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Post by balc2 on Oct 3, 2024 18:49:35 GMT
Between the rainy days & other tasks I haven't been out much on the balcony for the last week. When we had the day with the amber warning for rain, last Friday I think, I moved all the pots I could off the balcony railings, as well as the pots on the balcony floor up against the railings, & put them further inside the balcony so they wouldn't get "drowned" in the deluge forecast. Just as well I did because we did have a LOT of heavy rain for many hours! I forgot about the hanging baskets!  But they seem to have suffered no ill effects from such an enormous amount of rain.
Two days later I moved everything back to its, more or less, original position. But I put the pots of Petunias, I had cut hard back a few weeks ago & which were beginning to flower again, back into the rings on top of the railings. I had put the pots of Primulas in the rings while the Petunias were recovering. No flowers on the Primulas but there may be some buds low down in the centre of the crowns.
While I was out watering the tomatoes, & removing a few more leaves & picking ripening fruit, I played my favourite game - "musical plants"! Like in the game of Musical chairs, it consists of moving plants around to get a better position for them. It's something I do constantly! 
Today I've only taken a few pictures & given the tomatoes some more water. I also had to sweep the balcony of the leaves & flowers & compost, as well as the pigeon poo, that had begun to accumulate during the few days I've only been outside for a few minutes.
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Post by SueA on Oct 3, 2024 21:28:00 GMT
Emptied out & replanted 2 hanging baskets at the front door with bulbs & flowers, will do some more tomorrow if the weather's OK.
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Post by grindle on Oct 4, 2024 2:52:49 GMT
had a shuffle round, moved the small table from the patio up to the gazebo for the winter, covered the chairs that were left. Used some roundup on deep rooted dandelions in the gaps between slabs as it was impossible to weed them out, I've never used it before because of Dylan, but now I have no pets it will make life easier keeping that clear of weeds. Cut back some of the perennials, raked up the leaves from Sunday's storm and cut the grass gave it an autumn feed before the rain arrives tomorrow which should water it in. Made the decision to have a birch tree cut down, it's got very tall and spindly, seeing how it was in the storm and looking towards the amount of storms we seem to get over winter I don't think it will be up to it so gave my tree man a ring and he is coming next week to have a look
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Post by geumgrower on Oct 4, 2024 10:20:37 GMT
Potted up some rooted Salvia Pink Blush and Blue Note. Riddled another two big boxes of leaf mould ready for spring seed sowing. Removed the bark from some of the Araucaria logs. Boss mowed the grass, so I added leaves to it to help it decompose. Collected some Roscoea seeds, the seed pods seem to get eaten before the seeds are properly ripe which is very annoying.
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Post by balc2 on Oct 4, 2024 18:44:22 GMT
geumgrower, have you attempted to divide them to get more plants? It seems the seeds can take up to a year to germinate!
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Post by SueA on Oct 4, 2024 18:50:41 GMT
Bought some new hanging basket chains as the ones on the baskets I filled yesterday were rusty & one link snapped. Emptied out & replanted 2 more with bulbs & plants.
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Post by balc2 on Oct 4, 2024 18:53:55 GMT
I only did a little watering of the Cyclamen I bought a couple of weeks ago as well as the only plants I have of Bacopa & Busy Lizzie. They are both doing well & continue to flower. I also watered the Fuchsias & Geraniums though at the end of the month I shall put them in the mini-greenhouse I will put up at the end of the month as well. Nothing to deadhead any longer, though I do have to remove the fuchsia flowers that fall on the balcony floor. As the balcony is gradually shutting down for the winter I find there is less to do on it. That is until the last week of the month when I will start making preparations for overwintering the plants that will stay outside, most in the mini-greenhouse. Some of the bigger plants in bigger pots will be put underneath the big round table I put up & take down twice a year. As the table is in the most sheltered corner of the balcony that's where my plants are overwintered.
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Post by geumgrower on Oct 4, 2024 19:43:43 GMT
Roscoea seeds usually germinate for me in Spring after an Autumn sowing. Most of the ones in this garden I have grown from seed. They are rather expensive to buy. Never had much success splitting the plants as the roots are very deep in the ground and hard to get out undamaged.
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Post by grindle on Oct 5, 2024 4:00:34 GMT
more clearing up and bulb planting
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Post by Eli on Oct 5, 2024 19:05:45 GMT
The man who fixed my decking lives just around the corner, literally, about 500 yards away.
While he was doing the decking he said he had some bamboo in his garden and he was going to dig it up because it was taking over ... and he asked me if I would like some.
Of course I said "Yes please", and knowing how they spread I thought I would put it in a pot.
Well this afternoon, while I was in the garden, I heard him calling me from the side entrance, and he and his wife had brought me 'some' bamboo ! - Actually loads of it ! They were both carrying huge clumps of it !
I had a shock but thanked them and they went away.
Then I thought "What on earth am I going to do with all that !"
So I found two big pots and planted some in each, and the rest went into my garden waste bin.
There's more in the bin than in the pots !
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Post by balc2 on Oct 5, 2024 19:57:30 GMT
I don't think I've put a foot on the balcony today!  |
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Post by grindle on Oct 6, 2024 2:45:47 GMT
it looks good there Eli  I spent most of the day helping at a plant sale for BA in Bloom to raise money for next years plants |
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Post by geumgrower on Oct 6, 2024 14:43:53 GMT
Did a bit more bark stripping from the Araucaria stumps. There are still 2 to deal with. Underneath the one I did was a multitude of baby slugs. They were flamegunned!
Neighbour brought two big buckets of plants stems to be shredded. There was bind weed in it,so I had to carefully remove that before proceeding. Shredded and composted now. He has a lot more to go yet, as will we have when I start clearing the garden. Our borders are not dying down enough yet.
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Post by SueA on Oct 6, 2024 15:53:06 GMT
Bought a few more plants to put in hanging baskets yesterday from a nursery & a garden centre we called at - from their reduced to clear sections for £1- £2, violas, grasses, Hebes, thyme & sedums, plenty of life left in them yet! 😊 Haven't had chance to plant them up yet though as the weather has been too damp today.
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Post by balc2 on Oct 6, 2024 20:32:21 GMT
I don't think I've put a foot on the balcony today! Ditto for today as well.
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But they seem to have suffered no ill effects from such an enormous amount of rain.
