Grief Encounters

Carnations part 2 ...

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Wed, 06 May 2009 01:00:00 +0000

Since my first interest I have picked up a couple more books:-

“Carnations and Pinks for Garden and Greenhouse” by John and Eileen Galbally

This I bought after it was recommended by Brian Yates in his excellent Pinks Blog on the BNCS Website – thank you for that Brian it’s well read and thank you Eileen for helping to write it. It’s a shame that some of the varieties aren’t around now ... or maybe they are (plug for the Heritage scheme)

And the other one I got from a local Charity shop for £2-50 ( a tad more than the original 18/6d !!) but equally useful and that is

“Growing perpetual flowering Carnations” by Steven Bailey.

So armed with these and the others mentioned in the 1^st part I worked out my plan of action ... or rather inactions due to the weather. I can’t remember when we had Snow, Frost, Fog and rain like this year. Anyway I have my two offspring well trained and they get me Gardening vouchers for birthdays and Christmas so rather than mix my own composts I usually buy it in. I don’t have the time to mix it and upto now the quantities are small any way. Also the last couple of years rather than the 5” or 6” of annual rainfall I normally get here in the Highlands of Warwickshire ( well 550ft asl is a mountain round here!) so I thought that I would use a similar mix to my Late Chrysanths as it is fairly open this is roughly

4 parts JI No.3, 4pts Miracle grow Multipurpose and 1 part Perlite and a dusting of calcified seaweed - maybe it’s not what you all use but I thought I’d start from here. Also I seem to get better results from Clay pots than Plastic so I dug out some of the spare’s and planted 3 plants in an 8” or 9” pot any odds left to be planted in 2 to a 3ltr plastic or singly in a 6” clay so we’ll see what gives the best results. This also helped out as I probably won’t have the spare room later on in the year so the 3 to a pot seemed the obvious course.

So what varieties am I trying to kill? Well, I’ll tell you.

Borders - 27 plants

Anne S Moore, Flanders, Hannah Louise, Irene Delatorre, Lord Nuffield, Pink Nuffield,Spinfield Grey, Spinfield Joy, Tamsin Fifield.

PF’s – 39 plants

Cromptons Classic, Cromptons Princess, Cromptons Bride, Summer Bride, Clara, Clara's lass, Betty's delight, Linfield Annie's fancy, Joannes Highlight.

Pinks – 6 plants

Linfield Dorothy Perry, Oakwood Erin Mitchel, Anders Dora bryan, Anders serene, Anders Gemma, Magenta Gem.

Added to this I have some replacement cuttings of some of the older plants I grow Carmine Letitia Wyatt, Laced Monarch and Claret Joy to adorn the Garden.

Pinks still waiting to be potted up

Borders brought in out of the cold ... frame

a couple seemed to have suffered

As you can see a fair mix so hopefully I should get something all being well. The only thing to do now is sort out the bottom of the garden so I have somewhere to stand them till flowering time ... But that’s another story.

New venture ...

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:51:00 +0000

As you all know I’m an uncontrollable propagator ... no I’ve not got a huge family I meant plants, something I inherited off my Father who was a good gardener ( better than me). As a youth I hated gardening and most of all my father’s passion of Chrysanths . I eventually gave in and said I liked Dahlia’s and grew a few when I to keep dad happy. Then a turning point in my life, I got married and had 160’ of garden to look after ... not the ideal situation for a garden hater, but eventually the nagging er I mean persuasion paid off and I started to look after it and Pinks were one thing that went in. I bought some from the local garden centre. They were in 3ltr pots and cost me £1-50 as they were coming to the end of the season, but as I’d just acquired a greenhouse I did the decent thing and took loads of cuttings with the help of one of dads books “ Carnations for everyone” by Montague Allwood.

Then came another turning point a few years later, my wife was seriously ill for about two years and after buying here bunches of flowers each week I thought, “must be a cheaper way of doing this” and so I selected bunches of Carnations with some “cutting” on and then went to one of dads old Chrysanth chums and bought some sprays for cuttings (and somehow ended up with 6 late flowering plants as well ... George Freestone is both a very good salesman and now friend!). After growing for a couple of years I looked on the internet for a source of Carnation netting to use to grow my sprays and eventually came upon this the BNCS site, dropped an e-mail to see if they could help, had a very nice reply off Betty Linnell and Peter Booker and then it happened, I got the Carnation bug.

