TIP FOR THE NOT SO GREENTHUMBED

If you don’t have a green thumb and you want plants in your house I can strongly recommend you to try cacti and succulents, most of them are so easy to look after, you can use them inside your home or ouside in the garden or on your balcony.

One of the easiest plants is the jade plant, latin name : crassula portulacea

THIS IS A BIG ONE IN A POT OUTSIDE

THIS IS A PIECE OF STEM THAT FELL OFF ONE OF MY JADE PLANTS, IT LAY UNNOTICED UNDER A PLANTROLLER AND LOOK, IT GOT ROOTS, JUST LIKE THAT !NO WATER, NO SOIL FOR WEEKS AND WEEKS AND STILL IT GOT ROOTS !!!

YOU CAN CUT THE STEM A BIT SHORTER AND STICK IT IN SOME SOIL AND VOILA, A NEW PLANT, YOU EVEN CAN MAKE NEW PLANTS WITH JUST ONE LEAF, TAKE OFF A LEAF, PUT IT IN SOME GRID, GIVE IT ONLY A FEW DROPS OF WATER PER WEEK AND IN NO TIME YOU’LL SEE SMALL LEAVES APPEARING, SO YOU CAN PUT YOUR WHOLE HOUSE AND GARDEN FULL OF JADE PLANTS IF YOU WANT

THIS IS WHAT I USE TO WATER MY SMALL CACTI AND SUCCULENTS, IT’S AN ORDINARY SYRINGE, THIS WAY YOU DON’T OVERWATER THEM

You can ask a friend or a relative or a neigbour for some cuttings, I’m sure they’ll give it to you with pleasure !

Cacti are equally easy to care for, they even need less water but beware !! before you know it you’ll be hooked and want more and more and more…..

How to care for your jade plant:

Prefers half shade whether it is inside or outside

It is not frost resistant, so if you live in a country with cold Winters, take it in before the frosts, preferably by the end of September, for those who are fortunate enough to live in a frostfree country you can have your jade plants in-and outdoors whole year round. If you put your jade plant inside during Winter then put it in full shade  in Spring  (beginning of June)for about 2 weeks before you put it in half shade otherwise the leaves will get burned

Doesn’t need much fertilizer, if you give it new soil every Spring you don’t need to fertilize at all, even it you don’t fertilize it will still grow

Give it water once the soil is dry (when you lift the pot you can feel if the soil is dry cos the pot weighs less then when the soil is wet) but the jade plant can go without water for a long time, weeks, a few month’s even and it will be still alive, so you can go on holiday without worry, you give them a bit of water before you leave and you can go away for weeks, even if you forget to water them before you leave  they still will be ok when you return !

Soil : normal pottingsoil mixed with a bit of grid or sand, it will grow and thrive in normal soil too, no worries

Put some pebbles or bits of broken clay pots in the bottom and make sure it will not get wet feet.

To all of those who are afraid to kill a plant, go out and buy a jade plant or ask for a few cuttings, people will give it to you with great pleasure, also cuttings and pups from other succulents and cacti will be given to you with pleasure if you ask for it !So start experimenting with succulents !

Have a great day all and enjoy your garden and indoor plants ! Thanks for stopping by !

ps : I would love to hear from you whether you succeed or fail and you can always ask me for advice, it will be given with great plessure

I AM ALREADY LOOKING FORWARD TO SPRING !

I bought some  Spring bulbs a while ago and I am anxiously awaiting their first signs of life. I already have lots of bulbs in my garden but you can’t have enough of them can you ?!

The first bulbs to bloom are the snowdrops in January, the middle of Winter, how brave !!! Then the crocusses appear in February, after that it is time for the narcissus, the muscari’s, the chionodoxa’s , then the rest follows. I am always excited about it and looking for the first signs of their appearance.

ALLIUMS

WHITE MUSCARI’S, I HAVE LOTS OF BLUE ONE’S TOO

CHIONODOXA’S, LITTLE BLUE STARS, AREN’T THEY BEAUTIFUL ?!!!

CROCUS, ONE OF SEVERAL I HAVE IN MY GARDEN

AND MORE ALLIUMS

Lots to look forward too. I hate Winter, Spring can’t come soon enough for me, alas it won’t be for tomorrow, with a bit of luck Spring will start at the end of March but it can take a lot longer, we can have night frost untill mid May !!!

