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I decided to go out in the greenhouse today and do some tidying - I simply couldn't stay inside with all the sun we've had today! We've only had a high temp of 6.5C (44F) but it was a little warmer in the greenhouse, plus I put the heater on full for a short while, as the floor was quite wet in the greenhouse for some reason, so it helped to dry that out pretty fast.
Most of the stuff is looking pretty good after a tidy up, except my 2 Alocasias - Alocasia Wentii 'Aline', and Alocasia Portadora. I'm quite dissapointed about the latter as it was doing extremely well and it's supposed to be one of the more hardier ones, but I'll be trying it again this year! The Wentii 'Aline' was a very jurassic plant, with speckled, red backed leaves. Not to everyones taste but I'm dissapointed to have lost that, although it is one of the more tender Alocasias. They were both bought from Akamba (see the 'links' section for their website), which is one of our localish nurseries, so hopefully they'll be stocking them again this coming season. Here's a pic of the Portadora in Summer;
And the Wentii 'Aline';
Still, Spring is drawing ever closer, and I'm looking forward to perusing the local Garden Centres for some lovely Dahlia tubers, as well as other exotic looking Summer bulbs. I saved quite a few Dahlia tubers of our own from last year, but it's always nice to add a couple more to the mix! Heres some pics of last years Dahlias (sorry if they haven't got a name, I lose track of all the labels!);
This one's called 'Pumpkin Pie'
And this one's called 'Fashion Monger'
Anywho, remember those seeds I planted last weekend? Well the first one came up yesterday, one of the Canna 'Crozy's Hybrids', so hopefully that will be followed by many more in the coming week. I'm also hoping to sow some Hedychium 'Carnival' seeds tommorow, and then that will probably be it until February. Hold on, what am I saying? Next weekend will be the start of February! Oh excellent, I can start sowing all the February seeds! I'll probably leave it a week or two actually as seeds I've started early in the last couple of years never seem to do well if I have too many on the go at the same time! It's supposed to be raining tommorow too, so we may visit the local Garden Centre in the afternoon. I must remember to restrict my spending this time!
Well, I though I might as well get stuck in straight away! I've decided to create this blog now as not only are we all eagerly anticipating the start of a new gardening season, but also because I'm hoping that through writing this blog (which I'll try and update at least once weekly!) I'll be able to learn more about growing tropical plants (and other related matters!), make many new friends and also be able to share my garden, and everything that goes on in it, the good, the bad and the plain ugly, with all of my readers, whom I look forward to getting to know! Also, this is my very first blog, so I have much to learn about the world of blogging! Because of this, if you think that there are improvements to be made to my blog, please contact me and let me know through the comments section on the right!Anywho, today started off as a very fine sunny day, which has put me in a Spring mood, so I've been doing plenty of seed-sorting, and hopefully I'll be able to start the much awaited seed sowing tommorow! I can't wait to start the process all over again, seeing those tiny little pellets grow into some beautiful (and some not so beautiful) plants - this has to be one of the top things I love about gardening!
So tommorow, I'll hopefully be getting out in the garden and sowing the first batch of tropical seeds for this year. I've just received my order from JungleSeeds, which is the top company for tropical seeds. Once again I've managed to overspend a little, but this year I'm absolutely determined to give all the plants I grow all the care and attention they need (my New Year's Resolution is to be more motivated). I'll be sowing Ensete Ventricosum, Brugmansia Sanguinea, B. Arborea and Canna 'Crozy's Hybrids' tommorow, and they'll all be soaked overnight to soften the seed coats. I might also do a little tidying in the greenhouse, which is pretty clean but there's always dropped leaves to clean up and, dare I say it, the odd dead plant too, although hopefully there will be none of those!
I'll try and do an update tommorow of what I actually got around to doing in the garden, so tune in then! Thanks for looking in, and hopefully you'll stick around.
Take care
Pete
And the Wentii 'Aline';
And this one's called 'Fashion Monger'
Anywho, remember those seeds I planted last weekend? Well the first one came up yesterday, one of the Canna 'Crozy's Hybrids', so hopefully that will be followed by many more in the coming week. I'm also hoping to sow some Hedychium 'Carnival' seeds tommorow, and then that will probably be it until February. Hold on, what am I saying? Next weekend will be the start of February! Oh excellent, I can start sowing all the February seeds! I'll probably leave it a week or two actually as seeds I've started early in the last couple of years never seem to do well if I have too many on the go at the same time! It's supposed to be raining tommorow too, so we may visit the local Garden Centre in the afternoon. I must remember to restrict my spending this time!