What I intend to do is to record my first stumbling footsteps in to the serious growing of all things Dianthus. But where to start?

I decided the only decent thing to do as I had had all this help from Betty & co was join the BNCS and I received my free booklet, read it and promptly sent for the other two. Not knowing what I fancied (if you pardon the pun) I felt the best course was to grow all types! So I duly trawled through the yearbook, and saw loads of photos, read the article on the website noted names and sat back and thought 6000 was probably too many ( Ok, so I exaggerated the number a bit) It quickly became evident that a lot of the good show varieties have one serious flaw ... they don’t smell! And as most of the plants in my garden have a scent of some sort I thought this was going to be a factor I had to consider. I like the idea of PF’s as these will give me a long flowering season ( unless I killed them) but some of the Borders seemed to have a nicer looking flower but shorter season .. so I’d have to get both, as I didn’t want loads of Pink flowers I looked at the colours and tried to pick different ones where possible so that would make for some nice mixed vases on the sideboard filling the room with a heady perfume.

Armed with my list I posted on the forum asking about Borders and got a reply almost immediately from Jim (via Betty) saying if I went over he’s have a few that would start me off. Mistake number two! Having softened me up with a cup of tea, Jim did a “George Freestone” like move and showed me all the ones he grew and the list went out of the window and I came away with a collection of scented border cuttings. One down, one to go.

It was about this time I decided that I would get some more late Chrysanth cutting of varieties I fancied growing so looked on Ivor Mace's website and realised he was selling some PF’s so I ordered 9 off him and thought that takes care of that but in a moments madness I mentioned to Betty that I’d got some and thought I might like a few more ... another trip to Dunfield and away I came with a few more ... and 6 pinks to play with! So that’s where I am to date. I’ll try and do a blow by blow account of how I get on and maybe someone will read these and think they might like to follow in my faltering footsteps and who knows I may even show a few but I don’t think the more serious amongst you will have to worry as I’m more of a grower than a shower although I do try and get a few Chrysanths in the local show if possible.

But 1 thing I might try this year is to answer a question for Mr Mace. I grow late flowering spray chryanths and I take the cuttings July 7^th and then when they are potted up into the final pots (3ltr) I Black them out with black plastic for 4 weeks or so and this induces the flowers to form. If I have space I might try sticking a spare Carnation in and see what happens.

Navel Gazing ...

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:09:00 +0000

For various reasons that I'm not prepared to go into online I have spent the last 12 months seriously considering giving up the allotment. But due to the support and chivvying of my fellow plotters I have decided to keep going.

As No1 daughter is at University and No1 son now has a job that means he's not around so much, I have decided that a full plot is probably too much for us now ( I have a fairly big garden at home as well). So I thought half a plot should be OK then when I sat to draw up a list of what we wanted it seemed it would be too much !! At the same time I got a copy of Square foot gardening and on reading this I thought I could have a couple of beds for veg and then the rest of the space could be taken up with my beloved chrysanths, dahlia's and a few cut flowers ( carnations gladioli and sweet peas) so this is the plan with the addition of a polytunnel (24' x 14') for a special purpose but more of that later. So I'm off to get things planned out and then move the shed to a new position and we'll see what happens next year.

1st for a long time

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:34:00 +0000

Well I can't believe where this year has gone !! I haven't got much to report really. Last was crap and I nearly gave up but I've kept the plot on for another year whilst I make my mind up. In the mean time I've been looking at the garden at home and a redesign is underway with the bottom half no longer the preserve of my beloved Chrysanths but being turned over to a wildlife patch. More of that later though ...

First for a long time ......

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 19:11:00 +0000

Well, this is my first post since May! I just can't believe where this year has gone. The Summer was a washout and then work conspired against me so I've written 2007 off as a bad lot.

