Igenlode Wordsmith

The second-generation marigolds are frosted, although the calendula seems fine. The winter purslane looks a bit droopy, although it is also trying to flower(!)
The garlic is quite happy, and the pink Linaria is still busy blossoming.
Odometer reading: 607 miles -- 193 miles since the end of October.

I left my front light on low beam for over 24 hours, and it was still on when I got back, albeit showing the low battery warning -- and despite that warning, I was still able to switch it off and then switch it back on again. So leaving the light switched on inside my bag when I'm not on the bicycle is probably a safe solution, albeit a slightly bizarre one!

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My final batch of windowsill spring onion stubs are all dying off after being planted out despite having initially sent up new shoots; it is presumably either too cold or too wet for them to establish outdoors. The two survivors from the original set are fine, albeit slightly nibbled by snails...
The winter purslane is living up to its name and continuing to produce new salad leaves that I can harvest, although I think the sorrel and rocket have slowed down a lot, if not stopped regrowth altogether. The mint has died down to dry sticks, which I need to remember to trim when I get the opportunity, or they will get in the way of picking the new shoots next year :-p
The garlic that I planted is thriving, and the second clove that I put in nearby, which initially had its shoot emerging almost horizontally in response to conditions in the vegetable rack, has now miraculously straightened itself out and is heading for the sky.
And I did eventually get round to rigging up a new washing-line, having had the inspiration of taking *three* turns around the railing before making the half-hitches instead of the standard two, thus making it much easier to keep it taut while completing the knot!

I finally cut down and harvested from this year's chilli plants ( Two hundred ripe chillies )

I have a bulb-shoot in the trough! Almost certainly the garlic, I think, rather than the tulips, but given that when it went in it was bone dry and had been out of the ground for months, and we're currently only in November, that was unexpected speed!

I repotted what was left of the chives, since the surface of the pot was looking waterlogged -- I thnk the drainage holes were entirely blocked by dead roots. There were a lot of what looked like rotted stems, and a few green shoots in the middle, so we'll see how the latter respond to being put into some drier compost. I also potted up four more spring onion stubs from the greengrocer, since only two of the old ones still survive, and put them into a new pot rather than trying to insert them into the existing one.

I have also harvested, or at least cut down, the basil seed spike during a dry day this week, and put it into a fresh brown paper bag labelled 'Basil 2025'; there is still some seed in the bottom of last year's bag and I don't quite like to throw it away.

The first of the towel-tomato plants has now entirely died, so I have been able to clear that pot. The others still have some live foliage on them, although it has mainly been a question of picking the unripe tomatoes for their own safety as the tendrils supporting them wither away. The Roma tomato, oddly enough, still has two vigorous branches with one decent-sized green fruit on each.

After the windowsill-pot flooded during Monday's heavy rain due to having no drainage holes, I finally got round to pricking out the remaining kale seedlings (of which I shall now have far too many, save that the plants are still being devoured by caterpillars).

Annoyingly, I lost my second expensive 'new' cycling glove, after having lost the first one only a month or two after I bought them this time a couple of years ago; those gloves just seemed to be that little bit too bulky to stay safely in my pockets compared to the old ones. So having been wearing one new glove and one of the old ones I am now down to two worn-out gloves, although it's just as well I did keep them...

I went back to look for it, but looking for a single black glove at midnight in the rain with fallen leaves heaped along the gutters and cars parked on the road was a fairly hopeless task, and even though I walked for a mile or so searching from the pavement, then cycled back all the way up the hill to retrace my route from the carriageway side, then cycled back down again, I didn't find anything and wasn't surprised not to do so :-(

After the brief biannual period of wearing my short-sleeved jumpers I am now considering doing the full changeover to winter clothing; I am wearing dressing-gowns (albeit summer ones) in the morning and snuggling down under an eiderdown and two blankets at night, which thinking about retrieving the third one from upstairs! And I really need more vests, even if not quite full thermals as yet.

( Swan River daisy and marigold seed, and pink Linaria )
( Chives and spring onions )

( Poppies )

( Wildflower trough and tomatoes )

( Chillies )

( Basil )

The seedling pink Linaria has come into bloom, and the evening primroses have sent up a biennial scented flower spike thanks to being thinned out last year. The buddleia has also put out a very tatty flower, as I hoped it would when I left it unpruned; I shall now be able to cut it back again :-p

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I got a message saying that I had been randomly given a year's paid Dreamwidth account "through our sponsor-a-free-user program". So far as I can tell this doesn't actually make a great deal of difference from my perspective, as I haven't reached the limit of what is available to me via the free account (though I have been careful not to) http://www.dreamwidth.org/support/faqbrowse?faqid=4 ( Read more... )

I have been trying to harvest the seed from my marigolds,( Read more... )

I have picked the first ripe fruit from my catch-up towel-tomatoes, which should give me an idea as to how long it will take any fruit from the new, healthy spurs on the old plants (which are now in flower) to ripen. Maybe a month at this time of year, if I am lucky?

( A Swan River daisy in the mesembryanthemum pot )

At the moment my 'garden' is dominated by rudbeckias, blue Swan River Daisies (no sign of any more pink ones), the last of the marigolds and some self-sown alyssum opposite the original pot (now going over).

I did eventually get round to splitting up the beetroot. I also split up the pink Linaria, which had become very tangled together, and gave the plants sticks to stop them flopping everywhere.

I hope they do better than the coriander, where two-thirds of the seedlings I pricked out have simply died -- admittedly I did observe at the time that there wasn't much root on them, and it has meant that the remaining seedlings in the original pot have been less crowded.

( Tomatoes )

I pricked out some of my rocket -- which has just about recovered from the caterpillar, though I found another caterpillar this morning on one of my newly-pricked-out pots of kale -- and coriander, which was getting very crowded even though I have been thinning it for culinary use. I have to say there wasn't a lot of root on the seedlings that I did remove...

I saw a ladybird this afternoon, and hope that it might show some interest in the blackfly, but even if it does produce larvae that will be far too little, too late. I strongly suspect the ants of 'farming' the blackfly on purpose :-(

( Rudbeckia and beetroot )
I am currently on strong antibiotics again due to another infected wound, which means adhering to a six-hour pill schedule -- and, as previously, does wonders for the regularity of my eating habits, since the pills have to be taken "on an empty stomach" at least one hour before food or two hours after. Which means, in effect, no eating between meals, and the meals have to take place at fairly evenly-spaced intervals.( The concerning thing is that it takes an outside imperative... )