Saving money in the garden.

This is another lovely plant, I took a cutting from a plant in my raised bed by the back door, I was worried it might die in the winter months, the parent plant survived and is now showing loads of new growth. So this cost me just time.

I purchased this plant in July 2016, it cost 99p and was tiny, I was making a garden in a broken pot, it grew and grew, I cut it back last year after watching Monty on TV, and the 3 stems all grew and the stem of the old plant grew again. So this year I cut back the 3 newer stems and potted them all in this pot, they all look healthy. 

I have loads of soft wood cuttings, both the Lavender and Salvia hotlips have rooted and are growing. I have another 3 cutting of hotlips on the go. I have eucalyptus which don't look too well, but they can stay for longer, I am hoping one might root. I have passion flower and clematis cuttings, in hope I can create new plants. 

I watched Monty on TV Friday night he did hydrangea cuttings in Purlite, no soil, so hubby wanted us to have a go, so here are 2 hydrangea, 1 clematis, 1 rose which we did on Saturday, all looking good. In the second pot I have 2 acers, they were from very long branches, my thinking always is 'if I don't try I will never know'.  

My next project is with this Oak sapling, I purchase a sage plant and this was growing in the pot, there is no way I would want an Oak tree in my garden, but I was not going to let it die, so it's tiny, I love Bonsai tree's, I am going to pot this in a shallow dish ( I have a spare one), use the restrictive compost and see what happens. I still have my Acer Bonsai, but it has no leaves, it's not dead, just not growing.

Most of these plants here have cost me nothing or just pence, the green shrub came from a neighbour, the Agapanthus I separated a plant in my garden and moved some here. The Salvia hotlips cost me £1 for 2 plants. Not so cost effective are the eaten French marigolds, I got them cheap from Lidl's, they still have some growth, so I will leave them, they might come back. 

I hate to waste anything which comes into our house, I still use a coffee filter jug, I looked at pods for just a short time but did not like throwing away the pods. Through the summer (hot) months, I save my ground coffee and filters, they dry out quickly, the greenhouse smells wonderful. This gives me a good supply to last through the year. 

The dried filters I use in the bottom of pots, instead of crock, I prefer the filters as they allow water to drain, not so quickly as crock. I do keep broken pots to use with the filters in bigger pots. The coffee I pop on the surface of my garden when I have problems with slugs and snails, they don't like going across the gritty coffee. I don't use huge amounts to upset the balance of my soil, but I do use more around my roses and on acid loving pots. Most days we make 3 pots of coffee, so I do have a good supply, the drawer I store these in smells wonderful each time I open it. 

I swap plants as often as I can, I separated primroses last month and passed on loads of new plants, I have new strawberry plants this year and will keep all the runners for new plants. My daughter purchased some white lavender plants, which I potted up for her, a bit fell off one plant, so l planted it, it would be nice to have a white plant. I have got very brave on splitting plants, something I refused to do for years. Later this year I will dig up my beloved Peony, both daughters want a plant, so I will take roots from the edge, I would be devastated if  I killed this plant, the new plants will be tiny, and will have to be grown in pots for a few years.   

I look at our local selling Facebook pages and have purchased loads second hand, our garden is established and most times I don't want to add brand new items, they always stick out, which is only good if like Kirk I want a statement pot. 

I always purchase good compost, I have had some terrible outcomes with cheap compost, I do get through loads of plants, I garden organic, and bugs, slugs and snails as well as the birds have their feed, I do try and limit the damage, but I can't use chemicals, we do have hedgehogs in the garden, whose numbers are in decline and I can't risk hurting them. 

I think the honest thing to say here, is I spend more on my garden than all my other hobbies, as my stash spend list shows each month, but the joy I get from working outside, and the joy we both get for sitting watching wildlife, looking at the plants is immense. We both love to stop for morning coffee and cake and just sit, often for an hour or more, because that's what a garden is all about, enjoyment. 

Potty gardener

I love my pots, I am always showing them on here, I even did a post about them back in 2018, seen here, I did say I would cut back on the number of pots I have, and promised hubby I would not litter the new decking with pots, Well.............

