Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Holland America and the buddha's belly takes a hit

7 nights. Gran Turk,  San Juan, St. Thomas, Bahama isle.  ALL protein served from steam table on Lido deck was overcooked. The on-board baker was fantastic. The breads, croissants, desserts were wonderful.

There were several 'up charge' dinners which were worth the extra money paid. One of the nights was 'a night at Le Cirque'. We had gone to Le Cirque in NYC 10 years before on our anniversary so to go on the same night 10 years later was a lot of fun. I had a corn soup (no cream) which was simple and delicious and poached mackeral. Chocolate souffle for dessert. All very good.
2/18 Back in the garden. The only real beating was taken by the buddha belly bamboo. Most of the leaves were brown and falling off. Of course a few minutes of soaking began what seems to be a solid recovery.  Brown leaves are pretty much gone. New green leaves are just getting ready to unwrap themselves.

Moved the begonias and the variegated boug outside. Clean up a lot of the sloppy absorbant polymer that i had sloshed on before leaving. What a waste--though it seemed to keep things from getting too dry.

Threw some Espoma Citrus Tone 5-2-6 around bougies, pulmaria, datura, begonias, false aurelia, croton. Not exactly the appropriate blend, but it's organic, good for the soil and not too far off  from the regular Plant Tone (5-3-3).. well maybe but it's a soil conditioner with beneficial bacteria. I bought some 'Bougain' to try on the bougies. I'll wait a week or two for the Espoma to be absorbed before I apply. I tried to aerate the root ball on the purple by poking holes in the soil around the pot with a bamboo culm. We'll see if this opens things up some. The root ball was getting wet and holding the moisture too long. I'll give it a good dry-out before doing anything else.

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