#17 - You could of heard me belting out a tune this morning

 CeCe Penistan would be livid too.  ‘Finally, uts happened to me, right in front of my eyes’ ...

It’s the small things that make me ridiculously happy, or in this case a large thing that has taken its blasted time to being nursed and tended from inauspicious beginnings.

Meet my one and only Aquilegia (currently), with the variety lost in time, that was rescued a few years ago from an overturned seed tray deep that had been blown over in a storm and the rest of its seedlings perished.  

It has been nurtured, and also nearly bitten the dust a few times, but despite all the odds is now this beautiful specimen, and looks like it will be cream or pale yellow.  I can’t wIt for it to fully bloom.

Judging by the slowness of my recently sown seedlings, Aquilegia might be slow growing, so you could end up for a two or three year break before there is this level of enthusiasm seeping through the screen, because when all8# said and done, it one of my favourite perennials, and a cottage garden staple.

Hugs

Kay xx

#12 - more seeds and mutant Brussels

 

The mutant Brussel Sprouts have been pulled up.  They were not my finest veg, as I only attempted to grow them for the first time last year … we will gloss over the purple Sprouting Broccoli for now and just focus on moving forward.  I learnt a lot with this crop like, staking them early on, and probably de-budding being a strong contender to eliminate over crowding on the stalk.  None of which statements are grounded in actual research, but seem intuitive.  

The staking as they fall all over the place, and the stems are not at all flexible, And the de-budding as the individuals were too tightly paid in and were a nightmare to remove at harvesting.  

 Clean, I need to do more detailed reading on growing them,  it they were tasty, tasty, very, very tasty.  We ate a lot at Christmas time.

In their place we have opted for David Domoney Spring Onion ‘White Lisbon’ seed tape by Mr Fothergills.

Some Hot Bin compost was added and them drills 6.5 centimetres apart and 1.5 centimetres deep were set with the table layer straight and then covered over with shop bought compost and watered in.

They can be sewn outdoors like this from March to July, and should be kept well watered and weed free.  Seedlings should appear  appearing between 14 to 21 days.

Harvest May to October, taking alternate onions from the rows to allow for growth etc.

I have never grow; from tape before, but is certainly easy … so let’s see how they do.

Lupine have also been sewn, I just went for ‘Russell’ mixed in memory of my dog.  They can be sewn from March to June indoors, make about  1.2 metres in height, are a staple cottage garden perennial.  They will flower next year (May to July), but caution they are harmful if eaten.

Hugs

Kay xx

#11 - Let the seed starting begin

 

The first ones of the season, Mr Fothergill’s:

Aquilegia Biedermeier Mixed (Columbine)

Hardy Perennial 

Flowers: May to July

60 cm high / 40 cm spread

Well drained soil

Full sun 

Sow indoors: cold frame or up heated greenhouse: February to June

Plant out: April to June

Sow outdoors: April to June

Germination: 21 to 42 days

Tray code: AQ

One of my all time cottage garden staples, who seem to always be happy little breeders and spreaders throughout the garden.