by Amanda Davies | Dec 20, 2017 | Gardening Posts
Hello Gardeners,
Season’s Greetings, I hope you are happy and healthy. Soon 2017 will draw to a close, and the growing cycle will begin again.
Every year I am grateful to the fantastic Thompson and Morgan team for allowing me to write a monthly customer blog, but what I value most from them is the new friendships that I have made along the way. Friends who have supported me through difficult times by sending me emails, messages and gifts when I least expected it – and as regular readers will know the last 18 months have been hard. So thank you Geoff Stonebanks, Caroline Broome, Jean Willis and our editor Graham Ward.
As the season comes to a close, you would think that the work in the unheated greenhouses is over, but alas no – as its still over 7°c in them most days the plants are still growing. In fact even our lawns need cutting again, but we will save that until next year.
In “The Office” I managed to keep the Yellow Suffer Tomato going until the second week of December before it finally succumbed to blight. I didn’t manage to put the amaranths seedlings into individual pots as I found it too cold for me, and with the nerve damage in my fingers I kept dropping things with my woolly gloves on. I tried thin gloves but once the cold was in my fingers I couldn’t do anything anyway. So now I’m at the stage of just checking the pots every few days and just giving the plants a tiny drink of water if the compost is mostly dry. I can’t risk watering them after 3pm in case there is a frost, but as they are still growing I can’t let them get stressed or dehydrated either – it’s harder than keeping them alive in the summer!
My Snow Princess Calendulas are getting far too big for their 3 inch pots, I didn’t put them in the Ty Mawr borders as I wanted to keep these separate from the yellow/orange ones, mainly because I want to see how they perform outside and to collect some seeds heads once they are spent. There is a tiny turnip that seems to be semi dormant, and a few tiny lavenders just freshly hatched from their pods. The violas are flowering like mad making the greenhouse smell divine. The Larkspurs are about 4 inches and the remaining cornflowers are about 6 inches high. There is still no sign of the grasses, or Liatris, Foxgloves, Red Hot Pokers or olive trees, there is however lots of little Heleniums popping up in the seed trays. Sadly the hyacinths didn’t come back, but I can still feel the corms so I’ll leave them for a bit longer. In the border of course are the house plants as well as Aloe Vera’s and money tree.
A couple of seedlings are emerging which are from seeds I have spilled over last few months with my chemo fingers. There appears to be foxgloves (typical as they don’t grow in the seed trays), and things I cannot identify but are not weeds. I am hoping in spring I will know what they are.
A few days ago we had a westerly gale that unfortunately sent my cold-frame spinning across the garden (from what is supposed to be its sheltered position), spilling its contents along the front of the bungalow. Mark rescued the plants by putting them in the large greenhouse; however, a few of the more badly damaged plants have since died.
Ty Mawr is filled almost to its rafters. The shelves have overwintering dahlias wrapped in newspapers to keep warm; the begonias wrapped the same way too. I have a couple of baby money trees that need repotting but they really need to go dormant as I haven’t any spare pots at the moment.
The borders are edged with Calendula and Cornflowers. One garlic plant has died, the other looks questionable. The single turnip looks awesome. Can you tell this is my first time for growing turnip? The sweet pepper looks a bit droopy but seems happy enough. The non T&M aubergine is hanging on but I am doubtful I can keep it going until next year as I think it’s just too cold for it. The tiny T&M one though looks very healthy, even if it’s still only as tall as it was in the summer, which is about two inches. Brings a whole new meaning to patio dwarf mix. The Nicotiana that made its home in the border is still flowering. Its bright colours adding to the festive Christmas feeling.
The only maintenance needed is to water the plants maybe once a week, check for pests and ensure that the panes of glass are secure after any storms.
Between now and the first of January, I will be looking back over my blogs and diaries and drawing up next year’s plans. I want to add to the grassy knoll and redesign the wildlife patch in the front garden. I would like to also do something with the patio area as it’s a bit overgrown with herbs, roses and sedums. Finally there is a triangular bed in the back garden that needs a bit of a going over.
