The Garden

[PHOBoS]

The Ivy in the wallplanter all died , too bad as it would have probably covered the wall in another 2 years or so. Not sure why they died, maybe
I trimmed it back too hard or it was the frost that also killed a bunch of other plants. (but I believe they should be pretty hardy).

The previous Ivy came from some cuttings I collected in the wild. Could do that again but it takes a while to get some proper roots and not all
take root. Instead I just bought a small pot with a couple of them which I split up in 6 parts.

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[PHOBoS]

[Blue Hell]

Yeah, we had nasty and late frost .. and plants in pots are more vulenrable ... but good to see you get it going again :)

[PHOBoS]

I am really glad the Solanum dulcamara survived, as it is one of my favourite plants. (Bumble)bees are happy with the abundance of small purple
flowers it produces which in turn makes me happy. What's not so great is that it tipped over 2 days ago (or was that yesterday) because of some
strong wind gusts. It didn't really get damaged but it did take out some daturas, not sure if those grow back but there are more. I secured it so I hope
it stays in place better and I placed all the growth on the supporting branch that I stuck in the pot (it looks a bit messy now). The lungwort that's in the
same pot could probably do with a bit more shade, so I might transplant that one.

So I have daturas again this year. They've been coming up everywhere so it's good to see they did self seed, even if I didn't have them here.
I've also spotted some growing below my balcony last year and again this year, win!

The Henbane hasn't been getting very big yet but they are growing larger leaves. It's probably a bit too crowded in there and they don't get a lot of sun.
Some of the leaves are a bit damaged, not sure if something is nibbling on them, or a pigeon has been taking a stroll.

[PHOBoS]

some stowaways.


I already mentioned the maple 'tree' which is still growing fine but there are more. The Aquilegia is another one that sadly didn't make it (it had
such gorgeous flowers) so I just placed the pot aside to empty out later and didn't bother to water it. But something has been growing in there
and I think it is a hazel. Since it seemed to do ok in the shade I transplanted it and will keep it for now to see what it does. I don't have anything
else to put in that spot now anyway. (photo was taken just after transplanting so the leaves are a bit droopy)


Another one that came along is a Digitalis which is growing nicely. no idea if it will flower this year, hope it does as getting it through the winter doesn't always
work out well. There's also a bunch of grass growing in one container (weird that it's only in that one) and I did sow a bunch of other seeds in there aswell that
I had from previous years. There is a lot of green in there now so I am curious how that will turn out.

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[PHOBoS]

one more photo which shows the ferns (also Convallaris majalis in the lower left corner) and behind it some morning glories.

Those morning glories are doing great but I did not have much luck with the other ones I've sown. I actually waited a bit longer
this time as I know they do best when the temperatures are >20C but shortly after we had some higher temperatures it dropped
again and it stayed <15C for quite some time. There was a lot of rain aswell so most of the seeds probably just rotted away, which
likely happened with the Thunbergia seeds aswell. I did spot 2 morning glories but since I do have plenty of seeds I've sown some
more today, maybe it'll work.

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[Blue Hell]

So you got a couple of trees

(hazel. maple)

What are you going to do with those?

[PHOBoS]

once they are big enough I can chop them down and make some nice synth cases,
maybe I should try growing wallnut and oak too.


on a more serious note they are just filling up some otherwise unused space and I am curious how well they'll grow.
I wonder what it would take for a hazel to produce nuts, I gues I can look that up.

[PHOBoS]

I didn't have enough plants, so got some more

the taller ones in the back are for inside, the other ones are more alpine plants.

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[PHOBoS]

here are some photos now that they are transplanted

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[PHOBoS]

and some more,..

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[PHOBoS]

some peppers, berries and flowers

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[Skrog Productions]

looking great Pho

[PHOBoS]

I am starting to get that itch again especially after having some sunny weather today.


I didn't update anymore last year as not much happened apart from more green, which is nice but not so interesting to take photos of.
I did get some peppers though. The Fresno or at least what I think was the Fresno did really well. Lots of very tasty peppers that were
a lot spicier then I was expecting. The peppers didn't ripen all at once so I harvested and ate them fresh over the coarse of a couple of weeks.
It's already one of my favourite peppers so I collected a lot fof seeds from them and will try to grow them again this year. Because all the
pepper plants were standing pretty close together it is possible that I get some sort of hybrid but we'll see.

