6th May 2008

All readings are taken from a sheltered location in our

garden and cover a 24 hour period starting at 6pm.

Low Temp: 8.1C

High Temp: 25.7C

Rainfall: 0.0mm

Strongest Gust of wind: 3.7 mph

Weather Today: Warm and sunny, hotest day of the year so far.

Bob is in the secret garden tonight if you want to pop on over and see him I'm sure he will be pleased. Just click the link below.

http://ukbob-secretgarden.blogspot.com/

Bob's Bloomer's - week19 (Bluebells).

All readings are taken from a sheltered location in our

garden and cover a 24 hour period starting at 6pm.

Low Temp: 6.6C

High Temp: 25.1C

Rainfall: 0.0mm

Strongest Gust of wind: 2.4 mph

Weather Today: Warm and sunny, hotest day of the year so far.

This week Bob has chosen the Bluebells for his best bloomers post. The picture below doesn't really do them justice as these are just a few we have in the gardens in flower at the moment.

By the way, I will just point out to any would be thief that the earn isn't worth stealing, its been all patched up at sometime and would most likely drop to pieces if you tried to move it. There is another one right on the corner of the lawn, I don't know why someone put it there, it frightens me to death every time I go near it with the lawn mower in case I happen to catch it. I would like to move it but dare not risk it for the reason stated above.

The family came to visit at the weekend and much to her ladyships delight I was able to provide them with new potatoes and fresh lettuce. I also sent my mum and dad packing with the four tomato plants and a stray Fuchsia.

Talking of which, Tippy is highly delighted to see that Matron is going to be able to make use of her tomato cuttings tip. Matron mentions using a rooting compound which you can do. I didn't mention this because I was trying to keep it simple and didn't want to put off the people with brown thumbs. So if you do have some then by all means use it but if you don't have any rooting compound don't worry as you really don't need it. I didn't use any and all mine were rooted in 10 days.

New Pelargoniums.

Hello Everyone. This weekend we've had my parents staying with us so today we took them to Fir Trees Pelargoniums at Stokesley in North Yorkshire. Its not the sort of place to go if you just want to buy a load of plants for summer bedding, its more for people who like to collect different kinds of Pelargoniums, ones that you won't usually find down your local garden centre. Below are some pics of the ones we bought today.

Potato Field.

All readings are taken from a sheltered location in our

garden and cover a 24 hour period starting at 6pm.

Low Temp: 6.6C

High Temp: 14.0C

Rainfall: 6.9mm

Strongest Gust of wind: 2.7 mph

Weather Today: Heavy rain during the night with more again this afternoon.

Hello everyone. I'm glad to see Jim is back from his holiday in Ireland, and all in one piece this time which is even better.

As you will see from my weather observations above we had a pretty wet time of it last night, not much more than a week ago the farmer was planting potatoes in the field below, this was how it looked this morning when me and Tom took a walk on there. We even saw a duck swimming about on one of the pools.

Jim asked me a good question about the tip from last night, and that question is will the tomato plants come true, in other words will they be the same as the parent plant. Well yes they will, cuttings are just an extension of the parent plant, if I was to grow from the seed of the parent plant then this might not be the case but as these were cuttings then yes for sure they will be just the same as the plant I took them from.

Well I will be getting off now, y'all take care and I will see you again soon.

Bob.

Tomato Plant Cuttings.

All readings are taken from a sheltered location in our

garden and cover a 24 hour period starting at 6pm.

Low Temp: 4.5C

High Temp: 16.4C

Rainfall: 0.3mm

Strongest Gust of wind: 1.4 mph

Weather Today: Bright and sunny,

some heavy showers late afternoon.

