Unwrapping bananas, Dr Who aliens and optimism

Well I am braced for the tropical temperatures that we are forecast for tomorrow....double digits! 16 degrees? 21 degrees? gosh....shorts and vests are at the ready and this time tomorrow I could be asleep in my hammock.

I have continued my optimism by unwrapping all the banana trees, and setting out some of the plants that have been hiding in my sideway such as a large pot of Canna musifolia and Musa sikkimensis....I figured its probably a few weeks early but an experiment as I hope the sun and water will help them erupt. I also have a very short memory...what snow? what hail storms, what ice?

Lots of things to do, so a bit of a pictorial tour

Firstly I am loving this grape Hyacinth, put in last year, pushing up like some type of cloaked 80's Dr Who baddie, I think it is Muscari latifolium.

The big banana unwrap was particularly exciting to see what was still there...also unwrapped was this Echium...I figure that I have 4? that are properly ok to flower, and have given them a good dose of fertiliser to help them on their way. Here you can see the banana before.... the plastic on the top was to try and keep it a little dry.....

Half unwrapped you can see how I started by making a bit of a wig wham of sticks and general dry garden debris, this was to protect the stem and keep moisture away from it. I then put bags of autumn leaves around the edge to try and keep the cold away. All was then wrapped in fleece

 

Well it worked! and all look alive, even the small ones. hurrah!

  

Ok it looks like a tall dead stick, but the stem is firm and the top shoot greenish

 

There was lots of fleece to dry off

 

 

Next up were the Ensetes which have been drying out in my metre cupboard since November? I was a little apprehensive as a lot were small (Late summer sales get me every time, I think I got 6?!) however all apart from 1 small one appear to have survived as the stems were still firm (the dead one was squishy and the leaves fell away)

 

There are the small ones before I cleaned them up, they are about 40cm?

all done! following on line advice I put them into the smallest pots they would fit into, only just pushed into to the soil (rather than buried) so fingers crossed this warmth brings them out. Please note my semi tidy greenhouse!

 

My first seedlings have also emerged, a few Tithonia are just coming through

 

 

 

So other things.....this year is the first I am letting Celandine grow. I usually think of this as completely evil as it takes over and is very invasive, however I read that the bees can like it as a an early flower, so this year it stays and those bees better be happy!

 

 

I think the paeony wins the prize for best spring emergent growth

 

I also have a surprise colony of violets which have just appeared under the Tetrapanax, nature is fabulous!

 

These are still evil, nature is not all fabulousness!....Sycamore seedlings. The curse of the garden, I had thought we got them all but some escaped!

The bees are also really active, although terribly camera shy as when I am coming to take their picture they don't stay still and there is also only a fraction of those that were previously there! It is great to see some with pollen on them (bright yellow blobs on their legs on the bottom). This is a good sign as it shows that there are young bees, and the queen is alive and laying. phew.

 

Finally the current challenge....the big problem with the garden is how overlooked it is, and how on display you are to the other flats.... it is difficult as there are limited secret corners, however we will try and make it more appealing to other residents. I feel a trip to Columbia Road for some more bamboos coming up.

 

Joyous Spring

Well it is supposed to be spring, the days are officially longer than the nights and all the daffs are trying to push through, however it is cold and snowy. I managed about an hour of gardening on Friday, which was 59 minutes more than I thought I would do. I have been out in the garden however this only lasted as long as my mug of tea and most of that was in the summerhouse under blankets.

So  a weekend of staying inside, trying to become a painter, planning and singing David Bowie songs (I had a lot of self restraint not to go to the exhibition at the V&A today, but to wait to go with Steven) however Ziggy plays guitar...

TV wise it was funny to see Victoria's garden on Gardeners World, although I didn't think it looked as good on TV as it does in the flesh as last year it was fabulous.

NGS wise things are also beginning to happen again as Janine did her paraphernalia run and we got our carrier bag of NGS London booklets. I have been reading it cover to cover in bed marking off the gardens I want to go to and trying to see if there are other exotic gems to be had. Sofar those getting an asterisk include a newly opening garden in Herne Hill, the group opening in Kew, a few in Hanby/Fournier Street and perhaps one next to Fulham Palace. It will be good to get visiting again as I have been missing the NGS cake.....