Another one that did really well was the Habanero lemon. Oddly most of these peppers were not very hot except for a few that had the
typical habanero heat I am used to. I cut them all up and put them in the freezer, which works very well with peppers, and just finished the
last of it yesterday. I also collected some seeds from those to grow again this year.

The rest of the pepper plants only had a few if any peppers and although the Royal Black did look nice there weren't any that I am planning
to grow again this year. Not that I will only stick to Fresno and Habanero, as a matter of fact I received the first seeds in the mail today.

I had some great success in 2017 (has it been that long already ?!) with the bhut jalokia aka Ghost Pepper which according to wikipedia held
the world record for hottest pepper in 2007 with > 1,000,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU). For reference Habanero ranks at 100,000–350,000 SHU.
They did indeed not dissapoint when it comes to spicy.

here's a photo of the 2017 harvest.


It might have been the hottest in 2007 but there have been hotter ones since and currently the record is still held by the Carolina Reaper with
> 2,000,000 SHU I think there have been rumors of even hotter ones but not officially. Of course it does depend on growing conditions
which are far from ideal on my balcony


So for this year i ordered, Ghost Pepper and Carolina Reaper seeds and because I'd like another one that is hot but not too extreme I also ordered
some Scotch Bonnet yellow seeds, which should be similar in heat to a habanero but with a different flavour. I also received some Scotch Bonnet (red)
seeds for free.

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20210821 - Fresno - 04.jpg
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20211001 - Habanero Lemon - 02.jpg
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[PHOBoS]

I made use of the sunny weather today and did a little bit of maintenance on my balcony. Last year was more of a test to see what had
survived the temporary move which isn't a lot. At least the Solanum dulcamara survived which I started from seed in 2017. I really
like this plant, it is by far the largest plant on my balcony and once it starts flowering it doesn't stop. The flowers are only small but have
a very nice purple color that attract a lot of bumblebees and eventually turn into red berries (the flowers not the bumblebees). Usually
at some pont it is full of both flowers and berries. The berries stay on through the winter and add a little bit of color. I did cut it back
today removing the thinner parts so it can put all its energy into some stronger fresh growth.

some photos from 2018




The Pulmonaria that is in the same container also survived and has decided the weather is good enough to start flowering. That's at least
a month earlier than usual which is probably because we didn't really have any winter weather (yet). I added a layer of home made compost
to the container which is a bit of an experiment. Since it is home made from vegetable waste/tea/eggshells/leaves and other useful waste
I am not sure how strong it is. Because I only added a layer on the top it should get diluted and seep into the soil everytime I water it.

some possible outcomes are:
- everything dies.
- it doesn't make any difference and the plants just grow like normal.
- the plants are happy with it and grow better and healthier than usual.
- things get completely out of control and I end up with some kind of Audrey II scenario.


The Tiger lilly also survived but is dormant now so I will have to see if it comes up again this year. It didn't flower last year but I did have some
new plants because some bulbils most have survived the previous winter. Usually I dig up the bulb and keep it inside during the winter to protect
it from any frost, but this year I decided not to disturb it and just let it be. I can still take the whole pot inside if we do get some very cold weather.
I did add a layer of home made compost to it.



The Atropa belladonna plants did not surivive which I am still rather bummed out by I've tried growing them several times during the past
20 years or so but was never succesfull untill 2019 when I managed to grow not just one but two different somewhat rare varieties and more
than one plant of each. They initially survived and were still alive when I got them back but were not strong enough to pull through the winter.
One of them did produce some berries and one of the seeds of it sprouted but that one didn't make it either.
The seeds are still available so I will probably give it another try this year.

Passiflora incarnata (started from seed in 2018) also didn't make it. It did show some growth when it was over at my parents but there was nothing
left when it returned and no signs of life from it last year. I'll try to find some new seeds for it again but it's not very easy to grow.

The Aquilegia also didn't survive but it might only live for 2 years anyway and propagate through self seeding. actually let me look that up,..
hmm "Hardy Perennial (Short lived, replace after 3 years)" so I guess it would have died anyway. It was a beauty though and absolutely
worthy of the name "Silver Queen"



The Aconitum that was in the same pot is another one that didn't make it. I actually thought it had already died pretty shortly after I got it
in 2019 but early 2020 it suddenly showed up again (at least I am pretty sure that was it). Sadly it was only short lived.



