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OCTOBER
Shows all over, holiday been and gone back to the begonias. The end
of September and well into October plants still need watering, I make
sure all plants have a couple of feeds of low nitrogen feed to help
ripen the tubers. Cuttings are given a balanced feed, the cuttings are
kept going for as long as possible. Towards the end of September the
greenhouse is cleared (A) and
insulation is put in place ready for the onslaught of winter, I fix up
bubble wrap first (B) then fleece on
top (C). With the roof I go under
the horizontal bars, it will lower the height quite a bit and I also
double up on the fleece over the roof section.
Did I mention winter, October started more like summer 30°f
(D). With the greenhouse now
insulated time to get the cuttings in (E)
and start looking for some pollen for some seed for next year. First big
problem the greenhouse is full with cuttings, I must have got carried
away with the kraft knife again (F).
The shade house is also full to bursting point
(G) and still some plants & cuttings to find room for
(H). Somehow they all need to end up
in the greenhouse. Will have to have a big cut back before next year
starts, a cut back on the amount of varieties will also have to be put
into place.
With the weather being so warm and mild, time to look for a few
grains of pollen. To date I have pollen from Sweet Dreams,
(I) Powder Puff, Evelyn Dunn, (J)
Beryl Rhodes, Golden Hind & George McCormick. A small paint brush is
used to transfer the pollen (K).
Once the cross is made it's not long before the petals fall & the stigma
starts to turn brown and wither (L)
hopefully the seed pod will stay on till it has ripened. The only plants
left flowering now is this group of Evansiana in the garden
(M). Must now get on with a list of
varieties that I will keep for showing next year and reduce the number
of plants I grow.
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