I loved that little nursery @Paul B3 . It opened up a whole new world to me and my husband and I travelled down quite a few times to revisit it, each time I bought more and more! Nothing at all like that here is Scotland, either then nor now.
'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
I'm asking because over the years I've kept quite a few ; this year with the 'Beasts' was a test .
I had many duplicates of the same species and thought I'd experiment with an unheated greenhouse .The rest were brought indoors . Many got through unscathed , but I must have lost (in retail value ) about five-hundred pounds worth !
I don't know what to do for the best this coming Winter , as some are just too top heavy to move now .
The large Pachycereus resembles a medieval club ; around 4' high and weighing in at @15kgs. ; had this down to around -5C , but who knows what we'll get this year ?
Unfortunately @Paul B3 , I had to sell my cactus collection (for pennies) when I got divorced and had to move into a flat. It broke my heart as by that time it filled an 8x8 greenhouse and I had even gone on buying weekends to the big cactus nurseries on the continent in previous years. I have never bought another cactus since although I have been tempted. Still got all the books up in the loft. Such is life. Vowed then never to invest (either financially or emotionally) in anything that wasn't easily portable. Have built and left a number of gardens and houses since then but somehow they were more easily left behind. Sorry, too much information!
'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
Not at all !! Divorce can (and is) a very painful episode in life .
When I met my (now wife) she was married to a violent drunkard ; never paid a penny for the children and 'played away' frequently .
When I used to meet him in the street he would cross the road or hide up an alleyway somewhere ; one of the brave 'wife-beaters' society generates periodically .
That's all in the past , (many years ago) , and she is now safe and fine .
Emotionally and psychologically she is now fine , (it's just me that 'upsets the apple-cart) sometimes ) .
I have been diagnosed as bipolar , so living with me must be a nightmare sometimes!
(Now that's too much information)!!!!
I can get emotionally attached to plants also , and I empathise with you having to sell your obviously beloved cactus collection . Regarding 'easily portable' , my larger plants will have to take their chances .
I don't want them warm in the winter , just frost-free if possible . I've purchased some plastic mini-greenhouses from Wilkos ; the idea is to install these inside my 10x8 to create a 'thermal double skin' so to speak .
This might sound a bit odd , but then again my wife says I am a bit odd ; .My idea is to keep several Tea-lights burning on the coldest nights (?) , these will sit inside semi-closed tin cans which should in turn get quite warm and act like miniature radiators . (That's the theory anyway ) Anywhere between +1 to +5C should be OK 'cos they're completely bone dry . I cultivate hydroponically using fine granite-chippings . Not a drop between October to April .
By the time Spring arrives , the poor things are just about at their limit of corporeal endurance ! Imagine what the first soaking must feel like !
Paul, that is a good idea about the mini greenhouse inside the greenhouse. Did you think about installing a soil warming cable? That costs pennies to run and if you built a 'greenhouse' on top of it, that would keep your plants frost-free. A timer on the cable and you could switch it on just at night. …….
'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
@Paul B3. An internet friend of mine does just that with the plastic GH, works well for her, the Wilco ones are good, I’ve got the big wider one, had it for years, and you can get new covers.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
A sound idea re:- soil warming cables ; the only negative here is my g/house is nearly 100 yards up the garden!!!
I don't fancy the idea of an extension lead outdoors throughout the winter rain and snow etc . If buried underground I would have to dig into my perennial border ; knowing my luck I'd probably sever it with a spade anyway . One way of getting warm I suppose ?
There's me being positive again !
These tea-lights from Wilkos are the really BIG ones , supposedly lasting 8-hours at a time .
I used to apply the candle/tin-can idea in an old shed where I worked many years ago ; the cans do get quite hot . Maybe I ought to patent the idea ??
I used to sit and have my lunch on freezing January days back then; visions of Stalingrad 1944 often came to mind ! Pretty sad when you think really ..... sitting in a shed on my own with a candle and a bean-can for company ; aaahh... the good old days
Just for future info. I had a long conversation with an electrician last month re the electrics to my greenhouse (fencer cut the cable despite me telling him and showing it to him!!). The alternative to putting it underground is to run it in ducting overground. So that is what I am going to do. It will be armoured cable and run in special ducting along the bottom of my wall. It will just need buried at the point it comes out of the garage and crosses a path. I will probably need at least 50% more cable but the thought of digging a trench across my garden, under lawn, beds and a big path gave me palpitations so this looks like a good alternative.
'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
Yes , that sounds a sensible option rather than garden excavation .The thing is with me ,I cannot bear the thought of disturbance and mess , but that's just me .
I keep considering the minimum temperatures re:- cacti ; some of the high Andean species will take a severe chill if bone-dry ; they all withstood the 'Beasts' in March with minimal damage .
The tender Brazilians will need bringing in somewhere , (to my wifes utter disdain) , but I'm not really prepared to lose any more this year .
Thankyou for your advice and good ideas , but I really want to try the 'g/house in a
g/house' idea . Will doubtless be an interesting experiment !!!
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