GrumbleBonsai: My Sweet Chinese Plum

AKA Sageretia Theezans – my new love

Note my use of beer loving Martha Stewart accent beer bottles as vases – perfect. WIN!

Grumblegarden: The Cobra Race

I’m in a bit of a rush but from the looks of things I may be pipped to the post by The London Vegetable Garden

Grumblegarden: Cobra Lily Update

You may remember a few weeks ago after a wander round Columbia Road Flower maket Callum from The London Vegetable Garden and I challenged each other to a Lily-Off – this might in fact be East London’s first ever Lily-Off, until someone proves me otherwise I’m going to call it like that! Anyway nothing much seemed to be happening to the lily but I just checked and it seems ever so slightly different – it looks to me like the race might be on! Your move Callum ……

Grumblegarden: New Arrivals

So a few of my flowers died – nothing spectacular, just some cheap bedding plants I got from Columbia Rd and it just happened that I chanced across a nursery when I was back home in Norfolk for a weekend. I was browsing round and I stumbled across the most amazing space plant ever – it’s like a silver ball of tumbleweed – I had to get it as it’s just too awesome – turns out it’s a Calocephalus Brownii or Silver Bush or Cushion Bush. It’s native to Australia I think but loves deserts and sea spray – I have nothing like this so we’ll see if he lasts the winter – I hope he does as he’s awesome.

Then I’ve got a couple of carnivorous plants – a tubey thing which is inside and then a little snapper for outside – I don’t know his proper name but I hope he’s happy …..

Grumblegarden: Edible Update – Peppers

So there’s been some activity on the pepper front too – my main ‘Bell Boy’ is about the size of a normal pepper now – the annoying thing is that he was about to start flowering some more when the shit weather came over so it seems like he’s been mostly focused on this one pepper so I don’t know if he’ll have any more ……..

Then there’s my ‘Chilli Pepper’ and it’s kind of the same story – one really good pepper and not much else although he’s got some good flowers so again we’ll see

Then there are the two younger rapscallion pepper plants; my ‘Jalepeno’ and my ‘Sweet Banana’ – they’re younger and fiestier and I reckon they’re about to start causing all sorts of trouble ……..

Grumblegarden: Edible Update – Toms

About time I updated on what’s been growing in the garden of late – even thought the weather has been cold and shitty things are happening. I even ate a couple of tomatoes off my hanging plant yesterday and they were awesome! Felt quite proud! Anyway so the hanging toms are going great guns…..

Then there’s the big toms – they’re pretty big right now and Grumblegirlfriend thinks I should eat at least one of them – I’m a bit hesitant though….

Then there’s my weird yellow long toms – again Grumblegirlfriend says I should eat them but I’m too scared or precious to try them ……

Oh and then there are my plants that I grew from seed (the others I bought as baby plants) – addmitedly a little late but they’re all starting to flower which is awesome as I’m growing them all in tin cans! We shall see ……

Cobrastyle!

As usual I’ve been focussing on pretty much everything but blogging recently with some new jobs coming in and a couple of weekends away, but after spending an interesting day with Callum from The London Vegetable Garden I thought I’d better get my ass in gear.

After a couple some awesome awesome coffee from Taste of Bitter Love (where we bumped into James from Dose Espresso) we sauntered around Columbia Rd discussing various options for mulch (vacum cleaner fluff & seaweed). Anyway whilst discussing growing things from bulbs we chanced upon a stall which was offering ‘Cobra Lily‘ blubs. They’re called that because they have a hood which catches flies and eats them – awesome. Anyway being the competitive person I am I challenged Callum to a race – to see who’s lily flowers first!

Right so I chose this awesome pot that my mum gave me this weekend – not sure what it’s for.

I’ve been realising the importance of drainage recently what with growing so much stuff in tin cans so I put a bunch of shells at the bottom of my pot. £2 for a massive bag – bargain.

Then I planted it in the soil which was a bit tricky as I’ve never planted a bulb before – I’ve placed him in my newly arranged mediterranean / seaside section of the balcony – fancy!

So the race is on – make sure you check out Callum’s blog and if you’re a gardener too make sure you check out the new London Gardener’s Network, which is a great resource to share tips, show of your gardening skills and maybe make some gardening friends.

Grumblegarden: Progress

Ugh I’ve been a bit busy busy busy recently and working at home is torture because all I want to do is faff about with the seedlings and pick at the bigger tomato plants and make sure everyone is getting enough sun. I’ve also realised or identified a very dangerous Grumblegarden predator and that is the lesser spotted flatmate – whether it’s fag butts in their pots or knocking the plots or as I found out this weekend their lack of watering the plants after I’ve asked them! Ho hum. Anyway I got my first tomato last week which was very exciting!

I also got my first ladybird which is awesome as she can keep the pesky green / whitefly away from my chilli plant.I’m going to call her Billie after Billie Holiday who was really called Lady Day.

And recently I’ve been befriending the people in all my local delis and getting them to give me all their old tin cans which I’ve been painting and then this weekend I’ll transfer some of my tomato seedlings into them.

GrumbleGarden: Flowering not Flourishing

So I skipped home this weekend and proudly boasted to my mum how my lettuce leaves and rocket were flowering. I thought that this meant or perhaps proved how much of a badass gardener I was. Turns out I was wrong wrong wrong! Mother dear told me about something called bolting and it means that the flower is trying to steal all the goodness from the actual plant.

Anyway – long story short I immediately ripped the flowers from their stems as soon as I got home – the balcony may have fewer flowers but long may the grumblegarden prosper.

GrumbleGarden: Picture Update

So I went away back to my parents this weekend – good times, chatting with my mum under trees that she’d planted essentially when I was born. Kind of reminded me of Marx’s theory of alienation which I love and also one of the reasons I think I dabble in the art of growing things on my balcone [bal-cone].

Luckily I have these massive windows in my flat so when the sun is out it’s a bit like living in a greenhouse which pisses my flatmates off but I love it.

So when I went home I pestered my mum for saplings so I could become a grand master bonsai dude and as it turns out she had a couple of baby trees for me – this is my baby beech.

This is a ind of bad photo of my flowering Japanese cherry tree that my mum also donated me – the plan is to let both trees get a bit settled before I start hacking at them.

These are the two tomato plants – one is doing super well but the other is being crowded by the lavender – need to start shifting things around but troubled by what to put next to the lavender.

And here’s a little photo of the garden getting some sun with a lot of seedlings in prime sun position.