It's Time To ...

Good Morning!

I can't believe that tomorrow we are starting October already, this year has flown by! However this month is my favourite and not just because it's my birthday on Monday lol I love seeing Autumnal foliage coming through and the cooler days are a lot easier to cope with!

Back to today's post and it's about what I have done this week.

First up was finding some time to take some Penstemon Cuttings, just incase I lose some over the Winter, it's always good to have some back ups! I have a lovely deep purple and white Penstemon of which I have taken the cuttings from.

First off when taking Cuttings I like to prepare the pot they are going into first. I use a mix of Compost and Perlite for drainage then wet the compost.

I collected 4 cuttings just incase some of them fail.

Stripped them off their lower leaves, dipped into Rooting Powder and then placed down the side of the pot.

I will keep these over winter in my GH and hopefully I shall have some healthy plants for next year.

I also sowed a selection of seeds for next year, can you tell the colour theme?

I'm going for a mix of Reds & Pinks!

This year I thought I would try sowing the Sweet Pea's in Toilet Roll Tubes. Due to their depth they are recommended for Sweet Pea's so that they can develop a good root system, might aswell give it a try!

Lastly it was also time to compost the left over Tomato Plants which included my 3 TomTato Plants! I have to say I wasn't overly impressed with the total amount of Potatoes from all 3 together, especially the size of a couple of them, but it's always worth trying something new.

However there was one Potato that caught my eye, don't you think he looks like a Whale! He even has an eye! lol ... I don't even think I can bring myself to eat him!

Thanks for popping by, what are you up to in the garden this week?

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

This Week In The Garden ...

Good Morning!

I've got a few photo's to share with you today of what has caught my eye this week in the garden and what I've been up to. 

You can certainly tell Autumn is on it's way as there's been a bit of a chill in the morning now, however Autumn is one of my favourite seasons and as you can see the Cotoneaster which was one of the very few plants here in the garden when we moved in, is looking forward to it to with all it's lovely red berries!

Rather surprisingly one of my Auricula's was in flower yesterday morning. These usually flower in the Spring so it was a lovely surprise, the cold mornings we've been having must've encouraged it. I need to get a cover for them sorted soon though (or in my dreams an Auricula Theatre) as your not meant to get water on the leaves!

The pot of Begonia's is providing some late summer colour whilst many other things are dying down.

Over in the Greenhouse I decided to strip the Tomatoes of their leaves to try and help the remaining fruits ripen quicker as this should now focus all the plants energy on the fruits.

Due to not being able to plant my Winter Bedding out yet as the Dahlia's are still going strong in the front border, I potted on the plugs which were ready. Instead of keeping them in the trays and them becoming root-bound over the next couple of weeks potting them on should encourage them to become bigger and stronger plants by the time of planting them out. I potted on the Bellis & Wallflower's.

Lastly I got a lovely surprise from a neighbour offering me the following large Teracotta pot. They were revamping their garden and it'd of gone to the tip otherwise. Now I just need to decide what to plant it up with!

Thanks for stopping by,
HAPPY GROWING!
XXX

Greenhouse Catch Up ...

Good Morning!

It's been ages since I had something to share with you other than the Weekly Checklist, so I thought it'd be a good opportunity to show you how things are looking in the Greenhouse now that we are in September!

The first thing that literally hits you as you walk in are the Tomatoes! 

The tomatoes on the left are a mix of Sungold, Alicante & Golden Sunrise. As you can see from my earlier remark one of the Sungold plants has some fruit hanging from the top of the pant which tap you on the head each time you walk in and out.

Admittedly they aren't looking their best and are on a serious tilt due to me having to move them up trying to fit some staging back in, but they still fruit wonderfully and at the end of the day that's all that matters!

These are the 'Golden Sunrise' Tomatoes which are a lovely bright yellow and the only variety I grew from seed myself this year. I have to say they are also my favourites!

 Over on the right are my three TomTato plants and I am rather impressed with the size and taste of the fruits. Considering the plant is grafted with a Potato plant I wasn't expecting the fruits to be too impressive but they reach a good size and have a lovely sweet taste. It'l be interesting to see if the Potato's fair as well when it comes to tasting them!

My Pepper plant seems to still be going strong and the peppers are full of flavour so I'l definitely be growing these next year along with my Cucamelon Plant which finished last week.

As I'd mentioned in my Checklists the Winter Bedding has arrived and been pricked out, here you can see the bottom shelf and on the left of the top is full of Primrose 'Rosebud' plants along with 5 Polyanthus plugs I saved from work. On the right of the top shelf are Bellis 'Pomponette'.

Not forgetting the trailing Viola 'Teardrops' which finally arrived last week.

Alongside the Viola's are Pelargonium cuttings which I took a few weeks ago and seem to be doing quite well.

Lastly if you turn the corner outside the Greenhouse you will see on the staging I have there that the Dianthus Plugs which arrived a few weeks ago seem to be doing well too.

Thanks for stopping by,
HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Under Glass ...

Good Morning!

There's still a few things in the Greenhouse so today I thought I would share with you exactly what they are!

Yes there is in fact still some seedlings in there, not many though. Just a few Calendula, Diascia & Coleus waiting to be planted up into pots when they're a bit bigger. The Cucamelon seeds have also germinated.

There are some 'Sweet Sultans' seedlings which will be be planted in pots where the Alliums around the Raised Bed currently are. Of course they won't be as tall but at 60cm with powdery puff blooms they will still make a nice feature.

I also have a few Marigolds which will be dotted around the Greenhouse and in the Raised Bed to help deter pests. Along with this tub of Nasturtiums which is trailing down some staging next to my TomTato's.

Of which you can see are coming along nicely here.

The other Tomato plants are coming on well too. Sungold are still ahead needing regular pinching out of the side shoots along with the Alicante & Golden Sunrise. The plants are showing lots of flowers which is a good sign!

 Note - You only need to pinch out side shoots on cordon Tomatoes.

One of the Sungold plants is even showing some fruits so it's time to start giving that plant a feed!

TIP - Start feeding your Tomato plants regularly once the first set of fruits are showing.

The Cucumber - Gherkin & Red Pepper plants are coming along nicely although even though I have Marigolds and Yellow sticky Traps hung up they seem to attracting whitefly. Spraying a soap solution is another way I am trying to deter them with.

Finally I have a shelf of Fuchsia cuttings with potted Marigolds surrounding them along with an Orchid, an Amaryllis bulb and a potted Calendula.

Thanks for stopping by,

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Bit's & Bob's ...

Good Morning!

Today's post is a collection of photographs that I have taken over the past week that I wanted to share with you. There isn't a particular theme, they are just random snaps that I wanted to share with you all.

First up the Saxifraga 'Red' which has produced one beautiful little bloom.

Remember the Fuchsia cuttings that I took a few weeks ago? Well they all successfully rooted and it was time to pot them up into their own individual pots!

I also had 6 Lewisia plants that I couldn't decide what to do with so I potted them up and displayed them outside the GH.

Some seeds I sowed a fortnight ago (including some 'Cucamelon' last week) have all started germinating.

The Tomatoes are coming on leaps & bounds ...

The Sweet Pea's are getting stronger too, you can tell which are the Autumn ones compared to the Spring and I even have the first Sweet Pea bloom of 2014!

Finally the Amaryllis I bought back in the Autumn of last year decided to bloom for the second time last week and it was a joy to see!

Thanks for stopping by, I shall be back later in the week with how I have updated the front garden for Summer!

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX