Sick Orchid Update - Has Nature's Gift worked?

It's Crunch Time!

I've had a request for an update video of my very poorly Phalaenopsis orchid.

Orchid update - click the video at the bottom of this post

The story so far...

It was starting to struggle to stay hydrated, and only managed one flower this year, so I decided to repot. The roots were officially awful, rotten, mouldy and I ended up removing most of them, cleaning what was left with Isopropyl Alcohol and repotting in a clean pot with fresh medium watch that video here

Then I had a message from E-Coco Products UK, who had seen the vidoe and felt they had a product that might help cure the root rot. So I filmed another video which you can see here,

Three and a half months later, it's time to see if there is any hope for this orchid, are there any roots left in that soil?
Come and find out with me, keep your fingers crossed!

Enjoy
Rebecca xx

Back to Basics - Sowing Seeds for Square Foot Gardening - Leeks

Sowing Seeds for the Square Foot Garden - Leeks

Hi everyone,

We'd be crazy to think that Winter is over and Spring is on the way, this week in the UK we're expecting sleet, snow and temperatures barely above freezing. However it is possible to get some seeds sown right now, lets get going with some leeks for the Square Foot Garden.

In this video we're sowing Sutton Seeds Leek Lyon Prizetaker. One packet contains on average 300 seeds for just £1.55 (that's less than 1 penny per leek!), as opposed to approximately £2.50 for 1 kilo of loose leeks from the supermarket, and money can't buy the fun involved in growing your own fruit and vegetables.

So here we go, the first in a back-to basics guide to grow your own.

Enjoy!
Love
Rebecca xx

My Moth Orchid (Phalaenopsis) collection 2019 update

My Orchids are looking beautiful - come and see

Hi everyone,
This week's video is an update of my lovely Phalaenopsis orchid collection. 9 out of 11 are flowering right now, but one of them is not doing so well, so I give it an emergency repotting after discovering mould on the root system!

Come and see how I get on,
Love
Rebecca xx

Fairy Garden Makeover for George the Dragon

This week's YouTube video is a timely makeover for George the Dragon's Miniture Garden. It was looking a bit sunken and a bit shaggy. Watch how I divide the plants and rejuvenate the garden.
Enjoy
Rebecca xx

My YouTube Anniversary and Making a Tuscan Fairy Garden from a broken terracotta pot

This week's video marks my 1 Year Anniversary as a YouTuber, and features a fun Tuscan feel Fairy Garden made from broken and repurposed things.
Enjoy
Rebecca xx

Bonsai - Let's begin with my trees - #1 Picea albies

"If you want to practice Bonsai, you need a lot of trees"

I can't remember which of my Bonsai guru's imparted that gem of knowledge, but it's certainly true. Once you've done a piece of work on a tree, you must let it recover, if you have only one tree, then that's a long wait until the next job can be done. You can't build skills and confidence like that.

In the few short months since I decided to reconnect with Bonsai I've amassed a small collection of trees and shrubs, spanning deciduous, evergreen, flowering, fruiting, hardy, tender, tropical. Hopefully that will give me a range of jobs I can do throughout the year. Here's what I have (so far!) ...

I had a Japanese Maple too...but I killed it #sadface

So you can see (maybe, if you zoom in!) that I have 18 trees right now, and knowing how 'invested' I get in hobbies, I expect that number to grow.

"You have to kill a lot of trees to make a few decent ones"

I can't remember who said this either, but I know I've killed quite a few trees in my time, mainly through a lack of learning during my teens.

Let me start to introduce you formally to my trees...

Picea abies (Norway Spruce)

I bought this for about £5.00 in early January, it was left over after Christmas.

A leftover Christmas Tree - Picea abies (Norway Spruce)

My first important job was to get this little tree out of it's bucket. It was planted straight in it, and there were no drainage holes. I was certain that the roots would be poorly formed, as a) the mass production of these trees means that time is money, and b) the non draining pot could have caused the roots to avoid filling any the sodden areas.

Left - Before root pruning      and Right - After!

I was right! The roots were a disaster. The tree had clearly been pushed down into the compost, causing the roots to be forced upwards, and to wrap around the neck of the trunk. Roots had then formed at the top of the trunk, immediately below the branches (left hand photo). 