On the up side of things I've had time to sit and work out a plan of attack for next year and I decided that the one plot would be enough as my friend won't be borrowing part of the lottie so I have a blank canvas again to re plan things.

Top of the list is a polytunnel, I've been looking around at different ones and for various reasons not just price I've decided on a Citadel Space saver Polytunnel as it has higher sides than the normal ones and I'll probably go for a 30ft x 12ft this will leave me a bit of space down the side where I can stand a few pots of Chrysanths that will flower next November and are OK to flower in a cold house. the rest of the space on the bottom half of the plot will be taken up with Early spray chrysanthemum's and Dahlia's that I can grow on raised beds to help with the drainage and make it easier to dig. This leaves me with about 60ft of allotment to grow veg on. I still haven't decided if I'm going to bother with Main crop spuds next year after this year but I'll certainly grow loads of New potatoes in pots & tubs as these were a roaring success in the Grief house this year.

The Polytunnel will allow me to grow a few pots fullbefoer the ones in the ground come in to production. Other early crops I can get out of it will be Beans, Peas, Carrots etc. I must admit it has re-kindled the spirit after the disappointment of this year where I almost gave up.

At Home No1 son has been hard at it and has marked out a plot to grow some of the more choice veg that needs regular attention & picking like Salad stuff, Beetroot, Beans, Peas etc.

After the problems with the ground water logging so badly I have decided to go for Raised beds wherever possible at home and to this end I'm looking into getting a Mantis or the Honda equivalent to give me the opportunity to catch up with jobs when work gets in the way but I'll have to see.

So to end on a brighter note, we have just held our two chrysanthemum shows, 1 in September & 1 in November and a riot of colour they were, So I'll post some photo's for you look at.

First the Early Show .......

And now the Late show ....

Meet Plot 57...

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Sat, 26 May 2007 17:34:00 +0000

Well in a moment of madness the other day I decided to take on another plot. it came about because one of the guys has a polytunnel and the stuff he has had from it so far is unbelievable and i heard this little voice shouting "want one, want one"

As most of my existing plot is taken up with veg Ii couldn't really afford the room for a tunnel so I spied a couple of likely vacant plots and thought

"hmmmmm, 1 of those could be just what I need"

So I approached our site manager and whilst in conversation with him I thought I could also use it for fruit, Chrysanths, Dahlia's and Cut-flowers .... I know how to creep

So here she is, warts and all ( or should I say weeds and all)

Above is the view from about 1/3 of the way down looking back towards the roadway ( where the galvanised water tank is). The 1st 30ft or so is just this years annual weeds nothing a good hoeing won't sort out. Then if I put some membrane down & plant the Dahlia's through this it will keep them weed free.

The 2nd 30ft is a mix of Grass, old Carrots, Parsnips & Brussels - I think. This will need a tad more work on it but it can soon be licked into shape.
This is the remaining 130ft of which about 60ft is fairly clear and it's just the bottom bit that is untouched, but a dose of round-up and a whizz with the rotavator and it will be as good as new. This is where the polytunnel is going to go. I have sort of earmarked a 24ft x 14ft but one of the guys knows of some that are in need of a new skin and away you go so if they are the right price it may be bigger !

So as it is going to pissistantly rain this week end, it's noses in the catalogues & look at fruit. The plot next to me has some small trees on there already so there isn't a problem with me having any and I fancy 2 or 3 apples, 2 or 3 pears, a plum then the usual Raspberries, Currants and a couple of Strawberry beds ( that will please Mrs Grief as they are her favourites !!)

Meet

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Sat, 26 May 2007 17:34:00 +0000

Things are a happenning.....

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Thu, 03 May 2007 18:51:00 +0000

All this ere sunshine ( that's due to end on Monday - Bank holiday !!) has started to make all the Cacti wake up, even the seedlings are having a go.

And not everything that is blue is a bluebell at this time of year

The Natch is going well and has taken to the Greenhouse like a ...... errr Natch to a greenhouse!!