Well its spring....I have to have photos of daffodils.

The snow hasn't been as bad here as elsewhere in the UK, we got a light dusting that when blown in the wind made the lawn look like waves

 

I have been a good gardener and been out protecting the remaining Echiums which haven't lost their growing point. I *hope* they are ok

Below is the part of the garden occupying most of my thoughts as the ground is terrible and it is dry but exposed and I need to screen the houses...

 

I still have 2 compost bags full of Jerusalem artichokes to eat.....you get so many off each plant!

 

Rows of plants still waiting to find a home.....it is so easy to buy off the Internet, but so hard to actually find a space for them

 Beasts keep watch waiting for summer......

March: plans, new life and oldies

Today it is snowing which isn't quite the March I have been experiencing so far where the daffodils are just out and things are coming into life. I have now had a few weekends of gardening and it is great to be outdoors again moving plants around and thinking about the future. I have also been dividing up plants like a proper gardener with 2 forks back to back levering them apart (usually I just aim a spade through the middle with brute force and hope for the best!)

The big news has been that I have decided to open the garden on May 19th as part of the Dulwich Helpline/Southwark Churches Care garden safari....yes this may be a little crazy as the garden is very much a late summer garden and its not at its best in May. However I like the idea of a safari (perhaps I will wear my pith helmet) and the nice chair lady was good at sweet talking me and how could there be a garden safari on my road without my garden? Quite how it will look I have no idea as I think it all depends on if the Forget-me-nots are out as if they are it will be a beautiful sea of blue as I let them self seed everywhere. If not it will look rather empty.....however I can wax lyrical about carnivorous plants and there will be some special things tucked away. Who knows with this weather?! last year the 19th May was a sea of blue, the year before dry and desolate...

Anyway I thought it was time for a bit of a tour of the garden

This is a new archway leading into a bit of a hidden seating area which I found being chucked out on the road last year....I was dead butch and put it together properly with screws and everything....I attempted to move the Paulownia next to it but it was too much trouble (well it is 4yrs old and about 12ft tall)

 The pond with the wrapped banana, in summer you cant see the walls for foliage

 Tetrapanax just beginning to grow again. hurrah!

View of the main lawn with 4 Echiums which have (so far) survived winter. If they could then flower on May 19th I would be much obliged

 This is my side way with my new special Schefflera...Cannas and bananas are still in leaf!

 Ganesha welcoming people to the new lands, all a bit sparse with foliage but I have a feeling that the bamboos behind him will be humongous soon

 

Another new project, an archway made of a couple of big fence posts and a dug up iron structural thingy

 Look and be amazed at how clear and neat my veg patch looks, it could be from a textbook!

 Jerusalem artichokes are the bane of my life at the mo....last year they were fabulous as I used them all over the place as from 3-5 tubers they grew to be about 8ft tall and were fantastic screening, however now I want to plant other things I need to dig them all out as and boy have they multiplied and got everywhere. I also cant eat them quick enough (we have had 2 soups, and roasted them which was yummy)

 Rhubarb is growing big time...I recently saw that their name is derived from 'Root of the barbarian'

 My miserable purple sprouting broccoli....mauled by the pigeons and I was too lazy to net it in time. I hope I can get some

Flowers of Petasites japonica.....really weird things which are a bit otherworldly, however the bees seem to like them

 

This is a Rheum palmatum.....it looks a bit evil with its thick roots and bright red new growth like little cherries about to shoot

 

This is my grand tented Echium banana protection tent....

 New growth of peony

 Ive been busy moving bamboos....the Pseudosasa is all by the fence as I am seeing what an invasive plant it could be as in a year has put out loads of roots. This way it should screen off the road nicely.....Ive also flexed my muscles sawing up a dustbin of bamboo from Phil and Nic, hard work!

 Not all the Echiums have survived, but I think I must have about 8?

 Object trouve

 ....and finally Podophyllum just coming through. Last year this one got zapped by frost and died so I am so pleased to see if has come back. hurrah!