Month: January 2011

This is the sunrise at 7.55am when I was out de-icing my car in the front. It’s a pity I don’t have a better backdrop! But it’s the sunrise I want to share with you.

I love the small purple veins on this evergreen plant. This is one for my ‘area for David’ this year.

I have put up some photos of the January plants in my garden.  They are almost the same as last year, but I have added Arum italicum pictum and, what I think is, Arum italicum.  If it is not please let me know.

Last week I posted a picture of a cutting of Fuschia that had a flower bud on it. Rachel and Liga suggested cutting it off to give extra strength to the plant.

So that was done. Six days later, another flower bud has appeared. Another little cut is on the required.

These are planted in a pot at the front door. Love the colour.

I had plans today to sow various seeds spurred on by the appearance of Olive D sweet peas this morning.  I put on the fleece and hat and off to the glasshouse for trays etc but that was where the plan changed.  It was cold and frosty here this morning but by the time I got out it had warmed up.  One thing and another caught my eye and so the clearing and cutting back and finding little treasures soon replaced the idea of seed sowing.

Glad to say that each day I’ve been out I have noticed a lot of ladybirds which is good.  Had to remove a fairly well established broom and a phormium lost to the cold weather and sadly there will be others. 

However, on the positive side there are signs of life everywhere.  I potted up some Nerines I bought yesterday in the hope of bulking up the autumn display and also some small Arum italicums I found here and there.

Those seeds can wait ’til tomorrow. After all it will be February then :-). Glad the plan changed,  today was too nice a day to spend in the glasshouse and tomorrow’s forecast is not so good.

No work today so was able to spend almost 3 hrs in the garden. Although the day was mild and rather damp I was able to complete the job of mulching around the trees and shrubs in my mini woodland area of the Lower Garden.  This was very hard work but should be worth it. So very pleased to have so much done on the last day of January. In milder wetter winters I could not work in that area as it would be too wet, to that is one of the plus sides of the frosty winter.

I also cut back some roses that I hadn’t managed to get to before the severe weather set in, in November. So I pleased with what I achieved today! 

I have no real interest in Houseplants apart from admiring everyone else’s but I inherited this a number years back –  I Have managed to successfully ignore it for the past 4 years probably watered it about once a year and hey presto it looks pretty good and really healthy so for any of you other lazy gardeners who want a "thrive on neglect"  house plant please let me know as I am going to repot this and will bring some to our get together on the 5th March 

Didn’t manage to get out in the garden today as there were indoor tasks that needed to be done. However I did get the chance to stroll around the garden and plan the next tasks. The Japanese area can now be redesigned as suggested – design number four I think – and I’m feeling more optimistic about the other areas where it would be nice to put in seating areas. The paths may not have to be totally redug – just edged properly with the new bricks.

That only leaves the vegetable area – still in a state as we had to dig a trench to see if the percolation area was working properly. The plan is to fill the trench with stones from the site as and when they are dug up to create a good deep French Drain to help with the percolation but that leaves a heap of sub-soil to dispose of.

The Cactus flowers are coming out nicely – and it seems to be trying to straighten up a bit since it was repotted. I’ll put the pictures in an album.

that I love you" 🙂