Last Post 694 days 17 hours ago
28 June 2011 23:42:25
Brugmansia x candida
I was delighted today to find out that this cutting has rooted! it is a beautiful bush with an a long trumpet shaped flower of about 12" this one even more so as it is a double flowered variety! (Double white) and the reason we are delighted it has taken is because we took the cutting from a public park in the south of Spain!! Maggie took the cutting and brought it home in a small plastic water bottle to retain the moisture, potted it up and here we are! will keep you informed of its progress!!
28 June 2011 15:24:37
Orange Giant
We have a couple of big hitters (as i like to call them!) doing really well for us at the moment, it would be modest to call some of these varieties "beefsteaks" the four varieties in question are, Orange Giant, Pink Giant, Big Rainbow and Brandywine, these varieties are well capable of producing fruit of up to 2lb in weight! the largest i got lat year was just over 2 ounce's short of 2lb (Orange Giant) i produced dozens of fruit well over the 1lb mark from the other varieties! the photo shows the largest fruit at the moment, its Orange Giant again!! and i would guess in and around the 1lb mark at the moment! took the photo with a Duracell battery to give you an idea of its already large size!!
28 June 2011 10:35:50
Bora Bora
What a lovely start to the day, hope it lasts!! we hope to get a good bit of planting done in the Veg beds today, 3 types of french bean to go in along with courgettes and squash! will put up a photo of the toms later, have a few coming close to the 1lb mark!
27 June 2011 20:43:25
Another Lilly
Yet another variety of Lilly opened today, that's all opened now bar 4!! don't think its been a great year for them!
27 June 2011 19:41:04
Another Dahlia
This one opened today, it is one of our purchases from Aldi earlier this year....
23 June 2011 19:19:26
Insect house
Picked this up in Aldi this afternoon, Insect house for ladybirds, lacewings and bees to over-winter in comfort!! priced at €9.99 thought it was great value as earlier this year i paid €19.99 for a ladybird house roughly the same size!
23 June 2011 18:09:55
Another 2 Dahlias have started to open!!
And this one, early days, but i think this is the least impressive of the dahlias so far!!!!
23 June 2011 18:07:19
Another 2 Dahlias have started to open!!
Another one starting to open this evening........
22 June 2011 13:37:29
New Dahlia open
Another Dahlia opened today to be greeted by the rain!! so many buds on the verge of opening!! if only the sun would shine for a few days!!!!!
21 June 2011 23:03:15
First batch
Turned over the first batch of compost again today and it looks really good! it is ready to use as is and would be fine for potting up plants in containers, which i will use it for, have the other compost bin almost full and will hopefully use that batch for seed sowing and potting on of plants for next year, have my eye on a grinder (Mr Middleton) which will reduce the compost to a fine composition for seed sowing, the plan is to produce and store as much compost as we can for using with the toms and peppers for next year, it will save us a small fortune!!
21 June 2011 16:08:05
Blueberries
Was working all week since last Tuesday so i have a fair amount of things to catch up on, this morning potted on the courgette and squash into 1ltr pots and will start to harden them off for the next week or so, have 3 varieties of French bean to be potted on this afternoon and will also start to harden them off, gave a feed to the fruit, peppers and tomatoes this afternoon and will side shoot and tie in the toms also, am thinking of stopping some of the toms that have reached 6ft so they can put all their energy into producing large fruit! the compost bins will need to be turned and the carrots and beetroot thinned, this evening we will continue to sow the seeds for our winter and spring veg! will post a few photos later.....
17 June 2011 13:50:04
Third Lilly to open
Even on this wet dreary day we were greeted with the third variety of Lilly to open, i like the dark rich colour of this one....
15 June 2011 22:10:51
Second Lilly to open
This is our second variety of Lilly to open, does not impress me as much as the first variety!
15 June 2011 14:18:24
Oriental Poppy grown from seed
This is another photo of the oriental poppy grown from seed last year, we had previously 7 different colours prior to this one, have never come across this type of colour before, will put up a few photos but i don't think they do it justice!
14 June 2011 22:48:22
Digitalis Grandiflora
This is the variety of Foxglove that i passed on to Fran and Jacinta last year, unlike most of its cousins which are biennial it is a perennial variety, the flowers are smaller but very pretty, i kept about a dozen plants for ourselves and most are bright yellow except for 3 which have this brown hue through the yellow flower, like the one in the photo...........
