January in the garden and some Peanut for his fans
Peanut learning about the great outdoors. He's allowed outside because although he's still a little scared, he comes if called. Today he chased butterflies
Brinjal (Eggplant) on the left, sweet potato on the right. I grow sweet potato for the leaves, not the tubers - the leaves are tasty stir-fried vegetables.
Today, disaster struck although it's also normal to get a hail storm or two every season with my climate and altitude. The stones were large, 10-15mm in diameter so the vegetables were shredded:
baby marrows ruined. It was suffering from mildew and the marrows not maturing so I will take the plant out and turn it into green manure
I harvested and cooked the damaged kale and the sweetcorn was already harvested and the beans are reaching end stage so I am not concerned about the damage there. It's mainly the brinjals that took a pounding.
Sanseveria are of course tough-leaved but I took this picture of the hailstones after the storm had passed. Some of the other succulents like echeveria are bruised but they will be ok.
That's enough vegetables, on to the succulents:
These aeoniums are flowering but that means it's time for them to die. Many aeoniums are monocarpic, meaning that they flower only once in their lifetime
Many succulents are flowering right now but, counter-intuitive as it sounds, many flowering succulents should not be watered, as they are resting from active growth and damp soil will often cause them to rot.
Ceropegia rendalli likes being watered in summer but not too much. As a plant that grows under bushes as a creeper in nature, it also appreciates cool, shady conditions
This Euphorbia isn't being watered at all, because it is a cutting and hasn't made roots yet. Perhaps next spring
Crassula elegans is another plant that rests during the hottest months but will only flower at the beginning of winter
Finally, some Adromischus:
Adromischus marianae The odd little insect on the flower stem is a sap-sucking planthopper.
Succulents can be difficult to keep alive if you are unaware of their growing and resting phases. Contrary to popular opinion, many types are also not fans of extreme amounts of sunlight so it can seem tricky to grow them successfully. I like growing the rarer more odd-looking succulents and I find it's crucial to find out what the unique needs are for a particular species. Many of the succulents above are native to my part of the world, which makes it easier but it still takes a bit of practice to grow these beautiful plants.
Posted for @simplymike's Garden Challenge. Details here: https://steemit.com/hive-177682/@simplymike/steemit-community-garden-journal-challenge-january-with-steem-bounty
Beautiful photos and flowers too :-)))
For some reason, I did not find on the Internet a photo of the flowering of Crassula elegans :-((
They will look like this https://www.zelenelisty.cz/clanky/werbar---sukulenty/crassula-elegans.html
Many thanks!
awesome! on your pictures they look so promising.. that I want to have Adromischus marianae and Ceropegia rendalli somewhere in an eye distance of my place... but actually I dont, no, no. I better restrict myself to your pics -- it will save me some room 8-)
!BEER and !DERANGED !MARLIANS or do you prefer !COFFEEA in the morning?
Sadly, you would need a greenhouse and growlights in winter if you wanted to keep those. You are very welcome to enjoy mine, I must do more posts. And, thank you for the beers, etc. 😉
correct! it would be a good solution ))
Congratulations @nikv! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPDo not miss the last post from @steemitboard:
Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!
This is such a geometrical perfect plant :-)
yes! When it's hot and dry, they can go bright red, too
I always thought succulents were bulletproof. I should probably read up on the more. I have snake plants (Sansevieria, by the look of your picture?), which I've brought indoors because they're supposed to be great air cleaners. I killed one, I think because I let it get too dry, but the other thrived and I've now been able to split it. I'm wondering how they go with not being near a window. Would it be too low light further into a room? I have them in the bathrooms at the moment, but I'd like to have them in a few more places.
Yes, snake plants are Sansevieria. They actually prefer lower light environments, they don't like full sun much at all. They grow under trees and bushes in nature.
However, most plants will do better closer to windows but South and West-facing windows will also be fine for Snake plants
Hello!
This post has been manually curated, resteemed
and gifted with some virtually delicious cake
from the @helpiecake curation team!
Much love to you from all of us at @helpie!
Keep up the great work!
Manually curated by @rem-steem.
@helpie is a Community Witness.
Thank you!
It is a pity that hail damaged your plants that you have grown. I hope this does not happen again.
We accept that it must happen every season
To be honest, I only learned last year that the leaves of sweet potato can actually be eaten. I tried stir-frying them with other veggies twice, but wasn't really impressed by the taste. But if I remember correctly, they're pretty healthy.
OMG, that Crassula elegans looks amazing. I keep being surprised by succulents. I never liked them too much, so I never paid any proper attention to them, but the more I see, the more I'm starting to fall in love. There are so many beautiful succulents, apparently.
That reminds me, I need to water my aloes and the succulents I have downstairs. It has been weeks since they got water.
I have no trouble keeping veggies alive in the garden or the greenhouse, but indoor plants are a bit more of a challenge. Especially succulents. Because they don't need watering that often, I tend to forget to do it completely. Other times, I forget I had already watered them earlier that week, so I water them again. Three days later, again.
And then my succulents die and I don't have a clue why, until my girlfriends asks me to think back and try to remember how often I watered them in one week time.
Thanks for joining again, @nikv
Oops. Water succulents by feeling the soil first ;)If it's dried out, yes you can.
I'll continue with the process of showing amazing succulents, I am an avid collector and I like to spread the disease :)
Tu jardín quedó destruido por el granizo, que lastima. Pero tus suculentas están bellas. Y la que florece, ni se diga. Tienes maní, que yo nunca sembré y tampoco se me dan las coles.
Your garden was destroyed by hail, which hurts. But your succulents are beautiful. And the one that blooms, don't even say!!. You have peanuts, which I never sowed, nor do I get the cabbages.
Shredded garden... ouch! Reminds me of when we lived in Texas and late summer thunderstorms would bring hail; sometimes on a HUGE scale. Very destructive... for a while, I had a hailstone the size of a tennis ball in my freezer, to show to skeptics who thought I was telling tall tales!
Peanut is adorable!
=^..^=
Thanks! Yes, texas would get similar weather and I have also seen pictures of those huge hailstones here. Fortunately never been on the receiving end of one
Haha, replied with my curating account ;)