendly crawlies and goodness knows what and I see you have a 10 out of 10 quality heap - well done you! all I can say is you must peel a lot of veggies to keep that heap fueled so well, we clearly aren't getting our five a day or I could have made a heap like yours. The ginger is quite a specimen. Over in Touchwood garden (my place fyi) we have some mint in pots, chillis brought in and on kitchen windowsill, 4 new roses planted (half price jobs), the hydrangea flowerheads stolen and drying to make a wreath and not much else....
ReplyDeleteThank you Betty, although I do wear a Rambo style head band, I need commando boots, vest and oily camouflage next time! Hopefully your bulbs will spring up in Touchwood (good garden name by the way) and surprise you. Alas I do not always eat my five a day (unless we're talking about biscuits here)... but the garden does generate a lot of waste greenery... mostly the hedges. Please do share your hydrangea wreath when you have made it. Lulu xXx
DeleteOh how beautiful are those tulips.. all of them. If tomorrow's weather is decent I'll be planting bulbs.... keeps me from eating the contents of the fridge.
ReplyDeleteOne can never have enough tulips Cherie!.. well, until one runs out of pots and beds :0 Hope the planting went well. Good distraction tactics from your tasty fridge snacks. Lulu xXx
DeleteI'm sharing your dream, Lulu, but in Dove Cottage's tiny garden, with no room to swing a cat, let alone space for greenhouse - no, not even a diminutive one - a straightforward gardening job doesn't really exist. So much clearing up to do before I can even think of planting bulbs. Even just trying to reach the compost bin can be a hazard. Perhaps next weekend, which is a long one ...
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the ginger tuber and being a frugal gardener. I love how colourful your garden still is and your selection of tulips sounds very exciting indeed! xxx
I love that expression Ann - 'no room to swing a cat'. I often say 'no room to swing a rat' in relation to my tiny greenhouse. I think what we really need are behind the scenes assistants and researchers, to clean and prepare our work spaces, so we can flounce in and glamorously and effortlessly do our potting duties ;) Lulu xXx
DeleteI started to read your post and got distracted by the ginger plants. I had to rush outside and bring ours in.
ReplyDeleteI haven't watched Gardeners' World since August - shame on me - I think I know what I'll be watching up on over the next few weeks. I couldn't get into Beechgrove, its like comparing 6Music to Radio 2! xxx
Eh Vix, have you seen the price of ginger in the shops at the moment!!! I hope that when you do, you too get that smug feeling for having grown it yourself. I love a bit of Beechgrove - it's the 'tatty tasting' that got me hooked (when they don't say very much, but just chew) and I love the Scottish accents. Lulu xXx
DeleteI already have withdrawal symptoms for both GW and Beechgrove and it has only been less than a fortnight - send help!
ReplyDeleteWhat are we to do Kate!!! It is a long time to wait. I have got a corker of an old film though that I love to watch every winter... I will share soon ..... Lulu xXx
DeleteDear Lulu
ReplyDeleteI am missing both GW and Beechgrove (if I had to choose just one, I do prefer Beechgrove as it has 'proper' gardening advice and I do like all the trials that they do. However, I do like Adam Frost and his way of presenting when he is on GW). I have a few gardening mags to catch up on so that will keep me going for a while. Sieving compost isn't the most exciting of jobs, but it really made a difference to mine (thanks for the shout out, by the way). I hope you felt the hard work was worth it! ( I agree about the celestial choir too!)
Such a lot is still blooming beautifully for you - what a lovely splash of colour! I have started on my bulb planting and there will probably be a post on that shortly.
Happy composting!
Best wishes
Ellie
Hello Ellie, I too love the Beechgrove trials, plus Monty and Adam (plus his extraordinarily long arms and beer supping). The compost sieving was actually very therapeutic, and no doubt a good anti bingo-wings-work-out... so thanks for that. I am a bit behind in blogland but I will come looking this weekend for bulb gossip.... Lulu xXx
DeleteHi Lulu, I do miss Monty’s soothing voice and the therapeutic quality of Friday evenings kicked off by Gardeners’ World. In gardening terms I feel a bit rudderless now. Glad you managed to sort your bulbs - can’t wait to see the results. Stunning flower arrangements as ever. Goodness, your garden has been transformed over the years! xxx
ReplyDeleteGardeners' Wold - that's how I like to rock n' roll these days on a Friday night Claire! Funny to see old pictures and how it has grown. Lulu xXx
DeletePS Meant to say, Gareth was obsessing over ginger a few months ago and heard that if you grab a gnarly bit of ginger from the supermarket (look for one with plenty of eyes) and plonk it in some compost, ginger will grow. Sure enough it worked a treat…until the cat dug them up! There are a few clips on n YouTube about it. xxx
ReplyDeleteOh dear :0 Do cats have a penchant for ginger??? I will take a look on You Tube....
DeleteI know there's a whole thing about cats being unnerved by cucumbers. xXx
Love your enthusiasm and energy towards your magical garden. Enjoyed the photos. All good wishes, have a wonderful week.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mike, glad you enjoyed 'em. Coming over soon to catch up on this week's blog... Lulu xXx
DeleteSuperb Blog my friend, I really like your content & especially you have published in a structured way. Reader who search for garden maintenance would love the images. Thank you for sharing such beautiful pictures of flowers.
ReplyDeleteOh, hello Kevin. Hmmmm, are you real or copy & paste generated? My one Sheffield reader may be interested in your services.... ;)
DeleteYou are so clever with all your gardening endeavours! I was interested to see you splitting the Cannas! I love your floral arrangements- so lovely and your tulips will look fabulous! I MUST plant bulbs in my front planter!!! Must buy some, must plant!
ReplyDeleteThank you Kezzie, how kind. Yes do it, plant plant plant..... then plant a bit more.... then maybe have a cup of tea. Lulu xXx
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