Rockpooling !

As always in life, time passes by with alarming speed, and as such Ive noticed I haven't posted in 4 years.  THATS scary.  So here's the fruits of a little rock pooling trip I did with my two little girls at Wembury Beach today :-)

Common Blenny

Common Shore Crab

Tiny white crab I cant Identify

Garden

After a very long grey wet winter, and a similarly grey wet (floods) summer, my Hostas have come back very strong (yay!)
Flowering like crazy!
Good job too, cos my Clematis have been very weak and weedy this year. Most disappointing.

Too long.

Wow. Has it really been a year since I posted ?  I guess it has. After several years avoiding it like the plague, I ended up joining Facebook, so I suppose that's where Ive been posting stuff, but I like to think I'm back and intend to be more regular.

Garden Update

My Camellias didn't do well at all. In fact they died right away, despite having the right ericaceous (acid) soil etc. Oh well, Have to try again.

Mike came round the other day, and we had a mad gardening afternoon and evening.
We got the Russian Vine planted out back, (where my Niobe Clematis used to be, but didnt survive)


and planted no less than Seven roses out the front, all in peat pockets we had to dig in the harsh builders sand and debris that is masquerading as my front garden.
Ive had to drop Daisy's Sunflowers in the middle of them at the moment, as there isn't any other place for them to live.


My Black Bamboo had seemed to die off, but there was new shoots coming through after the harsh winter, so we cut it back, and will re pot it soon in decent soil.


The Aquilegia in the Black cube didn't work either, so now I have x2 Hosta in there, and they seem to like it enough to flower, so maybe that's that one sorted now.


Over all, the left hand side of the front, which has been planted with desert plants (and a pot of lillies), had done really well. Howerver, our Sweetpeas in baskets havent done well, despite a lot of care.

Tank Update

I removed a single plant from the front of my tank last night, and cleaned the glass, and the change is incredible. Taking out a single plant has made the tank look totally different and feel far deeper and more 3 dimensional. Just one plant made a massive impact. Make me wonder what other things can be changed irrevocably by such a tiny change.

Camelias

Mike bought me and Hannah a couple of rescued camellias. We've potted them up for the balcony. They are in very good condition, and should do well.
Ive pet them either side of the rescued climbing rose I got last year back that's climbing up my bird feeder.

Spring planting

Planted up my Black Cube with 4 different Aquilegia this weekend. Got 4 contrasting colors, black, blue, red, and mixed. They are hardy perennials that don’t mind total shade, so we'll see how they do.

Also planted up Hannah's Belfast sink (the one from my parents old house) with a lupin, miniature daffodils, anemone, snowdrops, and bluebells. They are all (supposedly) hardy perennials (our favs, as less work then annuals), and tolerant of deep shade. Again, we'll see, but they should look great when they flower :-)


Also planted a White Periwinkle in the basket out back that’s on the bracket my brother made. The fuchsias we had in it died off (lack of light I think), but the other two Periwinkles are doing very well, so a white one next to them should look nice and do well.


My Clematis President is doing well too. Covered in buds.

Shrimps

Here's a piccy of x3 of my shrimps.
Green, Crystal Red and an Amano.


Here's the Crystal Red close up.

Tank Plants over time

Heres a Before and After piccy of my tank now that the plants have grown.
I think its about 12 to 14 months growth.

Woodpecker

After a rather crappy morning (understatement), I was somewhat uplifted when I spotted this fella on a tree through the wood out of my kitchen window (AND I was lucky enough to get my camera in time!). Ive spent YEARS trying to see one of these, and suddenly at a real low point in life, one pops up when I least expect it.
That's life I guess.

Greater Spotted woodpecker.


We must have been on a roll, because on this same day, we also saw a Mistle Thrush, almost hit a Golden Pheasant in the Car, and walked into a fox that trotted down into its den under a fallen tree in broad daylight, and then, whilst driving home after going for a walk, we had a huge Buzzard sit on a tree right next to us in a country lane. Not bad at all!

Sign of the times.

Are things getting this bad ?

Tank Update

Having that awesome Betta was cool. What wasn't cool was his predilection for eating my shrimp.
He's now gone back to the shop, and Ive replaced some of the little fellas.

I now have...
x2 Amano Algae Eaters
x2 Red Cherry
x2 Black Bee
x1 Crystal Red
(possibly x2 Clear Tigers, but I haven't seem them since the Betta incident.)

x2 Glowlight Tetras
x2 Black Tetras
x2 SilverTip Tetras

On another note, Ive also taken out the twin lamp from my tank (Aquastart 320) which was red and white (for color and plants) and put in a twin White lamp (just for maximum plant growth).
It means the colors on the fish aren't so good, but the greens of the plants against the black substrate and background are vivid, and the plants should do better.

Ive also fitted a small cheap (from china) little strip of blue LEDs, to see if I can produce a little moonlight effect in the late evenings when the main lamp goes off.

Here's the fitting photos.
You can see the main tank and the little unobtrusive bolts on top.


Here's the bolts from the top. I tried to make them as flush as possible.


The inside. You can see the LED strip, and the cable I routed down the side and clipped in. I had to use a little grinder to cut out some plastic on the left side to make the cable run out the way, but it seems to have worked out ok :-)

New Fish

I decided to go for a single Specimen for the tank, as Kribensis etc are better in pairs, and I'm not happy my tank has the space for them to be happy.
Found a cracking Betta (Siamese Fighting fish) in a Bronze color with slight blue hues.
He seems happy enogh at the moment :-)

Tank Update

I cleaned the glass on my tank, and its looking nice.
The Crypto's are putting up extra shoots against the glass on the left and right, and the java fern at the back has made good growth and is starting to act as the background it was planned to be.
I only have 2 black tetras, 2 glowlight tetras, and 2 silver tip tetras left, plus x2 Amano Algae eating shrimps.

(The pic doesn't really do it justice)


I Plan to find a nice colorful specimen of some kind that's easily kept and tolerant, to stand out against the black and green. Maybe a Kribensis.


Or something bright blue.

Big Dog

Funny some things you see in cars....
This dog was even bigger than it looks in this piccy.

CLEMATIS WILT ! :-(

Had several clematis die back from wilt. A real pain.
Ive been told to try a systemic fungicide, but the net says thats no good, but I'll probably try it anyway.

My Niobe died back very fast indeed.
Approx a week.
Notice how half the plant has still got a healthy growth, and half has died off.

6th August


12th August


My Pot grown Cirrhosa Freckles seems to have died a wilty death too....

Fushias

Happy to report the Fuchsias we put into a hanging basket are coming into flower.

Wendy's Beauty


Devonshire Dumpling.

Gargen Rockery

I Finally made a start on the actual groundwork in the garden.

I ended up starting in the far corner, as quite by accident I was given some granite lumps from a neighbour which were perfect for the rockery I had planned for that spot. I found that Ferns are a great plant for very shaded areas, so along with the weed suppressing sheeting I had, I just needed to get the railway sleeper to have all the materials.

Grass stripped off. Soil (soil? I mean junk from the house build like stone and sand) was dug out and replaced with good peat and earth mix.


Railway sleepers were cemented in, and membrane laid, and ferns planted.


Finally, The gravel was laid in around the ferns.

Garden

After the very harsh winter, things seem to have come back with strength.

We've now got some trellis up on the wall on the balcony for the Jasmine, along with some wall art, and some baskets, with Periwinkle (to survive the constant shade) and 2 types of compact trailing fuchsia.

Daisy

Heres a bunch of piccies....

Rare capture when she isnt wriggling.


With Mummy, earlier in the year.


Getting some fresh air in early spring.