Planted out the following roses:
2 xRosa garden princess
2 xRosa dame de coeur
2 xRosa Joro
2xRosa queen of England
These eight roses are purchased not from a poundshop, but the one where you get a penny change from a pound. The ones listed below are from the poundshop.
3 x Red Beauty Roses
1 x Pink Rosa
1 x Kronenbourg rose
In addition there is one each of Blue Moon Christian Dior, Harry Wheatcroft, Silver Jubilee, Dutch Gold, Pascalli, Peace, Lovers Meeting, Double Delight and Ruby Wedding. These are the slightly posher roses, and have been in the ground since the autumn. They are significantly bigger than the cheaper more recently acquired roses. Perhaps as the earlier ones are the product of a sturdier producer.
I never intended having so many roses on the plot. In the first instance, it was a whim, a case of why not. They are pretty. Perhaps they’d form a nice enclosure, and be a barrier against the wind. Then I remembered that certain value shops, have roses in at some point in the year. I had seen them, not thought much of them. There are even a couple in pop’s back garden.
Something of an interesting hypothesis test can be carried out. Whether or not the posh roses can be compared with the ones that are less so. Will certainly have to look at what these varieties need in terms of care. There are many who believe that Rose management is both an art and a science.
For the moment, as snow threatens to descend upon the plot; I have plugged in and will see what happens.
Monday, that’s when Blighty will have snow. Brace yourselves.
Last year, I was all very conscientious. By New Year’s Day, I had sown both chillies and tomatoes. The latter, died, as they were sown a bit too early. I had to resow. With the chillies, I was able to get them to the stage where they formed a second pair of true leaves. I had potted them on just after they had gone past their baby seed leaves. Then, I had also sown them in yogurt pots.
This year, the varieties are the same. You can see what I have sown in one of the images. A different variable is that they are being sow into those paper pots that were made. Dampened, they go into the heated prop.
Chilies are not something that I feel are straight forwards. I find them challenging, in that they don’t always germinate. Some chillies have a different ‘cracking’ point in comparison to others. Then you need to have heat to make sure that they are loved. Whilst I say chillies, I’m including peppers in that. There a number of sweet peppers, in addition to the one bell pepper.
To think that it all started way back when, with these things.
I was rather disappointed with what happened last year. These will be taking up window sills in the classroom hopefully, and not be seeing the Wendy house. All being well, they will be joined by tomatoes in a few weeks. If the seeds were sown now, I do think they would keel over.
It would be lovely to get a nice crop of cayenne and bells. A handful were produced in the first year of hobbitry, but none since. Diddly bells have been produced but nothing big.
Mama H Gets to grip with the pot making device-apparently I was doing it wrong
Satisfied with her handiwork
I made these!
Prep of a sort
Rescued herbs
Buying pots, can be expensive, You then have to store them as well, when you are not using them. This is the same with yoghurt pots, they have to be retrieved from Pop’s shed. The notion of paper pots, is therefore a little interesting. As cutesy wutsey, as they may seem. They are arguably easy to make-even if Mama H does take it off you and do it properly-I did spend some time making them once she had given me proper instruction!
I had ordered the paper pot maker some time ago, on a whim really, after some positive feedback. Only now, with the New Year and the New growing season, have I given the device any thought. Reaching for an old newspaper, I went about testing it. As you see above, Mama H sought to test it before me. There are somethings that only mothers can do, testing new toys is definitely one of them.
She was kind enough to sort out a few, and instruct me on then. I was then left to my own devices, whereby I fashioned a fair few pots from the leaves of the newspaper that remained. A most therapeutic and somewhat addictive. There was a feeling of being bereft once the paper had run out. All in good time, I’m sure I will soon enough have more paper than is required.
It has been a hypothesis for some time, to have on plot 2a. The issue at hand, is whether or not they would survive. Purchased today, all rescue mind:
Chives
Thyme Doone Valley
Lavender Munstead
Russian and French Tarragon
Common and Golden Sage
Rosemary
Oregano
And last but not least, Victoria Rhurbarb. Bit of a bargain, at 75 pence, and therefore a bit of an impulse.
These are now all stored for safety in the four tier blowaway in the garden, before they are planted on the plot. I have no idea where I shall put them. Only that there will be some for herb enclave. My fear is that they will be eaten by not only the clay but also the inclement weather. The herbs are hardy, but this plot takes no prisoners and is likely to eat them if they are not tempered.
Having not paid a visit to the plot for the duration of the festivities, today I ventured down. Not before, though, purchases had been made on the behalf of Santa Clause.
Purchased today from Poundland
3 x Red Beauty Roses
1 x Pink Rosa
1 x Kronenbourg rose
2 x Blueberry
2 x Red Currant
I had been wanting to get the roses, I kicked myself last year having missed them. That, and I have now cottoned onto the bargains that certain pound and ninety nine pence places present. There are opponents and proponents of this approach, there will always be naysayers. I would like to find out and explore. In addition to this, I know of a certain value supermarkets that are renowned for their GYO offers.
If it goes pear shaped, it will go pear shaped. There was also the eight Raspberry canes that were being planted out. These are a continuity collection, in that these are meant to crop from Summer through to Autumn. I bought sixteen, and shared these with Aunty Tish who is planting these on her plot. She had given me a redcurrant last year. I may well have killed it by not planting it properly and then pulling it out as it looked brown and stick-y.
Brown and sticky, is what everything looks like, to be honest. The roses were covered in a thick layer of green wax. I had read about this, and perhaps need to look into that. It will be interesting to see how these roses, each costing a pound each will fare with the other roses. The other roses, are Hybrid Tea Roses and were purchased as the ten items were in a collection that was marked as being half price. So how will a rose costing a pound, fare against a rose that was meant be four times that (The roses were £2.10 each when I found them).
And the puddles. There are still puddles, and puddles of standing water. Slightly wiffy, standing water, I might add. The plot is best described as wonky, entirely uneven and all over the shop at that.
Onions, shallots and garlic have made some progress. There are certainly more garlic shoots than there are any other allieums. I was pleasantly surprised, but the garlic shoots standing proudly and like sentries. That is a sight, that perhaps I had not anticipated. So very, very nice to see. There are may be two, broad bean shoots. These would be the claudia aquadulce. Not surprised by that, though one was very nibbled looking. There are shallots present, and they are sending up shoots. Again, not many, but it is happening. I had to return a few onion sets to the ground as they were pulled up; most likely by birdies. A couple of sets were littered around, having been snacked on by them horrible creatures that are squirrels.
Leeks, there were a few. I think Aunty Tish had given me 22 babies. I couldn’t put a figure on the number that I saw. Only that there were a few,standing up right and paying attention, amongst the rather moody and muddy looking strawberry runners.
Bulbs. There are some. Sprouting in a border. It was a blink and you missed it moment; but I assure you. They were there. I must have planted hundred in the early autumn. Not many at all, have started to sprout. That may well be because it is still early, and spring bulbs have some time yet to make themselves known. Or, they too have become a casualty of the deluge. It is difficult to make any absolute comment based on the observation of the plot at the moment.
A moment of bah humbag, the headline news this evening that Blighty is going to suffer further extreme weather. Honestly, tch.
horticultural 'obbit 