Bill and Ben, Dinosaur Eggs and Other Updates

Time for a few updates ...

Bill and Ben are both happy and healthy, and have both grown noticeably since you first saw them two weeks ago. But differences are starting to emerge.

Bill and Ben are the marigolds who are taking part in my crocks/no crocks experiment, to see if drainage material at the bottom of the pots helps or hinders the plants. At the beginning of the experiment both of them were roughly the same size, although Bill (crocks) already had a very small flower bud. Now, after two weeks of continuing equal treatment, Bill is flowering and a second bud is forming. But Ben (no crocks) is not far behind in terms of flowers, with a well-formed bud not far from blooming, and is visibly larger (though the photo doesn't show it well).

So at the moment "no crocks" seems to be winning. We'll see how things go on ...


I've had less success however with my Sunflower in a Can experiment. On the left you can see what it looked like back in April.









And on the right, here's what it looks like now.




I think I've finally identified what is wrong with my hollyhocks and mandevilla. I suspect it's downy mildew. The mandevilla doesn't seem too bad, but there's no sign of flowers. On the hollyhocks I'm still losing lower leaves , but not at a rate that is damaging the plants, which are continuing to flower. I now have two pink and two white, and four or five more in bud. I suspect that may be what's attacking the leaves of my beans too. Anybody know a remedy, apart from chemical spraying? Can't seem to find much on the web.

And finally, the dinosaur eggs. Thank you to everyone who left comments on that post, but it was clear that a lot of you didn't really believe in them. Well, you doubting Thomases, they've hatched. Click here to see ...