Did I mention I thought I was going to have another letter published in the RHS magazine – The Garden? I received an email from them advising that mine was going to be the star letter in the forthcoming issue. It was about placing a Drosera Capensis plant in among your house plants to control fungus gnats. When the March edition arrived I hurriedly turned to the letters page, expecting to revel in my success – to misquote Will Shakespeare, the star letter was from a Rose by another name – what a let down (although I have to acknowledge, it was a good letter about bumblebees).
Did you know it was National plant a flower day on 12 March, National Flower Day on 21 March, World Gardening Day on 14 April, and if that’s not enough, there’s National flower arranging day to look forward to on 20 June! I could do with some lessons in flower arranging. I tend to faff around with cut flowers trying to make the arrangement look artistic, only to be completely dissatisfied with my efforts on returning to the room a little while later. Actually, I’ve found that bunches of daffodils and tulips do quite a good job of sorting themselves out, if you just plonk them in a vase and leave them to their own devices for a while. I’m looking forward to having sweet peas to bring into the house – my latest sowings are looking promising. I’ve only planted out the one surviving autumn sown sweet pea seedling so far – the trouble is, one day it’s warm and sunny, the next we’re back to frosty mornings. I’m going to try my very best to be patient and wait to put my seedlings out until after half term.
Talking of seedlings, GR* and I went to Spain for 5 days recently. The week beforehand I started panicking and googling the best way to keep seedlings alive for a week without watering. I decided to try the wet towel method. Luckily we seem to have drawers full of towels not fit for human consumption. I transferred all my trays of seedlings into the bath, but ran out of room so had to stray onto the bathroom window sill. I gave all the seedlings a good soaking from the bottom up and then sat them on sodden folded towels. They were my last thought every night when I was trying to get to sleep on my holiday, and the first thing I rushed to look at on my return. Miraculously they had all survived to tell the tale.
Now I expect you’ve heard of the gardening term ‘hardening off‘ in relation to seedlings. I’ve not been very good at this in the past. To be honest I find it a bit confusing. Before planting out, you’re supposed to put your seedlings outside each day for about a week to acclimatise them. I’ve been doing this but it’s a bit of a faff, carting them all out and bringing them back in – and for how many hours and how early or late in the day are you supposed to do this? One day half of them fell over in the chilly breeze and on other days they were either frazzled by hot sun or wind. Some of them have clearly not enjoyed the experience. I think I’ll wait a week and put some of them out in my plastic greenhouse to see how they fare. I have loads of cosmos seedlings this year. They’re a bit tall and spindly though. I’ve now learned this is because I started them too early – some are flowering already but it’s definitely too cold for them to go out yet.
Mr & Mrs BT are now extremely busy feeding their babies in my tit box. Thinking about how many caterpillars they need to find, I thought I would try to give them a helping hand. Mealworms look a bit like caterpillars don’t they? I did a bit of research and the consensus of opinion seems to be that feeding birds dried mealworms during the breeding season isn’t the best idea, as they can dehydrate both adults and babies. But, dried mealworms softened up in hot water or live mealworms are apparently all good. So, I bought some live mini ones at an exorbitant price.
I discovered that mealworms are the larvae of the flour beetle. It dawned on me – that was what those lumps were I sieved out of the NAAFI flour all those years ago, when we were living in Cyprus. I decided to take heed of the supplier’s advice – ‘order your mealworms in a bag, or in lidded tubs from which you can tip a few at a time – without having to touch them if you are squeamish!’ The tubs, which look like Chinese takeaway containers, need to be stored in a dark place at between 8-10 degrees (they’re in the garage in a cardboard box). Storage at this temperature causes the mealworms to become dormant and is supposed to prevent them from morphing into beetles. So those were what the little beetles were that used to run around my larder in Cyprus. Anyway Mr & Mrs BT and many other blue tits swoop in as soon as I’ve tipped their daily ration into my insulating taped bird feeder. I wonder if I could breed my own mealworms? On second thoughts, maybe not – I don’t think GR would be impressed.
Last month I mentioned invasion of my bottom border by Jack-by-the-hedge. The one plant I allowed to stay has grown quite tall and has small white flowers. Pretty enough, and I noticed on a visit to my local RHS garden this week, that Jack has been allowed a little space in some of their borders, so I’ll do the same next year for a select few. The most recent episode of Gardeners’ World featured a gardener who forages from her garden – one of her favourite flavours is provided by Jack, so now he’s a bit of a celeb!
Though I say so myself, my garden is looking pretty good at the moment – it’s a mass of pinks and purples – my favourite flower colours!
*The characters featured in my blogs are family members and friends – you can see who’s who here
Rambling Rose 
Very informative as always Rambling Rose. When I worked in the local hospital, back in the 1900’s and people were permitted to fetch flowers to brighten their loved ones day. I used to tell the patients ‘I’m no florist, but I can stop them dying and put them in water for you’. A patient, who had been a florist told me ‘if you put them in the vase, one stem at a time, starting with your tall stems and any greenery, you can’t go far wrong’. I’ve tried that method both at the hospital, and in my own home, and it doesn’t look half bad!
I too have had those tiny black critters in my flour. I wonder if the mealworm larvae come in infected flour, or if the beetles sniff flour out and home in on your cupboard? It’s one of those what came 1st, the chicken or the egg questions isn’t it? I try not to have flour in now, unless it’s for something specific. And only buy what I need, or use up any leftovers. Mini meal worms? Sounds like an excuse to overcharge, but it sounds like Mr and Mrs BT have appreciated your efforts. I wonder if you could cultivate your own mini mealworm in a batch of flour? 🤔. You could then sell them in batches for lots of money 😂.
Your garden looks beautiful, as always. Your poly greenhouse is technically a cold frame. It’s an unheated greenhouse. You could put your seedlings in there and open the door during the day and zip it up at night, so after breakfast, unzip, after dinner, zip up. No messing with lifting them in and out, worrying about the sun or them blowing over. Then after half term, move them outside proper. Either into heavier pots which won’t blow over, or in the ground. I got a japanese acer last year which survived winter, grew new leaves, and now all the new leaves are dying 😕. I hope it will be okay. And I need to do something with the cherry trees too!
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