Butterflies Enjoying The Sedum Nectar.

It's been lovely weather here on the Irish Riviera this week.  The weekend is supposed to be good too and and any excuse to enjoy the Indian Summer before the rain and dropping temperatures from next Tuesday.  That's one thing about living on coast  in the countryside you become obsessed with checking next week's weather.

The grass is still growing and I am still mowing it weekly.  I have noticed occasional fungus growing and heavy morning dews.

I sauntered round the gardens yesterday and noticed Butterflies on my Sedums.  I have lots of them in pots and in the borders:

If you want to  attract  Butterflies in your garden get some Sedums.  

Guess what?  A butterfly landed on my hand yesterday.

Here's  a great song to go with the Sedum and the Butterfly post.  It's by Big Big Train.  They are one special Prog Rock band I would love to see live.  The vocalist reminds me of  Steve Hogarth  from Marillion.  I've seen  Marillion twice.  Once with Fish and once with Steve Hogarth.  I also saw Fish again last year at A New Day Festival in Kent.  

Have a great weekend. 

A Walk A Long The Road.

 I went for an eight miles walk along the road yesterday.  I've  pulled my back gardening twice in the last week.  It's an old injury that plays up now and again.  I have discovered over the last few years walking somehow frees the muscles and takes away any toxins.   It's like a free outside gymnasium.

I never had any conversations with anybody during my walk.  Just a few waves from passing cars and I listened to some classic Heavy Rock on Spotify through my earphones on my mobile phone.

There is a new kind of litter flotsam and jetsam in the verges: the face mask.  It's a change from discarded coffee cups and cigarettes  and their packets with their horrible photos of smoke damaged lungs.  I noticed a county council sign telling people to take their litter home, but I didn't see any litter bins.  On a holiday in the Algarve last year.  We noticed litter bins everywhere, in the streets, sides of the roads and on the beaches.  They even have bins for plastic.  

It was a rather hazy autumnal day and it felt very humid and my T shirt was wet though with sweat after the walk.  I think  it's the waterproof materials in my walking coat that turns me into my own mobile sauna.  That's  Beara Peninsula over in the distance across the bay.

Do You Remember The Good Old Days When You Could Go To A Rock Festival?

 I think I would go mad if it wasn't for good old You Tube.   I haven't seen any live music or even been inside a pub this year.  

One of my recurring pastimes is to look up past concerts which I attended.  One such festival was A New Day Festival in Faversham in Kent last August.   It's  a beautiful setting: Mount Ephraim Gardens.  

There are two stages, it's  capacity is 5000 and it's aimed at the over fifties Rocker like you truly.   It was a memorable weekend with fabulous weather, not very good festival beer (plastic glasses probably?🤔)  and full of knowledgeable festival revellers just out for a good time.

Here's a video from the festival:

Do you think we will see some live music again soon?

Filling The Polytunnel With Cuttings.

It's  been a typical Sunday morning.  I have been watering the cuttings in the polytunnel, digging out more of the homemade compost from the compost heap and filling plant pots with it and I also made about forty more shrub cuttings.  They are mainly shrub cuttings but I have a lot of Osteospermums that have rooted also.  

Here's some pictures of my ever filling polytunnel:

These have all rooted.  Mainly Hebe plants.  Nice welly Bob Dave.

I notice that Lidl is selling Organic onions for 49 Cents this week.  I think that's  one of the reasons we grow more shrubs and perennials than we grow vegetables these days.  

You have got to have an hobby living in the countryside next to  the sea.  

Under The Hedge Cuttings Gardening.

Regular readers know we have a "magic" kitchen window.  We also have a "magic" under the hedge way of growing or getting cuttings to root.  

I fill up a plastic module tray with compost and place six cuttings in the compost in the container.   I give them a water and place them under one of my Griselina hedges and check them now again if we have a dry spell.😎

Then after three or four weeks  I check them for any signs of roots?   I ended up with seven new Buddleia shrubs.

Sure enough these Buddleia cuttings have grown roots.  The Butterflies will be happy with more bushes being planted and more flowers for them next year.

I  checked some other rooted cuttings and potted them up all morning with my homemade compost which you can see in the bucket.  Most of them are Hebe cuttings.  Soon they will go outside and I will make some more cuttings.

I Am Hooked On Alaska The Last Frontier.

 A farmer friend told me about an Alaska Homestead family programme on free channel 172 DMAX every Monday to Friday night.  They cut down trees, shoot bears for food, fish for Atlantic salmon, grow vegetables and farm the incredibly beautiful wilderness in Alaska

Would or could you live in the middle of nowhere and farm and hunt in such a landscape?  The winter storms and nine months of snow put me off.  We live fifteen minutes from a supermarket or kebab house by car.  That's  far enough for me.  

Any road.  Please watch it and let me know what you think of Alaska The Last Frontier.  

Here's their theme tune and a snippet of what the programme is about:

Propagating Dragon or Voodoo Lily's.

Welcome to my polytunnel  office.

 The wife  recently bought an Arum lily from our local German garden centre and supermarket and beer  and wine retailers.  Sure enough it flowered on our  "magic" kitchen window sill.  They are also called Dragon and Voodoo Lily's.

It's stopped flowering and so I decided it was time for Doctor Northsider the plant propagation fanatic to carry out an operation.

I split them with my knife into six new plants.  They are potted on and five of them are going to spend their winter in "Portugal" my plastic friend.  The other plant is back on the " magic window sill.  

Here's  your old mate Uli Jon Roth playing Voodoo  Child.  Did I tell you I saw him live last year?  Do you think we will see live music ever again?