Convallaris majalis did survive and flowered again last year. I noticed today it's already starting to poke through the top soil.

Ferns are also still ok and actually did very well last year. One stayed a bit behind but that one also received less light.

Arctotis did very well over at my parents and produced a couple of tall flowers, though I did not see much of those myself. It died off
early last year but it does seem to be a half-hardy annual so that's not really surprising.

I lost quite a chunk of the Sempervivum but that wasn't all bad. Last year I bought a couple of alpine plants and spread everthing out over
two containers which looks a lot better though not everything has survived since then. The Dianthus Sunflor actually died off rather quickly, no idea why,
it just seem to dry out eventhough the soil was definitely not dry at that point. It could actually have been a bit too wet but usually plants respond
to that by wilting when the roots rot and they can't take up any water. I think it wasn't really an alpine plant anyway but did add some nice color.
Overall the two containers look pretty good right now with lots of new growth.



Antirrhinum is a bit of an odd one. I initially started them from seed in 2017 with the idea that they were annuals but they just kept going year
after year. I do believe there was some self seeding going on and I did deliberately crushed some of the seed pods above the soil at the end of 2020.
The ones I started with have now died off but there are two new ones growing and one of them is looking very healthy right now. That's the odd thing,
they somehow seem to do really well in the winter and stay green but once spring comes around they start to look rather unhealthy only to look better
again later in the year. I did remove some of the thin growth from it today and since they have been growing in the same soil for 5 years now I also
added a layer of home made compost.

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[PHOBoS]

There are some more plants alive at the moment.

Last year there were 2 'trees' that started growing, which I suspect is because a squirell had buried some nuts.
One I identified as a Hazel the other as a Maple. The Hazel was transplanted to another pot, the maple I just left because
I wasn't really growing anything else deliberately in that container anyway. I did water them a bit but mostly neglected them.
Today I noticed that they are still very well alive and both have some new buds. I am not entirely sure what I am going to
do with them yet. I will at least have to remove the Maple since I do want to empty out the container and prepare it for
something new. Maybe I can plant them out somewhere else.

Another plant that is alive is a Digitalis which had hitched a ride. It didn't flower last year so it is very likely to do that this
year. At the moment the older outer leaves look rather shabby but there is some healthy new growth in the center.
I do want to transplant it though which brings me to another plant,..

The pot I want to use for it is one I used last year to grow Henbane. This wasn't really a success but maybe not a complete
failure either. Initially I had a lot of seeds sprouting and after sowing those got quite a few small plants. The problem was
that the container was located beneath the birdfeeder which is mostly filled with sunflower seeds. Apparently I have some
picky birds here as they always throw a lot of seeds out. Seeds that are perfectly viable and started to sprout in the container
with the henbane and there were a lot of them. I tried to remove them but it got a bit hard to keep up. Also henbane leaves
and stems are somewhat sticky so they all stick together. no problem if you just let them grow and they can support eachother
this way, but when you start disturbing them it becomes quite a mess. It also didn't help that the pigeon (or pigeons) didn't
care about the plants but was interested in the seeds so trampled over them. Eventually I just gave up and although some of
the plants kept growing none of them produced any flowers.

Today I wanted to empty the pot and I noticed something. It still had a couple of henbane plants in it that looked very wilted
since I haven't watered them for months, but they're definitely not dead and there is some new growth on them. I've grown
henbane before but always as annuals* as they just form seed at the end of the year and after that it's over. Of course these
didn't flower so that might have saved them and maybe it's a different kind of henbane. They also seem to be a bit taller than
what I've grown before. Anyway I dug them up, removed the lower most wilted leaves and placed the roots in water. It looks
like some of the leaves are even perking up a bit. I will place them in smaller pots and see if they survive untill the weather
gets better. If so I will transplant them directly to the 'witchgarden'.


*apparently they can be annual or biennial.

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[PHOBoS]

The Henbane is already looking a bit better.
I did some more maintenance today and discovered the Viola flowering behind a coupel of Ivy leaves

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[PHOBoS]

The Henbane seems to be happy with their extended life, looks like one of them is even developing a flower bud already.

