My Own Little Desert

Our greenhouse had become something of a white Elephant.

I had always grown tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers in there but last year, for obvious reasons, nothing got done.  The year before that all the cucumbers developed mildew and the tomatoes got the blight.

The year before that we had such a bumper crop we were up to our knees in them, we had so many we could not even give them away in the finish.  This year we decided, no more.

When there are just two of you, gluts of veg/fruit are more trouble than they are worth.  We had some shelving in there though and my cacti were all in little pots, apart from two which were in enormous pots and stood outside during the better months. 

How all these plants survived I do not know.  Even cacti need to be watered in the summer and they also like a regular feed, the type you would use with tomatoes.  They were the last thing on my mind last year and I did not even remember to remind Mike to look after them.

So there they sat, no water at all, no food and baking in the sun under glass.  But they are hardy plants, used to these conditions and we only lost a couple of the more tender ones.

The inevitable happened.  As the greenhouse was not being used it became a depository for all sorts of rubbish.  The cry of "bung it in the greenhouse" was a familiar sound in our home.

Last week I took a look at it.  It was horrible.  So I had a brainwave.  With him indoors doing most of the donkeywork, it was all cleaned out.  The ground was dug over well, lots of sharp sand was added along with some gravel.  Then one by one, my surviving cacti were planted into the ground, given a good watering and then a thick layer of gravel on the top.

It is amazing how, in just a week, they are starting to really thrive.  They must be so relieved to be out of constricting pots.  Of course, we shall have to insulate well in the winter and there will be no watering whatsoever from October until next March.  Hopefully they will survive and flourish. Two have already burst into bloom.

So now I have my own little piece of desert, here in the South East corner of Essex (which as a matter of interest for you is classified as being a desert anyway, having the least rainfall in the country normally).

 

A few larger pebbles scattered around for some contrast and a couple of  pieces of bogwood from an old aquarium and it looks quite impressive.

Long may it thrive.

Could I remind you all to go  to Magic Smoke and cast your vote for the Nice Matters award logo.  Thank you.

AOL Journals: Magic Smoke

Tags: cacti