Gardens, plants etc 2020

I enjoyed the story 

Hi Millie 

Yes, pineapples can be grown by planting the top of a pineapple. Something with similar foliage is a cordyline palm which is grown widely in the U K. I have 5 or 6 in my garden. One special one came literally by accident. My son's friend came to our house one night. After he was here for about 10 minutes we heard a loud bang. His car had rolled down my steep driveway and hit one of the cordyline palms either side of the posts. It had a twin trunk, which my wife liked but I would rather have one thick trunk. Well, the car had taken out one trunk completely. Oh dear I thought lol. 

So we dragged the trunk to the gate of the field opposite and left it lying prostrate a few yards in to rot away and become home for a couple of thousand little critters. About 3 years later I noticed a couple of what looked like cordyline palm leaves growing mid way along the trunk! It appeared to have put down roots and as the months went by it became clear that I had a new baby tree. I have never named a tree before but I named this one and I'm sure you can guess its name. Phoenix of course. 

You've mentioned that George cut the first pineapple and you put it down to his dementia? I think George had a smile on his face because he knew exactly what he was doing, the rascal! 

In the UK from the mid 1700s it became a demonstration of a person's wealth that property owners, and I think the great knowledge and cultivation technique of their gardeners, used to grow pineapples. A popular method in the greenhouse was to have a raised bed with a great amount of cow or horse manure inside. As gardeners know, as compost or manure rots down, heat is a byproduct and the gardener of the great house would have piled an amount of topsoil on top which would have warmed up and kept the roots of the pineapple warm as it grew and produced pineapples. They used the same technique to grow bananas also. 

You had to wait 2 years? I'd be happy to wait for double that if I had a pineapple at the end

Take care and keep safe Millie and pray for favourable scan results.

Tvman xx

Hi Annette anndanv

Northern Ireland has its own system also. Just today it was announced that there are some measures that will begin but not before a certain time. The shielding will continue until 28th May and a review will be announced then. So no real change.

Tvman xx

Dear all,

Sorry for the autocorrects;  Here are the  corrections:  grocery orders had many substitutions so hence the new creations of meals. In fact my daughter's in-laws order 9 rolls of toilet paper and got 9 rolls of paper towels instead.

I got out of Kauai 3 days before all air travel to the island was stopped  when I arrived in California, my return ticket was cancelled by the airline. Kauai is still on look-down; the first flight I could book back was mid June.

After George passed, my garden suffered -primarily due to my side effects from treatment I did not have the energy to get out of bed.

Here in California, Patients are now able to schedule SARS-COV-2 testing, my test is set for tomorrow. Still waiting for an antibody test. appointment.  Newspapers report that Elon Musk has re-opened the Tesla factory against the rules, results should prove interesting.

Warmest Regards,

Millie

Hi Millie ,

it is fun sometimes trying to work out what the autocorrect has changed, sometimes it fits strangely but well.

Are substitutions the supermarket equivalent of autocorrect?  These are sometimes not such a good fit.

I'm pleased to hear that you got moved closer to your medical team just in time before the flights were stopped and hope that your container gardening goes well.  The biggest problem my mum had with her containers was watering them.  I know you can get irrigation systems to carry the water but she preferred to use my dad.  I think she cut back a bit on how many pots she had after he died (cancer, not worked to death) and she realised how much work it was.

I'm afraid I don't have a very high opinion of Elon Musk.  He seems to be another of those people who believes his own press release.  My knowledge of him is quite limited but includes his abuse towards an Englishman living in Thailand following the cave rescue, his launching sky train which pollutes the view of the stars with increasing frequency, his most recently giving his son a name which should leave him estranged from his son within about 12 or 13 years and my own personal favourite, his smashing "unbreakable" windows on a high security car he had developed.  This was followed by a Trumpesque explanation for why they had failed and the best laugh I had had for some time.  I heard that he was threatening to relocate if he wasn't allowed to reopen his factory.  We have a couple of businessmen similar in the UK although not as rich or high profile.

As the bumper sticker says "Keep on keepin on".

All the best,

Gragon x

Dear Gragon,

You made me laugh, Yes absolutely, substitutions for groceries does work like autocorrect but with more significant consequences like paper towels do not flush well.  

I had one order that was totally wrong, not one thing the same as ordered.  I called Instacart and asked them to come by and give it to the proper person, they said keep it, so I took what I could use gave it to my daughter who took some of the contents and then passed it on so nothing was wasted.  I had to reorder and it took 10 days.

As to Elon Musk, he is a character that needs be more mindful of himself and others. However, I admire his intellect- he is both CEO and Chief Technical Officer of SpaceX.  He was able to get the Dragon Crew Module to dock with ISS while Boeing could not get their's halfway to Station. I had not heard about the name of his son- pity.  As to Trump, his demeanor has changed since it was found that several White House staff had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.  The oncologists here are starting to treat cancer patients this week, so things are getting better slowly.

I am looking forward to having more freedom from Covid quarantine-  here, we did not get letters of warning, only mandates that those over 65 should not leave the house....once freed, first thing -I will go looking for irrigation systems for my pots. I'll be sending photos of my Giant sunflowers and  sweet peas next week as they are rapidly growing.  Thank goodness for gardening!

Hugs to all,

Millie

Oh ,

Your orange poppies are beautiful, also one of my favorites especially because they are orange, but I cannot get them to grow here in my neck of the woods.  Thanks for sharing.

Their short life reminds me of my lilacs- they are only around for a few weeks, but they are glorious while they are here.

It is raining here today with 15mph winds are buffeting the roses, so  last vase of roses is on the table for a while.

So I am looking forward for some sweet pea blooms... Radishes are beginning to grow.  Food is on the horizon! 

Hugs,

Millie

Hi! 
I know orange is your favourite, Millie , and I’m so glad you enoyed the poppy photo. I now have a whole patch flowering and more to come. 

Here are two more photos of plants I am enjoying right now. An acer, glorious in afternoon sunshine and my golden hop. It will soon clothe the trellis entirely with a lime green coat. Later in the summer, bright red crocosmia will be flowering in front. 

Ah spring. Such joy. 

Hi all

These frosts at night are a pain (Millie , you won't know what a frost is!) as I can't get plants outside that could be affected. I have a few broad beans plantlets as well as young pea plants that I'm hardening off, maybe another 2 or 3 days should do them. I'm putting photos below, broad beans first and then peas. There seems to be a problem with the second photo, it's not opening up. I'll send another post if it doesn't. You can see my raspberries in the background of the broad beans, just before the hedge and the beautiful blue sky. Cloudless, that's why the forecast is for -2°C tonight. Woolies in bed tonight 

Tvman xx

Hi friends again

The photo came out! Right I'm going to chance my luck again with 2 photos, first the raspberry canes and then my potato plants covered in fleece. Enjoy.

Tvman xx

PS, my lucky little sheep is in the potato photo, bought to me by my daughter.