Decking is clear only 3 pots, 2 along the fence are placed for the lemon smells near our table, and Kirk sits under the other table. Both tables have a flowering plant pot and there is a pot in the corner with yew in, but that's on the ground not on the decking. The chicken pot above is on the shelf along by our neighbours fence, seen here.

So how many pots do I have? 

Hubby will say too many, but I do love growing in pots, there are 2 pots in the front garden but these are hubby's so I'm not adding them into my count. 

• 6 pots along the side of the house, 3 oblong matching planted with flowers, 2 planted with eucalyptus by front door and 1 planted with shrubs by dustbins. 
• 9 pots at house end of garden, 3 on decking, 1 in corner next to house, 2 planted with Olives, 2 planted with flowers on table, and my chicken, which was a watering can. 
• 19 in middle lawn area, 4 pots have fruit bushes in, 5 pots have plants grown from my seeds and pips, 2 have herbs in, 8 planted with flowers.
• 4 chimney pots, 3 are planted with flowers. 
• 22 in back section, 1 planted with Acer, 3 planted with Hosta's, 8 planted with spring bulbs and flowers, 3 planted with mixed plants, 1 succulent tower (3 pots high), 2 planted with saplings, the last 2 big pots are empty, but I would like more fruit in these. 

I am not counting in my greenhouse, almost everything in there is in a clay pot or a pretty kitchen pot, that's a lot of pots, most of them are not too big,  but I do have loads of time on my hands, to care for them. The back section up by my greenhouse is often a holding spot, the spring pots stay here most of the year and are popped closer to the house when they start to grow. 

I do love the bright blue glazed pots and have a few around the garden, most of the outside pots are much bigger, they have their permanent place and add height to my tiny spaces. All my other pots are years old, they are not plastic, I do like natural pots, I do have one hosta in a copper coal bucket, which helps stop the slugs. 

The fruits, Olive's and the pots on the decking are all plastic, all these pots are huge, so I use the lighter plastic, I don't move them often they are all heavy. The large Olive pot has a water system in it's base and also has wheels, we would not be able to move it, in winter we can wrap it and pop in down the side of the garage to keep it out of the wind. 

My pips and seed plants and the smaller Olive will later in the year go back inside my greenhouse, I have planned space for them inside. All flowering pots get 2 planting per year summer and winter, the rest stay in place all through the year. 

I do love my pots, I have a trio of Acer plants due, and guess what no pot to plant them in, oh well better start looking.

Lastly for honesty, I have 16 plants in pots inside the house, some are tiny pots with nasties in the bathroom, up to a big pot with my coffee plants in in the sitting room. 

Getting there

My hanging pot with string of pearls from the greenhouse is inside, I don't want to risk damaging this lovely plant, I will hang it back in the greenhouse, once I have completed all my work. I am hoping some of the green returns to this plant, the sunlight does fade it. 

My poor bonsai acer is still not showing signs of growth, a bloody squirrel dug it out of the pot, last week I changed the compost in hope I can get it to grow, the wood is not dry, so I think it's still alive. 

I spent a wonderful hour going back in time, I often get my blog book out to check a date on something, if it's gardening related it's quicker than trying to look back on my blog. Once I have my answer, as always I get sidelined by all the wonderful photo's full of memories. On average these books cost £60 each, but I love every one of them. 

This is a comment from my last post, which is my online diary, not an english project, Unknown, I can't spell for toffee's, spell check catches most of my mistakes, I am British and will try harder. 

Most of this week has been outside working in my now very hot greenhouse, plenty of drinks, mainly water, hubby helped me on Wednesday, we managed to dig out all the soil and remove the raised bed frame, most of the decking planks used were still good, so they have been cleaned and stored. 

I emptied all the contents, and cleaned inside, I also cleaned my tables and shelves. The vine weed roots were everywhere, we pulled all we can, the back corner of the greenhouse is on earth, so it was coming in there. If it comes back again we will use a good weed killer, hubby used it outside the greenhouse in that corner and the weeds are dying back, the cats and our visiting hedgehog can't get to the area, so it's used carefully. 