The plans will also include a list of things to grow next year, I will go through the tin of seeds selecting which tomatoes I will grow along with cape gooseberries, and melons, aubergines, peppers, and chillies. I love this task of seed selecting, it’s like childhood Christmas presents, where you get to pick something but you have to wait a few months for it to arrive.
I’m proud to have been given some amazing free seeds to trial from the new 2018 Spring Catalogue. I’m going to be growing and writing about the following varieties. I have included the catalogue number in case you would like to buy them yourself.
TT79397 Radish Blue moon & Red moon F1 mix.
TT61821 Marigold Strawberry Blonde.
TT38788 Rainbow Beet,
TX38777 Sunflower Shock-o-Lat
TT38829 Sweet pea Turquoise Lagoon.
I cannot wait to grow interesting coloured radishes. How cool will they look in a Spring Salad. I especially can’t wait to share them with my Vegetarian niece. Pot Marigold flowers can be eaten, so I bet the strawberry blonde one will look beautiful frozen in an ice cube or placed on a cheesecake. Beetroot is a super veg, rich in antioxidants and so versatile in the kitchen too. The fact that I can grow it in various colours should be another crowd pleaser. Who doesn’t like a sunflower? Not only can you and the birds share its tasty seeds, but for me they are the epitome of a great summer, with their nodding heads and vibrant petals. However, I like to be different so I cannot wait to grow a browny/bronze orange type. And lastly, sweet pea Turquoise Lagoon, I urge you to get hold of your catalogue or go on the website and look at the picture of this plant because I do not think I have the vocabulary to explain how utterly taken I am with this flower. I’ve never grown this variety before, but it excites me – I don’t know if it’s the fact that the petals change colour from pink to turquoise as it matures, or that it’s a prolific climber or because it’s meant to have a strong fragrance. I guess it’s a combination of all three. If anyone has grown it before please can you let me know if it lives up to its name – is it really turquoise?
Back in the summer I won blogger of the month with “The Sentimental Gardener” and used the prize money/gift voucher to bag myself an electric propagator, which I will be setting up very shortly. In January I am hoping to let you know how I got on with it.
Strangely, I am looking forward to some frost. Reason being I’m going to attempt to grow Himalayan Blue Poppies from seed – they are meant to be planted in seed trays and exposed to very cold temperatures ideally frosty conditions. So on New Year’s Day you will find me in the greenhouse celebrating life as a gardener/blogger/diarist by setting off my first seeds of the year. Poppies and Sweet peas.
I feel really emotional as I write this as I really didn’t think I would get through my cancer and heart failure- it’s been tough but with help from Mark, family and friends (near and far) I have completed another gardening year. Wishing you all the most magical of Christmas’ and I hope 2018 is kind too you.
Until next year!
Love Amanda xx
My name is Amanda and I live in Pembrokeshire with my fiancé and our garden is approximately 116 meters square. I want to share with you my love for gardening and the reasons behind it, from the good to the bad and ugly. I want to do this for my own personal pleasure. If you would like to take the journey with me then please read my blogs and share with me your gardening stories.
by Amanda Davies | Nov 29, 2017 | Gardening Posts
Hello Gardeners,
There are many things I look forward to in November, bonfire night, my Mum’s birthday, occasional Black Friday Deals, Cyber Monday, and even Mo-vember when the men in our office would compete all month with each other to grow the best moustache, and be sponsored by the rest of the workforce to raise money for prostate cancer research. But the one thing I didn’t look forward to was an empty greenhouse. So this year, I thought I’d have a go at overwintering more than just a few delicate plants, tubers, strawberries, and kale or onion. Only, it’s all gone a little bit wild.
Seedlings Galore!
My intention was to set off a few seeds, with the hope that they would germinate before the cold weather set in – that said, I wanted the seedlings to be big enough to be transplanted into 2-3 inch pots so that they could put down a good root system and then become more leafy in early spring. The seedlings had other ideas. They were so happy to be placed in warm autumnal compost that they grew exceptionally fast. Last month I transplanted the bigger babies and placed them in the cold frame to calm down. All was going well until, suddenly the cold frame was too small, the weather had turned to biting winds and heavy downpours meaning they could no longer be moved to their final growing positions. What the dickens was I now going to do with all the plants that I had grown?