13 June 2011 23:09:07
Taking Pomegranate cuttings
Softwood cuttings taken in summer, and hardwood taken in winter, can be from either the suckers or from the main plant. In general, pomegranate growers suggest that hardwood cuttings are more reliable, and should be taken from the previous year's growth while the plant is in dormancy. The cuttings should be 8 to 10 inches in length, and approximately 1/4 to 1/2 inch in thickness. These are planted deep into the compost, which should have a pH of between 5.5 to 7.0, leaving 2 to 3 inches of cutting above ground, and are ready for transplantation into plots after two to four months when the second set of leaves has appeared
13 June 2011 19:11:52
Big Rainbow
The toms are going well and we are delighted with the way things are shaping up, the top 4 fruit wise at the moment are Big Rainbow, San Pedro, Orange Giant and Black Cherry, all these plants have at least a dozen or more large fruit and plenty of trusses...........
13 June 2011 15:22:38
The first Lilly to flower
We have about a dozen variety of Lillie's in the garden and this is the first to flower this year, will post up photos of the others as they arrive!
12 June 2011 12:45:33
Oriental Poppies
We have a good selection of Oriental poppies in the garden and last year we planted some more seed that i got from England, the seed packet stated that the seed was a mixed variety, we kept about 6 plants for ourselves and we got the usual mix of pink, orange and red, but one of them opened to reveal a colour i had not come across before, its kind of a deep cerise pink! (top of the list for root cuttings this year) don't think the photo does it justice but we are delighted with this new addition to our collection, as we gave a good few plants away to various members last year we were wondering if anybody else got any different colours ? we now have 16 Oriental poppies in the garden half of which are now open, will put up a few photos of the ones in flower.......
10 June 2011 18:44:39
Veg Update!
So far we have picked the early spuds (King Edwards) Rhubarb, Chinese cabbage, Kale, Golden peas, White Radish, Caloo, lettuce and Salad leaves, everything else is coming on nicely, in the greenhouse's we have tomatoes, aubergines, cucumbers, chili peppers and sweet peppers, in the veg beds we have broad beans, runner beans, peas, onion sets and shallots, garlic, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, broccoli, outdoor cucumbers and main crop spuds, still to go in are the french beans bush and climbing, courgette and squash..............
09 June 2011 01:02:34
Pomegranate
This is a photo of our pomegranate tree that we bought in Aldi 2 years ago, it was little more than 12" tall at the time but now is more than 3ft and growing! i thought we had lost it last winter as we left it outdoors but this spring it burst into bud and took off again! we have it growing in the greenhouse in a 40ltr pot and we plan to leave it there, would be hard to get it to fruit in our climate but will give it a try! we were wondering if anybody has or is growing one of these?
08 June 2011 20:29:17
Lemon Tree
The Lemon tree we purchased early this year has really settled in well and we are delighted with its progress, it has plenty of fruit and is growing really well, still have it in the kitchen in one of the bay windows, just waiting for "Summer" to arrive before we move it out to the greenhouse!
08 June 2011 19:53:36
Tomato Update
Toms are doing quiet well with most plants setting fruit, some are almost the size of a golf ball, most plants are between 4ft to 5ft tall now and i am happy with their progress, will put up a photo album......
07 June 2011 01:09:24
Golden podded pea
Just a quick note on the golden podded peas which are cropping really well for the last 3 weeks, they will keep on producing pods up until the first frosts as long as the pods are picked, lovely sweet flavor and heavy croppers on plants that grow over 5ft....................
06 June 2011 17:53:44
Part of our early crop!
I lifted all of the first early spuds today (Duke of York) still letting them dry a bit so we haven't weighed them yet but i reckon we have between 45lb to 50lb so we are delighted with that! that will keep us going till we lift the main crop!
06 June 2011 14:46:29
Just Back!!!!!!!!!
Hello all, just back from a very relaxing 2 weeks in the south of Spain, could not believe the amount of growth in the greenhouse and garden! will need a day or two to catch up on things!! will start this afternoon by lifting the first early spuds and picking the peas! while we were away we dropped into out local Spanish garden center to have a browse around, they have gone into the Bonsai direction in a big way with 2 large display areas with fantastic trees ranging in size from 6" up to 4ft! and prices ranging from €12 to €250, even at the €60 to €100 range the value was good and a fraction of what you would pay here!