The New Adventure!!!

At the end of April I put an order in at Thompson & Morgan .

This is what I ordered!

1. Oca - New Zealand Yams
2. Fuchsia 9 jumbo plugs - 3 of each variety

On the 4th of May, my postman handed me a parcel bearing the Thompson and Morgan logo on.  After talking to him for a little while and wishing him a lovely day!  I took my white parcel into the living room.

I was so exitced it felt like it was Christmas. I opened up my little parcel to find inside the New Zealand Yam's Oca had arrived. My Fuchsia's to arrived a week later, they are now all planted up in the garden.

Picture's below of the Oca.

 I first heard of the New Zealand yam (Oca) on  The Alan Titchmarsh Show.

After Alan had done his gardening tips of the day.  Alan then went on to talk about the edible garden show, and to talk to one of the stars of the show Botanist James Wong. 

James was on to give a bit of a taste of what to expect from the show. With some new and cool things to grow. Some think a little different to what we all normally grow in the UK.

Did you know: There are about 15-20 things we grow on a regularly basics. But there are 6000 thing's we can grow out door's in the UK.  A most you would think are tropical, exotic and you had no idea you could grow in the UK.  (Source: J.Wong)

The six plant's James talked about was.

1. Kiwi - Cocktail (Actinidia Issai)
2. Oca - New Zealand Yams
3. Shark Fin Melon
4. Stevia
5. Electric Daisy
6. Sweet potato

(Please note I have research some of the information below)

The Kiwi - Cocktail (Actinidia Issai) have edible skin and double the sugar on the in-side.  You can harvest upto 400 fruit per plant.  The Actinidia Issai comes from Sibera and is a Hardy. Also the Actinidia Issai can handle temperature down to minus 35.


Oca New Zealand Yam's  you can eat root like a radish or cook it like a potato.  Also you can use the leaves in a salad too!  The Oca is also bligty resistant!


Shark Fin Melon  is commonly used in a soup. If you cut the melon in half and cook the flesh.  The flesh separates out a bit like a spaghetti squash.  The melon as the same texture as Shark fin in Shark fin soup. You might also think the shark fin melon would taste of fish. But actually the shark fin melon tastes of melon and cucumber. In Spain and Latin America the people make sweets and jams from the melon. Also you can harvest up to 4 melons from one single plant.


Stevia  are 300 times sweeter than sugar and have 0kcals. You might of already heard of Stevia - as there are sweeter's out that use the plant e.g: Truvia (Which I sometimes use).  You can buy the plugs and seeds from Suttons


Electric Daisy  (Sechuan Buttons) is a member of the daisy family.  If your brave enough to try a electric daisy. The daisy is like licking a 9v battery. ( Not sure if I want to try this one)

Sweet Potato is not a potato. This root vegetable is a member of the Ipomoea family, the same as the popular flowering climber Morning Glory.  (source: Thompson & Morgan)

           
You can buy sweet potato slips from most good places.  The sweet potato 'slips' are tubers cut into large piece then placed into water and left to spout leaves, then separated and left to root.  Until now that was the only way you could grow sweet potato. But now Sutton Seeds have developed an sweet potato plant...

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On Thursday 10th of May I decided to pot up the New Zealand yams (Oca).

 But first I wanted to get some new plant pot's to put the Oca in, so I went down to my local Wilkos store.

  Once I had return from Wilkos, straight out side I went with my new plant pot's and the Oca!



I put the wrong date on the label! :(

The Oca I had was small with a three medium size one, so I potted them all. Gave them a nice soak of water and sat them in the greenhouse.  I wanted to put them on my windsill in my bedroom, but the plant pot's are a tag bit to big to fit on!  While the Oca where out in the green house the frost came and I kind of worried a little! But there was no need to worrie, on the 29th of May I had little green leaves popping up.

Since the picture above the Oca have grow that much I have been hmm and arr in when to plant them and how too.  I got some advice from one of the guys at T&M on how to plant them.
Some mad reason I thought you would have to treat them like potatos. Do not know why I thought that.

So on the 9th of June I decided to plant them out side.

So I found one of my potato sack planter's that I had left over from planting my potato's and got some pebbles to cover the holes.  Then I opened up my last sack of compost and tipped the compost into the planter.  I then planted the Oca, I also had a bit of compost left in another bag.  So I used the last bit to fill in any gaps.

Please find picture below

I will keep you all upto date...

Please let me know what you think?

Chelsea Flower Show 2011

Sorry I know I'm at it again!  I meant to get this finished and posted a week after Chelsea last year! But as you all can guess work and family stuff got in the way.

