Winter is when ghosts come out

[Than]

28 minutes ago, Phoenikakias said:

Que será, será! 

Que te la pongo, que te la pongo!

[Phoenikakias]

20 hours ago, Than said:

It has to be the centre of Kalamata. I can't believe it is the airport.

Ready for the polar vortex on Monday? 😬

I have looked in to the forecast for Athens and a mere +1 C Is predicted for Monday night. If this is accurate in my garden temperature may fall down to 0 C. Weather station in the weekend house displays a freaky low air pressure, which seems to confirm the forecast.

Up to now the outplanted triple Wodyetia seem to resist cold and wind after the initial transplant shock and mechanical  loss of an older fronds due to wind. Remaining fronds are steep uniformly green, meaning that root system has adapted to garden soil.

 

[gyuseppe]

20 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

Que será, será! 

are you a singer now too?😄

[Than]

1 hour ago, Phoenikakias said:

I have looked in to the forecast for Athens and a mere +1 C Is predicted for Monday night. If this is accurate in my garden temperature may fall down to 0 C. Weather station in the weekend house displays a freaky low air pressure, which seems to confirm the forecast.

Up to now the outplanted triple Wodyetia seem to resist cold and wind after the initial transplant shock and mechanical  loss of an older fronds due to wind. Remaining fronds are steep uniformly green, meaning that root system has adapted to garden soil.

 

Do you know your soil's pH?

[Phoenikakias]

I had tried a lot to lower the pH. I had used as fill in  compost from coir (about 6.5 pH), leca (acidic) and pine bark, plus I had  spread two times a handful of sulfur pellets, plus I had drenched  several times with humic acids. A strenuous process.

[Than]

3 minutes ago, Phoenikakias said:

I had tried a lot to lower the pH. I had used as fill in  compost from coir (about 6.5 pH), leca (acidic) and pine bark, plus I had  spread two times a handful of sulfur pellets, plus I had drenched  several times with humic acids. A strenuous process.

Wow. What was your original pH?

[Than]

Btw we are having hail again right now.. second time today!

Frost, strong wind, non-stop rains, now hail... and waiting for another frost in 2 days.

[Phoenikakias]

4 hours ago, Than said:

Wow. What was your original pH?

At least 7.5, but irrigation water is even more alkaline 8.2, so it should be a constant struggle to keep soil pH low.

[ZPalms]

I’m still waiting for my ghost to arrive in the mail, agfabric takes forever to arrive, I don’t know if I’m unlucky but I hope they arrive before the real cold starts.

[Phoenikakias]

11 hours ago, Than said:

Btw we are having hail again right now.. second time today!

Frost, strong wind, non-stop rains, now hail... and waiting for another frost in 2 days.

We crave here in the east for some of your local precipitation! After two heavy downpours even my Cherimoya has ripened a fruit.

[Than]

8 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

At least 7.5, but irrigation water is even more alkaline 8.2, so it should be a constant struggle to keep soil pH low.

Oh wow, your soil is cr@p too 😁. I have regretted not making beds in my garden last year. If I started again now, I'd build beds for all plants that need acidic, richer soil. I'll do it for whatever I plant from now on. Praktiker sells those ready-made wooden fences, I'll use those and some stones.

 

20 minutes ago, Phoenikakias said:

We crave here in the east for some of your local precipitation!

Trust me, you don't. It's been raining non stop for 4 days now. It's raining even when the sun is out, like right now! My bathtub is covered in mold. Plants don't like it either. My Acacia tortilis lost all its leaves because the roots are suffocating. I am trying to rescue it but it seems hard. If I get another one, I'll make a mount for it.

20 minutes ago, Phoenikakias said:

my Cherimoya has ripened a fruit.

Wow! Congrats! I have never eaten one. 

[Than]

7 hours ago, ZPalms said:

I’m still waiting for my ghost to arrive in the mail, agfabric takes forever to arrive, I don’t know if I’m unlucky but I hope they arrive before the real cold starts.

Haha man, you should buy such things earlier! Patronizing aside, can't you get those in a local nursery? Or is it some specific type you have bought? I can find simple ones easily, but the good ones (more than 70g/m2 or those with a zipper) are hard to come across indeed.

[Phoenikakias]

20 minutes ago, Than said:

 

Trust me, you don't. It's been raining non stop for 4 days now. It's raining even when the sun is out, like right now! My bathtub is covered in mold. Plants don't like it either. My Acacia tortilis lost all its leaves because the roots are suffocating. I am trying to rescue it but it seems hard. If I get another one, I'll make a mount for it.

 

I am in a slope. Such rainfall would create a cloud forest lol!  Do you know how i managed to grow moderately tall some of the Phoenix spp, especially theophrasti, in the steepest parts if my garden? Only this way:

https://youtu.be/YN9QvifUDbs?si=TqWuRLjiPcL-SQG0

[Than]

Just now, Phoenikakias said:

I am in a slope. Such rainfall would create a cloud forest lol! 

I am in a slope too but the soil is not razor-cut even. There are small potholes here and there, the soil is softer where it has been dug, bowls that I made around the plants I planted, the excavator that was here a month ago has left wheel marks etc etc. Water pools in all those spots.

You know what would be awesome? Collecting all this rainwater and use it to irrigate sensitive plants during summer. But given that I water them daily in the summer, I need huge amounts of water, so I'd need huge and very heavy containers.. Perhaps I can go smaller and use that water only for the very sensitive plants, like Dypsis 🤔