She actually sat down for the one photo .... almost unheard of. There are a few more Photo's from around the area that I've take whilst been dragged around by the Liver & White lunatic at this link

http://preview.tinyurl.com/23u5d7

http://preview.tinyurl.com/yrxo62

A rare treat last night (2nd May) I was allowed out on my own .... well with No1 son and we paid a visit to fellow Grape ( member of the No 1 gardening forum The Grapevine - see links) Pigletwillie who had aquired a 1000 ltr LBC for me - I think this is going to be much needed this coming summer!

Thank you David for the tank & great thanks to Karen for the much needed cuppa so thaw out frozen son ..... he doesn't have the insulation that me and piglet have !!

There was a commemerative photo take but modesty doesn't allow me to embarrass Piglet....... Second thoughts he's done it to me so I've lifted the photo :-D

Lottie goings on ....

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 21:08:00 +0000

Not much to report at the moment. The Lottie site has been undergoing a bit of a revamp ( well hedgelaying ) so I've been a looking at that and managed to get a few foto's in between showers, sleet, hail & snow!!

As you can see there was a bit of a variation in weather on these photo's all within the space of 5 minutes!!

The greenhouse is filling up with flowers and Veg. I now have about 60 onions in there, 24 leeks ("The Lyon") so far with about as many again to prick out. Added to the disbud Chrysanthemum cuttings and the Dahlia's are just starting to shoot.

At my side through all this horticultural mayhem has been The Natch who has realised the benefit of a greenhouse - it's nice and warm and my wife doesn't come down there to nag you !! She has decided that her roll in the operation is Quality control of the buckets of water .

A roll she takes Very seriously !! and when she's not snoozing and drinking? ...

The story so far ...

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 21:35:00 +0000

At the start of January I said I would keep a running total of the costs & any saving that I may or may not make by growing my own veggies. Time for an update I think so here is the total for this year so far

As you can see I'm running at a loss of £5 so far which I don't think is too bad. This includes the Leeks & Brussels that we've had but I haven't added in the spuds as I didn't weigh them to see what sort of yeild I got before we started to use them. And the Onions are a combination of Winter & summer ones that we have used so far.

Also today was supposed to be our AGM on the site but we had to cancel due to the torrential rain. In previous years we have sever had a full site so have always managed in the site hut but this year for the first time we have a waiting list & most folks turned up!!! So it looks as if we will have to have a proper one in a church hall somewhere - A sign of things to come hopefully!

I did intend to sow some Peas & Carrots under cover but the weather has been so crap that I didn't even bother I have puddles on my plot & I'm ontop of a hill 500ft ASL !!!

March already ....

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 23:00:00 +0000

Well March has snook up on me already .... soon be Christmas! With the nights getting lighter it means I will be able to go down to the lottie at night and do an hour or so that should make no end of difference.

As you can see "The Natch" has take to the greenhouse game like duck to water, I think the fan heater just out of shot helped make her mind up

On the Veg front, I've got my seed tatties nicely chitting and have put some plastic down to try and warm the ground enough for an early sowing of peas

I thought I'd try Avola as it's a quick maturing one for a start.

The Broad beans are doing well in their Warm box ( sort of open topped coldframe) but it does shelter them from the winds & I have made a cloche (see above) out of plastic roofing to try an dry the soil out enough to get an early sowing of carrots underway. The Chrysanth cuttings are coming on now & I've just Started off the Dahlia tubers. along with some early french beans destined to be grown under glass and my precious red flowered Broad beans - these will be grown at home I think away from the Super Aquadulce ones.

And finally the Hative shallots look as though they are ready to go out now as well.

Goodbye to an old friend .....

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 18:53:00 +0000

About a week before Christmas we had to have our old dog put down. Meg was a cocker spaniel and would have been 16 this year but unfortunately she suffered a stroke the same night as my daughter came back from University (may have been the excitement I guess) and when we took her to the vets it turned out she had 2 tumours as well. She was a marvellous dog and truly was man's ( well this man) best friend. She will be sadly missed. We thought over christmas about getting another dog but I couldn't face the anguish again and so we decided that we would wait twelve months and see how we felt. Christmas came and went and was probably the worsed one we have ever had.

Then a week ago we went to my wife's bosses house and were greated by his big roughty toughty Lurcher being chased around the house by a small liver & white lunatic.