Hello everyone, I sure hope you're feeling well. Tonight I have another of Tippy's Top Tips for you. No doubt some of you are like me and enjoy growing Tomatoes. Well I will tell you something that I sometimes do, its also good for those who buy plants rather than grow from seed because this way you don't need to by as many. Once your plants get going you will find that there are lots of side shoots which in some cases you have to remove and even if you grow the sort of plants that don't need side shoots removing the plant won't mind if you take a few. In this instance I use a sharp knife that way you don't bruise the end. Below shows you what a side shoot looks like and where to make the cut.

If the leaves are a bit big then trim back the end a little so you end up with something like in the picture below and make sure you have a nice clean straight cut on the bottom of the cutting.

Then fill a pot with ordinary potting compost and stick the cutting down the side of the pot to the depth of about half an inch to an inch and then water in. Then stand it somewhere warm and light but shaded from direct sunlight.

Then in ten days to a fortnight you will have roots forming like this...

...and extra plants to grow on or give to friends.

I was intending to grow these on for planting out in the garden later but my dad has not done so well with his own Tomatoes this year so I will let him have these four plants so he will get a head start, you never know he might be so happy that he'll treat me to a pint of Fosters - now thats got to be worth having a go hasn't it? I have some more side shoots so I will take somemore cuttings to grow outside. This is so easy that even someone with brown thumbs can do it, even if its just for fun.

Bob's Bloomer's (Polyanthus).

All readings are taken from a sheltered location in our

garden and cover a 24 hour period starting at 6pm.

Low Temp: 6.0C

High Temp: 16.4C

Rainfall: 1.8mm

Strongest Gust of wind: 4.1 mph

Weather Today: Quite a bright day with one slight shower.

Tonight Bob is going to show you his bloomers, very colourful they are too. I was a bit undecided whether to choose Daffodils or the Polyanthus, the daffs are a bigger display but I love the bright and cheerful colours of the Polyanthus, especially in this spring of grey skies. They are similar to Primroses and Primula's but I prefer Polyanthus as their blooms stand better above the foliage.

They are pretty easy to grow from seed and once you have some they are easy to increase by division. The main thing to remember is when sowing from seed, the temperature must not exceed 18°C. Sow the seed in a tray on top of the compost and aim for a temperature of around 15 to 18C and they should start to germinate in two to three weeks. Once the seeds start to germinate cover with a thin layer of Vermiculite as this will help the seed to root in to the compost. You can sow them from March to September planting out from September to October to flower March to May the following year.

Polyanthus are a hardy perennial so will grow for many years and more plants can be obtained by splitting the plants in Spring or Autumn. Just lift the plants and wash off the soil so you can see the rooted off shoots and then just take a sharp knife and cut away the off shoots and plant on as a plant in its own right. They will thrive in any garden soil but prefer one that is rich and moist. If possible they also like some shade although the ones I have in are in full sun at the moment but these will be moved for the summer to somewhere a little cooler.

Motor Racing Weekend.

All readings are taken from a sheltered location in our

garden and cover a 24 hour period starting at 6pm.

Low Temp: 11.3C

High Temp: 20.7C

Rainfall: 0.9mm

Strongest Gust of wind: 2.0 mph

Weather Today: Heavy showers,

not a very nice day at all.

Hello everyone, how are you all today? Here it hasn't been a very good day, another winters day, more wet and cold. Thankfully its been a good weekend for motorsport, apart from the Spanish grand prix there was also the GP2 racing and I had some V8 supercars to watch from last weekend so I've had plenty to keep me occupied.

I sure hope there is some decent weather this next week, although from what was said in 'Countryfile's' weather for the week ahead it doesn't seem this is going to be the case at all with more wet and cold weather to come. I really need to get all the lawns cut for next weekend as the family are coming to stay. The one good thing about all this wet weather is that at least my grass seed hasn't needed watering.

This next week I want to try and get some weeding don't as they are growing really well now even if not much else is. I also have some veg to sow if it dries up enough. I sowed some cabbage, cauliflower, brussels, climbing French and runner beans and letuce in the greenhouse on Friday but there are somethings like carrots that I really need to put straight in the ground.