I gave Daniel a haircut today. His hair was annoying him and he’s been asking for a haircut for several weeks. I don’t think he’s going to be a grungy musician when he grows up. Here’s the before and after photo.
Many months ago I ate an avocado and decided to grow a plant from the seed. It’s very easy to do and a fun activity to engage children with because you initially stab the seed with skewers and half submerge it in water. Over the next month or so it starts to develop roots and when you see the seedling emerge you can plant it in dirt. My avocado tree is now getting rather tall. It’ll never fruit here and I can never plant it outside because it’s too cold. I’m not sure what to do with it but it does make a nice house plant.
I went to the allotment today to do some weeding. Everything is taking off now. I still don’t know what this plant is and I fear it may be a weed. It never produces any fruit or berries. Does anyone know what it is? It looks like someone has planted it there deliberately which is why I’ve left it so far but the lack of food from it is making me rethink that theory.
Bonobo Café make the most delicious vegan scones. These are blueberry and lemon and have become a weekly item in our grocery shopping from Bonobo. I don’t know how they get them so big.
For the past few weeks now I’ve been supplementing the Bonobo order with a trip to Marks & Spencer in the centre of town. It’s reasonably quiet there. To get to the food court you have to walk through the shop. On my first trip there three weeks ago it was ghostly quiet and so surreal I took some photos.
Last week there were more people there and some looked like they were actually shopping in the store. Yesterday when I went there were more people again and this time someone was at the checkout serving customers. Is Marks & Spencer open for business now? I ask because as I walked through the store with my groceries I picked up a pack of undies and went and paid for them. I felt a bit guilty doing this because I could have easily ordered them online instead but no one said anything. Now I’m wondering whether I’ve been photographed purchasing undies at M&S during lockdown and there’ll soon be headlines in the local paper, “Cycling campaigner flouted lockdown rules and purchased undies at M&S”.
rachel.blog 
Is it a plum tree in the allotment?
The leaves do look a bit like plum tree roots but it has never produced any flowers or fruit. Do they take several years to first start fruiting?
yes
Ok, that’s promising. I hope it’s a plum tree! I won’t pull it out just yet.
It might be what allotment holders call a “Volunteer Plant” in that it just arrived, perhaps in this case as a thrown away plum? I would trim it a bit, so it bushes out and not goes all long stems of straggly.
About your avocado: you could try making it a bonsai…?
I’m not sure how to do that. I have to snip the roots, is that right?
Yes, I’m no expert, but what I did to make my horse chestnut grow small was to cut off its tap root (I don’t know if an avacado has one of those). Cut the tree down to the size you want, then repot it (trimming the roots) every two years. That’s all I know — but if the thing is getting too big, it might work.
Thank you! Every two years doesn’t sound like too much effort.
The ‘effort’ comes in making sure that the plant doesn’t dry out. But other than that, you’re golden 🙂 If you go down this route, I’d be interested in knowing how you get on!
I’ll second the above comment: that little tree looks like a plum or some sort of stone fruit, like a peach, apricot or even a cherry. You won’t be able to tell until it starts to blossom, which probably won’t happen for another year or two. Try giving it some extra compost or tree fertilizer and see what happens. I’d be very curious to see what fruit you get from it!
I do envy your avocado plant. My pits will sprout, but the plant often dies before it gets more than a foot tall. I live in California, so theoretically an avocado should flourish in our climate: but since they’re tropical plants, I think even our brief winters are too cold for it.
That’s a good idea. I’ll feed it a bit and see what happens. I’ve never given it any fertiliser.
Regarding the avocado tree – do you keep yours indoors? I’m sure mine would die straight away if I put it outside but I keep it on a very sunny windowsill and it seems to like it.
I’ve kept my avocados indoors until outdoor nighttime temperatures stay consistently in the 60s F. I’ve read that the young plants shouldn’t be left in direct outdoor sunlight, especially when it’s hot outside, meaning it might be happier in a greenhouse? But in Southern California where people often have an avocado tree growing in their backyard, the heat can be quite relentless in the summer, and no one does anything extraordinary like build an awning for their avocado. I think my problem is that I don’t have a sunny window—all of mine face north.
Brilliant!! Thank you…!
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