Can you believe it is a year since last year Chelsea Flower Show.... I can not believe how time fly's!  Has you all know by now,  to me one of the best week of the year is the Chelsea Flower show. But last year again I could not get the time off work.  Has I had only started my new job eight weeks before, and there was rules to follow. 

So once again I would like to say thank you to the BBC and to Alan Titchmarsh and the team for a wonderfull coverage.

So here are some of my fave gardens!

B&Q Garden 

Designer:   Patrick Collins & Laurie Chetwood

Won:        Gold

I have to confess this garden was not my fave on how it looked. It was because of the bug hotel. If I remember right half way thought the week. It was reported that the hotel was full of life, of bug's coming and going.  But I can not remember what happen to the bug hotel after Chelsea...  Maybe it was was broke up into cubes and dotted them across the country at school's!!  If so please let me know?

The Art Of Yorkshire

Designer's:  Gillespies

Won:         Sliver

The Art Of Yorkshire was one of the only Artisan garden's I really liked and still do - one year on!

The garden was a celebration of Yorkshire art and landscapes thorough the eyes of an artist, Artist's like David Hockney. 

I loved every part of the garden. But especially how the eye is drawn to the frame on the easel.

A Monaco Garden 

Sponsored by: Principality of
              Monaco

Designer's:   Sarah Eberle

Won:          Gold

The garden illustrates the interaction between architecture and landscape that characterises Monaco's spectacular scenery.

 

To be honest I still can not make up my mind on what I love about this garden.. Hang-on a mo... I think I might just love all of it.  Well okay apart from the one plant that is planted on the top, Lavender... Some of you will know that Im allergic to the plant. :( Which is not good!

The HESCO Garden

Designer's: Leeds City Council

Won:        Gold

The garden was designed to draw attention to the importance of water power in the industrial evolution of Leeds.

Another fantastic garden from the Leeds City Council and HESCO. 
When I first saw this garden on the BBC coverage, I fell in love.  I love the watermill and all that surrounding area.


 

The Tourism Malaysia Garden

Sponsored by:   Tourism Malaysia

Designer's:     Amphibian Designs - James Wong & David Cubero

Won:            Gold

I'm at it again, keeping the best til last!  Just like 2010,  I first saw the plans for the Tourism Malaysia garden on the Amphibian designs website.  Yep as you guess, I loved the plan's for the garden.

Thorough out the build of the garden I was following the up-date's from James on twitter and then the update's stopped. So I knew the garden must of been near enough completed.  I knew I had to waited patiently for the BBC coverage to start, which can I say I could not wait. 

Then at last Chelsea week was here and the BBC started their coverage.  I'm sorry to say at first I was un-sure I liked the garden.  But as the week went on and I saw the garden from different angles.  I fall in love, especial once I saw the sunken pavilion, I was like wow! Even my mum loved this part of the garden. Which some times it can take alot to impress her!

It was my day off when it was announced David and James had won gold! I was so happy that they had won gold again!  Also I remember hearing that the plant's from the garden was going down to Paignton Zoo . Also my local news cover that the plant were going down to the Zoo.

The New additions to the family/garden!

O' Christmas Tree

 Since I was a little girl I have always wanted to have a real tree at christmas. Maybe because all the chritmas movie's. You see families going out to buy the perfect Real tree.

But I never like the thought of the tree(s) being cut down. After all the tree(s) have been growing a year or more. No wait if I remember right from what I watched at christmas it takes  a (christmas) tree about 10 years to grow from seed until it is ready to be sold. 

Also the thought of after christmas having to throw it out I mean get it recycle. I noticed that my local council was offering a real Christmas tree collection service. But still I noticed tree's dumped on the side of the road.

A few year's ago it was and still is popular to have a tree in a pot. Maybe Chrismtmas tree in a pot as been about for years. But have only become more popular just recently.

About the last two years I have been planning and keep going on about getting a (christmas) tree in a pot for my garden. So the second week of December (2011) I went down to Groves in Briport to buy myself a tree.

I bought a Abies Nordmanniana or Nordman Fir the picture below is how it looks now.

The tree looks much better than it dose in this picture, honest!

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My Gold

At the start of September (2011) I did my order at Suttons for Crocus Saffron Sativus and camomile. I got the Saffron for £2.95 for 30 bulbs instead of £9.95...  I first found out that you could grow Saffron in this country after James Wong visited a UK Saffron grower in his programme Grow Your Own Drugs or Backyard Medicine (as it is known as over seas).