I decided there were no kind ways of working on this root system, so clipped off the high up roots, all the upwards growing roots, the tightly wrapped ones and the overly thick ones (right hand photo). That operation also removed most of the fine roots too.

There were a large number of branches growing from the same points on the trunk, so I thinned them out, but left the remaining branches unpruned, so the tree had some foliage to aid recovery and healing.

Post-pruning and repotted.

Now this isn't a styling - this is damage limitation. Too many branches coming from one trunk location, moving resources to and from the foliage can cause the collars (where the branches meet the trunk) to swell together, and overly thicken the junction. When this area gets to the point where it is wider than the rest of the trunk (nb it can happen on branches too), it is referred to as inverse taper and becomes a fault that is hard/impossible to recover from.

After this initial work, I'll leave this tree well alone and see how it responds. You can see in the final photo (above), repotted it in approx. 75% Akadama (granular clay-like material used widely for bonsai), I've indicated a potential front for the tree (white pointy piece of plastic), and I've had to stabilise the tree with crocks on the soil surface, otherwise it was just falling over - not surprising really, now it has so few roots.

I've got the tree in an unheated greenhouse to protect it from cold, frost, snow and wind, and when I start to see signs of growth, I'll begin feeding this little Spruce with omakase japanese bonsai feed pellets.

Right! 1 down, 17 more trees to go!
See you soon
PB xx

Gardening Tools - Surprising Objects of Desire

Objects of Desire

When I was at Art College (centuries ago), I read a book entitled 'Objects of Desire - Design and Society since 1750' by Adrian Forty. I'd be lying if I said I remember it word for word, and could quote from it at the drop of a hat, but I do remember it changing how I felt about 'things'.

There is no getting away from the fact that as consumers we live in a 'throwaway society'. Businesses, economies, even world powers NEED us to consume, dispose and buy again. Stasis is no good, they need us to make them grow. Material and production costs are forced down as low as possible, advertisers tell us our lives will be revolutionised by this new 'thing', or we'll obsolete ourselves if we don't have it in our lives! As demand grows the end price drops, increasing demand again. Quality and longevity are expendable, and so we become surrounded by 'stuff'', consumables that we use briefly but can't bring ourselves to throw or give away, until our homes, minds, oceans and landfills reach a kind of critical mass, and something has to give!

Looking down on these landfill corpses are the design classics, the beautifully engineered pieces, built from exquisite quality materials, designed and manufactured to last, and give us as much joy from the day we first see them, to the day we die - because trust me, you're never going to throw these hardworking beauties away. Think of the Dualit toaster in all its chrome gorgeousness, heavy, solid, dependable. Built to make toast, and my goodness it does it well, with a reassuring tick, tick, tick as the knob rotates back to zero. Mine was a birthday present 20 years ago and it's as perfect as the day we got it., the chrome has aged a little, but that adds to it's looks and doesn't stop it working. Yes, it was a considered purchase in 1997, but spread over time it's cost less than 2p per day!

Now back to gardening...

Gardening Tools - Objects of Desire

I attended the Wealden Times Midwinter Fair in November 2016, held at the Hop Farm, Paddock Wood, Kent (UK). My friend Alisa and I had been scouring the stalls for Christmas gifts for our loved ones. Shortly after lunch, Alisa began chatting to a stall holder, and my eyes wandered round the hoards of people and brightly coloured goods for sale...

Then my breath caught in my throat...

I began walking trance-like through the throng...

And before I knew it, I was touching the most beautiful hand trowel I'd ever seen...

The Mira Trowel from Modern Mint

The stall was Modern Mint, and this was the Mira Trowel at £33.00

Modern Mint

The company was started as a resource for gardeners who wanted to work with beautiful things, built to last, and that would really connect them with their gardens.

They have sourced tools made from bronze (copper alloyed with tin), which look far too precious to actually use, but the guy on the stall said they are tougher and sharper than most tools, and deserve to be used for the purpose which they were made. Just like the Dualit toaster, their full beauty can only be realised when you actually use them.

I explained that my sub-soil was a delightful mixture of clay, flint and chalk which has defeated hand tools and full size tools alike (I have four forks all with bent tines!), and that I would hate to ruin such a thing of beauty.

