Six on Saturday – Eating the Garden Elephant

We have so much to do in the garden, I honestly don’t know where to start. I also don’t want to hurt my back while stretching, digging, and lifting. So, as I often said to my team during my working life: How do we eat the elephant? No, not with a large knife and fork, but one piece at a time.

Repotting

On Sunday, we repotted the Crown of Thorns and added more soil. The blackbirds are little devils and love digging up the soil in their search for worms and bugs. I need to find some stones to prevent them from doing this again.

Cleaning the Purple Bromeliad

This Bromeliad grows outside. Unfortunately, due to the continuous rain, the trumpets are collecting and holding too much water, rotting and dying off more than usual. Today (Monday), I removed all the rotting trumpets from all three clumps. This task involved quite a lot of yanking and stretching so no more gardening today.

Cleaning the Cannas

Tuesday’s task (Tuesday) was to clean the Cannas growing in a large pot.

Pruning the Bougainvillaea

STORM KRISTIN arrived last night (Tues) … and kept me awake. As the wind howled and the rain thundered on the vaulted ceiling, I looked outside the window to scan for damage. The bourgainvillea looked like it might break free from its restraints. Worrying, I couldn’t sleep, so the moment Mr P opened his eyes, I was on his case. We need to prune the bougainvillaea back before the wind tears it down.

Off I went to line dancing and thought no more about it. Late afternoon, I suggested we prune it back hard. Mr P made a noncommittal grunt. I huffed. We were expecting another storm tonight. Considered doing it myself and went outside… to discover

A nice surprise! He’d already pruned it. It still needs some work, but it will do for now and not be as unruly as before.

Cuttings etc

*

Lampranthus

Tuesday, I persuaded Mr P that I needed some retail therapy at a garden centre or two. I only managed to choose 3 small Lampranthus before the heavens opened and abandoned the idea.

Thursday, despite the continuous, depressing mizzle, I donned my raincoat, repotted them into larger pots, and transferred them to a terracotta trough. The original plan was to plant them directly into the front rockery, but on seeing the sodden roots, I decided to try and destress the plant, let the roots dry out and make a display using one of the troughs I had ‘wombled’ from our local communal rubbish bins. Even though they are under the terrace, they will still get plenty of winter sun (if it ever shines)

Birds of Paradise (Stelitzia Nicolai)

The flowers are suffering and rotting in the rain. I did manage to rescue one. I also fed the plant some fertilizer granules.

That’s my Six for this Saturday, folks. Now I’m off to do more gardening chores before the sun dissapears behind a cloud. My thanks to Jim for hosting the six on Saturday meme.

How is your garden coping with the wet and windy weather?

Related January gardening post

Six on Saturday: Dodging the Rain and Seizing the Moment in January

Six on Saturday: Succulents Flowering in January

Gardening in January: Agave Attenuata or a Doner Kebab for Bees?