Something else that seems to be alive is a branch/twig I cut from the climbing nightshade and just put in the ground.
I didn't really put it in the ground with the idea of making a cutting, more to just fill up some empty space at the bottom,
but there is a bud developing so maybe it rooted. If that does indeed work I can make some more cuttings next year to
fill up the container a bit.

A lot is happening in the container with the Tiger Lily. I don't know if the orginal bulb is still alive, probably is, but there
must have been more bulbils that fell in that are sprouting now and hopefully some are from last year as they might flower.

lily of the valley is also starting to appear above ground.

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[PHOBoS]

Some 'Fresno' and 'Habanero lemon' seeds that I harvested from last years peppers sprouted and today I spotted a 2 headed mutant
No germination (yet) of any of the seeds that I ordered but I'd already ordered some more seeds from a different place and those arrived today.
Basically the same variaties; 'Carolina Reaper', 'Bhut Jolokia Strain II' (Strain II should give higher yields than the original), 'Scotch Bonnet
MOA Red' and I added '7pot Lucy' to the collection aswell.

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[PHOBoS]

henbane flower opened up

Looks to be the albus/white variety which I hadn't grown before. Normally I have the more common niger/black one
which btw doesn't have black flowers but they have some purple veins in them. If these keep growing throughout the
year, as they normally do, they could get quite large like the extraordinary specimen in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn9fL52h2Mk
The ones I've grown before got to maybe 30cm max.

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[PHOBoS]

it's starting to get a bit greener

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[PHOBoS]

Coleus has been transplanted and survived but needs a bit more light.

Still not much luck with the peppers apart from the Frenso and Habanero lemon (which are doing great).
The 2nd batch of seeds I ordered from a different place isn't doing anything either (yet).
Actually two Carolina Reaper seeds from the first batch did sprout but they are very tiny and not showing
much progress, we'll see how that goes.

The Lamiastrum galeobdolon/yellow archangel is waking up. I quite like this one, does ok in the shade and
always attracts lots of bees with its yellow flowers.

The Solanum dulcamara/climbing nightshade is also clearly awake and the Hedera/ivy is covered in fresh growth aswell.

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[PHOBoS]

Here's a plant that I don't quite recognize though it looks somewhat familiar. I found it when I was removing some old/dead
plants from a planter. It looked dead but when I pulled it out I noticed it had two tuberous roots attached to it, so I planted it in a
pot and apparently it's alive! It might actually be a dahlia.

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[PHOBoS]

Something I skipped over last year is the bees,.. things didn't go so well for the bees.
While they were over at my parents place they got a visit from a woodpecker that stopped by for an easy snack.
A couple of bees did emerge last year but it wasn't a lot and most cells stayed open after that. I suspect there might
be some dead bees or larvae occupying a bunch of the cells as they don't appear to be completely empty but also
haven't been capped off.

I can clean the cells by redrilling the holes and rinsing them out but I'll first have to wait for any bees that might be
in there to emerge. To discourage any bees from reusing the cells I covered the cells with a couple of rolling papers.
Bees that have to get out can still get through it (I've seen them chew it to bits) but it might keep any unoccupied cells
closed.


Even if things hadn't gone wrong it would have been a good idea to clean out the cells anyway as they can become
a breeding ground for mites, parasites and molds. For this reason it is better to either use tube liners or something
that can easily be cleaned like stacking trays.


So while the old cells are currently closed off for maintenance I put up some new improved real estate. This time I made
tubes out of paper, with a seperate liner, that can be discarded after use. Each tube is made out of 1/4 sheet of A4 paper
that I covered with some diluted woodglue while rolling it up. This actually made them pretty sturdy and since the glue I
used should be waterproof it might prevent it from turning into a soggy mess if it would accidentally get wet. One side
of the tubes is folded over to close it off. The liners are made from sheets of baking paper and can easily be removed at
the end of the year. The idea is to take out the cocoons which can then be cleaned and stored untill next spring. I did see
a bee today flying back and forwards to one of the tubes so I guess it is bee approved.

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20220411 - mason bees - 04.jpg
Description:	closed off for maintenance
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20220411 - mason bees - 02.jpg
Description:	new nesting tubes (incl bee)
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[AlanP]

I take it the pigeon has given up for good?

And do you get many comments from people who happen to look up?