I grow carrots, onions, leeks, white beetroot, turnips, raspberries, blackcurrants, Morello cherries, Medlars, sweet quinces, tomatoes, and chillis. Unfortunately the chillis were not even the species claimed on the packet, had no taste and no flavour. Some tomatoes grew wild, from tomatoes discarded on soil, and they’ve grown into huge plants with very tasty fruits, far better than bought ones. Carrots, onions and leeks are easy to grow. Unfortunately blackbirds kept getting under the netting and digging up the leek seedlings, so I had to buy in leek seedlings from a garden centre, and plant those. When I removed the netting yesterday, I found the skeletons of two young birds. I checked each day to let out any trapped birds, but these were hidden from view. The juveniles get in even when the netting is held down with pegs and stones.
England is dark and damp in winter, but our climate is not so bad, and near perfect for 8 months of the year. But crops such as squash and chillis are hit and miss as they need lots of warmth and sun.
I had a pair of red legged partridges visit regularly, then 11 chicks appeared, but soon disappeared. We reckon a fox ate them all.
Growing catnip in a pot. Got that catnip “oregano” that comes in a plastic jar, apparently some viable seeds inside got wind-blown into the front dirt garden and even cracks in the sidewalk, started sprouting. Plucked a few of them, roots and all, and grew them in a small flowerpot, and most of them “took”.
Of course, Joel The Cat got a whiff of them on the windowsill, and head-bumped the living crap out of the biggest sprout, so now the bruised stem is bent and it’s hanging down.
Might snip it and try to get it to sprout roots, and let the stump hopefully grow back. Will see…
I do have a few interesting plants that I tend to. The Venus flytraps are in hibernation now(not the one below). They hibernate during the winter. When hibernating they look black and shrivel but there're alive in the soil. The others I keep for insect control during the summer. The Figs I eat. The chilli I eat.
Oh nice you have some too. Those sundews are like weeds. They'll spread their seeds and grow everywhere. And they are quite hardy too. Hey thanks for the compliment but they do need requirements. The big one is Light! You need red and blue and the right ones too. I needed to build a grow light so I ordered a few parts and made my own. As one can see from the photos below, not professional by any means but I just did it on the fly. The silver hood is from those 600v metal halides lights. The rest is parts I ordered online.
Nice nice good taste for sundews! And you live in desert region! Wow you won’t need a grow light. Man I always wanted to live in the desert. Tan all year, summer all year! You’re lucky you don’t have to clear snow from driveway. Good stuff
Wellp, been learning about catnip lately. Once it runs out of water, it drops dead and shrivels up fast. Not really dead-dead, because drenching the soil lets it perk up almost overnight.
Inside but under a table-lamp, it seemed to be turning a bit “pale”, figured it needed some more light, so I put it in the front window. Cold, but bright. Yeah, got its color back. Just hope it tolerates the cold, too.