Day 79...

A leisurely day for us started with an early morning swim for Mum in our pool.  That is a real result because she says that now it doesn't feel any cooler than theirs down in Emba - yeeeeeesssssss!!!!

The next time you go on holiday and you look at that beautiful pool  that comes with the villa or hotel then spare a thought for all the work that goes into making a pool look like that. 

After Mum and Dad's hard work at the beginning of the year clearing all the crap out of the bottom and getting it filled and keeping the water clean John is doing a valiant job and every day we take a dip we feel so lucky to have it right on our doorstep.

Mum and Dad left after breakfast - toast, muesli, fresh fruit salad, yoghurt, coffee, juice (not bad at Villa 10B!!) and John and I hopped on the scooter to go down to the electricity board in Polis to make sure everything was ok for Friday and switching us onto our own meter.  A bit of an abortive trip as we got half way there and realised that the paperwork we had been issued made no mention of the water meter number so we had to go back!!!  We finally got down there and it all looks to be sorted so fingers crossed Friday will pass without any problem.

Great excitement because today my first tomato was ready for picking - this photograph was taken this morning and as the day progressed it got a little more of a suntan so that by tonight it was ready to pick and was absolutely lovely.  Looks like there should be plenty more where that came from so it has been worthwhile taking the time to nurture my little plants to maturity!!

Talking of nuturing you may remember that a few weeks ago we went to the garden centre that we revisited yesterday and I bought two geranium plants putting them in blue pots either side of the bedroom doors.  Well just look at them now - with just a little water chucked at them periodically and regular deadheading and nothing more they are an absolute picture - I will be taking cuttings!!!

This evening as the temperatures began to fall we decided we should find the plants we bought yesterday a home. 

I have decided to plant the various sections of the garden in blocks of colour so one of the borders at the front is being dedicated to plants with mainly blue flowers to provide a nice back-drop to the herb garden. 

For this area we purchased one of the huge blue-headed Agapanthus or Lily of the Nile (pictured left) and the very attractive Platycodon grandiflorus 'Sentimental Blue' or Balloon Flower (pictured right) They will be keeping the lavendar and 'Arf' (which I believe to be a deep blue/purple hot water plant) company!

T&V corner is fundamentally white flowering plants or plants with just green leaves and round from that is the red area where the Dipledenia is currently growing so in between the two we have planted a Pennisetum Alopecoroide or Purple Fountain Grass whose flowering heads start out white and then age into a beautiful pinky purple colour.  This should provide a great transition from one colour to the next.

My stephanotis, gardenia and fouli are all taking a bit of time to adapt to their new home and some the leaves have gone a bit yellow so we asked the guy at the nursery yesterday and he told me that I needed to feed them with iron or Eye-Ron as he pronounced it and so I made up a mix and gave them a feed tonight - fingers crossed that they will perk up and go back to their former glory.

So here endeth today's gardening lesson.  I am loving it - the challenge of the climate, the excitement of being able to grow new and different plants and starting more or less from scratch.

I am in absolute shock - just seen the weather forecast for the UK today.  I see that under the clear skies tonight rural areas there may get temperatures that only reach 7 degrees - OMG it is currently 25 degrees outside and it is 10.00pm - John and I are going to freeze when we are in Hull in August for Ellie's wedding at this rate!  Better dig out the thermals!!