When I went to the Gardener's World Live show in June, I bought a water lily - Nymphaea Pygmaea Helvola. This is a very small water lily and ideal for small ponds. The plant already had a bud when it was purchased and it has gone on to flower and produce another bud which is waiting to open. As you can see, the flowers are nowhere near as showy as the larger specimens, but it's a good compromise for a small pond.
I have had another shuffle around in the greenhouse as everything is growing so large, there just isn't enough room in there to house everything. The courgette has been moved outdoors and is now producing some fruit. There are two courgettes on the plant at the moment and lots more flowers waiting to open.
As the peppers are still getting holes in the fruit, I decided I would also move this outdoors. I don't think I am going to get any edible fruit off this, but you never know, moving it outdoors might just help.
The tomato plants are still in the greenhouse and now have small fruits on them. They are getting a weekly feed with high potash liquid organic tomato food, as are the cucumber plants, which so far have produced one cucumber.
The aubergine plant now has four new flowers on it, so following advice, I am trying to help nature along by transferring pollen with the aid of a small paintbrush. I am still hopeful of getting some fruit off this plant this year.
As mentioned in a previous post, the Stella cherry tree which I purchased last year and planted in a half barrel has produced the huge harvest of one cherry. This has been picked and eaten, and it was delicious. I'm hoping that the tree will have settled sufficiently to provide me with a little larger harvest next year, however, for now at least, I'm buying my cherries in!
Awww, how cute is that water lily? Does your resident frog like it? :)
ReplyDeleteG x
I'm curious to know how and where do you transfer the pollen to on your aubergines. I didn't have a lot of luck with them last year, but I am trying one more time. I have 2 growing outside the greenhouse on the lottie in pots, and 4 inside the greenhouse.
ReplyDeleteI haven't noticed the frog anywhere near the waterlily. He usually likes to sit around the Mimulus. I think this is because it has put on so much new growth and it's rather bushy. He lets me get quite close to him though, I think he thinks he's camouflaged and I can't see him.
ReplyDeleteI don't have much experience with aubergines myself. I've tried to grow them for the past two years without success, but following advice from Libby, I have been trying to help them with pollination. Aubergines have flowers containing male and female parts, so I've just been moving a paintbrush about inside the flower and then moving on and doing the same in the other flowers. I think this helps to dislodge the pollen from the anthers and hopefully, transfer it to the stigma. I still haven't got any fruit growing though, so we'll have to see what happens.
Your little lily looks beautiful against the dark water.
ReplyDeleteAre you growing your aubergines outside or in? Mine are just in pots in the garden and they've got lots of fruit (I worry too many for any to get really big, but I'm not really sure if they should be thinned). The bees did all the pollination.
At least your one cherry was really special!