Re-potting some exotics!

Not too long ago I treated myself to some new plants when I visited the Eden Project in Cornwall on a short holiday. The plants I brought were the Japanese Sago Palm (Cycas revoluta), Tea (Camellia sinensis) and the coffee plant (Coffea arabica). Now these plants were in need of re-potting and were suffering in their tiny pots and lack of correct nutrients.

I decided to mix up some soil, combined with two different varieties: ericaceous and cactus soil. The reason behind the two is that the plants came in soil that originally looked loamy but do thrive in acidic soils. The coffee plant came as a few plants in one, which I have kept in one pot until they grow bigger and stronger (then I'll separate them).

Here's what I used:

My three 'newbies' looking a little sorry for themselves - especially the coffee with its browned leaves.

Destination: new pots! Just a few I had kicking about at home in need of a job.

I originally brought this compost for some cactus I'm also growing but it makes a good mixture for other plants.

Acidic soil.

How the mixture looked at the end.

For each of the plants I changed the mixture until I felt it looked ok. The tea plant had a mix of ericaceous:cactus soil of 1:1, as did the coffee. With the sago palm (not really a palm but that's its common name), I added some normal potting compost to make the mixture 1:1:1, as this plant thrives in most soils.

All three are recovering well and I'll post the after pictures very soon but for now, thanks for reading!

Autumn walk with the family

On Saturday we had decided as a family to go on a walk in our local area. The weather was perfect for an autumn afternoon and the colours were beautiful so I couldn't resist but take my camera!

My daughter Morgan walking through dropped leaves.

The Lea Valley Walk - a great use for an old railway line.

Not my best photo - it's a bit blurred but the ivy looked great growing up the tree. There's also holly berries captured here.

My son Ralph posing (hubby and daughter in distance)

Berries are plentiful this time of year for birds. 

Another poor quality photo! Don't know why it came out blurry, but I wanted to add this as the colours are so lovely.

Tucked away, just off the Lea Valley walk, near a golf club are ruins of an old mill. You can see the wheel burried among debris here.

Still at the ruins and this is where water was guided. The river Lea isn't far from here but no longer runs through the old mill for obvious reasons. 

Morgan's turn to pose!

The day was glorious and we took advantage of the good weather as rain was forecast for Sunday (which it did indeed rain). I love all the seasons for their differences but Autumn is always striking for reds, oranges and yellows. There is food in the form of berries for the birds. We sometimes pick sloes so that Steve (my husband) can make sloe gin in time for Christmas but this year we've not bothered. To be honest with you, he made so much over the last few years that we're still catching up on drinking that!

The one thing that has been haunting my mind though is the ruins of the old mill we came across. I tried to look it up on the internet when I got home yesterday but there only appears to be four mills recorded historically in the local area between Harpenden and Wheathampstead and none of them appear to be this one. If anyone can help identify or knows the history of this mill, please let me know!

Till next time!