I have always been fascinated by water butts - the clever way that once they are full, the diverter sends the overflow back into the pipe and down the drain.
Every time I water my plants, I diligently refill my three watering cans when I've finished, to leave maximum space in the butts just in case there is any rain. I'd hate to waste any water! My friend Cathy has a fabulous arrangement with 5 interlinked butts behind her outhouse [a wonderful Victorian building, there's a date on one of the bricks] She rarely runs out of water for her lush vegetables beds.
The Raised Beds continue to delight us - plenty of lettuce and potatoes at the minute, and in the greenhouse the mini tomatoes are ripening. We've had the last mini cucumber - I shall get one of these again next year from Toftwood Nurseries.
In May, my neighbour's daughter gave me her mother's orchid, and it has recently bloomed. In June, Adrian gave me a daisy as a thank you for watering his garden. And in July I received this bromeliad from old Kirby Muxloe friends who came to lunch.
Note; I put it outside simply to photograph. It is currently living on the coffee table in a bright spot [but not full sunshine]
It seems OK there -but I will have to move it to a safer spot when the grandchildren arrive.
It seems OK there -but I will have to move it to a safer spot when the grandchildren arrive.
All your Bromeliad Care Tips will be gratefully accepted. Thank you!
We only have one down pipe, in an inconvenient spot at the front of our house. As it's a semi the others are all in our neighbour's garden!
ReplyDeleteThen you definitely need a syphon for your bathwater!
DeleteWe have two linked butts which take the water from our garage roof, with a hosepipe diverting any overspill onto the lawn. We don't have a downpipe on the house and I was thinking of buying a diverter and another butt for greywater, but now we have 2 new recycling wheelie bins, making a total of 4 wheelie bins, so there isn't room (well, not if we actually want to be able to exit the back door!)
ReplyDeleteSo many butts and bins - less room for blossoms and beans!
DeleteI love a waterbutt!!! Ours are currently, annoyingly disconnected as we've been having an issue with Pigeon detritus. Our butt's were full of feathers, poo, muck coming from the gutter. CBC got up on a ladder last night and tried to unblock with the help of our fabulous neighbour, Martyn.
ReplyDeleteOh that's horrid. Well done cbc & Martyn
DeleteYour three plants look very healthy. Sadly I know nothing about Bromeliads way too specialist for me, I can see even kill an African Violet but I am successful with orchids not sure why but they seem to thrive in my care and go on for years. That looks a super water butt. We have a large one but a different design that gets all the water from our bungalow and a small one that gets the water from our brick built potting shed which is useful. Regards Sue H
ReplyDeleteI'm learning to manage my orchids, but this new plant scares me !🪴
DeleteUnfortunately we have no where to put a water butt. The only down water pipe at the back of the house is by the side gate, so we wouldn't be able to fully open the gate. Your bromeliad needs to be in dappled shade and you can either water into the cup, but change the water every couple of days so it doesn't get stagnant or water into soil, but not too much as they don't like being very wet and they rot. Xx
ReplyDeleteThank you for this truly helpful advice. I carefully syringed 50 ml of boiled, cooled water into the cup and it's all gone now. I shall do my best to avoid stagnant water and rot
DeleteI don't know why I suddenly became anonymous, but glad the plant advice was of help. They can be quite tricky plants. Xx
DeleteThanks Gill , your anonymous was helpful, and so I published it!
DeleteI water my bromeliad just as you said, as needed.
ReplyDeleteMine blooms every year in August and the flower lasts for months. Then it has little 'babies' and when the main plant starts looking shabby, I transplant each baby into their own pot and eventually the parent dies.
Circle of life. ~ skye
Thank you!
DeleteOh, I forgot to say that I never boiled the water, just straight from the tap. Living on the wild side! ~ skye
ReplyDeleteNorfolk water is very hard, so we filter it anyway, so there's usually some cool water in the kettle I can use
DeleteGood luck with the beautiful bromeliad. I'm glad you got some good advice from a commenter. I had a calla lily which refused to behave, and seemed to die and then return, only to die again. In the end I left the bulb in the pot and stuck a rooted sprig of a poinsettia in the soil. (I'm not a responsible gardener). It is doing well. Now, months later, I see that the lily has decided to put up a couple of leaves as well! I was planning to repot the poinsettia anyway, so I guess I'm back trying to baby the lily again.
ReplyDeleteI hope both your children thrive!
DeleteCalla lily leaves die after the plant blooms. The leaves are left alone, yellow and brown until they are well and truly dried and dead. This is because the leaves are still feeding the rhizomes. They will bloom again the next year.
DeleteEvery 3-5 years, you can dig up and split the rhizomes and have more plants.
All parts of the plant are toxic to animals and humans. ~ skye
More really useful stuff. I do sometimes wonder why such toxic plants behind popular though...☣️🤢
DeleteMore really useful stuff. I do sometimes wonder why such toxic plants behind popular though...☣️🤢
DeleteI see that someone else has given you tips on how to water your bromeliad, so I won't. I had several bromeliads in pots in the garden. They got watered whenever the other plants got watered and they did well and even had daughter plants. But, then, one very hot summer, we had several days of well above 100F (112-118F/44-46C) temperatures along with the hot drying winds called Santa Ana winds and just about everything in the garden got scorched and desiccated, including the poor bromeliads! Haven't tried growing them since that. :)
ReplyDeleteAt the moment I am keeping mine indoors, but I may move it into the greenhouse later
ReplyDelete