I had to wait til the last week of September for my bulbs and camomile seeds to arrive.

So on the 4th Oct (2011) I planted the Saffron.  After a very long wait about three weeks green shoots started to appear.  I was hoping and praying that I would get an harvest.. But I kind of knew that I might not, Self nout I think!

I ended up never getting a single flower. :(  But I did have fun stopping one of my cat's from eating it. Mistaken the saffron as grass.  So out came the green canes and string.

I know this dose not look so great now.  But I do know that the green leaves of the Saffron dies back in April.  The Saffron bulbs go dormant until Autumn/Fall when life appearance's. 

Since the picture above I noticed the green leaves have started to go brown.  So I have removed the canes plus string and popped a seed tray on top.  So the cat's can not get to the leaves.

Tiny Meadows

Ever since I saw the report on wildflower meadows by James Wong on Countryfile in August 2010.  I have been wanting to create my own.

But I was not sure, how I was going to achieved this.

Because like most of us, I do not own bits of the beautiful countryside.  I know this sounds really bad, But this is how

I felt back in September 2010..

Since then I have worked out. That I can have them, but much smaller.  Silly really how I thought I could not have them.

So when I went shopping I bought a box of wildflower seed.

It was not til March when I needed to move my buddleia from the pot on the wall, that it appeared from.  Too a pot by my rhododendron......



If I remember right the little Blue flower is called Borage.

 Sorry the light weren't so good

Who's giving me the run around!!!

Just over a three weeks ago invasion happened.

Aphids, Snails, Slugs.

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Three weeks ago my poor Buddleia and wild flowers got
 attacked by aphids.

So I made up the water and a drop of
washing up liquid solution, and sprayed that on.
I can say so far so good!

But I have been told of an plant friendly
remedy to try, using Neem oil.
Which I'm dying to try out!

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On the 3rd of May, I had a shock! when I went and opened my little greenhouse up.

Which I normally do - But couldn't because of the day before,
 We had a thunderstorm :(

To my surprise someone or some think had been nibbling at my lettuce and rocket.
Which is not on!!

This will make some of you laugh. That night

 you should of seen me out in the dark with the torch!
Couldn't find any think, even went out again
late on, still nothing.

Since then no one or no think as been about.
It's a bit of a mystery!

My Adventure With The Goji Berry / Wolfberry

I first heard of goji berries on ethnobotanist James Wong program Grow Your Own drugs or Backyard Medicine

(as it is known overseas)

I searched high and low to find them. It was only when I went shopping in Tesco (Please note Tesco don't sell them anymore) I came across them. Yep I got hooked!!!

I even looked at garden centers and nurseries, to have a plant in the garden. But I weren't happy about the price, anythink from £6.95 to £9.99

So last year I set myself a challenge.

To grow one from seed.

I was told goji are hard to grow. But I know for a

fact: Goji berries grow in the South Of England.

On the 4th of March, I sowed some seeds I had gather. Within a week germination happen. 

Picture of one of the pot's

It weren't long til I had to pick out the best. I moved only three to my little propagator.

Two of them shot up really well.

On the 12th April I enjoyed potting them up.

This is how there looked on the 19th April.

I took this picture today.. Look how well my little goji's are doing!!

Chelsea Flower Show 2010

I thought as Chelsea Flower Show is due.

I would share my fave one's from last year.

The Global Stone Bee Friendly Garden

I love the strong statement that is on the back wall. "If the Bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only four years of life left." The hard truth of what could happen if we don't act now!

The Victorian Aviary Garden

There's something about this garden. Maybe it's the Victorian Aviary or is it the Peacock Mosaic.
For me its all of the garden!!

The HESCO Garden

I loved the lock gates and how the designers showed we need a better
understanding of the value of natural and green space. Also to encouraging local wildlife and conservation.

The Tourism Malaysia Garden - by James Wong & David Cubero - Amphibian Design.

I've ketped the best til lasted! I fell in love with the Tourism Malaysia Garden as soon as the plan's were posted on http://www.amphibiandesigns.com. I have to say it, I knew as soon as I saw the plan's. David & James had a winning garden. Not long afterwards I started to follow the update's that James was posting on the Mygarden - RHS site. I couldn't wait to see the garden finished. The worst bit for me was I couldn't get the time off work to go. :( Thank god for BBC At Chelsea and Sky+ for when I was at work. My mum even phoned me at work to tell me. The Tourism Malaysia Garden had won Gold. I was completely over the moon for James & David. The girls at work wanted to know what was going on.