Have a great day all and thanks for stopping by ! Enjoy your garden !

AND NOW I AM NAKED

Remember my amelanchier ?

Pretty in Spring.

WITH MY BEAUTIFUL WHITE FLOWERS.

And in Summer.

WITH MY RED BERRIES.

In Autumn.

WITH MY BEAUTIFUL ORANGE DRESS

Well, now I am naked and waiting for my white weddingdress.

But you can already see my new buds for next Spring !

Am I not a wonderful tree ?!!!

Have a great day all and thanks for stopping by ! Enjoy your garden !

LOOK WHAT I FOUND !!!!!

Do you remember my white begonia ?

THIS ONE !

Well, it is not winterhardy in Belgium so I removed the bulb from the pot and what did I see ?

A WHOLE LOT OF THESE GUYS !!!

Does anyone know what these are ? They are about 1 cm long, some a bit bigger others a bit smaller, there were at least 20 or more in the pot ! And look what they did !

THIS IS THE CLEANED BULB, I CLEANED IT UNDER THE TAP SO MOST “MAGGOT’S ?”WERE GONE, THEN I INSPECTED THE BULB AND SAW THAT THERE WERE MORE AND I REMOVED THEM AND THEN I SAW WHAT THEY DID TO THE BULB, LOOK !!!

THEY HAVE EATEN PARTS OF THE BULB !!! I HOPE THE BULB WILL SURVIVE SO I CAN PLANT IT AGAIN IN SPRING, I AM GOING TO LET IT DRY A BIT AND WRAP IT IN A BIT OF NEWSPAPER AND PUT IT IN AN OLD FREEZER TO KEEP IT  FROST FREE AND COOL, TOGETHER WITH SOME FUCHSIA’S AND SOME DAHLIA BULBS

When you are gardening you always get surprises, sometimes good sometimes bad, this was a bad one, the plant looked awful  but I thought it was cos of the  night frosts we recently had.

I’ll tell you in Spring if the bulb survived the Winter or not, I loved this begonia, it has been blooming for a long time and it became more and more beautiful when it became bigger, now this bulb is about 4 times bigger than it was in Spring when I planted it.

Take care and enjoy your garden when you can !!! And thanks for stopping by.

 

UPDATE :

ONE OF MY CLIENTS HAS A GARDEN CENTER AND I SHOWED HIM THE MAGGOTS, HE SAID IT’S VINE WEEVEL, SO NOW I HAVE TO INSPECT ALL MY POTS !!! AND I HAVE MANY !!!

MY BABY’S

As there is not much going on in the garden at the moment I will write more about my indoor plants starting with my baby’s. All grown from seed except for one  that was a tiny cutting.

THIS IS AN OVERVIEW OF MY BABY CACTI AND SUCCULENTS, ALL GROWN FROM SEED EXCEPT THE GREY SUCCULENT ON THE RIGHT, THAT WAS A TINY CUTTING

I STILL DON’T KNOW IF THESE ARE AGAVE’S OR ALOE’S, I FOUND SEEDPODS ON THE GROUND IN “MY” CACTUSGARDEN (SEE MY BLOG “MY CACTUS GARDEN” THAT I WROTE EARLIER THIS YEAR) AND THIS IS WHAT CAME UP

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE AGAVE ,  THINK THEY MAY BE AGAVE’S AS THE BIGGER ONE’S START TO GET THORNS

A FEW OF MY PRICKLY BABIES

THE TINY CACTUS ON THE LEFT IS AN OPUNTIA, I BROUGHT THE SEED WITH ME FROM OUR TRIP TO TUNISIA, I  KNOW IT IS ILLEGAL TO DO THAT BUT THERE WERE SO MANY SEEDS ON THE GROUND IN OUR HOTEL GARDEN, TOURIST TREADDING ON THEM SO I THOUGHT I’D SAVE SOME FROM DEATH, I HAD A FEW SEEDS BUT ONLY ONE SURVIVED COS THE REST OF THE SEEDS WERE “CLEANED” AWAY BY MY CLEANER WHO THOUGHT IT WAS DIRT SO THIS ONE BABY IS VERY SPECIAL TO ME AND I HOPE THAT ONE DAY IT WILL BE BIG AND BOLD !

Have a great day all and thanks for stopping by and for those who still have nice warm weather : enjoy your garden !!!!