Meet Nacho

It turned out that the 13 week old puppy in question was taken to one of the local vets to be put down as she had attacked the owners cat. The vets refused and a new home was sought and even my wife ( who isn't supposed to be a dog person) fell for her and so the small whirlwind blew into our lives and nothing has been the same since.

She has a mischeiveous nature, but there again I'm comparing her to a a 15 year old lady, and loves nothing better than to run off whith a shoe, sock or anything else. You usually get a sight f her with her ears pinned back trotting of at speed - a sure giveaway.

But she's learning slowly and now has developed a taste for a cup of tea (bit like her owner ). And when she's not reeking havoc she enjoys nothing better than a good snooze, along with a family member of course.

Today was the first time she's been down to my allotment and as usual she took it all in her stride with everyone falling for the cute face ..... if only they knew!!

Happy new Year !!

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 20:46:00 +0000

Well 1st one of 2007. Hope you had a good 'un.

On the Grapevine ( excellent lively forum see link on left) Someone posted a thread about how much is saved by growing your own and it got me a thinking. Somme time ago I picked up an old Book by Richard Sudell book called "Practical Gardening & food Production" and from reading it I would guess it was written somewhere around 1935 ish. It's full of info that is still good today although a lot of the varieties have gone by the wayside and it;s a bit heavy on the chemical sprays for my liking. But as comparison I tried to work out what the value of the cost's & savings would be in todays money & climate. First problem was to try and rember how much £1 13s 9d would be in this new fangled money !! Then to try and find somwhere where I could calculate the value today.

Any way it was quite enlightening.
The total costs of tools, seeds and seed spuds worked out to £7 15s 3d which worked out to around £300 in todays money.

It then gave a list of crops and the expected yeilds which came out to a total cost to buy at the time of £13 9s 9d (which I suspect was quite a bill in the 1930's) and the cost of the seeds, muck and seed spuds was £2 7s which gave a saving of £11 2s 9d or a saving of around £400 in real terms as they say!!

This is quite some saving so this year I will try and keep an account of costs and see how much it does save. This isn't my main reason for Growing my Own though but if I can save a few bob along the way I think it helps.

Here is the lists and I hope you find it as intersting as I did.

Home sweet home .....

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 22:32:00 +0000

Well after a few licks of paint the old shed looks a tad brighter now. It will be interesting to see if it stands up OK to the winds that have been forecast for tonight.

The following couple of photo's show the length of the two main beds that I have to play with and these are divided nicely with three Bedford Giant Blackberries . They need a bit of tying in I think but will be OK.

It's hope that I can move some Raspberries in near to these as well as my friend needs to get rid of his so I may well move them up to the lottie. Then I've got some Strawberries to move up here as well. That should keep the little lady happy as she loves strawbs & rasp's & all I need then is an Apple tree and then it's Blackberry & apple pie here I come ... hmmmmmm

The new plot

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 23:32:00 +0000

Welll you've seen some photo's of the new plot I guess a plan would be good too. It will give me the excuse I need to do one for me, so this is what it looks like with some of the main feature on there.

I love roses, unfortunately for me my wife hates them so the 5 that I've managed to sneak in at home I think I may well move to here. I've got a 3 climbers/ramblers these are:-

Zepherine Droughin - lovely scent, gorgeous pink colour & no thorns.

Gloire de Dijon - again, lovely scent and a buff colour

Blush Noisette - Lovely scent & clusters of the most delicate pink flowers.

Add to this the two bush roses :-

Just Joey (HT) - Sentimental reason for this one. My Daughter had a doll when she was born that was called Joey - all that remains in the hat he wore so I got the rose instead!! Lovely scent & a Coppery Orange colour.

Ferdinand Pichard (HP) - A stunning colour Sriped - Pink / Crimson and wonderfull scent but with viscous thorns

If you look on David Austin Roses there are photo's of all of these.

As you will have noticed, they all have good scent - like Sweet peas I don't think it's worth growing them if they have no scent.