To be honest this has been the best Autumn for me in gardening terms ever. Looking back over the last three years of my Autumn posts I have noticed that we are having similar mild temperatures, little frosts, but biting winds, that sometimes turning into damaging gales. As with previous years, slugs seem to invade my greenhouse at this time of year, more than Spring. Sneaking in to munch on fresh seedlings. Also, this time last year I was banned from gardening because of my chemotherapy so, maybe it’s just a case of truly appreciating the greenhouses more, and choosing to be in them regardless of the weather.
So this month I have been in The Office transplanting Old English (Orange) marigold, Snow Princess Calendulas, Malva Moschatas, Larkspur, cornflowers, Nasturtium, Radish,Turnip, Heleniums and Radish. I still need to do the Amaranthus, but I ran out of pots. Then when I transplanted them, they grew like crazy in the mild weather.
I’m still waiting for the foxgloves, Knifophias, liatris, and grasses as well as the hyacinths. I lost the two white lavender cuttings,I tried to rescue from the garden centre.
The tiny single leaf cutting I took from my Christmas cacti in the spring has grown threefold. He will be brought into the house in early December where he will live until it’s time to give him as a present to an unsuspecting relation or friend.
Tomato ‘Yellow Stuffer’
Joy of joys, I still have a yellow stuffer tomato growing with a few ripening fruits. I am trying to beat my own record of having a tomato from an unheated greenhouse in December. I really hope I can achieve this. I wonder if there is a record for this? I am sure I read somewhere that tomatoes are perennial, but that as growers we treat them as annuals. Have you heard this? I’m going to experiment with my current plant – though I’m not holding out much hope, you can bet your bottom dollar that as soon as I write this, it will either succumb to blight, frost or just die back to annoy me.
The other indoor border plants are showing no signs of going dormant for the winter. These plants never get slug attacked. But then again the cacti and Aloes are spiky, the money tree is woody and maybe the houseplants don’t taste great.
I need to give the greenhouse a good sweep out and tidy up a set of staging, which is now mostly holding seed germination trays, string, hand tools, solar lights, and other gardening paraphernalia. I need to do this on a fairly dry day so I can lay stuff on the grass without getting soaked.
The Money Tree
Meanwhile in Ty Mawr the spent tomatoes, aubergines,amaranths and marigolds have been cleared away. All done by Mark as due to my heart failure, I’m not allowed to lift heavy or repetitive loads or dig. The shelves are full of dahlias drying off to be wrapped in newspapers for the winter. As well as the spider plant, three baby money plants, again for unsuspecting relatives or friends, a basket of winter heathers and cyclamen from a dear friend, and random bits and bobs like spare secateurs, string and scissors.
The left and back have been dug over, but the canes and wire framework has been left for next year’s fruits. However, one of my T&M aubergines is still standing in the back border on account of it being absolutely tiny and hardly any bigger than when it got transplanted there in early summer. It’s now going to be another experiment to see if it can overwinter in an unheated greenhouse. This little plant never gave me any fruits, so I’m hoping the fact that it’s established before any other food stuff goes in next year, it may turn out to be early fruiting and the most tasty.
The right border has 2 snail munched pepper plants that appear to have gone dormant. Again in my madness, I’m going to see if they will last out the winter. Next to it is the purple nicotiana that insists on pushing up more flowers – although it is starting to get a bit droopy. A chilli pepper plant that is still only about two foot high yet continues to produce red hot chillies – albeit rather late in the year. If I remember correctly the chillies don’t usually die off until December with me, so who knows, it may be chillies and turkey on Christmas Day.
The onions have slowed down their growth, but look ok. They have been joined by a turnip that the slug missed last month.
Planted Greenhouse Border
Then in my infinite wisdom (sarcasm is such a low form of wit…) I asked Mark if he would help me put at least small 60 pots of plants from The Office into the newly dug borders. Which roughly translated as” Mark, will you put these plants in the soil, while I stand about looking like I know what I am doing, and not making a huge mistake when they all drop their seeds and you have to dig out flowers from fruit next year please?”
Then I made him put some in the right border too, just to make use of the sparsely populated soil.
I’m trying to convince myself it will be okay! On the plus side I will have a spring filled greenhouse of black cornflowers intermingled with bright orange marigolds. Both plants will attract bees which in turn will pollinate my fruits. The plants will also make the stems of tomatoes and aubergines look pretty and colourful,and give off a beautiful scent. They may also help with deterring pests.
On the negative, I may accidentally attract a colony of slugs. I may have planted the flowers too late in the year and they may not get enough root establishment to see them through the cold weather – although each plant was very pot bound and could no longer support its leaves due to the rapid growth. And finally I may end up wishing I never put flowers in the food greenhouse as they now grow like weeds. Only time will tell.
Lastly the cold frame is still full with foxgloves, violas, marigolds, larkspur and cornflowers. I don’t think there is time before the first frosts to put them in winter pots, so,they will stay there until spring.
Still Flowering!
Over the next few days, I am hoping to ask Mark to dig up the rest of the dahlias, and cut back the strawberries. We need to move the geraniums and begonias into one of the greenhouses to keep warm. The raspberry canes have been cut, we need to move s plum tree, and cut back the shasta daisies the Gladiola stems and the spent hollyhocks. Believe it or not the grass also needs cutting too.
I’m still off sick at the moment and although I feel so much better than before, I still get hit with unexpected fatigue as well as feel the cold so much more. I don’t have the energy that I used to, nor the strength or stamina. But what I do have is the passion to learn more and more each day, the need to feel the sun/wind/rain on my face, the love for gardening and wildlife. If nothing else I have found out that nothing can make me more happy than being able to play in the mud once again.
Until next time.
Happy Gardening,
Love Amanda xx
My name is Amanda and I live in Pembrokeshire with my fiancé and our garden is approximately 116 meters square. I want to share with you my love for gardening and the reasons behind it, from the good to the bad and ugly. I want to do this for my own personal pleasure. If you would like to take the journey with me then please read my blogs and share with me your gardening stories.
by Amanda Davies | Nov 9, 2017 | Gardening Posts, Your Stories
This year marks the 40th anniversary, since The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady was published. Amanda Davies looks back at her life, and asks if written today would it be as charming?
Edith Blackwell Holden was a romantic ecologist as well as a celebrated artist. Born on the 26th September 1871, she was one of several children belonging to Arthur and Emma Holden, of Holden and Son’s Paint Factory in Kings Norton. After leaving school Edith trained as an artist and took the opportunity to enhance her skills by spending a year under the tutorship of the painter Joseph Donovan Adam, at the Craighill Art School in Stirling and at the farm that he owned there, sketching the natural world.
Greatly influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement her paintings were displayed both in the Royal Birmingham Society of Arts and The Royal Academy of Arts in 1907 and 1917. In addition she did artwork for four volumes of The Animals Friend, a publication for the 1920’s London based charity National Council for Animal Welfare; plus illustrations for “The Three Goats Gruff” storybook when it was translated into English – a considerable feat in an age when women weren’t supposed to have careers.
From 1906 to 1909 she taught Art at the Solihull School for Girls; and it was for this reason that she made her nature notes – these recordings were never meant to be published; instead they were designed to help structure the course material for her students. In 1911 Edith married Alfred Ernest Smith, eight years her junior; the marriage was frowned upon by her family, so they moved to Chelsea, London, where they associated with Sir George Frampton, the Countess Fedora Gleichen and King Faisal of Arabia.
Edith and Alfred were married for nine years; they didn’t have any children, and it’s reputed that when she met her untimely death on the 18th March 1920 (by falling into the Thames whilst reaching across the bank with the aid of her brolly to gather Chestnut buds to draw,) Alfred never got over it.
So how did we get access to one of the world’s most popular books? The answer is simply down to the insightfulness of her great niece Rowena Stott; who in 1977 (when she herself was an art student,) showed the family’s most treasured pages to a publisher. Seeing the potential of the chronological recordings of the flora and fauna in Edwardian England, it was published in its facsimile form, and has been translated into thirteen different languages; it remains number four in the world’s most popular book list of the last forty years.
