Hello! Don’t mind my cat Lily (above), she’s just been keeping a close eye on everything I do in *her* garden haha. Well it feels like such a long time since I have blogged, especially since there has been so many great things happening garden-wise at the moment. Spring feels just around the corner since the temperature has started to warm up! I’ve been eager to get some blogging (and gardening) done this week, but as it has been Valentine’s week, work in the florists has been rather busy and I have been working non-stop all week. Anyway, I finally have a day off tomorrow, so I am going to be up bright and early out in the garden! So stayed tuned for some gardening updates in the next week as I have lots to get done tomorrow. For now, I will give you a quick update on bits and pieces I got up to last week but didn’t have time to tell you about at the time.
Some of you may be aware that I sowed some Helianthemum sp. aka rock rose back in December and unfortunately they fell prone to damping off (see photo on the left, below). I know many gardeners recommend disposing of the seedlings, compost and all, but I wanted to give the babies another chance, so armed with a mini module tray and sterile seed compost, I pricked these little ones out early to give them a chance. I am happy to report that so far so good! I have reduced my watering on the recommendation of a fellow blogger, so that could also be helping matters:
You can see that technically they were not ready for pricking out, as they hadn’t yet developed their true leaves, but sometimes I think you have to just take a risk with gardening because it can pay off. If I get even a 50% success rate with these, I’ll be happy because it will still give me a good amount of this plant. I will keep you updated on how they come on in the next few weeks.
Some of you may notice the dressing on top of the compost in the after photo. I am giving this product a try at the moment:
It reportedly helps to prevent damping off amongst its other benefits and so far it actually does seem to be helping. It is helping keeping the moisture in too which is helpful. Have any of you used this product or anything similar and how did you find it?
What else have I been doing?
About two weeks ago, I received some tree lily bulbs and they had been sitting in the box they were delivered in until I got chance last week on my day off to plant them in pots:
You can see that they have long roots so I chose a large pot and I planted them three times their depth in general purpose compost. I added perlite to increase drainage and aeration in the soil. I am waiting for signs of growth from these, so I will keep you posted on them! As the name suggests, they are HUGE! So we will see if they live up to that expectation…
Anyway that’s all for tonight in this quick update, stay tuned for more garden updates soon!
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Written by Bethany Wright at The English Meadow.
The English Meadow 
[…] that I sowed in December, began experiencing damping off but determined as I am, I decided to take a chance and I pricked them out early into a new tray in a effort to save them. Things were looking good […]
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