Episode 8 – mid
May
The weather
What would we do without the British weather? Can you imaging what it
would be like to have predictable weather for every month of the year.
What would we have to complain about? What would we blame our failures
on without our perennial scapegoat? Thankfully so far in 2018 the
weather yet again has come to our rescue and has taken the blame – what
a relief! No sooner did the cold, dull weather come to an end and it
became far to hot in the greenhouses for my liking – we’ve got to have
our scapegoat!
My first
begonia talk
Sunday the 22nd April and I set off early morning with
co-pilot Elsworth for the journey to Ayr. I had the details for our
destination in hand – a couple of days before, I did a very quick check
as to where we were headed, noting that it was the Auchinleck Bowling
Club, then a quick look on the internet gave me a postcode. I had
arranged with Tom Brown to be there at 12.30 and we duly arrived at
12.20. A brief nose about found the place to be deserted but
unconcerned, I stopped for a minute or two to think what to do next
while I looked with just a bit of envy at the immaculate crowned green.
I decided to just give it a few more minutes then ring Tom. ‘Is Barbara
Alexander not there yet?’ he said when I rang – ‘she said she would be
there before 12.30 to meet you’. Then he said, ‘You are at the indoor
bowling club aren’t you?’ This was followed a long pause while I slowly
considered the perfectly mown grass that I had just been admiring – ‘Err
no Tom’ I said, ‘I think that this might be the outdoor one!’
Obviously two things emerged from this conversation; firstly, bowling
must be very popular in Auchinleck – population 3,650 at the last census
and secondly, I am not as thorough as I sometimes think I am! Another
check on the Internet gave me the correct postcode and when I keyed it
in to the sat nav, it told me that it was only 430 yards away so by
12.45 we were there!
The indoor bowling club is a thriving venue that seems very well run and
not long after we arrived, teams started to turn up for the afternoon
fixtures. The room we were in overlooked the playing area so I thought
to myself – at least if I’m boring everyone they can turn around and
watch the bowls! The SWSBS gave us a very friendly welcome; it was nice
to catch up again with Tom Brown, Willie McBride and also Kennedy
McQuiston who I had arrange to do a bit of horse trading with, so once
the swap was done and my new acquisition was safe in the car boot it was
down to business. Once my nerves settled, thanks to a very friendly
welcome I think I got into my stride and I don’t think I missed
anything. I thought of a few things afterwards to amend but overall it
went well. Thanks again to Barbara, the committee and all of the
members.
Cuttings update
My earliest cuttings that I hope to flower this year were first potted
into 3 inch pots are now in 1 litre pots and growing well. Not a huge
amount of top growth at this stage but the roots are moving and once
they get round the compost the tops will catch up and they are on course
to go into their 2 litre finals in early June which is about the same as
last year. I don’t think at this stage that any of them are far on
enough to use for Shrewsbury but I reckon that they will make up around
25 to 30% of my Dundee plants, only time will tell. The main batch,
which are destined for cutting tubers are now rooted and ready to move
on – again into 3 inch pots for a couple of weeks because I don’t have
the space to put them straight into 1 litre pots yet. I’ve taken around
another 150 cuttings of a mixture of new varieties that I am building up
stock of and those varieties I am short of and will continue taking them
until I am confident I have enough.
Final potting
approaches
The Shrewsbury plants are about on a par with last year and final
potting for them will start around 14th May. The Dundee
plants are a bit behind last year but not quite as much as I would like
them to be. I expect the bulk of the final potting for them will be done
week commencing 21st May or as soon as I have finished
potting up the aforementioned cuttings although there are quite a few of
the Dundee cutting tubers in 1 litre pots that will need to be potted up
soon. So far I haven’t had to give any supplementary feeds but I have
started with overhead foliar feed sprays of Maxicrop (brown bottle)
every other day. This is usually described as a growth stimulant rather
than an actual feed; the foliage certainly looks better for it – the
colour improves and the leaves start to thicken up which makes me feel
good and more inclined to lavish even more care and attention on them!
Handover of the
Ingleston plants
Into the second week of May and the time had finally arrived to had over
my early plants grown for Gardening Scotland at Ingleston. This was with
mixed feelings because I was pleased that I had managed to get them to
the point where potentially they could deliver blooms of some
description but frustrated because it would have been nice to have kept
them until the date of the show but I knew that I wouldn’t have been
able to go to the show so I had to accept the kind offer of Bob
Robertson to look after them for the final three weeks. This would also
give me the opportunity to transport reasonably developed plants it the
car – albeit without fully developed blooms! This is what they looked
like a couple of days before they went – see below, left – Tigger
and Colin Hamilton and right – Nichola Coates and
Symestar.
What’s keeping me awake at
night?
Although I’ve had one go at my talk a few weeks ago, it’s the big one
coming up soon and whereas the first one was for the polite, well
behaved gentlefolk of the West of Scotland Begonia Society, this time I
have to face ‘Hecklers Corner’ that some would say is the SBS answer to
the Coliseum of ancient Rome! Seriously, this is becoming a great SBS
tradition – full of good humour and banter among friends that just adds
to the entertainment of the meeting.
Apologies for the lateness
of this episode – reading it through, it seems like a long time ago!
It’s been a busy few weeks and I’m out of practice when it comes to hard
graft these days! I hope to get another episode done for the end of May
or thereabouts – I’ll try to include a few more photos for next time as
well!
Next episode – SBS and EOSBS
meeting reports and final potting and cutting update. Hopefully some
news on Ingleston.
