It’s been a week of such contrasts weather-wise – sunshine, murky mists, hard frost, pouring rain and gale force winds plus quite a few rainbows. The ground is absolutely sodden at the moment with more rain forecast so there’s not a lot of gardening to be done outdoors at the moment. Still a few bulbs to find a home for! I didn’t think I’d bought that many this year. In the meantime here’s a quick six, photographed between the downpours this morning.
1. The glasshouse isn’t heated at all, I rely on horticultural fleece over the pots to keep the temperature up a couple of degrees. I made a casual remark about maybe standing the pots on a sheet of polystyrene when the Non-Gardener started talking about Celotex. I’m now the proud owner of two boxes made from this. It’ll be interesting to see if, when topped with fleece, the temperature stays up a bit more. No frost forecast for a while though.
2. I’ve been using the coldframe for summer storage of homemade compost as I’d run out of room to make more. I’ve two fairly large (for the size of garden) bins but really need a third as I seem to generate so much plant material to compost. It’s the time of year when the coldframe is needed for plants so I emptied it out and barrowed it around to the newly cleared and cut down front garden. I’m not normally so quick to cut down but the wind had done so much damage.
3. Once the coldframe was emptied I could start to fill it up with plants. I was going to replant the border under the Birch tree and have a collection of ferns for dry shade to join a few others already in the border. Unfortunately, the posts supporting an arch near the tree have rotted through and need to be replaced. I’ve decided not to replant until the spring so that this can be done (I need to talk nicely to the Non-Gardener). The ferns are tucked into the coldframe for now.
4. While I was clearing the front garden I came across these – shoots of Dutch Iris I think. Somewhat early and somewhat weedy
5. The wind blew over a pot of Echivera ‘Black Prince’ a while back breaking off some leaves. I put a couple in a small pot of gritty compost and they’ve had babies
6. A bit of colour to finish with. Fuchsia ‘Lechlade Gordon’ is new to me this summer. It’s now lost most of it’s leaves and has decided to flower. Better late than never.
I hope the weather allows some gardening time for you but if not then the seed catalogues need reading and of course there’s all of the Sixes to check out at our host’s site
https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/
Hmm, reading all these SoSs I realise I’ve been very idle gardening wise of late. You’ve been busy.
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It’s a quiet time of year work wise so bit more time for garden – when weather allows!
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Looking at your photos, I am so envious of your black rich soil. Mine is sandy and thin. Your fuschia is really unusual – I’ve not seen one like that before. I want to attempt to grow some fuschias next summer.
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My soil has a lot of clay in it. I’ve put a mulch of homemade compost on top. The worms will work on it through the winter and I’ll dig it in in the spring.
Fuchsias are one of my very favourite plants. Can’t have too many of them.
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I didn’t know Celotex (not sold in France) but I’m pretty sure it looks like a compressed polyurethane foam: very effective insulation and better than polystyrene . Why do not you make a hat with little holes for cold nights? Too bad that Celotex is not transparent…
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Celotex is used for insulating houses here. I did wonder about making a lid but I have been known not to have time to visit the glasshouse before leaving for work. I thought condensation and lack of light might not be good. If we have a very cold winter I might change my mind
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I wish the non-gardeners in my house had skills that were complementary to my gardening requirements. Well, they do provide the brute when I need it, but all those DIY ideas yours has come up with . . . o sigh alas. Mine cook, so I won’t complain. Overly. Would the ferns not like the wet weather? Or is the cold frame acting as a staging area, so to speak?
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The Non-Gardener is very handy indeed, it just takes a while sometimes! On the plus side I can grow exactly what I want in the garden.
I didn’t plant the ferns as I’m a bit worried that they’ll get trampled underfoot when the N-G is putting in new posts for the arch. Very practical but not always plant friendly.
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Back in nursery days we went from having camellias on the ground in a tunnel to up on wooden staging and found them much MORE vulnerable to the pots freezing. Heat loss is by radiation upwards, so we’d effectively insulated them from the ground which might have retained a bit of residual warmth. Identical plants on the ground in an adjacent tunnel survived OK. It seemed counterintuitive but it lost us a 1000 plants at £9.99 each. You need the insulation above the plants, which means it needs to be transparent or taken off by day.
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Interesting. I’m monitoring the temperature in the box and on the staging. It seemed logical to put the insulation under the pots but maybe not. The Non-Gardener will be upset! Maybe I’ll have to work out a way of inverting the trays
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Great six, my cold frame looks just like yours, jammed with plants waiting for a home. Glad to see you are still busy in the garden, always plenty to do I find.
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