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splinter1804 wrote: Good morning everyone – Well the Tree Ferns, Bird’s Nest and very large clump of Ae Caudata ‘Eipperi’ (Four builder’s barrows full and overhanging) have now gone and are planted in their new home at the Museum. Barry (the volunteer who has taken on the job of gardener) asked how come these plants grew so large, and I had to tell him it was all part of an early experiment. When I planted them all I tried an old trick I always used when I planted my tomatoes, I put a heap of frozen fish off-cuts, heads and guts in the hole and then planted them on top. After a month or so when it all started to break down they started to take off and never looked back. It seems this works on all plants although I’m not quite brave enough to try it in the brom pots. When I was in my teens I once new an old fisherman who was also a keen gardener and he told me about doing this. We were talking about fish one day and he said he always used the lot; heads, off-cuts, guts and all and it was when I said I couldn’t bring myself to eat the guts, that he told me about using it in the garden. So there you go Wendy, get Johnny to start stock piling the fish off-cuts in the freezer until potting time and give it a go in some of his large Vrieseas. I must say I don’t think this is anything new as just recently I read where the North American Indians always put a tiny fish in with each grain of corn they planted, so maybe my old fisherman friend knew of this before he claimed it as his idea.
I’m really starting to get a bit cheesed off with this Dave’s Garden Site as it took me four attempts to post my pic’s yesterday and judging by what I read I’m not alone. I know Sue used to also have a lot of trouble posting as well and this is probably why we lost her to Face Book. However, one day soon they might be able to do something to fix the site and we will all be trouble free (I wish).
Wendy – What you say about the bloke knocking the tray off the roof of his car under Coles reminds me of a joke I heard about a semi driver in Victoria. It seems he drove his semi under an overhead railway bridge with low clearance and got it firmly stuck. When the police arrived a young "smart arsed" constable asked, “What are you parked there for mate?” Quick as a flash the driver said, “I stopped here because I got lost trying to find where I have to deliver this bloody bridge to”.
Colleen – It seems your computer has also been bitten by the "Dave’s Garden Gremlin", Join the club!
Shirley – You are quite right, the area where the Bird’s Nest and Tree Fern went from was the area I recently put shade cloth over but haven’t up till now fully utilised it because of those two large plants. The other area was down the back of the yard where I had planted a banana tree to shade my seedlings from the hot summer afternoon sun. I didn’t realise it would spread and get so large and consequently it was blocking the northern winter sun from my shade house so down they came as well. It was when I cut them down I realised how large the Aechmea Caudata had become so decided it had to go too as I had more in another garden up the yard. I will transplant a nice apricot coloured Frangipani there from another area and it will shade the young seedlings in the summer but will drop its leaves in the autumn and won’t block the winter sun from the shade house. At present everything just looks a bloody awful mess and I still have to dig out the rest of the bananas. (I hope their roots don’t go too deep).
Shirley, you got me all excited when I saw the small picture you posted and initially thought, “what a wonderful colour for a Neo.” and then when I enlarged it (before I read what you had written) I was disappointed to see it wasn’t a new coloured Neo. at all but an Echeveria.
That’s about it from me now so I'll see if I can post any pic’s today without any further problems. First is Ae. Recurvata 'Benrathii' (which are all coming into flower now), Second is Edmundoa Lindenii Rosea also in flower at present, third is Ae. Recurvata 'Inky’, Fourth is 2007 flowering of Vriesea Carinata and finally the nice dark Ae. Merlo.