The guy said that was definitely challenging, but was confident that the worst thing that could happen would be a bit of patina on the bronze.

Who was I kidding, this gorgeous Object of Desire was going to be mine! Whip out the cash already!!

The photo shows the Mira trowel in mint condition (no pun intended). I've used it all year, from the lovely light soil of the square foot garden beds, to the evil 'concrete' soil in the woodland garden, and just as the man said, the only sign of use is a little surface patina, it's as straight and sharp as the day I bought it.

Do you have a favourite garden tool? Maybe it's one you felt an instant connection to, the way I did with the Mira, or one passed down to you from a family member. I'd love to hear your story.
Love
PB xx

Moving Rhubarb

From Allotment to Garden

Allotment Sit. Rep.

So, if you've been following me here or on any of my social media, you'll know that I have finally given up my allotment.

It was a 1/4 plot about ten minutes walk from our house, and I know some people would kill for that convenience, but there were so many issues with the plot, it's location, access and the surrounding plots, that trying to reclaim it every time I visited was increasingly backbreaking and heartbreaking.

Besides rescuing tools, storage boxes and watering cans there wasn't much to bring home from the plot. The only thing I had in the ground was some Stockbridge Arrow Rhubarb plants, which I had carefully lifted, divided and replanted in a new bed (well, new to the rhubarb) last year. They did really well in their new location, and we managed to get a really decent crop from them earlier this year, but trouble was brewing...

Rhubarb Stockbridge Arrow freshly picked

Our neighbour's raspberries, planted along our shared fence line, were sending up vigorous canes on our side. Initially I tolerated them, scoffing the odd fruit on my side, but as our plot visits became more infrequent, so the raspberries began to take over. First they engulfed the grass path, our main route up and down the plot. Digging is impossible in dry months as the soil is clay, flint, chalk, the raspberries didn't let that stop them, but all we could do was chop back the top growth. I considered napalm for a moment, but...p'raps not!

Then the odd shoot started appearing in the first raised bed where the rhubarb was now setting up home. These canes were easier to pull/dig up as the cultivated soil was a looser structure than the uncultivated paths, but by the time we visited in early May the runners had spread to further beds and more paths. You could barely see the huge rhubarb leaves amongst it all.

Lifting

Mr PB and I worked together using a border fork and spade to dig round each plant, keeping as much of the rootball as possible. I did a quick clean up of the roots, removing any obvious weeds and raspberry runners that had wormed their way in, and then removed any damaged leaves and stalks. Some crowns were too badly compromised, so we came away with five and left the others. We popped them all in the car and drove straight home.

It was a hot day, and I had absolutely no idea where I was going to put them in the garden, so I filled a huge container with water and popped all the plants in, with the intention of making a decision within a day or two.

Fast forward about a month...

On a shopping spree at Wilkinsons, I found these great planting bags, £2.00 for one tall and one short bag with handles, made from tarpaulin type material with neatly eyeleted drainage holes. They looked perfect as a temporary/semi-permanent home for my rhubarb so I bought three packs of 2...oh and a pack of Seed and Weed gloves, 3 pairs for £1.50...and a load of other things!

These Wilkinsons Vegetable Grow Bags would be perfect for my rhubarb - cute gloves too!

Transplanting

It took a bit of planning to do the actual transplanting of the crowns. First I needed to unbag and harvest my Red Duke of York Potatoes, so that I could reuse the compost. Then I needed to empty the tumble composter which was full of well rotted chicken manure. I put a layer of each into the bottom of the bags, making sure the compost went right out to the edges so there would be no air pockets.

Wilkinsons Vgetable Grow Bags ready for planting

Then I drained the disgustingly smelly water out of the rhubarbs' container and picked over each crown for weeds/raspberry runners again.

Stockbridge Arrow Rhubarb crowns after soaking

A month in water had not done the tuberous roots any good at all, some had gone horribly mushy, and the smallest plant wasn't worth keeping.

I cut away as much rotten material as possible, put one crown per planting bag, and continued filling with a mixture of the two composts, leaving a gap of about 5cm before the rim of the bags, to allow room for watering.

Stockbridge Arrow Rhubarb planted in the Wilkinsons Grow Bags

Hopefully the rot hasn't destroyed the roots completely, only time will tell.
Love PB xx