In 1984 a twelve-part mini-series was broadcast on television charting her life; and she is as popular today as she ever was – her illustrations are currently being used in adult colouring books, as well as inspirational designs for the home including wallpaper, napkins, and crockery. A leading high-street store still holds the longest continually running licence certificate to produce its annual ladies diary, based on her original works, with quotes and poems and mottos.
If Edith were alive today what would she think of the countryside now? How many of the two-hundred and fifteen plants or seventy-six bird species she documented are around to record now?
When did you last see a Bee Orchid? According to the Woodland Trust, they are common in marshland and native to coastal regions of Wales; you can probably name several flowers in the hedgerow, but can you identify them all? There are native plants including clover, dead nettle and thistle in our gardens; there are many pretty weeds too; what are their names?
There are numerous reports available suggesting that adults and children don’t spend as much time in the outdoors as they should; however, there are also a number of bodies trying to redress the balance; Natural Resources England/Wales and Scotland, have a wealth of information on things to do in the countryside, as does the Woodland Trust and Citizen Scientist too. You can also access the Government’s website that lists all of the currently endangered plant and animal species in the UK – and important advice on legislation when it comes to protecting them.
One innovative American charity, accessible to all online, entitled Children and Nature encourages youngsters to keep a year’s worth of drawings, photographs and notes on what they see in the of the natural world starting in their own backyard. Imagine what the results might be. Closer to home the Facebook group 30 Days Wild encourages everybody to send in a daily update of wildlife in their area.
Possibly record a journal yourself; because who knows, just like the unassuming Edith Holden, in forty years’ time, your memoires could be important too!
© Amanda Jane Davies 2017. A.449davies@btinernet.com
If you’d like to grow your own wildflowers, visit our wildflowers hub page to find all of our best resources to help you choose, sow and enjoy your wild varieties.
My name is Amanda and I live in Pembrokeshire with my fiancé and our garden is approximately 116 meters square. I want to share with you my love for gardening and the reasons behind it, from the good to the bad and ugly. I want to do this for my own personal pleasure. If you would like to take the journey with me then please read my blogs and share with me your gardening stories.
by Amanda Davies | Nov 8, 2017 | Gardening Posts
Hello everyone,
I hope you are all feeling good, and still working hard in the garden. This month has been so mild,it’s been the best year ever for Autumn sowing. Well at least it has for me here in Pembrokeshire. I feel so privileged to spend so many warm dry days pottering in the greenhouses, especially as I was so unwell for the first six months of the year.
So what have I been up to? Well lots of things – apart from my gardening, I’ve been taking part it in a long distance writing course, two online mini photography courses, and I’ve set up my own blogs on Weblogit and WordPress. Both of them are about living with Fallot’s Tretology, Ovarian Cancer and Heart Failure. My personal blog links are on my Facebook page If you would like to read them.
Gardening-wise – since being off sick, I have had an awful lot more time to study my garden. I’ve been able to understand more clearly why things are failing, (unfavourable conditions/wrong site,) the areas of deep shade, the sun’s path through the garden, micro climates, soil types and wildlife. I have made many plans in my head, about what to improve or change altogether. I have fallen in love with simple flowers that have done nothing but flower their hearts out all summer. My surprise love is French Marigolds.
But most of all I have learned to live in the moment. Best described by the words of the late great Welsh Poet William Henry Davies’ poem; Leisure
. “What is this life, if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?”
Well I have found plenty of time to stand and stare!
I have been keeping a paper diary of my gardening year. Again I feel so lucky to have done this. I would encourage any gardener to keep a diary similar to mine. Track the sun’s path, note your soil and weather conditions, record the wildlife. Draw your plans, jot down your favourites to grow. However, most importantly, record your mistakes. Mistakes, show that you tried something that didn’t work this time around, but maybe you can improve it next year, or at least not make the same mistakes. It’s really is better to try and fail, rather than never try at all. I’ve failed at growing pumpkins because my supports were not good enough. I can change this if I grow them again. I failed at melons, as the weather changed, so there was nothing I could do, but I will try again next year. I grew cucumlelons two years ago, I hated the taste. A mistake? No as other people liked them, they were easy to grow. Though I won’t do them again.