So thats taken care of the Roses. Next addition is some soft fruit. I've been offered some Raspberries by a friend so it looks as though I shall be re-housing som of these & I had just planted some strawberry runners on my old plot so these will need to be moved. I have inherrited some blackberries & a gooseberry bush and as luck would have it, I've just taken some cuttings of my red & black currant, so I think I'll leave those there. All we need now is to move the large pile of poo from the old one & that should be me done with the moving. So roll on the spring & lets get digging.

Today I was mostly.....

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 14:53:00 +0000

Getting wet! Well I moved plots today & the weather started off nice but quickly turned horibble. Luckily I was sorting out the new shed so it wasn't too bad till I started to move the stuff from the old one. Then the Heavens opened!!! Drowned Rat springs to mind Still at least it's starting to look cosy & it doesnt leak like the old one did.

This is what it look like now after a bit of jiggery & a lot of pokery.

And here is the hub of the enterprise

But at least it has a nice view from the window !!

I've just got to start the hard part now & rough dig it all, still that shouldn't be too bad. .

I've got some remaining bits to move then I can plant the Broad Beans, Overwintering Peas, Japanese Onions & The Garlic & it will look like a real lottie !!

Roll on summer ..........................

Last One of the Year.........

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 21:19:00 +0000

Well today was our Late Chrysanth show. So now thats over it's time to get ready for next year. It was a really good show & I always look forward to the late show as there is som much more colour than the early shw as that is dominated by White, yellow & creams. The Late show is all coulours from bronze, to deep red and these are made so much better with the cooler conditions. The following photo's probably illustrate better than loads of words.

Seasons of Mists, Mellow Fruitfullnes & Bloody Fireworks

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 20:41:00 +0000

Well I see the time to terrify my poor dog is at hand again!!

Still I managed a quick trip up the lottie this week & got some Cabbage plants in, Some Freebie Strawbs, A load of shi..er Manure spread & a bit of scratting around the site found some Galvanised steel that had been chucked that is now a temperary roof on the old Shed - This will become a retaining wall when the new shed goes up & I can then chuck some of the debris behind it to make a nice wildlife bank with some wild flower seeds & rotting wood etc.

The Broad beans I sowed the other day are just begining to poke their heads through the compost so these will go to their new home behind the protection of some Twinwall Polycarb & two Double glazed Windows - should be nice & snug for them. The Onions & Garlic will have to brave the elements though.

I also managed to take some cuttings off my Redcurrant & Blackcurrant to repay the debt of the strawberries.

The best bit about this time of year is that you get to plan what you are going to do next year, the dipressing bit is reallising that you failed miserably - still if t was easy we wouldn't enjoy it would we Yes we bloody well would !!

So what are my plans for next year - still not quite sure but I've got plenty of time to make my mind up. One plan is to build a new shed & a bit of shelter to sit & enjoy the fruits of the tea pot.

Bit like this I hope. so we'll have to see won't we.

I fancy getting a Polytunnel as well, this would free up a lot of space at home but it would mean I would have to go to the lottie to make sure stuff was OK which isn't always easy for me but it would be good.

So Whilst WW3 rages outside & the dogs sits with her head under the covers I get back to planning ..........

Late flowering chrysanthemum

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 14:42:00 +0000

Well as November fast approaches, time for a few of the late flowering jobbies. I usually grow Late flowering Singles & Anemones but this year I decided to have a go at a few more sprays. They have some distinct advantages over the normal Lates.

They are short life plants (the time between taking cuttings and flowering is short) & the cuttings don't need taking till July
Being short life they don't need much room - I grow them in 7" pots
They are easier to get to flower when you want them (although this seems to have gone a bit awry this year)

The only downside is you have to black them out for 12 hours a day for about 3 weeks still here we go

This is what the start out like & then 9 weeks later ...

........the final results

looking back 2

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 17:15:00 +0000

Following on from the Echinopsis & related Hybrids, here are a few of the Mammilaria's.

These are popular as they are easy for beginers although there are a few difficult customers.

And some of my personal favourites, Rebutia's & Sulcorebutia's. Again the majority are easy for beginners but will repay the love and affection with masses of flowers.