I am now waiting for an order from Ikea, for shelving and a folding chair, we do have folding chairs, but I wanted one I can leave down this end, once I have these in place I will have plenty of room to show all my nasties, leaving my potting table empty and clean. I also moved a few things from my shed to the greenhouse, so I now have more space in there, I can't wait until it's been completed, everything is due next week. Plus on Tuesday a licensed guy will come and clear the rubbish, our tip has cars waiting for 3 hours or more, and we still have to pay to dump soil and garden waste.

I have planted my 3 pots by the side of the house, should have loads of colour there, my eucalyptus in the 2 pots by the front door are looking good, I pinched out the top as I want low bushes. I have sorted my long pots, infront of the raspberries, I had the plants, and finally I will plant our side bed, it should all be finished by the weekend.

I am watering most days, my blueberries, raspberries and blackcurrant bushes are full of fruits, we could do with rain, but it's the same most years, we are in a dry area of UK. It's dull this morning and the air feels damp, but not expecting any amounts of rain. unless we get a thunderstorm, there is no rain fore caste for weeks.

We have no plans for the weekend, our Asda order will arrive on Saturday, we have BBQ food coming, so we plan to be outside as much as we can. A few days resting will be good for both of us, I have promised to keep busy so I don't get anymore ideas, which result in loads of hard work. We are both enjoying this wonderful hot weather, lucky to have our garden. 

Waking up

We still have loads of colour in the garden,

 it's a bit dull today so the tulips have not fully opened.

 Top row, left my very old Peony coming back and right a new plant for this year

Bottom left a new daisy plant, and right my lemongrass planted. 

 Fruit with loads of buds and flowers, bottom right my pink blueberries should have some fruit for the 1st year. 

 Trees, Kiwi, Acer, Twisted Willow and Magnolia. 

 My pots at the side of the house are all dead, dried up, they will have to stay until the bedding plants are ready, my eucalyptus are both doing well. 

 In the greenhouse, my Japanese blood grass is starting to grow, with new red leaves. The small olive tree is coming back, we damaged the roots last year. 

Just a photo visit to the garden, I am loving how our natural world just carries on whilst humans are suffering this pandemic. We have loads of birds visiting the garden, not seen anything of our regular hedgehog, still a bit early for them. Spring is marching on, hopefully with warmer weather, everywhere will bloom for us to enjoy.
Family members have coughs and colds, nothing drastic, plus hay fever is starting for both daughters. Will is clear of chickenpox, but baby George is covered in them, at 4 months mummy is keeping his hands covered so no scratching. I so want to go and help support them, but we have to stay away, it's so hard, a video call just increases the desire to drive to their's, don't worry I won't, but I so want too.

Sunny October day

Our neighbours tree was resting on our garage roof, I love this tree, after a chat with our neighbour, who confirmed the tree was not damaged in last Sundays storm, hubby cut back the huge branch .

 As soon as the branch was removed the rest sprung upright, still looking good, I was letting it grow over my shed, now we know the tree can't take the weight on the ends of the branches. It's still full of berries for the birds, we have left the cuttings along our back fence where the birds feed. 

 We finished the top of our magnolia, well hubby did the cutting, I just pointed to the place for the cut, throughout the stormy weather, this tree has taken a bashing, so now it has been thinned out and trimmed and should not have any issues in the winter storms. Once the huge leaves are gone it's not a problem, the bonus from cutting it back, is there will be loads less leaves on the lawn to pick up. 

 My pots by the main entrance at the side of the house has been changed, these eucalyptus plants are evergreen, so these pots should stay looking good, the stones were pricey but I love the colours.

Wednesday we spent in the garden, it was sunny all day, cold first thing, but by lunch time it was warm. I have done all my pots, so loads of autumn colour around the place. It should be the last big tidy around the plot. I dug out the 2 long strawberry pots, replanting a couple strawberries into another pot, I'm not completely ready to give them up yet, I planted flowers in the pots, brings some colour to the back of the garden. I also cut back the raspberry canes, I now ensure I only cut back the long canes which produced fruit this summer, I have two types of raspberries mixed.
My greenhouse is full, but I don't mind, bringing in plants each year for protection helps in keeping them healthy.
Later after a brilliant shower, I knitted on my stripy socks, the stripes make knitting much easier, and therefore quicker to knit.