plant update II

Some the plants really needed to be planted out after the gardening centre trip on Sunday, but I made the fantasic cock-up of forgetting to get the compost out the car when I got back to the flat. Therefore I had an emergency dash to morrissons after work today to get something to put the still potted plants in. Which we have now done. The first one is a Cordyline Australis 'Tobray Dazzler' that is a real Bobby Dazzler. He has long floppy hair and will grow up to 6ft by 5ft in 10 years!

This is, quite clearly, a Lavender plants - but not just that, it is 'Fragrant Memories' - how true! The bumble bees have already been at this one and it particularly likes its colour coordinated pot. This will also get canny big, mebbes a 1m or so!

Last but not least is a big fat 'Lady Thumb' Fuchsia. Its giving some much needed volume to the garden, as the problem with having such a big yard, is its sort of bare appearance. Woe is me eh? This has the potential to grow massive, and I hope so. Bon Nuit.

plant update

How nice it is to splurge 25 quid on plants for the reinvigorated yard. The front door is also very welcoming now, as the tidied low box now has things planted in it. Specifically three 'Upright Firecracker' Fuchsias and two Cineraria Silver Dust plants. We will soon have best entrance on the street.

We're a little low on compost at the minute so haven't managed to pot everything up yet. But i've added to two Lobelia Waterfall plants to the rose pot. White sparkle and azure mist! Here they are in their new home. The large rose woody stem is actually dead but there are actually new shoots growing off its base, growing very fast too! Also the dead part is forming a good frame for other plants to climb up.

The 'peter pan' rose has an awful lot of buds on too, so hopefully with some sun, (7day forecast currently saying sun, sun, rain, rain, thunder, sun, rain) - and they'll show their cheeky young faces and beam into the yard. I've also filled the pot of the fern type plant with gravel that was lying around and it looks a lot better.


So the yard is a bit of a mess again with all the plants we've bought, but it a lot more organised mess than it was when we first arrived - compare it with last week! Theres a few plants you can see in this photo i haven't covered, but they will be introduced when a) i don't have to go and seize the little sun we've got and hang the washing out, and b) have planted them up properly.

herb update

Well, in the much-followed race between ripped and cut rosemary there cannot be only one winner it seems. Maybe the ripped has fared a litttle better but both I have judged to be success enough to move them to an outdoor pot. They've had 5 weeks to establish some decent roots, which I did catch a glimpse of as I transplanted, so this is excellent. Hopefully the bush will be enough to start taking cuttings, or at least picking leaves from, quite soon.

In other good news, the 1250 mint seeds I sowed just over a month ago are finally nice and germinated. I've going to give them a while longer in then tray before moving them to something bigger, and outdoors. Theres about 20-30 growing, i can't complain at 1 in 70 making an effort!

the yard progress

Three of us just spent about 3 hours sorting the back yard sort a little. So many plants had been killed by weeds due to neglect from the previous tenants, it was a bit of a shame, but the yard will be flourishing again soon. We've swept, washed, re-laid out, pulled up weeds, pruned and bagged up and i think its looking very promising for the future. We certainly need to get a few voluminous plants to make the it not look quite so bleak, but its a right little suntrap out there and I'm sure it'll be beautiful very soon. Below charts the progress throughout the afternoon.

1732

1931

2026

whitefly!

Well! All action this evening. I discovered a plethora of cheeky whiteflies all over my pepper seedlings. After to snooping around on the allotment forum I have established that the plants are in too dry an atmosphere - the utility room with the door shut and window shut all day. I now will leave the window open and also spray the plants with water regularly.

Heres the plants before - you can clearly see the little buggers:


And after their sellotape treatment, here they are back on their windowsil. Also you may see here im 'testing' my rosemary cuttings to see if they're still alive by turning them round so they're pointing away from the light - if they swing back the other way, i'll know we're in business!

all quiet on the westernewcastle front

A distinct lack of updates indeed! I've moved house recently, to the location shown below and haven't really done much amatteurgardening. I did however make a large salad with the lovely leaves shown in the 10th June update for our house warming port and cheese evening ( a great success) Anyway, no developments on the allotment front, but its coming soon! I've brought the rosemary cuttings and some pepper plants to the new house to test the water for some more. I'll get some photos up this weekend.