Cardiocrinum Giganteum

Cardiocrinum Giganteum, or ginormous mega lily is a plant I have had an eye on for a while. I even bought some seed a couple of years ago but that did not work out. So I was quite delighted to get my hands on this one. Cardiocrinum Giganteum is a monocarpic bulb and I don't expect it to bloom this year even though the bulb seems like a good size it is more probably that it will flower next year. I planted it in a fairly shady site with very nutrient rich soil and will keep it properly watered throughout the summer. These are actually pretty hardy but don't love inter wet. 

With a bit of luck the flower spike can reach higher than a tall basketball player so it should be quite a sight. 

Flower Portrait: Tulip

I went to a photo exebition by Eric Breed featuring lost tulips photographed against a black background. They were really gorgeous so I thought I would give it a shot myself.

Calceolaria Uniflora

The Calceolaria Uniflora that I bought at the Alpine Society sale is now very much in flower. I really love these weird little things, they really do look like concerned aliens with their mouths wide open. I know the chances are that the plant will die after flowering (like last year) but it is still quite a good deal. It costs about the same as a bunch of tulips and it is infinitely more interesting.

I'm just keeping it in its pot and if it survives the summer I'll do some more research on how to keep it alive. I also noticed just how different it is from the plant I had last year. That was Calceolaria Uniflora Darwinii, with a slightly bigger and wider flower kept much lower on the plant. Picture below.

Things Finally Start Going

Things are finally starting to happen on the allotment. It is exciting but also a lot of work. Especially because the grass is going completely rampant.

Here we reclaimed some ground from the encroaching grass next to the garlic patch. I planted some left over onion sets I had since the ground is way to rough for sowing.

Speaking of my beloved Alliums we finally laid our hands on some wild garlic plants. It's not easy to find a shady spot for them so I build a little shade guard with some sticks. This way I can finally pick wild garlic without making some funny mistakes.

The maincrop potatoes are in even though they will probably be eaten by the mole crickets. Which is why I planted some earlies back home in a container.

Perhaps a bit prematurely but we put in a couple of artichoke seedlings.

I've expanded the berry collection with some black currant.

Horseradish is still looking good. I guess I'll have to wait a while before they have harvestable root systems and quite frankly I can't hardly wait.

In a bid to beat the weeds we are planting a lot of the plugs into strawberry plastic. This disintegrates in a year or two and should help keep the ground moist, warm and weed free.

The soil beneath last years manure/pumpkin heap is absolutely brilliant. This is probably the best chance at success for crops that needs fine soil so here I sowed Scorzanera (is this the same as Salsify?) and red carrots.

The anemones in the perennial/fruit bed are adding a nice splash of colour.

Finally I dug up last years Dahlia thinking it would have thoroughly rotted after a harsh winter. But no, there were only a couple of mushy bits with the majority of the bulbs nice and firm. I replanted it towards the front of the allotment to make room for the onion sets.