And finally the Gymnocalyciums. Again easy beginers plants that will flower their roots off.

Looking back.........but not too far

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 15:54:00 +0000

We're is a sort of limbo at this time of the year, in between the flowering periods for Chrysanthemums, the allotment looks more like a battle field than a productive haven & there isn't much to see. So I thought I'd share afew of the nicer photo's of this year with you.

As you may have guessed from previous posts I grow Veg, Chrysanths & Dahlia's but one of my other hobbies is the collecting of Cacti & Succulents. I've had some of these for years but this year I thought that I'd better take more care of them so having a root around I found the forum of the British Cacti & Succulent Society & what a mine of information they are. With there help & enthusiam the poor survivors (5 of them) were quickly re-potted & nurtured and then the bad bit, I bought a couple more and this then carried on & the 5 is now around 250 plus I have loads of seedlings to try and home next year !! Anyway, enough of my ramblings here are the photo's

First up are Echinopsis both Hybrids and species,

The Final a series of photographs of a flower of
Trichocereus Rubringhianus that opened over a spell of 3 or 4 hours one night.

The size of these flowers vary from 2" to 10" across

Big Tatties

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 15:17:00 +0000

Well I couldn't think of anything else to call it !

I finally got to lift my maincrop Spuds today (well, most of them anyway).

Two varieties Maxine (a new on for me) & Piccasso (about the 4th year of growing it on the lottie). They were [;amted in the last bit of untamed wilderness on the site & it kept supprisingly moist throughout the summer, due to the fact there used to be a spring fed pond somewhere near my plot but it was filled in many moons ago. Anyway the results - there was a bit of slug damage (mainly due to the plot next to mine lying fallow for many years) so i've got about 2 carrier bags full so far that are damaged, but the Maxine seemed to be affected worse than Piccasso. As to Yeild, well the Maxine were about average I guess, not suree if I will grow this one again or if I'll go back to Desiree. Picasso on the other hand was a triumph. Not as much slug damage but I must have got 5-6lbs of spuds per root!! And some of them but weigh nearly 2lbs on there own!!! I hope they are a good chipper as I think they are too big for baking unless 2 pople want them to share !!

I'll have to get a couple of them cleaned up & post some piccies.

Also, I was discussing my thoughts for erecting a poly tunnel on the plot with my friend, John, as he "loans" a bit of the plot for growing some of the long term crops (leeks & spuds) at them moment. I have to say, the arrangement has worked well & I think it will continue for some time. I've know John for more years than I care to remember & he was my best man when I got married. and we work well together especially as he supplies the biscuits for the tea breaks!!

The Piccy as promised. 3 Piccasso at random out of the bag. There are some bigger in there!!
For reference, the pot is 2.75" sqare to that gives some idea of scale

On Saturday I was mostly....

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 16:59:00 +0000

At our local Chrysanth & Dahlia society club early show. As a grower of these two Autumnal beauties one tries to strive for perfection .....unfotunately I'm crap so didn't bother this year ! Not strictly true, various things conspired against me so I've (hopefully) kept the stock going for next year when we will have an all out assault ...I live in hope.
Anyway enough of me & time for some flowers.

You can't have a show without Judges & here's ours.

Left to Right :
Dave Bates (Dahlia's),
Peter White (Chrysanths) &
Peter Coles (Chrysanths).

I think they were discussing how long it would take before they needed Tea

Now some more general photo's of the show.

These are views of the Chrysanth's. As you can see they can be had in a range of colours including Yellow & White !!

And These are the Dahlia's.

As the show was late in the year we struggled to find entries but two stalwarts Mr Tom Upton & Mr Neil Gadsby did us proud & managed 30 vases of flowers between
them.

All in all a good day & we'll do it all again in November with the late Show.....

First of Many

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 21:46:00 +0000

Well I suppose it had to happen sooner or later. This, hopefully will be a memory jogger for me but maybe of interst to some of you as well

Off to plan how it will look now.

Mancetter 2nd Annual show part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Nick The Grief) — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 19:29:00 +0000

Well having covered the flowers here are a few pictures of the Vegetables .......

........ & a stunning peice of Sugar craft.