New Arrivals ...

Good Morning!

There has been some more new arrivals this week in the GH and not just the leftovers that I've saved from work! Another part of my Thompson&Morgan order was waiting for me when I got home home on Thursday and this time it was some 'Lisianthus' plug plants! As you can see the blooms are rose like which is what drew me to them in the first place.

As explained in a previous post I made sure I pricked them out right away to give them the best chance of success!

The other new arrival which arrived on the same day was the pair of Secateurs I won with my photograph. It was definitely worthwhile sending it in don't you think!

You may also have predicted that I did indeed bring home some more seedlings from work, including some Lobelia, Petunia's and Mimulus. I need to make sure that I don't bring home anymore unless absolutely needed as I don't really have the space! lol

Also do you remember those little Cornflower seedlings? Well this is how they are looking now!

I hope you all have a good weekend planned.

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Plodding Along Potting On ...

Good Morning!

I have been back in the Greenhouse over the past few days doing some more Potting On. 

I started off by pricking out the Spring Onion - White Lisbon seedlings I sowed in a little tray back last month. To do this I gently teased each seedling from the tray, being careful not to be too heavy handed.

I filled a tray with compost that has cells which aren't too wide for the seedlings to cope with at this early stage.

I repeated this process for my Antirrhinum - Night & Day seedlings.

Along with pricking out seedlings I potted on my Hollyhocks which I sowed back in the Autumn. You can clearly see that some are doing better than others! 

I also saved some seedlings from the bin at work this week, we sometimes have a couple left over when pricking out into packs and I'm too soft to chuck them away lol Here you can see a collection of Viola, Petunia, Anitirrhinum, Marigold and Tagetes. In the top right you can also see that some of the Nasturtiums I sowed are starting to germinate.

For those of you who are interested another 2 seedlings have come through of the Tomato that I sowed. Everything in this tray seems to be slowly making an appearance except the Didiscus!

Thanks for stopping by, I thought I'd leave you with a look at how the large pot in the back garden is doing as it's a nice cheery contrast to the chilly & rainy weather we've had the past few days!

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Dahlia Tubers ...

Good Morning!

As promised I am back today with what was in the other box, and the answer is ... Dahlia Tubers! I haven't tried growing Dahlia's from Tubers before, just from seed, so it should be interesting to see how well they turn out! Crocus currently have some Dahlia tubers on sale which is what tempted me to treat myself to two of these varieties, Cafe Au Lait and Eveline!

Both of these varieties can reach up to 1 metre in height so are perfect for adding some height to your garden.

To start off the Tubers the way I have chosen to do it is the following. I sought advice from the Gardeners World Website and Forum but I know others may have a different way of doing this.

 Select a tub for each tuber just slightly bigger than it's size and cover the bottom with a layer of multi-purpose compost. Ensure that the joint where the roots meet the stem is facing upwards and place on top.

Cover the Tuber with more compost and don't forget to label which variety it is. 

I followed this for the following three tubers and placed them in a sunny spot in my GH. I will wait until a week has passed before starting to water the compost to then encourage growth. I have been given this piece of advice from a fellow Gardener who usually has good success with Dahlia's.

Before I go I wanted to share some wonderful news I received yesterday. I found out I was the Star Photo Winner in the April Edition of Garden Answers Magazine! It was certainly a surprise to see and it made my day.

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Mail Order Plants ...

Good Morning!

Today I thought I'd share with you a little bit about Mail Order Plants. Apart from getting plants from my place of work I also buy a few online. Now I know a lot of people are put off doing this due to the thought of how plants can be posted to you safely and kept in a good condition throughout the journey.

The best way I find not to worry about this too much is to always use a good and well - known retailer, this way you can usually count on the plants being well packaged and in a good condition. On the off chance that they don't arrive in  the best of health, in my experience I have always found that the retailers I use are happy to send out a replacement straight away or offer a refund.

TIP - ALWAYS plant your order immediately after it arrives, this will give your plants the best chance of success. If this isn't possible try to make sure you plant them within 24hours and keep them in a cool dark place for the meantime.

Here is what I received this week, the first parcel is from Thompson & Morgan and the second is from Crocus. I have used both companies many times and are usually my first port of call when it comes to online shopping!