The last bit of news is I have got so many new blog ideas for here, that I am hoping the kind people at Thompson and Morgan will let me write some additional blogs apart from my monthly ones. It’s so lovely writing for them, as well as sharing my gardening exploits with you lovely readers, I also get given some excellent seeds free to grow and write about. Occasionally, I win blogger of the month and as winner, they give fantastic prizes. Have a look at the photo below, it shows my latest box of goodies sent by the editor. I especially love the teal Gubbins tray, flower pouches, and vermiculite.
October has given me many things – let’s start in The Office – it’s so well stocked, I could give my local garden centre a run for its money! I have recently had to move a load of plants to the cold frame as they are growing too quickly in the warmth of the staging under glass. The border is almost carpeted by Aloe Vera’s rooted houseplants are flowering, the spiky cactus has got fatter, and the yellow tomato is still producing. The money tree, is definitely becoming more tree like.
I’ve had great success with germination and transplanting of Calendula Snow Princess, and Orange English Marigolds. There are a few nasturtiums appearing too. I have a mass of beautiful Black Ball Cornflowers ready to go out in spring. There a numerous pots of Viola Jonny Jump Up ready to go outside.
Next job pot on Amaranthas Ouesburg seedlings from an old soft fruit punnet (I like to recycle) to singular pots are – these I would sorely miss if I didn’t collect the seeds each year. I think the most similar type that T&M do are called Ribbons and Tails. However, mine look more like a cross between a bottlebrush and a pampas grass flower. They have dark red/chocolatey leaves, that start off a deep grey green. The flowers are a cerise/burgundy, soft and fluffy to the touch. They don’t seem to have any scent, and the only thing I have seen feeding from/pollinating them are tiny bugs. They grow anything up to six foot in a hot summer, or even taller under glass. I’ve not tried eating the leaves, although it’s a delicacy in France and akin to spinach, nor have I wanted to try the flowers either. I have no idea which Amaranthas varieties are edible, so I wouldn’t chance it
Once I have done these, I then need to transplant the Larkspur, which look so pretty when they are small; as well as a few lavenders, Malva Moschatas, Heleniums and Radish. I also have a surviving turnip after a pesky slug got in and munched its way through them, as well as my cabbage and broccoli.
There is still no sign of the Kniphofias, Lupins, Foxgloves, and Stevia. Nor the grasses, nigella, hollyhocks or liatris. I’m not ready to give up on them yet.
In gaps on the middle shelves are White Lavender cuttings, a Christmas Cactus, some hyacinths that I have just started to water, two slightly dead looking buckthorn alder trees and a broken stem off my apple tree, that I’m hoping might root. It probably won’t, but I want to give it a chance. On what little space I have on the lower shelves, I have pots, vases, baskets, and various gardening equipment and tools.
Ty Mawr has been mostly prepared for late autumn and early winter. After giving fruits from late July until just a few days ago, the left border has now been cleared of tomato vines. What were left of the fruits were splitting at every opportunity, or failing to ripen. I made green tomato chutney once, but the bungalow stank of vinegar for days after, so I vowed never to make it again. There were hardly any green ones left anyway, so it wouldn’t have been worth the bother.
The only things remaining are a slightly floppy Amaranthas and a few French Marigolds. I plan to put the turnip and radish in this border for winter pickings. I also plan to overwinter my strawberries here too. I’m tempted to try some really late potatoes, but usually it’s best to get them in by September, so I might do onions instead.
The back border has been stripped of all except one aubergine plant. They didn’t really amount to much, maybe two or three fruits per plant. We just didn’t have the long hot summer they prefer. This is my least successful year for aubergines. Strangely the plant that’s left is a tiny T&M one, I grew from very late seeds. It isn’t even four inches, and has stayed this size all through summer, it had food and water and heat like the rest of them, but it just never grew any bigger. It’s the only one not to succumb to powdery mildew, mould or blight. So it’s staying for now. I have no idea if it will be strong enough to cope with winter. I may have to put a little cloche over it, even though it’s already under glass.
The right border has the two peppers which look really healthy, so again, I’m hoping to overwinter them. The chillies are turning a hot red, so fingers crossed I can keep this plant going too. Behind the chillies are ever expanding Nicotianas. One purple, one lime green. They are still flowering and smell divine. However, if they carry on multiplying as they are they will have to be evicted. Or even potted up to put outside next year.
Next to the chillies is a Sweet Aperetif tomato vine, that it still producing little red treats. I’m hoping to beat my personal best and pick tomatoes in November. The plants have usually caught blight by now, so I’m really chuffed this hasn’t happened yet. Spotted between the vine stems is a mini Amaranthas. I have a feeling they will grow like weeds in the greenhouse next year.
We had to take the Yellow Stuffer tomato out from the left border as it looked odd. The leaves were turning brown and the fruits were becoming mottled with brown patches. It didn’t look like blight, but I didn’t fancy eating the fruits so out it went. Lastly, there are two garlic plants growing. They have shot up over the last week, and have three leaves each.
On the hanging shelves in Ty Mawr are two money trees, repotted and brought in for the winter, as well as the spider plant that had to go out for the summer. There is also a single leaf from the money tree in a pot of its own, as it fell off one of the little ones. It had such good roots to it, I thought it might propagate this way. The other hanging shelves hold random pots, tomato feed, secateurs, a few garden ornaments, and outdoor solar lights so they don’t get damaged in the high winds and frost. There’s also a couple of China coasters for when I bring my hot chocolate with me on a plant inspection.
Anyhow, that’s enough from me.
Happy Gardening,
Love Amanda xx
My name is Amanda and I live in Pembrokeshire with my fiancé and our garden is approximately 116 meters square. I want to share with you my love for gardening and the reasons behind it, from the good to the bad and ugly. I want to do this for my own personal pleasure. If you would like to take the journey with me then please read my blogs and share with me your gardening stories.
by Amanda Davies | Oct 10, 2017 | Gardening Posts, Your Stories
Welcome Everyone,
As you know from previous September blogs I love this month. I love the last of the warm sunny days, before the transformation of of Autumn, with its crisp mornings, wood-smoke, and crunchy colourful leaves.
Though this September has not been the gloriously warm and sunny days it usually is here in Pembrokeshire. Instead we have had muggy, mild and wet days. Perfect blight inducing days – yet surprisingly I haven’t had blight in the greenhouses yet.
I feel so privileged to be able to be able to go out in the greenhouses this September – such a change from last year when I was fighting for my life. I genuinely believe that gardening and writing got me through one of the most stressful and scariest parts of my life.
So many seeds to sow!
So what’s been happening in my greenhouses? Plenty! I don’t really know where to start. Last month I asked for suggestions for naming the greenhouses; unfortunately no one has given me any so I’ll just have to name them myself. So in “The Office” (little greenhouse) I have been busy sowing and transplanting many many seeds. I am sure my staging is more abundant with plants now than it was in the spring. It seems to me that putting the red LED string lights in there is helping the seeds to germinate quicker. They seem to react to the lights which come on at dusk. These lights were less than £3 for 50 bulbs from a high street value store. They run by solar power and on really sunny days the charge lasts until dawn.
Seedlings and Hardening off
I started Calendula and Violas off at the start of the month and these have already being hardened off in the cold frame, and now planted out for my autumn and winter displays. The second lot that I did of these two varieties in the second week of September are now in the cold frame, and I’m halfway through transplanting my third batch to individual bigger pots, that I started off on in the third week of the month.As well as them, I have Calendula Snow Princess that T&M gave me to trial in the Spring. They didn’t germinate then, but have more than made up for it now when I sowed the remainder of the packet two weeks ago. There are many many plants that are hardy enough to start in September and October; and it appears that Autumn now seems to be the optimum time for greenhouse growers to get ahead of the game and prepare for their early spring beds and borders. So with this in mind I have started off the following varieties: Cornflower, Foxglove, Helenium, Kniphofia, Lavender, Larkspur, Lupin, Malva Moschata, and Nigella, As well as Radish, Turnip, Calabrese and Cabbage.
The Aloes are taking over!
So far I have seedlings of Cornflower, Helenium, Lavender, Larkspur, Malva Moschata, Radish,Turnip and one Cabbage to transplant. I try to spend an hour a day, watering, transplanting and shelf arranging each day, though my energy levels are rubbish so sometimes they only get a water and a chat. I usually thank them for growing and brightening my day. Also in The Office, the aloes have gone all thuggy. I almost have a carpet of them in the border. I am so tempted to give them as Christmas Presents to people, along with some baked goodies, as a proper old fashioned, but more personal gift The indoor house plants that were evicted to The Office in spring are a lush dark green and look like they are about to send up flower spikes.
Finally, the White Lavender Edelweiss cuttings I accidentally rescued, when they fell off a plant I was looking at in the local garden centre on my birthday, have rooted. I told the person at the desk and I asked if I could take the broken bits home to save them. The actual plant was £8.99 for a 5cm pot so was worried I would have to pay for damages. I dropped the pot thanks to chemo nerve damage. (I didn’t have to pay.) They just looked at me like I was mad. Especially, as I had them wrapped in a bit of wet tissue. I now have a plant for me and a plant for mum for free. The actual potted plant I dropped didn’t look damaged so it was still able to be sold to someone.The tiny Christmas Cacti cutting I took in the spring from my dads plant has sprouted lots of little new leaves.So that’s all that’s happening there.
A bumper harvest!
Meanwhile at Ty Mawr (big greenhouse) there is so far an endless supply of tomatoes, and aubergines. The peppers have not been that great sadly, only five peppers off two plants. They were tasty though.I wish I had counted how many toms I had altogether. I would say to any new tomato growers, for sheer numbers of sweet cherries Sweet Aperitif does not fail. To try something more unexpected grow Yellow Stuffer, they get huge, are best eaten cooked as it brings out the flavour, and are still cropping at the end of the month.
Jewel Jade Aubergines have a fig like texture and are much sweeter than normal dark skinned ones. Although I found the skin inedible. I’m not sure if your meant to eat the skin on this one, or if I needed to let it mature for longer. They felt ripe though. The normal aubergines (Celine) have not performed as well as the greens. The chillies are making an aggressive comeback with many new flowers and fruit
.
The Garlic I planted from the fridge at the end of last month have shot up and have three leaves each. I’ve never grown garlic in the greenhouse, and have no idea if it will work or not.The amaranthus are starting to get seedy (oops that sounds a bit wrong,) and I must get to them before they droop and I end up with an amaranthus issue next year. The Nicotianas are flowering like mad under glass too. I have no idea if they will become a problem next year, but I am sure I will find out. The marigolds are still flowering and keeping the pests at bay.
Similarly, I have solar lights in Ty Mawr too. Only these are blue, and I really do feel that they contribute to the vigour and health of the plants. The green of the leaves is still succulent and rich,the flowers continue to being pollinated and the fruits still growing. I’m not sure if it helps to turn the fruits different colours, but they certainly seem to be more disease resistant and although I had blight on my tomato outside, so far the greenhouse appears to be blight free.
As it is time to start watering hyacinths for Christmas Blooms, I recently moved the bulbs to The Office, as they have more chance of staying warmer on the staging than on the shelves on their own in the other one. Also if Mark decides to tidy up the shelves of the big greenhouse when we finally pull up the summer crops, he might think it’s a pot of non existent plants and chuck it out.
So that’s what’s happening at Ty Mawr. Lastly, in the cold frame are my weaker plug plants I got from T&M last month, that have finally decided to grow, and hardening off, plus trays of calendula
and violas. I need to rescue my two baby money plants and the spider plant that are still out by the front bench and need somewhere warmer to overwinter.
That’s it from me this month. I’m off to go and collect colourful leaves – not to make leaf mould -although they will end up in the compost bin after, but to take photos as inspired by Andy
Goldsworthy. If you don’t know who he is just ask the ” tinternet,” as I call it!
Until Halloween,
Happy Gardening,
Love Amanda xx
My name is Amanda and I live in Pembrokeshire with my fiancé and our garden is approximately 116 meters square. I want to share with you my love for gardening and the reasons behind it, from the good to the bad and ugly. I want to do this for my own personal pleasure. If you would like to take the journey with me then please read my blogs and share with me your gardening stories.
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