From Thompson & Morgan I received one part of an order I placed last month. You can usually expect orders to be split as we all know that some plants germinate and grow quicker than others. I am still waiting on 3 other varieties to arrive and you can usually check how long they will be if you view your order history on the wesbite. To be honest though for myself I just think it all adds to the excitement if you know something is still on it's way! lol Back to what I received this week and these are 48 Petunia Plug plants, I chose them for the beautiful colour combination.

Click the photo to read more about them over on the retailers website.

As soon as I opened the packaging I filled some seed trays, made some holes and pricked them out into their new home!

This week I also invested in some more Greenhouse Staging. I already have two of these stands along one side of the GH and with space running out I thought it was best to buy two more for the opposite side! When it comes to Summer I shall simply put these against the former two on the other side in order to make space for the Tomato plants. If only I had space for a bigger GH! 

Well thanks for stopping by today, I hope you are all enjoying the weekend and managing to get things done yourselves. I shall be back on Tuesday to share with you what was in the other box!
HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Potting On ...

Good Morning!

There's nothing really going on in the GH and garden this week except for watching the seedlings and I don't really want to bore you too much with that lol However on Monday I did find a little job to do and that was 'Potting On'.

'Potting On' is simply re-planting your seedlings / young plants into pots a size larger than their current ones to help maintain healthy growth. I have done this with some 'Nigella' plants that I sowed back in the Autumn.

As you can see from this photo the roots were ready to be potted on. I always try to wait until you can see the roots peeking through the bottom of the current pots / trays as then you know for sure that they are ready. 

I added a little bit of fresh compost to the bottom and side of each pots before adding the plant. Once this was done I added a top layer of fresh compost.

Speaking of Seedlings, remember in my last post how I said none of my Tomato seeds that I had sown had germinated? Well later on in the afternoon guess what I noticed ... it's the only one so far and I shall be keeping my eye on it for sure!

I'm still waiting for some more seeds to come through but hopefully they won't be too long.

Spring Onions are certainly looking like I'l need to do something with them soon too!

I also received some free seeds back on Monday and decided to sow one of them and give these a go. I always think that everything is worth a try!

Outside thanks to the warm weather everything seems to be waking up a bit more. Some of the perennials seem to be putting on some healthy growth and the Alliums that I planted in 5 pots have shot up nicely!

Thanks for stopping by,

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

The Sun Has Been Shining ...

Good Morning!

I don't have anything too new to share with you at the moment so I just thought I'd share some photo's of how things are getting on at the front of the house. Over the past week we have had a fair bit of sunshine and it's surprising just how much things improve with that little extra bit of sunlight & heat!

At the front of the house the main tub full of bedding plants is blooming and certainly catches your eye!

Especially the Ornamental Kale that I put in a few months back, I should really take it out but the fact it seems to be reaching for the sky is amusing to look at!

Back in the garden the big tub that I planted up a couple of weeks ago and shared photo's of in my last post has changed even more so. The Crocus's have shot up and one of the Tulips is strikingly beautiful.

It might not be so apparent from these photo's but the GH Seedlings are getting a lot bigger and stronger, showing a definite improvement from a few days ago.

Dahlia's & Sweet Peas

Spring Onions & Cosmos

Antirrhinum's 

Sunflowers - Vanilla Ice

Tomato's & Cornflowers

Please Note - These aren't the Tomatoes I am trying to grow from seed, these are seedlings I got from work. I am still waiting for the ones I sowed myself to germinate!

Autumn Sown Sweat Peas have got taller and you can see that 2 of the Spring sown Sweat Pea's which made it into this photo are coming along nicely too.

Lastly my Tulip Pots are putting on some growth too. I can't wait for these to flower, I am hoping they will be as beautiful to look at as I am picturing in my mind.

Before I go can I just say thank you for all the lovely comments that have been left for me on my posts. I really do appreciate the time you take to leave them and each one is a pleasure to read. I also love hearing about how your getting on in your gardens, it's nice to know what everyone else is doing at the same time as me. I do try my best to reply to your comments beneath them.

Thanks for stopping by,

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX