Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: mumofstig on January 01, 2015, 10:17
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Off we go...............
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I took my little lad to play in the mud whilst I tidied up around the winter brassicas, rescued a few strawberries from the weed patch and generally tidied up. My lad only squashed a few of my over-wintering onions so I got off quite lightly. It was so nice to get out in the fresh air after the indulgences of last night!!! :)
Happy New Year all!!!
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One hour weeding.
Back hurts.
Need bolt cutters to get into my shed as the padlock refuses to open. PITA
Pip pip,
Balders
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Did quite a bit today it was such a nice day. Fabric mulched one bed that had already been manured. This one may go over to squash or corn I'm not sure yet. Weeded and manured a brassica bed ready for planting out in a few weeks. Sorted out last years brussels (mainly all blown)- chicken food. Harvested lots of lovely leeks.
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haven't been down now for about 6weeks due to work and also it always seems to be raining when I have time to go .don,t know what state its going to be in when I do go :blush:
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Exactly the problem I have had, planned to take the strimmer down this morning to clear the paths, and when I wake up its tipping it down outside.
Grendel
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Been down quite a bit during the Christmas / New year period. Got the last bit dug over - all in cultivation now! And made a new compost pile.
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Dug the remaining leeks from leek bed one ( we love leeks so always grow loads) and dug bed over ready for manuring before being covered for use later in the year, emptied peelings from squash that had to be used up as were starting to go soggy in the garage, had two cups of coffee with guys hadn't seen for a while cos of Christmas.
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First workday on the site, and once again it's raining and only a few people turned up to help. We still got some stuff done, new tap in the toilet, work sheds tidied up. Not all our work is on the plot. ;)
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What i don't understand is in the garden books I've got and i have alot of them, they say not to do any digging or weeding when the soils wet but i garrentee when I do get to go down there a lot of people's plots will have had a lot of work done. :wub: :mad:
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What i don't understand is in the garden books I've got and i have alot of them, they say not to do any digging or weeding when the soils wet but i garrentee when I do get to go down there a lot of people's plots will have had a lot of work done. :wub: :mad:
How wet is wet?
Surely your plot never dries out or your crops will fail?
A little rain should not bother the soil but don't go paddling after a downpour!
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Dug a parsnip, a couple of bunches of carrots, 4 sweeds and 4 leeks - caserole it is then :)
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First visit since the cold snap. It all looks rather forlorn up there, and I couldn't decide whether to dig in my broad beans meant as green manure, or leave them to grow on... maybe half and half next week.
Harvested the usual root crops and the very, very last of the lovely brussels. Pondered wistfully over the shape of next year's beds, battened down the hatches for this week's forecast gales, and oiled the rusty site padlock on the way out.
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Dug up some more of the root crops and kale ;)
Cleared the rubbish to the local tip and barrowed more manure from the communal heap to this years potato bed :D
Cut up the old hall carpet (we are tiling the hall next week) to top off the compost bins to keep them warmer.
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Today I've packed up the mini greenhouse in the garden before it gets anymore rusty.
Not been to the plot over the holidays
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Harvested parsnips, two cabbage, three leeks, five beetroot need to get some weeding done but its cold and wet here.
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I'm moving plots from a half one to a full sized one. It in very good nick, but sadly due to work and weather haven't yet got there. I'm hoping next weekend will be nice weather. Just need to move manure from my old plot to the new one and possibly move my 3yo asparagus then I'll be happy.
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Not really on the plot, but I finally found 2 bits of wood that I need for the inside of my shed doors - OH had put them with the hoover. ::)
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Took a pile of peelings down to the compost and sat on the edge of the heap dreaming of spring
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Continued building the new fence around the plot - beginning to really look like the OK Coral now.
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More squash peelings for the compost, along with leek trimmings.
Had a great chat with the guy in the lottie shop about shallots and onions and came away with far too many bulbs of each. Never mind, I'll find space somewhere.
Had to empty the water butt that collects rainwater from the shed roof as butt nearly overflowing, such a shame.
Measured plot and planned out work programme to split raspberry bed into two distinct rows instead of the jungle it is now, create a new path between said rows and relocate strawberries growing in blue barrels. Quite a project but will be worth it.
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Well yesterday ;)
finished the internal frame of the man greenhouse so now has the shelving in for the seedlings etc along with the irrigation to supply them.
Last trip to the tip with the junk I inherited when I took over this new plot.
Marked out the beds for growing some veg (hopefully)
Had my daily chat with the chooks, dont think they understand me but hey, at least they listen!
Had a chat with some other plot holders
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I have started in earnest to get all of my plot productive as I have not had the time these last 18 months due to time away with work!! I marked out all the new beds and dug up all the edges so I can see what it all looks like, covered some of the paths with thick cardboard to slow down the couch grass, dug up soooooooooo much couch root from the beds I made a start on and did loads of tidying up. Lots more digging and root collecting coming up in the next few weeks but I have prepared enough space for all of the early sowings!! Feeling optimistic about this year and the amount of space for growing :nowink:
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New raspberry bed coming along nicely as dug out one complete row of canes, put in new path of woodchip over weed membrane, edged it with green corrugated plastic stuff (would have preferred wooden edging but none long enough to hand) and then the rain came on.
Tomorrow will thin second row of canes and replant thinnings in first row that was dug out. Any left over will go to half plot at furthest end of the site as there are gaps in the raspberry beds there.
That just leaves resisting the strawbs that are in half blue barrels. Easier said than done but then OH will be about at the weekend to help.
JOB DONE!!
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Visited the plot at lunch time. The last of my beetroot and celery has been eaten. One of the poles to my kale cage has been snapped and something's eaten them all dear maybe. A lot of my fartichokes have been nibbled. There's fox poo all over my plot too :(
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Planted in modules 14 comfrey root cuttings and 2 lots of autumn onion sets in bakers trays with mp compost, Dave
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Started day by sheltering in shed as rain came on, then sun came out, then rained again. Had a coffee, and the sun came out so started on raspberry beds.
Thinning of second row of raspberry canes turned into digging them all out as they were a jungle and easier to start again with empty bed. Didn't realise that raspberry roots went sooooooo deep. Anyways, all dug out, second bed dug over and marked out. Remainder of the area dug over and covered with weed membrane that the blue half barrels for strawbs will sit on. Had hoped to replant trimmed raspberry plants but was exhausted and the wind had picked up and was getting chilly. Rain forecast for tomorrow so might be Friday before can replant raspberries. Hope they are ok.
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Not strictly on the plot but today I took charge of my seed potatoes. So they will be off to the cold north facing unheated bedroom window tomorrow. Feels like things are getting underway. Cracking
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It's been a week since I got a look at my plot - and discovered another cat has vandalised the inside of my p/t. While I was fixing that, next doors cat decided to give me an extensive demonstration of why my p/t plastic looks like a teabag...
I'm so glad I didn't pay out serious money for a p/t.
I'm planning on a better layout this year.
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Digging and more digging, the ground was just soft enough after yesterday's rain.
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Still too wet to dig on my plot so:-
Emptied my bonfire pit (lots of loose bricks dug up from the plot and stacked up in a large square with lots of gaps for the air to get through). I got a barrow load of wood ash from the bottom of it.
Managed to burn a load of dried 'nasty' weeds etc.
Emptied the remaining compost from one of the bays and took this to the bean trench.
Repaired the compost bays (just a lot of old wooden pallets wired onto posts), and then turned the middle bay into the one I'd just emptied, layering it with said wood ash as I went (Well, only did half of it - I ran out of steam before I'd finished, the rotting stuff was so heavy!)
Cut the last two cauliflowers, picked some kale and a bit of perpetual spinach to take home for the chooks.
Picked just three beautiful anemones that were just coming into bloom - my treat for working hard.
Went home and collapsed!
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Didn't get to the plot today, but managed to (re)plant raspberries in two new beds yesterday. Had so many left over, topped up fruit bed in fruit half plot at other end of the site. Offered the others out to anyone who wanted them.
Tomorrow begins the emptying/moving/refilling of the blue half barrels ready for strawberry plants.
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Not been down for ages- popped in for a bit in my normal clothes, but ended up in my car-boot wellies digging over a bed- I found a mahoosive parsnip I'd missed (I did only get a total of 6 from 2 pkts of F1 seed!!!),
I moved my Autumn Broad beans- not ideal, they might be ok though. The cat run through that bit of the plot meant there was no point in leaving them there- at least now they've got a slight chance. Now i'll have to rethink The Plan...
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Disassembled a collapsed fence. My plot is like a wind tunnel, no point in trying to put it back up until the wind drops.
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OH was a star yesterday, helping empty/move/refill blue half barrels for strawberry plants. Drilled extra drainage holes in the bottom of the barrels as the wet weather has left some of the soil really sticky.
Also set up new bed for carrots and measured for 'ericaceous' bed so I can have blueberry and cranberries.
Will put layer of rotted manure in the half barrels and top off with compost ready for strawb plants to go in.
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This feels kinda spooky .........I can't be the only one doing stuff on a plot? Or maybe I have too much time on my hands ........
Anyways, today was first day at the lottie and after a quick check that the foxes hadn't made a toilet facility with the barrels (gladly not) went to open up the shed. In doing so I found where the 'new' toilet facility is. Right outside the door was a huge runny pile of not-very-nice smelly poop which I trod in good and proper. Took a while to get it off my boots and the smell lingered all morning. Disinfected the area and hope they don't return. Will be more careful and look first next time.
Covered the newly dug and manured strawb bed on fruit plot with black plastic. The manure had begun to break down and the ground was quite wet so thought best to cover it as more rain (or even snow) predicted. Got a load of pallets on 'freecycle' and these were perfect size for weighing down the plastic.
Dug more parsnips and tidied bed where courgettes/squash are going ready for manure collection tomorrow.
Came home and moved garden planters with bulbs into a sheltered spot as can see flower heads and strong winds will ruin them. Put up bubble-wrap insulation in greenhouse and all-in-all felt well chuffed with today's efforts.
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Dismantled what's left of my walk in greenhouse :( saved some of the pipes and fittings They might be useful later
Cleared my plot of debris.
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Collected manure today instead of yesterday (long story) and shared the truck load with fellow plot holder.
Put some on (now empty) leek bed for courgettes/squash later in the year and covered over with black plastic.
Put a few bags into the compost bin and the rest went into the blue half barrels to rot down and then will cover with compost and plant up with strawberry plants in the spring.
Dug half a dozen leeks from second leek bed for dinner tonight and went home to cover everything in the greenhouses with fleece. Hope the onions will be ok as sub-zero temps for the next few nights.
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Wandered up for a short session and had a satisfyingly large fire. Starting it off with damp straw was a bit of a rookie error, but it was blazing away very quickly and ate up lots of the blackthorn trimmings. Looking forward to putting the ash under the fruit bushes over the weekend.
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Sat down with last years allotment sketch trying to plan whats going where this year :)
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Scattered well rotted manure round summer fruiting raspberry canes and then a general tidy up before more rain turning to sleet and snow tonight/early tomorrow. Thought might cover manure in blue half barrels with compost now instead of waiting a bit, but ran out of time so leave for another day.
Can't believe the three half plots are all reasonably sorted.
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Took the kitchen compost to bin 1 with the paper shredding. Dug 4 parsnips up, the rest of the leeks from leek bed 1, then cleared the remaining overgrown radish & mooli & added to the compost bin.
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First proper two or three hours back for the new season, shod with wellies.
Dug over about 40 sq metres ( easy dig :) ) to get rid of sprouting weeds/couch and disturb the pesky snoozing critters that might want to spoil my enjoyment later in the year.
Useful harvest, and took home kale, swede, parsnips, carrots, brussels still going just, parsley. I even unearthed some potatoes. A good few hours... very sunny with no wind whatsoever .. blissful.
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I only took over my plot a couple of weeks ago but I made steady progress pulling up all the overgrown carpet, just one small problem BINDWEED.
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Nothing on the plot, too busy at home tiling the hall floor!
Bought a second hand greenhouse last night though, will collect it at the weekend 😄😄😄😄
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Went up for an hour to check roof still on shed and tidy up windbreak around asparagus bed. Looked for spade to clear off woodchip from paths to replace - but to be honest was quite a half hearted look as it was very cold. Went home, had bath and had a nap for 2 hours. Virus-y thing.
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Put a pile of woodash on the plot, probably the last lot as apparently if i put on too much the soil can become o acidic.
Cheers
Aled
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Snap Aled :) I put a couple of bags of wood ash today under the raspberries/fruit etc.
Postponed work as the day's weather was too good to miss, given decent windows are few and far between this time of year. So more digging and general soil attention that will give me a bit of leaway should the weather turn foul like last year, or any other misfortune.
And..... I actually harvested the first PSB today, not a huge amount, and really shocked at it's early appearance.
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Built two new shelves for the seedlings in the greenhouse. Moved the log store and cut back all the raspberry canes. The new plot is coming on well now. Oh bought my seed spuds and put them in the chitting room.
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Shook the ash from my last fire round the redcurrants and on the strawberries. Tidied the dead leaves off a third of the strawberries and added them to the slow compost dalek. Need to remember to add some manure to it to help it all rot down speedily. Lots of standing water on the plot and lots of ice sheets on the top of the puddles. My sown-far-too-early broad beans are all now lying on the ground.
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Thought I was going to have a go at pruning Blackcurrant bushes after learning how to do it at college yesterday (RHS practical course). What a shock when what I actually did was to walk around the whole site with a couple of fellow plot holders taking pictures of sheds that had been broken into overnight!!!! Didn't appear to be anything stolen from them (tools still in the sheds), but then we don't know what each shed had in it in the first place.
Seems like a mindless act of vandalism but so many sheds were tampered with .... 10 in total.
Tried to cheer up by digging leeks and parsnips for tea and moving a few freebie pallets to the plot that were left in the car park for anyone.
Will spend this afternoon reporting to the local police and see what happens.
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Oh Yana, so very sorry for you :mad: don't let a bad thing steal your joy.
Glorious day- popped down after a meeting in my posh gear with a hot-cup of coffee I grabbed for a 5 mins check....sod the housework- Manure day! Yay :D
Strange but it's never been delivered in bags before- but so much better for my back than all that forking in and out the wheelbarrow.
.....2 hours later (in shed wellies and fleece) I'd weeded and tidied the brassicas, dug over 2 beds, 6 bags stashed away.
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Yana, very sorry you've had to put up with this, makes my heart sink every time I hear of this happening to someone :(
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Paid a quick visit to the lottie early today, hoping no more damage done. Seems that whomever broke into the sheds didn't return last night. Police were due to visit this morning (I couldn't be there) so will catch up with the guys at the lottie tomorrow.
A few of us invested in wildlife-type cameras earlier in the year when soft fruit thefts were at their peak. Looks like it's time to get it out again. I'm trying to be positive, but it has definitely shaken everyone up. :(
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Horrible for you Yana, am really sorry. :(
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Sorry to hear about the break in Yana
This morning I started to build a cold frame in a sheltered area with dappled shade. Emptied a compost bin and put the lovely compost into a raised bed. Also dug up the last of the parsnips.
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Yama, sorry to hear of another allotment having similar problems to what we went through last year!
Personally, our shed did not get broken into but several others on our allotments did, we were not affected but it was still a torrid time for everyone. The cameras do work though, two of our plot holders set them up after the break ins and they caught four local youths breaking into other sheds a couple of weeks later! They were found to have been the original culprits by fingerprint recognition :)
On a brighter note, we dismantled and collected our new greenhouse from its old home yesterday :)
We will install it on the plot next month after I have laid a base down for it.
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Florence and daddy went up the hill had a few hours tidying up, need some bark for the path ways on the bottom.
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Police didn't turn up on thursday..... Or Friday. However I got a phone call at 7.30pm Saturday night asking why I wasn't there to meet with them. We had a telephone discussion and agreed it wasn't worth it as it was too dark to see anything.
Spent this morning helping some plot holders repair their sheds and planning the new communal area.
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Police didn't turn up on thursday..... Or Friday. However I got a phone call at 7.30pm Saturday night asking why I wasn't there to meet with them. We had a telephone discussion and agreed it wasn't worth it as it was too dark to see anything.
Spent this morning helping some plot holders repair their sheds and planning the new communal area.
Where did all the common sense go. :nowink: 7.30pm in jan honestly what a waste of time.
Horrible when break ins happen, I think we escaped last year but the year before was almost weekly
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Sorry to hear about your break in, I hope they get caught! We're not allowed sheds on our site! I just throw my old tools on the ground, the good ones come home with me.
More seeds in the sprouter today not the same as having fresh salad!
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Haven't been to the lottie much this past week, however, was contacted by kent police and meeting took place Thursday afternoon. There wasn't much to see by then but had a good discussion with the nice WPC about what the site could do to at least stop cars/vans entering the site when no one about. Emailed the committee with the ideas.
Nice surprise Friday morning ....... Manure ready for collection from good friend nearby. Chucked a load on the courgette/squash beds for next year, and then set about practising pruning I had learnt at college the week before. What's the worst that can happen????????
Off later to get rid of a load of pumpkin peelings as two or three have started to go soft in the garage so have had to dice them and freeze to save loosing them altogether.
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Cleared and weeded three long beds
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Couple of hours topping up my woodchip paths. Site had a fresh delivery of what looked like chipped Christmas trees. Thankfully no tinsel.
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A couple of hours this morning clearing the area for the new greenhouse whilst the wife cleared the remaining cabbages and leeks so the plots can be dug and manured
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Absolutely waterlogged after the snow. Keeping well off the soil for a while
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Started to organise the top end of the plot ready to dig it through to make a rhubarb bed and a bean bed next to it. Dug the beds in the greenhouses ready for the new growing season and finaly discussed plot politics.
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An hour to renew a bit of bark path. Tip some manure on the asparagus bed #2 and on another bed that had green manure growing on it. Bitter cold wind but beautiful blue sky day. Went home and sorted out seeds - rock and roll. Do not ever need to buy Swiss Chard or Broad bean seeds again....
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Cleared a really bad patch of nettle roots and planted a Red Champagne rhubarb I got for £1 from the supermarket. Weeded my onions as well.
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Finally finished covering and putting bark on the long central path yesterday, very frosty but then got on with clearing the long tangled grass around the blackberry bushes that are beside the boundary concrete path, found not only couch grass but bindweed as well, bagged up and took to the dump on my way home. Woke this morning thinking I would go and carry on but a light covering of snow here in West London made me turn to the internet and I ended up here!
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it was like concrete on my lottey with frost. so i took all my seed trays and pots home. i washed them all in jeyes .this is the old stuff i,ve had for years. it smells lovely. i meant to do this job long ago but kept putting it off.all i wan,t now is some nice spring weather. and we,r off. cheers all . wrinkly1 :D
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I got on and washed all my old plastic pots and seed trays too! Am thinking of letting the grandchildren start off some tomatoes after school as we are babysitting overnight.
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I've been popping down the allotment quite often to do bits and pieces, but haven't popped on here :nowink:
lots of little odd jobs still to do, but a bit too wet and muddy to do them, managed to get all by fruit bushes pruned last week, so a nice big bonfire is waiting for a dry calm cold day, had a look through my seed boxes today working out what I need to buy for this year ;)
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Dug over the bed that's going to be used for carrots and parsnips next month. Starting to get excited, it's almost seed sowing time 😀
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Been a while since been in. Winter wind has bent the shed a bit. Tidied around the very lovely cabbage, some digging and weeding. Caught up with old faces after winter hibernation. Swapped a few baby turnips and a cabbage for some forced rhubarb.
Oh and found a bag of onion sets in the shed so threw them in :D
Pete
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was going to go down the plot today - weather was good - woke up with my back killing me and barely able to move.
Grendel
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Had to go today as was first bonfire weekend of the year and didn't want to miss that. Not that I had anything to burn but knew there would be a few good bonfires on the go. Not disappointed, and ended digging up a few parsnips that I swoped for sprouts and taking a nice bag of leeks home.
What is it with men and bonfires though??
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What is it with men and bonfires though??
Fire pretty!
I pruned my apple trees and a plum tree, only to get home and read that plums should be left until spring, so I'm concerned I was a wee bit too early.
Got so much tidying to do. I need to (ahem) have several bonfires (honest!) as I don't drive so that's my only way of removing waste. But everything's so wet I can't light anything! :(
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As I've been given the opportunity to spend some time at the allotment and the fact that we've let slip the allotment for a couple of years and not grown anything but weeds, it's been time to get it sorted. So the last few weeks I've been finishing off the Tame Wildlife Escape Ruination and Prevention device (TWERP - aka fencing) to keep the dog in. Constructed of broken pallets that I have painstakingly split/made panels and then tied in to to blackthorn hedging (ouchy). This is now complete all bar a small portion where the hedging doesn't have dalmatian sized holes. Upshot is the dog now comes with me which is upsetting his daytime routine of sleep and more sleep. This morning when we got in after his 06:00 walk, he curled up on the sofa and pointblank refused to get up to come to the allotment. So a few hours cutting down the blackthorn hedging to a manageable size and adding to the 10ft high burn pile which consists of apple tree prunings (after its Grade 1 treatment), blackthorn hedging and pallet remnants.
The allotment is starting to look manageable though lots of hard work required in the coming weeks....I just hope that cutting back the rest of the blackthorn bush (where even the thorns have thorns) is easier going as my hands look like pin cushions.
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What is it with men and bonfires though??
Actually its the missus that loves lighting the bonfire, usually when the prevailing wind is in the direction of where I'm working so I get smoked out....
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I've not been able to go down my allotment this week due to the rotten Virus that's going around . :(
But hubby went down today to check that everything was okay dug over one of the beds and put a new lock on my shed. :)
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Put up some not pretty but functional (and cheap!) cloches, in preparation for broad beans, peas, and carrots.
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Yesterday I finished clearing the area for the new greenhouse whilst TOH finished clearing the old brassica bed.
Three hours on the plot and it's looking a lot tidier now and ready for the greenhouse base to be put down next weekend :)
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Had a weed around overwintering garlic and onions then sat on my logpile bench contemplating the growing year ahead and what to put where.
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Today I sowed the first seeds of 2015 :)
5 Types of Chillies went in to one heated prop and 5 types of Tomato went in the other.
In my Polly tunnel went 20 Sharps express spuds in 5 bags, some lettuce and cabbage.
Along with my old Aladdin heater.
Also did a bit of weeding round my onions and garlic.
It’s only my second full year with a plot and still like a kid with a new toy :D
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Cut down the old raspberry canes and thinned things out a bit. Pruned the espalier apples, and blueberry bushes ( No idea what I was doing so I've probably cut all the fruit off ::) )
Bit of a general clear up and then mulched the rhubarb with some spent compost and chicken pooh.
Looking at the veg patch the beds are falling apart now, the wood has rotted, can't complain really after 5 years in contact with the soil. Not sure if I should rebuild or remove them though.... :unsure: I didn't really get on well with them but the do make better use of the small space.
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More trimming of the blackthorn hedging and tried in vain to get a bonfire going....
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Hi all
Looks like time to get started. Put spuds into conservatory to chit yesterday.
Down to the plot this morning where I dug over two raised beds and then added multipurpose compost along with some chicken manure pellets. Need to decide whether to put in broad bean seeds or start them at home.
Probably opt for a home start to avoid mice getting them before they even germinate.
Weather permitting I think tomorrow could be the day to prepare the potato bed
Cheers HH
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Bonfire lit today and spent most of the day tending it to make sure all the blackthorn and apple tree prunings burnt...
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It wasn't the intention, but the afternoon was so beautiful, I couldn't resist.... heavenly. Ten degrees !
Wood chipped a new path, a bit of digging, and and the first closh of the season put down with a few cauliflower seedlings inside... what a grand sight after the Winter.
Another bonfire to get rid of the prunings, woodburner ash to the raspberries. The over winter aquadulce beans are looking good, no spot/rust like last Winter. Green manure just about ready to dig in.
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Covered up the PSB again, the netting had gone awry. First signs of shoots visible. Harvested sprouts, last of the parsnips, leeks etc. Weeded one of the garlic beds. Then the sun went in and it got much colder so I came home.
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Went down the allotment at 11am Tided and swept shed ,dismantled old walk in greenhouse frame, kept some the poles and joins to use as replacements for new framework or maybe make a frame for the brassica bed .
Cleared the last bed of weeds ,and brought home the last of last year's veg.
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Started tidying up what will be soft fruit bed, relayed some membrane...
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Loosened up a couple of beds preparatory to planting potatoes, and added potato fertilizer. Thanks to my diary I actually remembered which beds to treat. Last year I fertilized one bed and then planted the seed potatoes in a different one :blush:
Had a little fire and burnt the papers set aside for shredding - that's a good job jobbed.
Had a little natter to the next-door plotter, who I haven't seen since last year.
Must remember to winter wash the apple trees before the winter ends.
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Sooooo looking forward to today. Haven't been for a few days as have had RHS exams so will be great to get outdoors. Got a long list ....
Fork over bed for broad beans that I've had in the cold frame for far too long
Top dress blue half barrels and transplant strawberry runners from last year....
And that's just the beginning
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Took my new walk in greenhouse to the allotment, noticed my crocus bulbs were in flower. Lovely
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Ordered some currant bushes, raspberries and pink goosegobs.
Finished clearing up the soft fruit area. Needed knife to cut some carpet to finish off path round the area but that'll wait till tomorrow.
Finished splitting pallets for the final bit of the Tame Wildlife Escape Ruination and Prevention (TWERP aka fencing).
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Popped to the plot to get the shed paint to give to DD now she's unearthed her shed.
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Didn't get to put the strawb runners in yesterday but did prune the buddleja that was overhanging the notice board (which I have volunteered to repair .... The notice board that is). Measured up for new notice board so now need to nicely ask OH to make it!
Collected last load of manure for a while (I hope). Finished off adding to courgette/squash beds and covered so that foxes won't scatter it all over the place and the worms will do the rest by the time I will be planting out.
Began to build a hot bed AKA Charles Dowding using last of the manure.
If the rain holds off tomorrow, will plant broad beans out.
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Drove to Mablethorpe to pick up a load of weed membrane that was a bargain (£70 for 6 rolls of 100mx1.5m 70gsm), bit of a drive but considering one roll new would be £45+p&p.....
Replaced bits of carpet that was outstanding from yesterday.
Cut pallet tops ready for stringing into the hedging for the last bit of fencing to keep the dog in... Strung two in then it was time for dinner....
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The digging has commenced. Picked to do about 3 square metres which was attainable considering the soil is quite claggy due to clay... Fortunately OH had double dug last year so going to add some shredded straw/rotted manure to try and improve things. I ended up walking round like Frankenstein with the amount on my boots, will have to come up with a device to attach to my boots so that there is no tread!
Currant bushes arrived today...
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Drove to Mablethorpe to pick up a load of weed membrane that was a bargain (£70 for 6 rolls of 100mx1.5m 70gsm), bit of a drive but considering one roll new would be £45+p&p.....
Replaced bits of carpet that was outstanding from yesterday.
Cut pallet tops ready for stringing into the hedging for the last bit of fencing to keep the dog in... Strung two in then it was time for dinner....
That was a bargain :lol:
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shallots planted, just before the rain started :lol:
may plant some toms and chilli seeds this weekend, that's the windowsills taken for the next couple of months :D
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Installed the base for the new greenhouse this morning, will fit the frame tomorrow :)
(http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh550/silhouette1265/Allotment/829F74C9-B57B-4818-A12C-94B6E52BD5F8_zpsjjnrdzoh.jpg)
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Washed down the greenhouse, and everything in it with Jeyes Fluid. Horrible job, but hopefully worthwhile. Had a hot shower after but still reek of the stuff. Very romantic for Valentine's! Last year, on someone's recommendation used cheap bleach, but didn't work so well.
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dug up and re-planted blueberry bush into a buried pot with ericaceous compost.
the other blueberries are in a buried bath with ericaceous compost and it was interesting to see how much better they did than the one which was just in the soil. hopefully it will do much better now its in its own ericaceous.
weeded between the fruit bushes and moved some raspberries which had "wandered" :nowink: back to the rows with the others.
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Erected the greenhouse frame on the base I installed yesterday :)
(http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh550/silhouette1265/Allotment/911AF06D-25DD-44A3-88B1-D4A9E005FFE6_zpsxvh8bxpe.jpg)
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Very nice on the greenhouse.
I have planted 8 large buckets of garlic and 2 humongous buckets of Rooster potatoes. More to follow!
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Erected the greenhouse frame on the base I installed yesterday :)
(http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh550/silhouette1265/Allotment/911AF06D-25DD-44A3-88B1-D4A9E005FFE6_zpsxvh8bxpe.jpg)
That's a great looking greenhouse Elmstreet. Oh how I wish we could have greenhouses on our site, never mind.
Eventually got the strawberries planted into the half barrels, and almost finished topping up tall barrels that will have carrots in.
OH was a diamond giving me a hand to move a load of fence panels that a fellow plot holder no longer wanted. Thing was, we had to carry them from the front garden of fellow plot holder, across a road and through someone's garden that backs onto the allotment site. They are going to be used on the communal area that is being built so they will be really useful.
Got home and OH had finished making me a bril multi-cell dibber for the 11x7 plug trays I had acquired :)
Exhausting day but got loads done and the sunshine is beautiful as I sip a well earned cuppa.
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Brief visit this morning to plot widened a narrow bed ready for a new raised bed to erect this week.
Sowed some broad beans in the conservatory and three garlic bulbs down at the plot.
Weather pretty warm here reached 10 Celsius this PM.
Cheers HH
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OH and myself spent a great 3.5 hours up the plot this morning and got heaps done. We got another run of the fence completed - just one side left to do. We got the early spuds into the bed in the PT. I dug two beds outside while my husband dug and rotovated the long bed in the PT, I was really surprised that the outside beds were dry enough to dig over as normally I wouldn't have been able to get near them for at least another month. I found a lovely parsnip that I had missed and there were a handful of sprouts on the end of the stalks I was digging out so a nice surprise on the veg front for dinner tonight. Then we came home and I spent the afternoon doing my sowing plan for the year and sorting out my seed box. I am feeling so happy.
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went into polytunnel today and found a sun gold tomato plant growing.looking abit sorry for itself so put it in a pot and brought it home
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Today , while we are still starting off on 2 new allotments, on plot 1 we put up a frame for a walk in tunnel, after seeing shop bought ones we have made ours ourselves.
The frame is 25mm electrical plastic conduit fixed together with electrical saddle clips , each gable will have , 3 x 2 struts but we haven't done them yet. The covers is scaffold debris netting which you can get 50m by 1.5m for about £25, so I am hoping to build it all for around £50 for a 3m wide x 3.5m long tunnel.
This is fixed to the ground with 50mm x 50mm stakes driven into the ground as far as you can , we sledged ours in at least 3 ft deep, and then cable tie the conduit to the stakes
so back to the subject today we put up the frame. the weather forecast for the weekend is V High winds combined with the spring tides so we will leave the cover off for a while
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Considering the awful weather here....
Reorganised/tidied the shed, now all the tools are tidy and there's loads of room in it. Put up shelves. It looks really cool in there now!
Tied in some more fence panels, reckon I've got about 10 panels to go to finish it all.
Managed to bend back into place a tine of a fork using a length of aluminium pipe as a lever... I now have another fork I can use!
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Put up raised bed as planned and took down 4 trugs full of compost from pots and last years tomatoes to fill it.
Still needs a lot more but my composter are doing well and a friendly mole has saved me the bother of driving some of it!!
Cheers HH
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Digging in a t shirt :-) Sunny and no wind- despite the epic rain yesterday our plots drain really well, and the weeds were falling out of the soil when I dug it over. Lovely 8) Garlic and BB looking ok, but honestly- c'mon PSB let's be avin you...
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Put the last few strainers on the tunnel frame , we wont put the net cover on for a few weeks yet.
put the net cover over the fruit tunnel, now looking good
edged the path as the grass was migrating over, roll on March !!
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Finished topping up the tall barrels for carrots. Mixed sieved compost and sand so fingers crossed should be some good ones I hope. Can't believe that even though I covered each barrel with a paving slab, as I knew the foxes would have a field day, there was a load of fox poop on one of the paving slabs. How can they jump that high and land so precisely??
Planted strawb runners in new bed after raking in some BFB. Having to cover everything that gets planted/dug over/topped up as the foxes are in a right naughty mood at the moment.
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Digging - done the easy bit of digging, worst digging still to come. Raked over the next bit of ground ready for digging.
Put more fencing up, only 4 more panels to do and the fencing will be finished. Unfortunately, I can only put 2 in before reaching the brick pile which needs to be moved, but to move the brick pile I need to sort behind the shed...
Unwrapped my order of blackcurrants, redcurrants and goosegobs, seems though the raspberries are missing, should have taken a closer look. Hey ho, the bushes are good quality.
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Thought I'd try and make digging a bit easier by stripmining (strimming with brushcutter to the ground and raking). Cleared nearly 3 beds width. Sharped the brushcutting blade.
Cleared blackthorn cuttings up (blooming awful stuff).
Moved well rotted compost and soil to the greenhouse so I can mix it up and get some seeds planted in the shelter as tmoz is going to be raining.
Took a ph reading for the brassica patch, 6.5 which means no need to lime...
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Today & dug. It was hard work, but I really enjoyed being out in the sunshine. :)
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Sorry I meant to say I dug.
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Had first proper long digging session of the year. Dug over most of main bed in t shirt in the end.
On main bed are just a few of the last sprouts left as dug up kale.
This is the first year that the plot is ready without any more grassy paths or carpet to dig up!
Very few weeds around too.
Great feeling looking at plot and not feeling overwhelmed.
Next visit is transplanting strawberries from home to plot.
Finish last bit of digging over soil.
Dig over where sweetcorn was.
Last clump of raspberries to move to my new fruit bed. It now has rhubarb,raspberries,strawberries and a donated gooseberry bush which unfortunately looks dead.
Plan done now as to where everything will definitely go and feeling ready now for the growing year :)
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A bit more digging here too :D
Old George ('I'm 90 you know') gave me some mahoosive parsnips, he sows his in Feb :unsure: but mine all got munched last year, I was planning to leave it until end March?
He also gave me his plot vegetable trimming knife, when I admired it; one of those honed old 'butter handle' bread knives ('I'm not going to be around much longer so I'm giving stuff away so my family don't have to do it') bless. Made me well up it did. I'll be a good home to it. If only I could grow parsnips worth trimming ::)
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Burnt loads of rotten wood from the blown down fence. I tried recycling it , but by the time I had, with great difficulty, extracted the rusty nails, I realised that even the good bits weren't good and splintered badly. So to the bonfire it went. The best fire I have ever had, I could have cooked a dinner on it.
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A big fat nuffink yet :(
Ground has either been solid with ice or soggy.
Don't want to ruin my soil structure digging in wringing wet soil :(
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Yesterday transplanted a load of broad beans and checked on strawb runners put in the other day. Thought that the frost on Tuesday night might have done some damage to the runners but they seem ok.
Had a little rummage in the ground where the rhubarb is to see if anything is happening as rhubarb is appearing on other plots. There is life so shouldn't be too long now ....
Had planned to make a start today on this years parsnip area but went to bed last night with a tickly throat and woken up with runny nose. :( :( Will sort seeds out at home instead.
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Replaced pane of glass for the greenhouse and swept it out to bring it back into use. Made some newspaper pots and sowed some kale and cabbage....
Trimmed blackthorn and bramble behind the green house to make it easier to replace the glass (so I didn't trip and end up having to go back for more glass....
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A big fat nuffink yet :(
Ground has either been solid with ice or soggy.
Don't want to ruin my soil structure digging in wringing wet soil :(
Me too, I can only get down at weekends and its always been nice Monday to Thursday, then grotty on the weekends, except for the weekend when I had Flu.
Grendel
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Just as I thought .... Now got rotten cold good and proper.
Wrapped up warm and spent time today in the greenhouse sowing broad beans, Brussels, and sorting trays ready for when it all kicks off in March.
:D :D
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Spread rotted manure over the patch I've dug to clear the bags of horse poo littering the lotty. This leaves the rest of the huge bed ready for stripmining.
Cleared behind shed and trimmed hedge. Ready for extra carpet and then I can move the brick pile and finish the twerp (tame wildlife escape ruination and prevention) device aka fencing.
Was dog disabled today so more time spent making allotment tea for me and the dog than probably working, but hey ho, it was good news for the sciatica...
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A big fat nuffink yet :(
Ground has either been solid with ice or soggy.
Don't want to ruin my soil structure digging in wringing wet soil :(
Paid rent . Itching to get on plot, far too wet , boots clogged up in no time. Did a 'mental' rough plan of what is going where, not enough space! Home for mug of tea!
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Looked at it for a while, very pretty in the wet spring snow. Pulled some left over carrots and a couple of leeks and came home.
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Cut carpet for behind shed, moved brick and wood pile to behind the shed. The way is now clear for finishing the twerp (tame wildlife escape ruination and prevention) system aka fence. with only 4 panels to tie into the hedge.
Took delivery of some more carpet in the nick of time as I need some for pathways.
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Dumped some bits in the compost on a flying visit and spent 5min revelling in the silence that forecasted rain brings ;)
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Planted my International kidney earlies into tubs. Used layers of compost with chicken manure and a layer of comfrey. Put them into the tunnel where they will stay until danger of frost has passed.
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Oh yes. Also dressed garlic with sulphate of potash.
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Planted out 33 garlics in part of the 2m x 1m area of the plot that is not currently waterlogged, in between hail showers. A mixture of Lautrec Wight and Carcassone Wight; the Solent Wight seems to be lagging some way behind. I overwinter them all outside in modules as they get too waterlogged otherwise.
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Took my compost/ peelings etc plus the old compost & chilli plants that I cleared from the conservatory last week. All would have been well but for the wheelbarrow developing a flat tyre on the way :wacko:. Moved some slabs from my neighbours plot she said I could have as she has given her plot up :( :(, also her water barrel.
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Set out the beds and paths on plot 1, and also put up some willow fencing and timber path edging . We also put up 1 cloche to warm the soil for the pea bed
As for plot 2 we peeled off the fleece over the early potato beds , pulled two rows ready for bedding them in next weekend, then put the fleece back down to keep the soil warm. We also put a cloche on this plot to warm the runner bean bed
We are both dog tired but happy to get so much done in readiness for planting
forecast heavy rain for tomorrow
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Finally got around to the last bit of tidy up in the greenhouse yesterday. Had a pot inventory and threw away a lot of excess ones. Washed the rest and all my modules and stacked them neatly back under the staging.
Ready to go now :)
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What I am about to do is replant some onions that rabbits have disturbed, then dig out and spread the compost heap on another area, as i saw a baby rabbit go into the heap yesterday. Hopefully that should solve the problem. Then a bit of general tidying before the rain forecast for mid day.
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Finally despite 0 degrees and a hard frost - I got down the plot, had it all to myself until just before I left 2 hours later, strimmed the grass and weeds, used the brush cutter to shorten the raspberries (they are autumn so should be no problem) the frozen grass and weeds strimmed easily, so now everything should be ready for rotavating on the next clear day (weekend), then the beds will be covered with weed membrane and be easier for planting.
Grendel
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Have finished pruning the raspberries, top dressed the autumns. Waiting for more dressing to do the summers. Carried on the rough dig. Over half way now. Weather and work permitting ill aim for an hour or so each evening this week and hopefully will be nearly done. Picked chard, spuds (ones i put in for Christmas but forgot about!!) leeks, baby turnips and early rhubarb.
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Helped in the allotment trading hut - sold 14 barrow loads of horse muck and 16 litres of paraffin, plus lots of bits and bobs, birdseed etc. Was absolutely b... freezing!
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Took up bag full of stuff for the compost bin and promised myself I would only stay half an hour as still bunged up with a cold. Well ....... It just can't be done........ I had a walk round, noticed a few pallets had gone missing from my fruit plot at the bottom end of the site, checked the strawb runners were still firmly in the ground and Mr fox hadn't dug them up, gave the compost bin a quick tickle to mix the new stuff I had just added, dug a few parsnips and leeks for dinner tonight. Saw someone I hadn't seen for ages and got talking....... Got home nearly two hours later. Whoops. :lol:
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Last of the beds dug over, chicken pellets sprinkled over beds. Tools cleaned , Shed tided, Just before it started to Rain.
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Fed and mulched summer raspberries, cut back and top dressed mint. Tidied greenhouse after last weeks deep clean. Potted up shallots, noticed some of the Golden Gourmet have started to go mouldy, put them in anyway. Started to prune back and repot fuchsias, a lot have had their roots chewed off by vine weevil. Noticed window cleaner has put his foot through the top of my storage box - grrrr! wait till I see him.
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Digging! For some reason, digging has been a little easier despite the amount of rain, seems that stripmining (brushcutting right down to the ground) has made a difference.... Interrupted only slightly by a mass hail/sleet storm...
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More digging...
Picked up some builders bags to plant potatoes in.
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Digging , on a new plot that is 6 foot high in bind weed and couch grass. I limit myself to 3 runs of digging at a time, then move back to the "up together" plot for reassurance that I am doing ok really!
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Digging again today. The soil I'm digging consists of loads of couch grass strands, mint roots and strawberry runners everywhere. So far filled a 125L empty compost sack full with roots and strands. Cleared a 3x2m area out of a total of 5x4m. It's slow going!
If the weather holds up tomorrow going to take a break from digging and do some hedge cutting.
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Am actually very envious of all the posts about digging. I won't be able to do any of that till the plot dries out, which I reckon will be the end of March....
Sowed peas, cornflowers, marigolds and pricked out some more chillies into small pots. Twiddled thumbs. :)
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. So far filled a 125L empty compost sack full with roots and strands.
Hi SM, those roots have robbed nutrients from your plot, if you put them in a barrel and fill with water you should get them all back again as liquid fertiliser, cheers Dave
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Planted my bare rooted strawberries that arrived yesterday, dug my bean trench and filled it with muck (bit late I know) and found this lady also working hard. Spring it definitely on the way!!! :D
(http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm5/katemerriman/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-02/AC0E8C07-D41D-4348-A00A-418360416412_zpsoxirqrsw.jpg) (http://s292.photobucket.com/user/katemerriman/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-02/AC0E8C07-D41D-4348-A00A-418360416412_zpsoxirqrsw.jpg.html)
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Digging - some parts are very clay and as such sticky as hell, but I hit a nice patch today which was nice.
Twerping (Tame Wildlife Escape Ruination and Prevention device) now completely finished. Photo's attached.
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Oh and drank lots of allotment tea with Frost...
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Oh and put some cauli & romensca seeds in newspaper pots in the greenhouse....
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Saw my first bee of the year...
Started to dig out the remaining soil pile in the corner of the allotment so I can plant rhubarb, also tried out my builders bags for planting potatoes in - the results were disappointing - they don't hold their shape very well and are too large.... Had to dash to shed for one almighty downpour... So! Have decided that tyre stacks are the best way to go for potatoes as it means that once a year they get cleared down and the bricks can be moved to clear any weed roots on top of weed membrane. The builders bags can be used for ferrying well rotted horse muck (100 yards from allotments) once I have built my human/canine wagon (from an old ikea cabin bed) and also for storing the top soil I'm digging out where I'm going to need it (once I've mined out the sandstone).
Have arranged to get some rounded steel that our farrier has in his shed and isn't using, for making membrane staples. Our farrier also knows where I can get some scaffold poles, kick boards and polypipe for free (to make polytunnel) so he's sorting that out for us!
Round our way, they use bags for recycling glass and they get blown everywhere once they've been emptied so am going to use them to plant my pumpkins in (rather than use tyre stacks) leaving tyres for potatoes.
Got growbags for toms/cucurbits.
Seeded some lettuces/rocket - many varieties....
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Put in two rows of early potato then covered them in fleece.
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Sorted 9 tyre stacks ready for potatoes, another 2 just need a little extra soil to mix in the compost. Have enough tyres for 2 more stacks. Moved the builders bag from yesterdays failed attempt at seeing whether it would be good for growing potatoes in.
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Battled the gales to put up windbreak mesh around the new half-plot, to try and cope with the awful prevailing winds. Planted some peas and broad beans in modules in the snug greenhouse, and pruned back the alstroemerias. Put up with small oik child leaning out of local window screaming: "Oi missus, are you a lesbian?" repeatedly. Cos where my plot is, most small boys who see women working alone, digging, wielding hammers etc seem to be of the opinion that they must be lesbians.
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Prepared a bed for my onions. Sowed some Boltardy beetroot in a tray in my conservatory hoping to get a head start on Spring. cheers HH
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Lovely bright morning at the coast. Plot looking quite tidy despite me doing very little since the autumn. Today I weeded the strawberry and asparagus beds, cut back autumn raspberries and had a general tidy up. Just the therapy I needed after a busy week at work.
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Battled the gales to put up windbreak mesh around the new half-plot, to try and cope with the awful prevailing winds. Planted some peas and broad beans in modules in the snug greenhouse, and pruned back the alstroemerias. Put up with small oik child leaning out of local window screaming: "Oi missus, are you a lesbian?" repeatedly. Cos where my plot is, most small boys who see women working alone, digging, wielding hammers etc seem to be of the opinion that they must be lesbians.
Maybe shout back "yes, due to what the local area has to offer in males!" :lol:
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Finished off the 2 tyre stacks for potatoes.
Dug out the rest of the soil mountain in the corner of the plot and found that the roots of a cut down elder tree were so massive so had to change plan of planting in the soil but to use tyre stacks instead for rhubarb. Had to chop some of the root out that was too proud of the surface. Carpeted and membraned the area, used the last of the tyres for the two stacks and filled them ready for planting. Planted one rhubarb crown (red champagne), but need another! Will have to see if someone at the allotment has dug up their crowns over winter as I ideally want two varieties.....I know that b&q may have a different variety...
Filled in the gaps of one of the compost heap frames as too much stuff was falling out the sides. Need to get another pallet to break up for the other frame.
Knackered!
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Haven't been for a few days as have had a cold and painting boards for two new beds.
Went up late yesterday afternoon to find there had been a second round of shed break-ins and this time mine was done. Nothing taken except an old mattock that was then used to batter doors on other sheds. Got really upset and after telephoning a fellow plot holder who lives locally and agreed to come to the plot, we debated what we would do if we caught the perps.
Cut a long story short, I've got a wildlife camera I have set up but it was destroyed and the chip was no where to be found .... Or so I thought. Went up this morning with OH to fix the locks and door and he found the chip!!!! Scurried home to see if there was anything on it and yep, there was. Got some good pics so the chip is going to the police tomorrow. Fingers crossed we might get them.
Managed to spend a bit of time checking new strawb bed but head was elsewhere so came home.
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Heh heh, Snowdrops! :)
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Yana, so glad to hear you have a good chance of catching the culprit. We have so many break-ins on our site, but have yet to catch anyone.
I will be spending today, like yesterday, continuing to fence off my plot - mostly as a windbreak, but also hopefully to act as a deterrent to opportunist thieves. Sadly no way to keep the vandals out, though. :(
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another gorgeous day, and at the weekend, so this morning it was unload the armchair we picked up yesterday from the car, in went the rotovator, and the allotment had its first spring dig. kept having to stop and clear the mudball from the blades, but a lot happier now the plot is starting to look like a plot and not a piece of scrub land again.
Grendel
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We needed to get the last bits done on the tunnel today, which included putting the mesh cover on. The weather forecast was rain coming in at 3pm so we knew we had enough time- you've guessed it just when we reached the point of no return with the mesh half done the heavens opened and heavy wind as well. Fair play to my better half she stayed out in it with me and we got the job done, soaked to the skin , freezing cold but the last look over the plot made it all worth it,
I am now able to work out how much a 3m x 3 m x 3m tunnel cost me to make
misc timber for pegs and base rails- £29
misc conduit fittings- £12
Entrance door / frame and catch- FOC
11 lengths of 25mm dia conduit- FOC
mesh- Foc
total cost - £41 for a tunnel that is pegged into the ground by a min 2 ft deep - Well Happy
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Hi Yana, so sorry to hear about your break in. I hope the chip is helpful and you catch the culprits.
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Sunshine at last! Finally managed to get some digging and weeding done :). The beds for the onions/shallots and potatoes are ready and waiting now 8). The pigeons have decimated the Swiss chard so I netted it in the hope that it will recover.
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What I did today was to drop a tray of seedlings :( A quarter tray of Coleus which germinated yesterday. If you aren't familiar with Coleus seedlings they are tiny and fiddly to prick out when they are good and ready to be pricked out ... at 2 days after germination its a miracle I managed it!, and it will be two further miracles if 1) they survive and 2) I've salvaged enough from each of the two different varieties I sowed in the tray to get a decent mix in my Summer bedding.
Ho!Hum!
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Oh dear, Kristen! Hope they survive!
We've had the most evil weather here today - gale force winds, torrential rain, biting cold and sleet.
Braved the plot for a couple of hours to try and continue the fencing, but my handswere so numb that I kept hammering my fingers and couldn't even feel it, lol! Almost blew away, too! So I had to give up and come home and plant some seeds instead. Also bought a little fig tree for £4 from Wilko's. 😃
Trouble is, at this time of year, you know there's so much work ahead you don't feel you can waste a minute of the weekend!
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indeed, and when the sun is shining as it has in West London today - WHY AREN'T I DOWN THE PLOT????
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Heh heh, MJG, you won't sleep tonight! 😁
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- WHY AREN'T I DOWN THE PLOT???? cos you lost it
[/quote]
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I made 5 new wicking tubs yesterday for my tomatoes which are still in the packet, I planted them with pak choi/lettuce and spring onions, Dave
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Tidied up compost heap no 1, removed nettles from heap no 2.
Cut some carpet for pathway in front of heaps.
Gave up when the hailstones were coming in horizontal and no milk to make allotment tea...
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Hi All
I've just finished sowing my first cabbage seeds (Hispi) also some romanesco,
cauliflower (All year round) and a few brussels ( trafalgar). tatties are chitting
away nicely, so that's me up and running for a new year. Cant wait.
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Hey! I too sowed some Trafalgar seeds today, along with some tomatoes and a second sowing of peppers.
Went down to the plot. Didn't get any digging done today, just made a start on reducing my hedges from 9ft high down to 5ft. Need a new door for my plot as the ex-door collapsed into about 3 pieces when I opened it today! It went up fantastically in my little incinerator, so that's something, and dried Leyllandi makes wonderful kindling!
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Nipped up yesterday for some fresh air but the wind made it really cold.
Dug up a few leeks for dinner and had a walk round and saw a fello plot holder putting his potatoes in.
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My plot is still too wet to do anything with :( :( :( :( :(
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DaveNE, what's a wicking tub please? Ssounds interesting. :)
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Collected loads of carpet for pathways.
Finished off compost heap no 1 with a shutter to stop the compost falling out. Filled in gaps of heap No 2 and cleared round the two heaps ready for membrane and carpet.
Bought a whitecurrant bush, a blueberry bush (startled to find a pink blueberry variety!) and another rhubarb crown (Victoria). Planted the rhubarb crown.
Filled two potato grow bags with compost and planted two varieties of pumpkins - (old seeds to see if they'll sprout).
Then someone started a bonfire and the wind direction meant it came my way so packed up for the day.
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Spent a couple of hours staking the overwintering broad beans with some blackthorn twigs and noticed that there are plenty of slugs about... >:(
At least they aren't lying on the ground anymore. Lots have flowers forming already.
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DaveNE, what's a wicking tub please? Ssounds interesting. :)
Have a look at this video, I think it covers most things, cheers Dave tt_8SZpl3U0
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Bought my 6th rhubarb. This time a sacrificial Timperley early from my favourite garden centre. It looks good, it looks healthy. But then so did most of the 5 others and I think they are all ex-rhubarb. Fingers crossed the Rhubarb Curse is lifted this year!
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Thanks for the video, Dave, cool! :)
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After having got let down for some wood, a neighbour was having a flat roof replaced and I got some of the roof wood (5 yards long, 1" thick and about 7" wide) to make some raised beds with this weekend with a bit of luck. Photos to follow!
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Sowed broad beans, peas, and carrots, and did a bit of digging, soil in superb condition. Covered it with cardboard over winter, and it seems to have helped.
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Not too wet there, then, OldGrunge? Still way too boggy here - carrot seed would simply disappear...
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I am off and running for the growing season! :) Planted my shallot sets and prepared the area where the onions will go. Sadly, due to the evil onion fly (or allium leaf miner - not sure which, or perhaps they are the same thing :wacko:) having destroyed previous crops, this year's are hidden under enviromesh.
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I've sowed my first peas outdoors. I have some more in root trainers that are just germinating in the cold GH. Broad beans are all up and about 6-8 inches tall now. Celeriac (monarch), cabbage(Greyhound) and caulis (Snowball) are all sown, germinated and growing on in pots. Pots chitting away and a few Lady Christl in bags.
Still eating the last of the cabbage, kale, leeks and salsify. I've got to gert that out soon as I need the ground.
It's all kicked off
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Very organised, Robster! Put me to shame. Broad beans and peas in modules just starting to show. Will be planting more, and leeks, this afty. Trying to decide whether I should risk planting some carrots, or whether it's still way too wet and cold...
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Just enthusiastic Pimento. I'm still trying to not sow my outdoor tomatoes at the moment!!
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I planted the onion sets into a bed. I've covered them with a double layer of debris netting to keep the birds off. Then put the hoops and netting up ready for the broccoli and sprouts. Trimmed the tops of the summer rasperberries and rewired the supports.
What happened to the forecasted sunny weather, it was cold and windy where I was :(
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Today I had a bonfire,weeded what will be the onion bed,swoed around the fruit bushes & what will be the brassica bed. Looks a lot better now,which is more than can be said for me. I'm worn out :lol:
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Me too! Am absolutely cream crackered. Did some digging, then engaged in a life and death struggle trying to remove and old rose bush and a winter jasmine. Then sowed some peas and lettuce in the greenhouse.
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Dug over the bits that weren't too wet (the lower end of my gravity defying allotment) including digging in green manure, planted spring garlic and couple of blackthorn bushes. Retrieved neighbour's black plastic from hedge. Dug up last parsnips.
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Soil milled the proposed bean bed and planted the broad beans. Covered them with a cloche until they acclimatise, as it was very windy.
Took coat off at the plot for the first time this year, put it back on again half an hour later when the sun went in.
Sprinkled GrowOrganic around the fruit bushes and apple trees. The pots were quite dry already, so I watered.
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Digging! The soil is just starting to be less claggy and slightly easier to dig...
Cut some carpet and laid it down in front of the compost to replace the stuff that has about an inch of mud on top. Laid some more round the outside by hedge and located the missing pair of scissors from 2 years ago - underneath the previous carpet I was replacing. Started sweeping up to tidy up...
Kale has started sprouting.....
Liberated some glass recycle bags that I'm going to use for growing pumpkins above ground.
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Dug over my second onion bed (finding a few spuds!) and sprayed some glycophosphate on couch grass in my asparagus bed. ( Hopefully reduce the problem without harming crop) saw some small slugs so sprinkled a few pellets to hit them early.
Cheers HH
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toms and chillys in propagator and on plot garlic and shallots in despite having a bad back but they had to be done even if i was on all fours.
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Take it easy hanssg- you'll never last the season at that rate :blush: backs can be tricky.
I needed to get the post mix out of the back of the shed, I needed to tidy the shed anyway, but :wacko: those spiders <shudders> they were pretty big.
So the shed got tidied. The post got set, and some spiders are no more.
Slugs despatched- 26 (under the weed suppressant)
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Carried on with the windbreak fence. Spent six days on it so far, not including all the time I spent sinking the 24 fence posts last autumn. Aaargh! Think it's just about the most boring job I've ever done on the allotments. Will HOPEFULLY finish it tomorrow - only the gate to make now! Still, iit was a lot warmer today and the sun was lovely. Spring is definitely not very far away!
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Got bags of yukky carpet and old plastic ready for tomorrow's tip run, weeded and fed the saffron, planted 10 wild roses around the field's new pond, potted on the pomegranate and chatted to quite a few plotholders about site stuff for the Committee. And then met up with my new plot partner to plan our attack on the clearing and for me to offload some of my seed stockpile in her direction. :D
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Wih the help of the OH we dug about 5x5 meters plus a raisedish bed. Risked sowing a row of peas, parsnips and broad beans. Found a snails orgy of 100+ nails on some timber off cuts next to my compost bin, didn't have the heart to kill them all so put them on some waste ground away from everyone's plots. Foud lots of shrew tunnels under plastic sheeting. Dug up a dozen small carrots that if overlooked under netting. Dug up a fartachoke plant enough there to feed a family for a week, put most of them on the compost as I can't be dealing with all the pealing. Exhausted! I have become so unfit over winter
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Topped up compost bins with manure I had collected earlier today. Dug up last two rows of parsnips and dug bed over ready to take broad beans that are in the greenhouse.
Took cover off a different bed and gave it a quick rake over as the worms had done their business over the winter and taken the manure down into the soil, leaving a beautifully crumbly soil. Took a chance and put 5 rows of potatoes in (sounds a lot but each row is only 6 potatoes wide). Hope to put rest of potatoes in tomorrow. Fingers crossed weather stays above freezing.
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Got some ericaceous compost to repot a blueberry, and some clout nails.
9/10 kale have sprouted in the greenhouse.
Afternoon was rainy so took a day off...
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Paid my allotment association dues. Then dug just half a spit depth and prepared a few beds before the mizzle came for a few hours. Made good use of the limited time I've had at the plot this weekend.
Planted out my Spring broad beans, to accompany the Autumn plants now starting to flower. The aquadulce (pic below) have survived the Winter far better than they did last year with the wet chocolate spot and pestilence, and also far better than the rest of the Masterpiece variety that were originally planted as a green manure, and will almost certainly be dug in this week. So good to see veg showing their flowers again.
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I harvested the last of my leeks and kale (spent the afternoon processing them), cleared and cleaned the beds and prepared them for the following crops potato where the kale was and brassicas where the leeks were. Sowed sorrel, radish, lettuce spring, onions and spinach.
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I've been fighting a war with couch grass for all the 6 years we've had the plot - usually losing, so several snotty letters from the PC's weed police. So last summer (or was it the summer before?) I bought some weed fabric and by last autumn a lot of the patch was covered.
Yesterday I uncovered the future runner bean bed and dug over the soil. Quite a few long very pale couch roots were on the surface. I picked out what I could, then dug in some old manure delivered a few years ago. Then I replaced the cover for another 3 months. I now have to repeat this performance on other beds, so I'll be ready for planting come May.
Do you think this is a good idea?
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I've been fighting a war with couch grass for all the 6 years we've had the plot - usually losing, so several snotty letters from the PC's weed police. So last summer (or was it the summer before?) I bought some weed fabric and by last autumn a lot of the patch was covered.
Yesterday I uncovered the future runner bean bed and dug over the soil. Quite a few long very pale couch roots were on the surface. I picked out what I could, then dug in some old manure delivered a few years ago. Then I replaced the cover for another 3 months. I now have to repeat this performance on other beds, so I'll be ready for planting come May.
Do you think this is a good idea?
I use the weed membrane a lot and it works for me. It has taken between 3 and 4 years to practically de-weed the plot that started off covered in brambles, couch grass and bindweed. The odd bit pops up now and again but it is quite weak and easily removed. The 'more experienced' guys (don't want to call them older) on the site tut tut me all the time and say a good digging is what it needs. Not in my book, and my back is all the stronger for it!!
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I used woven weed suppressing membrane extensively, for the first time, last season (i.e. planted-through). Almost zero weeding, far less irrigation, more time available to do other times. I cut holes for plants at exact spacing etc. (which took some time), and now I will move the membrane around the beds each season or my crop rotation (I'm perhaps lucky that all my crop rotation beds are the same size).
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Got to the plot at 9.30, put my wellies on and then it started raining. So off came the wellies and I went home :(
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Gorgeous afternoon so spent a couple of hours collecting seaweed, lined potato trenches with it and did a little bit of clearing. Still not planted anything yet though...
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Swapped my day off and it's a horrid grey day and I can't be bothered to leave the house... ::)
Sowed my leeks, onions, celeriac, little gem lettuce, resowed peas, potted on far too many cornflowers, marigolds and cosmos. My chillies and peppers look like they have stalled so hopefully the grey days will brighten soon.
Am looking into getting a bulk delivery of topsoil for the current & new plots for speedy raising of the soil levels.
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Finished off the paths along the edges of the plot - Hurrah!.
Weeded around Autumn onion sets, spread chicken pellets I found in the shed around the fruit bushes, watered in the new strawberries. Bit worried that I might have used too dense a weed suppressing fabric - how does any water get through except through the basic slits the plants are growing through? Also planted Broad Beans in the bed that has been warming up under long plastic tunnels. Watered those too ( watering can, as allotment water not on yet ) and recovered with the plastic hoops until they germinate.
It seems to be quite dry on the top surface of the soil and can't remember when we had our last real rain, often forecast but not often fallen in the past week or two.
Sat outside the shed in the sunshine and ate my sandwiches and drank some Orangina. Exhausted and home by 2.30
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Dug and weeded a 16 x 8 ft bed. Tidied up all the bits and pieces that had been blown around the plot. Beautiful day feeling sore but happy.
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Bit worried that I might have used too dense a weed suppressing fabric - how does any water get through except through the basic slits the plants are growing through?
The rain should just soak through no matter how thick. I use 70/75g stuff and double layer it.
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Thanks for that re-assurance team spotty!
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Popped down after work its was quite warm and sunny still. Dug over a bed and put my shallots and onions in (better late than never), netted where the broadbeans are sown to keep the birds off. Had a quick walk around the site as I was the only one left, good to see what everyone's up to.
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Digging and picked up yet more carpet...
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Removed cover on two beds to reveal lovely crumbly soil .. Thank you worms for working so hard over the winter months. Gave a rake over and now ready for putting in onions that I started off in the greenhouse.
Had a hands on tutorial from fellow plot holder in pruning gooseberries. He made it look so easy and I just made a mess :lol:
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Still haven't touched the plot yet this year :(
Really hoping for good weather middle of next week when I'm on holiday for a week ;) :)
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Just planted my onion sets under fleece to keep them warm. It's nice now but rain and cooler temperatures on the way for Friday and week end here. Amazed by how many I managed to get into the bed I had assigned to them think I will get a few more as they are a staple in our house.
Cheers HH
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More digging.
Farrier has turned up trumps with some metal I can make into staples for membrane....will be making some later.
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Old George (93 you know, and cycles everywhere) has put his parsnips in :ohmy: so I rushed home and got my seeds to do the same 8)....
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Cut down the autumn raspberries & took the garden prunings & kitchen waste & added it all to compost bin no.1. Will need my ratchet secateurs to cut through the bigger raspberry stems though
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Put in the onion sets that had been in the cold frame. Then someone says 'the weather is getting colder over the next few days'..... Where is the fleece when you need it!!!!
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Stripped the next patch of ground to dig and covered with carpet.
Put mistletoe seeds in the apple tree.
Created a few staples for weed membrane to see how they pad out.
We have rhubarb...!
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Friday, 13th March
Spent the morning at home and visiting various places trying to get access to a printer that would scan some documents. Success by about 2pm and then it was such a lovely day that I couldn't stop myself from going to the allotment!
No big jobs to do but put a bit more covering over one of the paths so that there are no strimming jobs later in the year.
Checked for carrot germination - NO, and Broad Bean germination - NO.
Planted out 3 Alpine strawberry plants in the end of the strawberry bed. Messed up the membrane more than with the others as these 3 are bigger plants. Watered them in.
Dug around some of the beds to create a definition between path and bed - I don't so much have raised beds as defining wooden planks around about half of the beds.
Dug out the wild garlic which is coming up where I failed to harvest the garlic sown last year - lots of little bulbs, I wonder if they would have developed into something edible - but they couldn't stay as they are in the middle of the new raspberry bed.
Put 2 bottles of slug pellets in the shed in anticipation of the onslaught.
Listened to school next door to the allotments shouting and playing a football tournament. ( I know this as 8yr old Grandson is playing in it ) It feels good ::).... pity the cold will apparently be back with us next week.
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in a quick hour before tea I turned over the contents of the two compost Daleks and also did some weeding.
funny how the weeds grow quicker than anything !! ::)
Hope to have a busy weekend on the plot and do some raised beds on plot 1, plant some onion sets, and hopefully pull 4 rows ready for my potatoes
Lifted the fleece from over the 2 rows of earlies I planted on March 1st and the soil under was fleece was lovely and warm so all good there. put the fleece straight back down and weighted it with scaffold boards.
I have also ordered a small shed , nothing special just a 6 x 4 tin shed but somewhere to keep my tools rather than the boot of my car :) which was getting filthy what with tools and wellies.
fool I am I didn't see the delivery date is not until the 9th April but no problem it will soon be upon us and it will give me a chance to prepare the base.
For the base I have had a heavy duty pallet from plasterboards which means its 8ft x 4ft not the usual 4 ft square so the shed would sit straight on it, but I have also put some treated 1inch thick boards onto it to add strength and ballast weight so that should be fine. I need to level out the area where I am putting it but that will probably be a job for next weekend not this
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Today I planted the onion sets and covered them with fleece (mainly to stop the pigeons, squirrels and foxes from digging them up). :) The soil must be warmer than I think - when I dug over/ weeded last year's potato bed, I found several "volunteers" which had sprouted more than 10cm of growth! Also sowed lettuce, mustard and spring onions in modules in the blowaway.
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Topped up my onion bed with some shallots yesterday then recovered with fleece. Mended water butt by tightening the tap had to dismantle it and crawl inside - somewhat smelly! Hopefully it won't leak now and I can collect some rainwater from the showers we are promised. After that I removed a few weeds from the asparagus bed and added some specific potato fertiliser to my prepared bed. Finally dug up some of the last leeks. Checked beetroot seedlings in conservatory and broad beans all looking good. Struggling to stop myself sowing outdoor tomatoes I know it's too early!!
Cheers HH
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A skip had been ordered for the lottie today so that a site clear up could happen. Skip arrived just around 8am and by 12 it was nearly full!! Managed to get rid of loads of carpet left on vacant plots, a couple of very rusty and disintegrating oil drums that had been used for burning stuff, beer cans a plenty, and the usual rubbish.
It was an amazing sight with around a dozen wheelbarrows or more trundling up and down collecting stuff up. Looks so much nicer now.
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Want to get my fruit bushes in so spent the day making staples and putting them in and removing bricks (photo's attached). Looks so much better, but didn't get time to put bushes in, but that's the first job for tomorrow.
Pulled up some old rubbishy carpet at the side of the lotty that wasn't doing a lot and started laying some more. Need to strim down before laying some more.
Need to get some more ericaceous compost for repotting a blueberry.
Bumped into a couple of the ol' boys so I've put the message out there for any cast off's. Got some onion sets coming my way....
Oh and discovered that the spotty woofer had consumed my white pumpkin seeds....grrrrr.....
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PLOT 1
raised beds on plot 1 complete and looking great :D
applied lime in mesh tunnel ready for the brassicas
turned over (again) the raised beds and raked level to newly installed timber edging
need to get some bark tomorrow for the paths
PLOT 2
planted a row of broad beans ( direct) and covered with a fleece cloche
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Sowed parsnips. Cleaned up the overwintered chard, and fed with growmore and watered in. I'd like one more cut of the various patches I have and then I'll have it up to make way for the new season plants. In the propagator I sowed gardeners delight and Giant marinade tomatoes for the green house. Checked the Lady Christl in bags in the green house and they are just appearing. Put a net over the apricot tree which is just starting to flower. The blue tits so enjoy eating the buds. The Alderman peas have all germinated. A couple of weeks and they'll be out.
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Spent the morning putting the glass into the greenhouse frame I erected three weeks ago, whilst the wife dug up the remaining leeks and parsnips.
I shall rotavate the four beds this week as I'm on nights Monday & Tuesday so shall have time in the afternoons!
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didnt get to the plot, but managed to plant about 25 strawberry plants we were given the other day into the garden, despite the rain.
Grendel
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Planted 5 blackcurrants and 5 redcurrants. Thought I had only ordered 3 redcurrants so thats knackered by plan of putting in 3 red and 2 whites. (Still to go in are 5 raspberrys, 3 pink gooseberry, 1 whitecurrant and a blueberry which will stay in a pot).
Noticed that Aldi are doing a garden special day so needed to plan out my soft fruit patch (now that I've stapled down the membrane) to know what to buy. Have done that, so going to buy 5 tayberry, 5 loganberry, 2 green goosegogs and 1 whitecurrant. Ordered 3 jostaberries. Will re site some blackberry.
Thats my fruit patch sorted just got to buy & plant....
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Plot 1
put the bark on the paths - now looking great
sowed asparagus
sowed swiss chard
plot 1 mesh tunnel
sowed lettuce 2 varieties
sowed 1 row of carrots
sowed parsnips
plot 2
sowed a row of carrots
sowed a row of parsnip
sowed a row of stuttgard onion sets
sowed half a row of heritage peas
sowed a row of beetroot
what a busy but enjoyable day
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Forked over a 8" x 12" bed. Dug 4" x 16" of the long bed. Watered the potatoes and carrot seeds in the PT. Stopped to talk to one of my fellow plot holder and put the world to right.
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Planted the rest of my fruit bushes...now waiting for Thursday for Aldi specials...
Got given about 200 onion sets...
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Planted 3 short rows of beetroot down the plot having raised them in my conservatory. Covered them with fleece and let the forecast rain water them. Had another go at a few bits of couch poking up in the asparagus bed. Amazing how much you pull up each time you locate an inch long piece of couch.
Rain stopped play after a few minutes.
Cheers HH
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I finally got there today!!! :D :D :D
Dug over a large part of the bottom bed and one of the square beds into which I sowed broad beans :D
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Had agreed/volunteered to redo site map as splitting plots and recent vacancies/changes in plot holders meant it was a bit messy. Armed with a map, a pen and a fellow plot holder, spent about three hours walking round and it was a real eye opener. Saw plots that I didn't know existed (got some great ideas), plots that were looking sad (vacant) but overall realised that apart from one killjoy on the site, and after the weekend skip clear up, I was indeed very fortunate to have my own little piece of England to grow my fruit and veg. :D :D
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Digging!
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replanted the half row of onion sets the birds had lifted and covered the row with fleece
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Planted a pear tree.
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Went down late morning to see if there was room in the council bin for a few of my bags - but no! and they only clear on a Monday afternoon... anyway it was clearing up nicely and drying out, and the neighbours had their windows closed, so I lit the huge bonfire that has been sitting on site since November 5th ( it rained that night ) I had 4 walls and the very heavy base of my old shed, lots of rosemary branches and other similar rubbish. It went up a treat, quite scary really but it soon burnt through and I just kept adding the dry branches and bits of wood that were around. I was still there at 5.20 in the gathering gloom, by that time I was spreading out and re-gathering the dying embers hoping it would die out..... eventually re-gathered, covered with lots of soil to cut the air supply and then poured about 8 watering cans of water all over the pile, oh and I phoned my daughter-in-law who lives just the other side of the fence to ask her ( or my son ) to check on it during the evening.. haven't heard anything so assume it did all stay dead! And I got 3 beds and the raspberries de-weeded/ dug-over while I was watching it burn. All this on the extra plot next to mine which has been a bit neglected whilst I have been doing paths etc. on the main plot. Home, shower, wash hair and spag. bol ready to eat. Happy St. Patricks Day :D :D
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'
Planted two rows of Dunluce potatoes in large home made frame, one row fertilized with FBB, other with Special potato fertilizer, to compare to see which gives the best crop or if the are about the same!
Ground had a good covering of stable manure and garden compost over winter and covered with fleece to try to warm up earliest possible!
Here's hoping!
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Digging!
Me too!! :lol: :lol:
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turned up!! :tongue2:
finally had a day off work and nothing else pressing to fit it, so managed to get quite a bit done :D
pruned the pear tree and fruit bushes, weeded round bases etc.
dug over patch where I had spread partly cooked compost heap over cardboard Nov/Dec time. most of it had reduced down enough to dig in but what was still too lumpy I put back in one of the daleks, layered it with the manure/scraps that had been cooking in there and watered - it filled the bin!
planted rhubarb crowns (6) from B&Q and a gooseberry which I had layered from one of the other bushes last year. Also broadcast some broad beans in the space next to this patch.
lightly raked over and fluffed up asparagus bed and broadcast some old green manure mustard I found in the shed.
probably too early but used up the weedkiller on the area where the potatoes are going, grass seemed to be growing so hope it does the job! scattered some more of the mustard for good measure too. checked on the potatoes (covered in the greenhouse) and they seem to be chitting ok.
weeded around the garlic rows and raked up the sides - all seems to be growing well :)
had a bonfire of the brambles and prunings
sprained my ankle :(
came home and sorted out the conservatory to find space to sow seeds.
put daliahs in trays to sprout, put sweet peas in water to soak, sowed various flowers and veggies so now conservatory is full of pots and trays! :D
don't often get a day to do what I want, so pleased I was able to make the most of it!! 8)
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Put weed fabric and bark chipping down on the greenhouse path, fitted two water butts and connected them to the three I already have by the shed.
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Guess what!! :D
More DIGGING!! :D :D :D
Sowed some carrot seeds too ;) :)
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Went down in glorious sunshine, filled a bag with the ash from yesterday's bonfire and dug over the ground. Tidied up 3 other beds and planted out ( by infilling on the main onion bed) the rest of the Sturon sets. Now all I've got to do is make sure I weed it often enough to allow them to grow! Also took 24 small potted up tomato plants to leave in my plot neighbours greenhouse, she has nothing else in there yet - must ring to tell her I've started!
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Did some finishing touches to another wicking planter and shredded old egg boxes and lots of corrugated cardboard ready for the grass clippings glut, Dave
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Guess what!! :D
More DIGGING!! :D :D :D
Me too!!! Got quite in the swing of it. Would have carried on all afternoon but horses needed bringing in and riding...
Jostaberry canes arrived today along with some white pumpkin seeds (to replace the ones that the woofer ate). Noticed that Lidl have joined Aldi in with bush/strabs special tomorrow except that lidl are doing different varieties of strawbs (and no tayberry/loganberry canes).
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Kestrel potatoes planted out, along with a couple of rows of peas.
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Planted out the potatoes (can't remember variety but they are first earlies), also planted out the early onward peas. I've put fleece round the peas as we get a stiff sea breeze across the site. Sowed carrots, Nantes 5 and Parnsip Little Gem and then sowed wild flower seeds at the back of the plot.
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Visited multiple aldi's to get 5xTayberry, 5xLoganberrys, 2xGreen Gooseberrys, 1xWhitecurrant and 24xstrawberrys. That's my fruit bed sorted except for some more strawbobs and possibly a bilberry. Planted the whitecurrant and goosegogs before my trowel became an ex-trowel.
Stacked up a load of bricks near the gate for taking to the tip.
Took a trip round Anchor Supplies (a large army surplus that has so much stuff it's unbelievable) to see if there was anything that I could use for making staples for membrane and any other stuff that may come in handy. Came away empty handed which surprised me.
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Visited multiple aldi's to get 5xTayberry, 5xLoganberrys, 2xGreen Gooseberrys, 1xWhitecurrant and 24xstrawberrys. That's my fruit bed sorted except for some more strawbobs and possibly a bilberry. Planted the whitecurrant and goosegogs before my trowel became an ex-trowel.
Stacked up a load of bricks near the gate for taking to the tip.
Took a trip round Anchor Supplies (a large army surplus that has so much stuff it's unbelievable) to see if there was anything that I could use for making staples for membrane and any other stuff that may come in handy. Came away empty handed which surprised me.
I went to Lidl today & they had 4 varieties of strawberries, 6 for £2.99. Good looking plants too. Thanks to another thread on here :D
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I went to Lidl today & they had 4 varieties of strawberries, 6 for £2.99. Good looking plants too. Thanks to another thread on here :D
:)
Also went to Lidl to get strawbs, but the one I visited didn't have any, and I only knew where one Lidl was - plan is to look up stores and go after I've put my telescope away tomorrow morning to get some.
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Had a good session down the plot this morning tidied up and burnt rubbish in incinerator. (Surprised though to find that the bottom has burnt through!!) kept up my attack on the couch grass in my asparagus plot. A bit amazed by the amount that is still there.
Cheers HH
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Cut some autumn raspberries and some unwanted wild brambles - that will probably be grateful for the prune and come back with abundance! Spread out my first bale of barley straw mulch. Put chicken pellets on the summer raspberry canes, currant bushes and blueberries. Also put some of the stuff that make the soil acidic on the blueberries.
After reading this thread i'm stopping at Lidl tomorrow to get some new strawberry plants. Need to decide whether to make a new patch on the ground or put them in my raised planter.
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Not so busy as some of you! Finished stapling up the last bit of the windbreak fencing round the plot. Only the gate to make and fix now - hopefully tomorrow - yay!! Quite proud of myself. Didn't think I could sink 24 6ft fence posts and build a very decent looking fence, but I've done it! That's why I love allotments - you find ways to do things you never believed you could do.
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I am hoping it stays dry until Sunday, soild and manure...hopefully!
Cheers
Aled
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Finished digging...
...for now!! :D
Until the winter brassicas are done with ;) :)
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Took out the sprout plants that have now finished. Weeded the garlic and the field beans, added some chicken manure pellets. Topped up soil in one of the beds and planted out my shallots and my pink Roscoff onions.
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Solar eclipse meant that the horses didn't get mucked out till later so only had time to buy a new trowel and plant my three jostaberries before having to bring the horses back in.
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Sowed more beetroot under fleece along with some little gem lettuce, rocket plus radish. Spread contents of incinerator on potato bed and recovered with black plastic to warm up ready to add spuds.
Cheers HH
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Put FREE....love that word....composted horse manure on the garden space and around the apple trees at the drip line this week.
(http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/6/62/900x900px-LL-62c2aeab_100_2863.jpeg)
(http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/8/89/900x900px-LL-89724520_100_2868.jpeg)
The chickens helped....
(http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/9/9d/900x900px-LL-9d3354d4_100_2865.jpeg)
Got two truckloads of the stuff, one small load and another in a larger truck, so now have a big pile of poo above the garden space, covered with a tarp, to be used later for flower beds, side dressing of veggies, more around the fruit trees, etc.
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Sowed lots of seeds in modules in the mini greenhouse - calabrese, beetroot, chard, chives and hardy annual flowers :)
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Dug over a bed, pulling out soooooooooo much Couch and Mares Tail and put up my cane wigwams for the sweet peas.
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Took woofer to the lotty to see what he'd make of the sticks standing out of the ground. Fortunately he left them alone.
Planted 3xTayberry bushes. Only 2xtayberry, 5xloganberry and 24xstrawberry to go...
Had a fellow plot holder asking questions about the membrane as it was obvious that the membrane was staying down.
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After securing an allotment closer to home have been digging today, a lot of work required until I will be able to grow, but luckily have my other allotment until September so wI'll still be able to reap the rewards!! Picked purple sprouting broccoli and some Kale.
Has been a stunning day in the sunshine on the Isle of Wight!
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Bought some Calabrese seedlings from local garden centre. Took Mrs Hog down to the plot to show her all the good work done so far this year. Surprised to see only two other plot holders in evidence assume weather was deemed too nice!!
Cheers HH
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Put the last of the garlics in and another 33 broad bean plantlings next to the 36 I put in two weeks ago. The ground is a lot drier and warmer to work this week - lovely. Something has visited the plot and ripped up some of the original 36 broad beans and just left them lying on the ground. Could this be birds? Not people, I think - it would have taken people less than five minutes to rip out our canes and trample all the plants, but this was a haphazard ripping up and throwing down of some and ignoring the rest. Anyway, one fatality, which I replaced, two look dodgy, the rest should be fine now I have put them back in. Fingers crossed!
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Dug out a load of horse manure and barrowed it to the lotty whilst OH planted some seeds.
Woofer decided that the sticks in the ground were too inviting and decided to pull one of the raspberrys - fortunately not too bad and was quickly restored.
Bought some nice pots and herbs for the garden, OH has done the planting. Need more compost to finish....
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Gorgeous, cheering, warm and sunny spring day. Put down weed control fabric on all the paths on the new plot. Expensive job, but will reap rewards tenfold in terms of time and backache. Sang along loudly all day to the radio. Luckily there weren't many people around. :)
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Plot 1
planted some basil and chives. dug in three bags of compost to try and improve the soil. Mulched the fruit tunnel with a bale of straw
[/Plot 2b]
put up the row of runner bean sticks ready for next month
planted a row of red onion seedlings
one side of my plot (the other side of the fruit trees) is a strip of overgrowth about 4 ft wide, so I cleared this and turned over the soil , took out about 5 bucket fulls of glass which had likely come over the wall from the neighbouring gardens over many years.
Ive also laid a base for my shed which is due in two - three weeks- as the base is a treated timber homemade one I have driven stakes in each corner approx. 700mm into the ground and then screwed the pegs to the base with 100mm screws, so I would hope this is more than secure against wind .
When I cleared this I found a large slowworm which I moved to lower down the site and a frog which a left alone on my plot and hope he will eat all the slugs
A very busy weekend again !!
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Well, what a lovely sunny day! Everyone was out on our allotments today and the water was turned back on :D. Managed to get hubby down there for once 8) plus the 2 smaller helpers 8) 8) and got the potatoes and rhubarb planted plus some digging/weeding done and 2 Enviromesh cages put up - 1 to stop the onion fly getting to my onions/shallots and 1 to stop the (yet to be sown) carrots and parsnips from being attacked by carrot fly. Fingers crossed...
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Right i really had a go at it on Sunday. Dug the plot over (single dig trench method) added 2 wheelbarrows full of my home brew compost, 3 barrows of horse manure, and 1 bucket of chicken pellet manure left over from last year. Will leave to settle for a week or so before getting the rotovator out.
It was a lovely spring day yesterday, and i've burnt my bald patch, still nice to see the sun out!
Cheers
Aled
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Planted the Shallots and Onion sets. Planted 10 Casablanca Spuds, anyone know if they taste as good as their reputation suggests, in flower buckets in the greenhouse. Prepared another two beds. maybe get spuds in the ground next weekend.
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Planted out broad bean plants under a net cloche also sowed a couple more rows in the bed.
Tested soil in my bed for Calabrese with a Ph test came up at 7.00 IE neutral so think I will hold off the lime and plant later this week. Prepared bed by trampling it to firm it up then sprinkled some grow more and a few slug pellets to protect in advance of planting under a cover to ward off pesky pigeons!!
Cheers HH
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A big fat nothing and won't be for the next two weeks as on jury service.
But will catch up with seeds instead as can do that when I get home?
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Yet more digging....
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Yet even more digging....till the hailstorm where upon the woofer wanted to go home, I had cold feet, it was extremely muddy and the bobbos would have wanted to be brought into to their stables.
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Planted the onion sets, swoed the to be brassica bed,harvested a few bits.
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Built cage for brassica protection. Put out mouse traps by broad bean seedlings ( bad damage last year)
Quick weed of other beds
Came back home just before the heavens opened
Cheers HH
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Planted some second early and early spuds. Weather forecast as wet and warm for the next few days so thought I would get them in whilst weather allows. Also decided to sprinkle lime on my Calabrese bed ready to plant some time next week. Now time for snooze I think!!
Cheers HH
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Installed the "Munty frame" for the climbing beans next month, dug and filled the bean trench and cleared the area under the fruit trees ready for weed suppressing fabric topped by bark chippings!
(http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh550/silhouette1265/Allotment/EC4C8CA1-6B2F-4B1E-8A1A-74EFF1111665_zpsxzyg21ih.jpg)
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Not strictly the plot as I was doing the garden:
- scarified the lawn (patch of greenish stuff) Phew! that is really hard work!
- fed the rose bushes
- growmore-d the rest of the garden and the tree paeony.
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Digging...
Gifted my over purchase of tayberry bushes to neighbour.
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More swoeing,hubby arrived to help & rotovated the potato bed & the roots bed,relaid the slabs between me & my new plot neighbour,then we went back after lunch & he dug the bit that's never been dug, built me a bonfire ready for tomorrow, whilst I tidied up, prepared the new soft fruit area,made tea, weeded the raspberries,& bulb patches, harvested the leeks & beetroot I found
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Sowed broad beans, tomatoes and garlic chives :)
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Made some more membrane staples out of a discarded clothes airer (that had the plastic burnt off) that I'd found. Stapled down the last of the membrane on my fruit corner/pumpkin patch.
Cleaned off bricks (which used to have tyre stacks for pumpkins) and relaid them as I don't need so many as I'll be planting my pumps in glass recycling bags that I'd liberated. Cut off velcro flaps on the recycling bags and put holes in the bottom of them so that water can drain.
Gave our 4 plum trees a grade 1 and cleared the prunings and put them onto the ever growing burn pile.
Swept the fruit corner/pumpkin patch to be free of tree bits. All looking good now, only 7 bushes and strawbobs to plant...
Very windy on the plot and as I was cutting the trees I had a birds eye view of fruit corner, the membrane just rippled, so the staples work extremely well and I'm dead chuffed. Just need to find more metal that I can use to make more staples for the rest of the plot.
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Had a great big bonfire,burning all the saved wood, weeds that we freed from the soil yesterday & anything else I could find. Pottered about & began to empty a compost bin,see separate thread
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Pulled a couple of Radish from the pollytunnel ! The first food from the allotment !
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In the morning I've planted some tomatoes and onion sets, the children helped of course and everything was perfect :)
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Just sowed some Kelvedon Wonder peas and Aquadulce Claudia broad beans, also some Oregon Sugar Snap
Mangetout peas left over from last year! Spuds are going in tomorrow :)
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Sowed some tomato seeds in a heated propagator for outdoor plants. Also sowed some purple sprouting broccoli in tray in conservatory. they are supposed to crop in the summer will see how long they last into autumn.
Cheers HH
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Put a fourth raised bed in.dug,weeded,planted some wilkos rhubarb,dug,weeded,leveled off the hump at the bottom where my man cave is gonna be sited,dug,weeded,had a big fire...gave up on the dug,weeded bit.
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More couch out.
More BBeans in.
weeded a bit
Watered all the peas & beans :wacko:
Got a bit fed up with some kale so hoiked it out to leave more room for the very slow PSB.
Ol' Norm is putting his beetroots in today (Bolthardy he told me as I left). That's now on my to-do listhubby arrived to help & made tea
Send him over please! My one seems to be malfunctioning :tongue2:
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Put two raised beds in where the strawbs were and now looking good. Had some shredded paper and grass clippings so mixed them together and put them in the smaller (but taller) bed. Will be using contents of raised beds on other half plot to fill them up as they are starting to rot and won't last another season.
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Dug over a bit more of the plot today, but pretty windy and showery so only spent an hour there.
Came home and potted on my tomatoes.
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My day was pretty similar.
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Planted the last two tayberrys and 2 loganberrys. Only 3 loganberrys to go, oh and my strawbs.
PSB has sprouted from a 4 year old packet of seeds, taken me a bit by surprise.....
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Popped down after work, could bear the idea of digging so hoed around all my herbs and put the weeds into the compost. Can't believe how quickly the weeds have grown a lot were in flower and if I'd left it another week would have dropped seeds everywhere.
Was amazed to see my peas have sprouted especially as I thought the frost we had a few weeks back had got them.
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Made and laid nine new raised beds. That's twelve altogether since yesterday. And pinned weed-suppressant fabric between them all, ready for the shedloads of woodchip I hope to pick up from the tree surgeon's on Wednesday and Thursday.Hopefully things may have dried out a bit by then...
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Planted my potatoes. 5 swift and 5 vivaldi
Dug up my loganberry which seems to have died.
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(Yesterday ) Checked fleece hadn't blown away on beetroot and onion bed. Dropped off some sand ready to create bed for carrots once this perishing wind stops blowing. Not planting/covering any brassicas till I am confident the netting covers won't just blow down the site. Came home and secured loose fence panel to post in preparations for the forecast gales.
Cheers HH
PS Good news panel still standing!
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Planted the last 3 loganberrys. Only the strawbs left to go in at fruit corner...
Took loads of bricks to tip and brought up 18 slabs that we'll be using for polytunnels.
Despite the hurricane strength winds, fruit corners weed membrane (newly pinned down with staples) has not moved an inch - I'm dead impressed at how well they are working. Talked to my farrier this morning to find out where he got the rounds of steel and how much he paid (£15 for a whole pack of which he gave me half) - so will phone up the place to get some more!
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At home in pots in the mini gh I've sown some more peas, a few early french beans, basil and echinacea. Fingers crossed for some warmer weather this winds vile
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I did a lot of bitty tidying up, you know the type of stuff, too busy/cold/wet etc to put things away properly the first time, I'll learn! Enjoyed it though.
Potted up a few of my onions from seed, sowed a few spare broad beans.
Weather was wet, windy and sunny. Love England
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Found a cloche that was over some lettuce seeds wedged behind the compost bin. The awful wind we are having had blown it clean off. Then stayed in the shed and potted on the courgette plants and sowed some sunflower seeds in pots. Chomping at the bit to get out but it was so cold/wet/windy. The shed was moving in the wind, hope it's still there tomorrow 😧
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Yesterday I checked the onions hadn't been attacked- still all there. The rhubarb is coming along nicely as are some of the fruit trees but there's no growth on the rasps planted in autumn.
I also started to empty one of the compost bins and tried to rebuild a planter but my hands were so cold and wet that I couldn't hold the hammer properly!
At least I tried. ..
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Took the last of the paving slabs to the allotment and took 3 loads of bricks from the allotment to the tip. Brick pile No 1 is no longer and I've started on pile No 2.
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Yes! Yes! Yes! Tidied the shed and got that * huge spider at last :nowink: I knew it was in there.
Blocked up all the holes with wood and had a shed clear out. As I had the small drill I got a load of hooks up and a new shelf too :D
Weeded the strawbs and got shot of a few slugs. Put in a few earlies and sowed some beets under fleece.
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Resowed carrots, as first sowing had not showed. Potted up tomatoes, chillies, and peppers. Sowed some peas that I had "chitted" on damp kitchen towel, never tried this before.
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Had the day off work and an 11 year old helper for the morning :D. We planted some potatoes, sowed some leeks in a deep tray and hardy flowers in modules in the blowaway. Oh and dispatched some slugs :)
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Yesterday, went to see if there was any damage after the high winds. The low fencing that stops me from falling down the dyke at the back of the plot had been blown over, so spent the morning demolishing it. Will redo it when the weather improves. Then planted out the peas and broad beans.
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I planted out my first potatoes. Main crop Sante. They had got very wrinkled and I thought it best to get them in. Sowed my outdoor tomatoes a variety called Inca. I first came across them as part of the free seeds offer here a couple of years ago. Excellent plum bush type. Hope I can keep them blight free this year. I have some first early peas to go up the lotty and make good the rows and some alderman to go out soon. All ticking along nicely
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Had a root through Pass the Parcel #3 - wow!!!
Went to local garden centre with OH to get some climbers and pots for back garden.
Rain stopped any allotment activity...
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I sowed some chives, basil (Sweet Green and Red Leaved) and chard (Bright Lights and Rhubarb Chard (Vulcan)) and then managed to slip over on the decking. Beginning to feel a little bit achey now! :(
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spent well over an hour pricking out tomato seedlings, nearly all of the blighters have germinated. :ohmy:
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a Busy day :
plot 2
took off the fleece from my early spuds - red duke of York. the birds had ripped the fleece to bits but underneath the spuds were coming through nicely- so I earthed them up and now the two rows are looking great
planted three rows of sarpo mira main crop spuds
planted out some parsley from the trays
weeded between the onions
plot 1- my wife , planted some parsley, built a cage over the peas, and planted some January kings cabbage, she also built a frame ready for the sweet potatoes
on my plot (3) I had yet another slow worm this one @ 250mm was slightly smaller than the last which was nearer 350mm long . it was duly moved to the main site compost heap. This must be the sixth this year we have moved in the last few weeks . this one was curled up on the surface .
added another two buckets of coffee grounds to the compost heap and as I dig anywhere I collect the worms and re locate them in the compost dalek so that's coming on nicely as well
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Planted the spuds whilst TOH cleared the area for her two blackcurrant bushes to go into!
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Sowed a variety of toms/pumps/squashes from Pass the Parcel Round #3 in seed trays whilst OH planted the climbers/others in the back garden.
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Sowed a variety of toms/pumps/squashes from Pass the Parcel Round #3 in seed trays whilst OH planted the climbers/others in the back garden.
Pumpkins already mmm :unsure:
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Sowed a variety of toms/pumps/squashes from Pass the Parcel Round #3 in seed trays whilst OH planted the climbers/others in the back garden.
Pumpkins already mmm :unsure:
Yep, have room, and sowing indoors at the moment.
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Dug over with a fork will rotovate later this week.
Cheers
Aled
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Got all the chitted potatoes in earlies , second earlies , first main and main , had to dig extra trenches as I had too many . My plumbing apprentice is having what I have left as he has started helping on a plot
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Finally made it to the plot today, 8am until 12.30, ran the rotovator over the plot for the second pass gave one section a good third pass to really loosen it up, then laid some weed supressant fabric and then planted some onions and Garlic (yes I know I am running late this year).
Grendel
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Busy day,
Given some pallets so built a home for my spuds which are in bags as needed the room in the tunnel.
Attached some fleece just in case of any frost...
Sowed Parsnips,Carrots and beetroot, Re-potted all my Chillies and Tomatoes.
:)
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Sowed some more seeds from Pass the Parcel #3 and collected my seeds from the allotment to put back in the parcel.
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Finished staining the raised beds, removed MORE couch, planted a small cherry tree and some more rhubarb that a fellow plot holder gave me...got a bit sunburnt.
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Plot 2
built a new cabbage tunnel 6m long x 750mm high x 600mm wide with water pipe hoops and debris netting ready for my cabbages to go in at the end of this month, then thought it looked very bare so I planted 12 lettuce plants in and surrounded them in a blue carpet of slug pellets.
planted 2 very young rhubarb plants
earthed up again my early potatoes that have grown again since yesterday
watered the potatoes , and this years apple trees & pear trees.
Ran the hoe over the plot as the weeds are coming thick and fast.
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Gosh twitch- liking the spud patch immensely!
Watered the peas & parsnips (both showing, BBeans & spinach and sowed an early row of this years spinach. Oh and some salad leaves under a bit of shelter.
Slugs despatched= 4
Ladybirds spotted=2
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Gosh twitch- liking the spud patch immensely!
Watered the peas & parsnips (both showing, BBeans & spinach and sowed an early row of this years spinach. Oh and some salad leaves under a bit of shelter.
Slugs despatched= 4
Ladybirds spotted=2
Parsnips already :ohmy: how have you got them growing this early in cold soil? I struggle enough in May!
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Busy day. Digging, sowed carrots and beetroot, planted red currant bush. The kids planted summer bulbs; hubby did the most, constructed mini-greenhouse, repaired shelves in shed, constructed leafmould bin and brought manure from the far end of the site to the plot, which I laid out and covered with weed suppressing fabric. Feeling very pleased with our few hours of work and family time :D
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Dug over a couple of beds. Repositioned the water barrel. Also sowed a few hispi cabbage, all year round cauli and runner bean hestia in the greenhouse.
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Parsnips already :ohmy: how have you got them growing this early in cold soil? I struggle enough in May!
I sowed them this time last year after being informed that Grand National day is the time to sow....
and had a great crop :)
Though was a tad warmer last year....
Only time will tell.
:nowink:
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Dismantled 4 5m x 1.2m raised beds and the weed suppressant fabric from the paths as both areas were full of bind weed and I wanted to make the paths wider. Managed to dig over half the beds and paths before my back decided it'd had enough.
Hand pollinated the peach tree but noticed the bees were doing a pretty good job
(http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj86/TheNutcracker1985/CD4C70F6-899C-43B4-8848-CBD443C50B25.jpg) (http://s270.photobucket.com/user/TheNutcracker1985/media/CD4C70F6-899C-43B4-8848-CBD443C50B25.jpg.html)
Took home my first 'harvest' of tulips. I know you can't eat them but they're making me smile every time I look at the on the coffee table :)
(http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj86/TheNutcracker1985/F98C848D-4329-478F-BFE9-A1579511837D.jpg) (http://s270.photobucket.com/user/TheNutcracker1985/media/F98C848D-4329-478F-BFE9-A1579511837D.jpg.html)
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Did a small bit of digging before deciding it was too hot and I'd probably get sunburnt if I carried on.
Forgot to look at the mistletoe, maybe check later once the heat has calmed down.
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Repaired a raised bed at the back of plot 1, then re-organised all the spare wood. Turned to pick up a small spirit level and my back went into spasm. Just about made it home :(
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Parsnips, carrots and rainbow chard seeds sown. Two blackcurrant bushes planted and the greenhouse borders dug out and filled with MPC. A good mornings work :)
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spent an hour this afternoon and
Weeded around my broad beans and onions,
watered my fruit trees, my earlies are really growing now and will need earthing up again by Thursday. :D :D :D
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Yesterday and today actually...
I've sown pre-sprouted peas in root-trainers, sown beetroot - Chioggia and Detroit 2. Potted on Tigerella and Gardener's Delight tomatoes. Pricked out lettuce seedlings. Moved thyme and oregano into larger pots.
I've spent most of the last two days in the garden, it's been fab! :D
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At the plot for an hour, swoed 4 of 6 beds, decided to wait for onions to show before I did that bed,bed 6 still has brassicas in so that can wait. Then I weedkillered the ' grass' path & any other weeds I could find. Then forgot to pick PSB for dinner, got loads coming too. This was all after spending hours jet washing & scrubbing the greenhouse at home, then jet washed the slabs round it.
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Planted seed potatoes in the back garden (after digging that side over) ;)
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I have a lot of concrete on my plot from former tenants greenhouse bases, please bear this in mind if you are tempted to lay any concrete. This morning I dug up 4 paving slabs, or flags if you live round here, to make more growing space, then was too tired to move them. Went back 5pm and stacked 2 of them against the hut, still 2 to move when I have the strength.
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I'd quite like some concrete as I had a sinking shed issue :tongue2:
Ooh had a loverly time today- planted some Mange tout, carrots, shallots, spinach and more parsnips. Chanced a handful of early dwarf french beans in the light ground (pre warmed with black plastic) but in shelter and under glass.
Slugs despatched= 120 :ohmy: most were on the other side of the plastic I had down warming the soil!
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Weeded and fed raspberry beds, removed covers from two beds and planted out broad beans in one, sowed parsnips in the second one. Weeded onion beds, harvested last of the leeks and dug bed over.
Checked new strawberry bed to see if all plants had taken and pleasantly surprised to see they had.
Sowed carrots in two blue barrels, raked bed for last if the broad beans to be transplanted tomorrow.
Gave away 5-6 pallsets that I don't need anymore and general tidy up before going home well please with the day's work.
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Not a plot day today but a garden day. Plot tomorrow to sew broad beans and first earlies.
Made a raised bed in front garden to cover stony weedy area. Sewn plenty of flowers and looking forward to some colour.
In back garden pruned apple tree and cut grass.
Emptied cold frame as full of pots and trays and cobwebs. ;)
Sewn 2 gutters with peas and room for them now in cold frame. Insulated it with foam from old trampoline. Sewed lots of seeds indoors, tomatoes, cucumber, pumpkins and more brassicas.
Looking forward to plot day tomorrow but enjoyed today. Garden gets a bit neglected with having allotment!
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I achieved most of what i needed to this weekend. All the potatoes are in. First early peas are netted and growing along nicely. Planted out celeriac, savoy cabbage, parsley. Weeded and fed the onions. Planted out some lettuce. I built a bubblewrap greenhouse in my unheated greenhouse and put my first tomatoes and marketmore cucumbers in it. Sowed kale and swede seeds
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Decided it must be time to take advantage of the Mediterranean weather we had over the week end. So down to the plot today.
Planted out the Calabrese into my brassica bed defended with hoop cage covered with debris netting hopefully good enough for birds may still need to watch butterflies! Also sowed some carrots in strip form along with a row of spring opinions to hopefully confuse any carrot flies. Covered with supposedly fly proof net cloche will see whether it works! Also sowed some radish outside of the cloche in the raised bed as much to confuse fly as any thing Mrs Hog likes radish more than I do. Finally removed fleece from onions and weeded bed then weeded asparagus bed too
( no sign yet of crop)
Cheers HH
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I'm running a bit behind, but finally got my FEs in today (15 each of Rocket & Kestrel) and made a start digging the other bed for the other potatoes. However, I'm removing 2-3 inches of turf on the surface and then having to pick out all the couch grass roots, so it's really slow going.
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Put in another load of broad beans (I LURVE them), set up string and canes to hold them up whe they grow as they are a taller variety.
Painted fence around new community plot on the site. Stupidly said I like painting so was not long before I was volunteered for the job. Actually enjoyed it as first time for a few days I could take things slower.
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Sowed some beetroot. Weeded. Observed that the PSB is still not ready. Picked some chicory that had overwintered.
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Dig some digging - soil is nice at the moment.
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earthed up my earlies again - wow they are really shooting up now
moved the two small crowns of rhubarb I planted last weekend as I was not happy with where I placed them
done some minor weeding
watered the fruit trees
my row of beetroot are showing well and the carrots are breaking through- a bit of sun makes all the difference
My shed which was due today has not arrived - THANKS ARGOS :mad: its now due on saturday >:( >:(
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PSB is done. I left one last plant to flower for the bees and the rest is chopped in the compost bin. Filled it nicely. Started digging the beds in the greenhouse and put in a woodchip path. Sowed some dwarf beans for growing in the greenhouse, and a courgette. I'm reading everything I can find about growing in greenhouses... ::)
Noticed at home that my pots are totally infested with fungus gnats, which is why my seedlings are doing so badly.. :mad: Tomorrow morning I'll take the spuds in a bag to the plot so they get more sun than on my rubbish balcony.
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We are catching up with the weeding still, beetroot, carrots, turnips and peas are in the ground. Fake tayberry is out. Fruit bushes put under control.
Seeds all finally up at home and cucumbers and toms doing great.
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Erected blow away at home and transferred lettuce from conservatory ( too hot!)
Prepared bed for beans and erected some poles. Might as well be ready.
Took lawn mower to plot PM and mowed paths on my plot.
All looking tidy - shocked myself😳😳😳😳
Cheers HH
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Fake tayberry is out.
Was it wearing a disguise?
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Fake tayberry is out.
Was it wearing a disguise?
Yep it was nothing more than a common very prickly blackberry wearing an overcoat of prickles
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Digging - the soil is now crumbly and quite nice to dig the copious amounts of couch grass out.
Sowed some meadowsweet for our horses.
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Digging - all the beds now dug over and ready for me to run the rotovator over at the weekend.
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Best laid plans and all that ........
Managed about an hour late this afternoon and spent it removing the cover from the bed where peas that were started at home in guttering are going tomorrow. Sowed carrots, checked broad beans that were planted out a few days ago and made sure everything ready for full day at the plot tomorrow.
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Chaz your peach and tulips are looking stunning!
I popped down after work tonight, mamsged the tinest amount of diggim. The mice have eaten all my broad beans dispute netting them :( the bird have had a good nibble at my peas fingers crossed the mice don't find them.
Had my first harvest this spring :)
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Planted all my spuds,lady Christyl,Swift,Charlotte,Ambo,King Edward,Wilja,Lady Balfour, no more than 8 of any,some just 3. All in short rows of 3 or 4. Hubby rotovated a few beds for me & put a temporary path down past the cherry tree, had a fire with the remains of last weeks fire, then came home for lunch with a bag of PSB & after lunch tidied out the garden shed
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Plot this pm but we have just been and purchased sweetcorn and compost ( jacks magic) feeling good and positive, also play sand so the kids can dig while I sow seeds
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Happened again.......
Yesterday had today all planned out and then got a call from friend to say he was having his decking replaced with block paving and did I want it?? Did I??
Grabbed OH, and off we went. Collected one truk load yesterday and two more today and still two more to go. AND a pergola in perfect condition. That's what friends are for.
Before collected decking today, put in peas that were growing in guttering and planted out cabbage and cauli.
Earthed up potatoes as they were poking out and general tidy up.
Tonight will be sipping a glass of vino and planning what to use the decking for. I'm so excited!!
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Marathon digging session, arrived at plot before 8, didn't leave post 18:00....
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Sowed Stokesley peas and Bullroyd pea beans. Also sowed radish and spinach. Planted some bulbs in box in front of the shed. OH weeded the fruit bed. Picked PSB, mustard greens, leaf beet, forced rhubarb and some chives. Covered the prepared sweetcorn bed with cardboard to keep it weed free until planting time.
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Installed an automatic window opener but I don't know whether it works 'cos its been too blummin' cold!
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Planted out oca as the chits were beginning to get little leaves :lol: dug over a bed and then got rained off. This afternoon I picked up a patio size greengage from the supermarket which looks promising as it was a good shape, had lots of leaves coming and is a self fertilising variety so I will get that planted in tomorrow!
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Spent couple of hours weeding fruit bed and dug over main area of plot ready for brassicas and peas and beans.
Where potatoes are going needs small amount of weeding and digging over and more manure.
Planning to move strawberries from home to plot in the evenings this week after work.
Hoping weather stays dry. :)
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A full shift on plot 2 today
Quite a cold day but luckily dry
Firstly we started at 930 am putting up the newly delivered shed, what felt like 1 million screws later at around 330 pm it was done. These metal sheds are a great buy but hell they take some putting up and the instructions weren't the best. I must admit I hoped it would come in 5 panels not completely unassembled like it was.
After a very quick break my wife went to her plot 1 and did a load of weeding and repaired the fruit tunnel
Whilst I earthed up the earlies again and made a base for my water butt
We then went to the nearest coast line and fetched 2 bags of seaweed , 1 of which I have added to the compost dalek and 1 will be put in a hessian sack and submersed in the water butt tomorrow.
Finally sat down at 730pm - shattered but happy :) :)
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Planted out Alderman peas and made good the gaps in the outdoor sown first early peas with others that I had sown in root trainers. Wrap round netting seems to be doing a good job of protection. Harvested overwintered spring onions from my cold frame and planted out dwarf french beans into it. Put a layer of bubble wrap under the lids to keep them snug. I watered all the seedlings that are coming up- leeks, parsnips, radish, sorrel carrot. Finally I watered the chard, I want one more cut before I dig up last years plants. They've been very productive for us.
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Spent 6 hours in the plot with the OH yesterday.
We dug the out the stale compost bins all full of old couch grass and disposed of n the trailer, managed a barrow of good compost and put this in the potato bed. Heard a little squeak and found a shrew, left it alone but realised later we had already killed one :(
Renetted my peas to keep the shrews from nibbling them.
Planted 2 rows of spuds
Dug out 2 thin grass paths hard work as the ground was so compacted, promised myself I will hoe these more regularly this year.
Put a few timber edges down to keep the grass and stone paths out.
Had a light careful spray around some rhubarb and red currants.
resecured some of the plastic sheeting.
Was a lovely sunny day too hot at times :) put factor 30 on twice
Today I'm going to be sowig broadbeans, lettuces, herbs, runner beans and more peas at home plus tidying up the shed.
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Removed sideshoots from toms, then fed those and the chillies with half strength Vitax Q4. Looks like i need to pot on some of them.
Will be sowing runners and french beans later.
Final earthing up of first earlies in pots inside.
Got a row of Vivaldi spuds I desperately want to get in if my back will stop giving me gyp.
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A productive day today! I got down the plot early and dug out an area of nettle and bindweed (about a wheelbarrows worth), planted out my new greengage tree, dug over, raked and sieved a bed and sowed a few rows of carrots in it and then netted it. Weeded the strawberry bed which really needs to be sorted out and redone after this season I think and harvested more leeks and rhubarb.
When I got home I sowed sprouts, French beans, courgettes, squash and thinned out my lettuce that is springing up nicely.
Lovely and warm here today but incredibly windy!
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purchased sweetcorn and compost ( jacks magic)
I've found it caked a bit for fine seeds to push through, so am now cutting mine with coir.
- Windy, so just watered things that were in plus a little bit of weeding, but wearing a skirt I couldn't bend over (with the wind!) and I have a badly grazed knee from a tipsy-stupid shoes-uneven path incident Sat night which is too painful to kneel on, so went home in a sulk to greenhouse potter... :mad:
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Took grass cuttings for the compost bin plus all the dead daff flower heads.
Quick check everything ok as winds have been quite strong and broad beans only planted out a few days ago.
Rhubarb coming along nicely.
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Just popped down in my lunch hour to do some weeding and ended up spending all my time collecting up everything that had been blown away over the weekend!!!
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I've moved over some weed suppressant, raked the areas beneath ( and dug out a few stubborn weeds that would not be suppressed). Then I've sown 3 rows of Bolthardy and a row of garlic.
Then I've dug over the soil in the greenhouse pulling out some couch grass and horsetail that has crept in from outside and put the soil back into the border form the middle after something lived in there in the summer and kindly had a good dig. I then put several watering cans full of water on to try and re moisten the soil, very dry in there. I will rig up my irrigation system again soon when some new tubing arrives, the old stuff was chewed through by my burrowers. I also have some compost to dig in when I'm close to planting out my toms and cucumbers.
Just read the thread on tomatoes and realised I need to bring my tom seedlings in from my greenhouse at home at night...oops.
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Weeded the onions and garlic, botched together a "strawberry wall" from three small pallets, membrane and some scrap timber (much to the bemusement of a coupla the old-timers that were knocking about), just waiting for some soaker hose to be delivered and I can plant it up with the thirty plants courtesy of Aldi.
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Dug lots... and lots... of couch grass roots out of what is to be the onion bed :(
On the plus side I found some Anya potatoes I had missed that looked perfectly edible - had some for dinner; delicious :)
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Just reading through the last few days of the thread. Hampshire Hog, I love it that you planted some spring opinions. Is that a special General Election delicacy? :D
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Hi Pimento clearly hit by auto text. hopefully the spring opinions will deter the fly by nights
Cheers HH
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Watered, watered and then watered a bit more.
Weeded the Blackcurrant bed, raspberry bed and rhubarb bed. Amazed how much they have all come in in one week! Must be the warmer weather (which isn't going to last into the weekend).
Raided the comfrey bed of fellow plot holder (had his permission) and started off two buckets full of leaves and water to rot over the next 3-4 weeks.
Tied in new thornless blackberry so it can grow around the pallet compost bin. Should make that look better.
Checked new strawberry bed and have flowers and mini-fruits on some plants.
As the water has been turned on for the season, took opportunity to fill a water butt as bound to be a scrabble for the tap tomorrow as is predicted to be hotter than today. :(
Last bed to dig over tomorrow ready for beetroot and Swiss chard growing in modules.
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Watered new seedlings a bit hot for April down here
Cheers HH
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A 10-can watering in April! Spent some time filling in the beaten earth in front of my shed where i sit as it's been sinking. Just as well because the dirt I took from my earth 'bank' was just right to shovel, not too wet or dusty. I was going to do my usual bodge job but my dads voice in my head made me go and get a levelling plank ::) I put some artificial grass down and it looks well posh now :tongue2:
Was proud to give old George some PSB because he didn't have any and was having roast for tea... I'm now knee deep in the stuff and it's not looking done anytime soon. He then surprised me with some really lovely leeks and parsnips.
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Got to the lottie early to do the remainder of the watering from yesterday. Can you believe it, 30 milns later someone put a sprinkler on and left it for about three hours!!
Earthed up the earlies, weeded the onions, took cover off brassica bed ready for planting up tomorrow.
Moved the comfrey to its new site so I can empty the bed it is in (using soil to top up new raised beds).
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A bit of weeding followed by lots more watering.
Checked temperature it hit 25 degrees centigrade here
Cheers HH
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'Attempted' to build my greenhouse that has been sat there forlornly for 9 months. 9.5 hours later, we've got the rear gable, side walls and front gable up but nowhere near finishing it off, have to get more panes cut tomorrow due to slight mishap but I have NEVER seen such idiotic instructions in my life and I use standard operating procedures (fancy instructions) on a daily basis for complex work in flow cytometry. Just a cheap black and white picture that doesn't show which way things go , some garbled numbers and more random completely rubbish pictures. That angry /frustrated that I may send the company a strong worded email as 'supposedly' the greenhouse 'should' only take 8 hours to build :mad:. The base ground spikes were a joke, I've attached them to 750mm metposts supports to keep them in the ground, several drill bits later. :(
Right rant over, I'm now home with a large glass of vino and planning tomorrow's attack which won't be easy as it'll be attaching the top roof support single handedly, it needs to go on as the greenhouse at the moment isn't stable and a strong gust of wind will bend the rear and front gables which are only partially attached... :unsure:
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It's well worth constructing a sound base for your greenhouse. My late Dad and I built a 12' x 8' for my grandfather in 1973. We laid breeze blocks on a concrete foundation and bolted and cemented the frame to that. It has withstood all the intervening storms, and I'm still using it today. Had to replace one or two panes of glass though.
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It's well worth constructing a sound base for your greenhouse. My late Dad and I built a 12' x 8' for my grandfather in 1973. We laid breeze blocks on a concrete foundation and bolted and cemented the frame to that. It has withstood all the intervening storms, and I'm still using it today. Had to replace one or two panes of glass though.
I've used 750mm long metposts which have been attached to the base spikes, so in total there's about 1m deep worth of metal on each corner in. I can't use concrete as it's on the plot other wise I would have gone down that route :) I don't think it'll be going anywhere anytime soon. If I had just used the base spikes supplied the base would have been next to useless!
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Re-Sowed my tomatoes as the blowaway greenhouse door was left shut on the first hot day this year and I cooked them!!! :(
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Planted out my Trebons onions and 15 lettuce plants bought at the market this morning all in before 11 o'clock and then a nice shower to help them along. Had a huge pile of farmyard muck delivered free!
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Rotovated a bit last night, plan to hammer it tonight, put in a little bit of lime, and plant all crops on Saturday afternoon.
Cheers
Aled
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Arrived late this morning after faffing about with 'stuff'.
Anyways, did mammoth task of emptying 1.5m X 1.5m X 1.5m raised bed that had comfrey growing in it. Why so big you ask??
Well when I took this particular half plot over, the soil, level was much higher than the paths so I put four large pallets together and filled them with the soil thinking that it would be useful one day. Last year I planted comfrey in the soil and it grew amazingly well. This year I have built two new raised beds (longer and slightly narrower but not as tall as the comfrey bed) and so need the soil to fill the new beds. I transplanted the comfrey yesterday so today's task was to empty the soil into the new beds.
Halfway through remembered I should be planting the brassicas out!!!
Never mind as I got the beds topped up with the soil and now have a lovely clear space (I will use the pallets elsewhere) for new water butts.
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Finished putting up the polytunnel, made sure I buried the plastic at least a foot down and covered it with soil, made a raised bed and emptied the compost from the compost bin into it.
Generally tidied up the plot ready for planting in the next week or so, will use the polytunnel to bring things on and then the tomatoes will go in towards the end of May.
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Nothing today piddling down :(
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Harvested some Purple Sprouting and watered in the greenhouse, spuds in pots in the greenhouse, Casablanca, are romping away even with these cold nights!
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Planted put module sown perpetual beet and beetroot and then saw that my butt has developed a leak!! ::)
Quick change of plan (still no brassicas planted out) and butt stand dismantled with gusto as the leak had obviously been going for sometime as the wooden pallets it was standing on had all but rotted. Never mind, meant a good clear up and put the butt in the back of the truk and brought home for the OH to fix over the weekend. Fingers crossed no rain this weekend please!!
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Lovely 3 hours in the sun this morning, digging and weeding area where potatoes are going at weekend.
Remade a path to compost bin and dug up last of sprouts.
Plot looks quite empty at moment but not for long as planting potatoes, broad beans, peas and red onions at weekend and moving strawberries from home up to the plot. Going to use the wooden beds on legs they are in for lettuce.
Sewed at home some pak choi and put tomatoes into bigger pots.
Got sweetcorn and tumbling toms to sew at the weekend also so hope weather fine ;)
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Strimmed a bit so OH could dig up raised beds beside our greenhouse that will be our asparagus bed.
OH planted some chitted pots and did some much needed watering.
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Moved strawberries from home to plot and transplanted some more rhubarb. Have kept 5 plants which is more than enough. Dug rest up and given some away but still plenty left ;)
Dug over where squash are to go. Final area to dig over is where sweetcorn where last year.
This year so different as plot just needed soil turning over and bit of weeding.
No more grassy paths or trees to dig up or rubbish to move. Finally on top of everything after 3 years ;)
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started off by doing the floor in the new shed, 100x 50mm treated timber so should last a few years
Plot 2
Then we squared up one edging timber as it was not square with the plot next door, don't know if his timbers were out or mine but I know I gained 8inches at the upper side by measuring off his timbers. ;)
Then we planted out our peas and built a netting cage around.
And my better half hoed between all rows
Plot 1
planted out some cauliflowers & Peas
went to water both plots only to find the water butts empty, not a major issue for plot 1 as the water tap is not too far away , but its a long way from plot 2, did manage to get some on it before my legs felt as if they were made of lead
luckily the site handyman was there and he has set up the hoses to fill them, he will be there until 9pm at least tonight doing them bless him as there are 6 barrels linked up so with the poor water pressure pumping the water uphill its a big job filling them.
one of my next jobs in the shed is to put up a gutter system to catch the rain water.
I hope to have another new water butt delivered tomorrow as well as two more new compost daleks bins as a mate owes me a favour . so if they arrive I will set them up as the ground needs a bit of levelling out where im putting them
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Selected the best tomato plants and put the rest outside. Side shooted the cordon tomatoes, staked them with short thin bamboo cane, fed and watered them.
Was going to pot sow runner beans but the above was enough as my back is still playing up. Take note: Get some help when lifting big Verve compost bales into car.! It may be cheap but chiropractors ain't !
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chanced some early runner seed into the ground under fleece, I have loads so no big deal if it goes wrong. Dug over the sweetcorn area ready and watered around. Cut more psb which is going mad. Weeded the strawbs which are all in flower and sprinkled calcified seaweed about them as the slugs don't like it, it should help keep them away.
Butterflies seen= 3
Slugs despatched= 40
Ladybirds=0 :(
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First tilling of the garden, just to break up the grass/sod. Still too wet to even be in there, so had to remove my shoes after the first pass as they were just big balls of mud. Finished tilling barefooted and got it done...the chickens followed me all the way, eating grubs and worms like crazy. Supposed to rain again the next several days, so was happy to even get that little bit done.
Still waiting on wood chips for covering the tilled ground....hope to get loads of those next week for the garden and also for the orchard.
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Lifted the last of the leeks, leaving an empty bed for the peas.
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Too cold, been spoilt with all this gorgeous sun shine 8)
So I picked a spring cabbage aptly named April and chard for dinner.
Checked on my newly sowed tomato seeds, coming along. My first sowings were attacked by a fly larvae and we're no good, bit of bad luck I guess :(
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Put in 4 raised beds and manure on Top and bark chips for a path around them, only had this plot a month do things moving along nicely. Also put in a couple of rows of Carrots and Beetroot. Ground is solid at the moment so could do with a bit of rain! Although certainly not complaining about this lovely spring sunshine we have at the moment :D
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Had a super productive weekend - finished clearing the 'shared gooseberry bed' at the fron of my plot (it runs across mine and neighbours plot) it was a real mess as he doesn't keep his half weeded so I have now put huge logs down the middle of it which will hopefully help prevent the creeping weeds! There will also be some space for some flowers now I think!
Then I made my runner bean 'arch' ready for a few weeks time, sowed my chitted parsnip seeds, planted out my first beetroot seedlings under a cloche tunnel, did lots more general weeding, dug over a couple of beds and gave everything a good soak as it has been so dry here which is difficult when the plants are so small still.
At home I potted on my Toms, pricked out the first sowing of lettuce, sowed my chitted sweetcorn into toilet roll tubes and glared at my brassicas which still aren't germinating very well.
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Moved the toms, cucs and sweet peppers to the greenhouse border.
Set up the auto irrigation system for the greenhouse.
Sowed another row of peas and hoed around the broad beans.
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Moved strawberries from home to plot and planted strawberries given by another plot holder. What was patch of weeds and grass when took on plot is now my fruit bed.
Moved all the raspberries, 5 rhubarb plants and was given a gooseberry bush too.
Have some space for some more strawberries so might order some marshmello.
Dug up blackberry bush and moved that as was where potatoes will go.
Berries were not great last year and the thorns are vicious so might invest in another, probably thornless.
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Planted shallots, rest of broad beans, and peas. Gave everything a good watering as it has been very dry here. This seems to be a trend now in April ( What ever happened to April showers?). Makes germination in the ground difficult.
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Weeded the whole fruit plot, blimey the soil is rubbish down on that plot. Its like digging rocks. Will keep throwing goodness at it, in a million years it may improve and be easier to turn
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I was on the allotment at 730am this morning getting some water on both plots , the went home for some breakfast
we both then went back down about 130
Plot 1
dug over again the small area that remains like concrete, set up a new water butt as the nearest one is a hike for my better half, as its one of the slimline ones we were nervous that it could tip off its stand if the water was low so we drove a stake in one side and put a line of wire around as a precaution.
Planted some kale and cauliflowers and one gifted celery plant
Plot 2
We dug over a useless strip above my plot sizewise around 4 ft by 7ft , weve then planted some gladioli and will be planting other bee attracting flowers in the coming weeks.
did a load of hoeing again, the weeds are coming thick and fast
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planted spuds !! :D
1 row Abbott
1 row Lady Christl
1 row Pink Fir Apple
1 row Jazzy
1 row Sarpo Mira
1 row Desiree
all from a mix pack
plus
5 rows Picasso - reliable regular!
and put in 3 rows of onions that should have gone in last November :wub:
took home a few asparagus spears that have just started coming through - first year picking
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Planted my Roosters (12 kgs). Tidied around and watered the plants in the PT. Weeded the strawberry bed.
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Ok had a productive Saturday and Sunday: I have planted my carrots, beetroot, runner beans, spinach, lettuce and radishes. Potatoes in the process of chitting so will be planted this week. Tomatoes a week after.
Getting there!
Cheers
Aled
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Didn't think my 'list' would take long but hey ho, 8 hours later.......
Sowed carrots in raised bed to avoid pesky carrot fly, covered newly planted modules of beetroot with fleece and chicken wire as the foxes are really naughty at the moment, digging everything up.
Scattered potash around strawberries and raspberries and gave light forking over and a good watering.
Watered two beds, covered with black weed suppressant and then put up 3m X 2m netted gazebos over the suppressant (this took four hours). Brassicas to be planted out on Wednesday.
Collected two or three barrow loads of stones and put where comfrey bed was to level the ground so that I can lay paving slabs there. Idea is to have a pergola over this bit (got the pergola from a friend as he was changing his garden around and didn't want it).
Looking forward to rest tomorrow :D
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Bought a tayberry and thornless blackberry today.
Finishing turning over area from digging up old blackberry bush yesterday. Took ages getting up all the old roots!
Planted blackberry but not sure where to put tayberry. Having a half plot means careful planning ;)
Need to make frame next.
Working next couple of days so back Thurs to plant potatoes and onions
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I bought a tayberry last autumn, and still haven't decided where to put it. At the mo I've planted it in a large tub until I can sort out a permanent home.
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I bought a tayberry last autumn, and still haven't decided where to put it. At the mo I've planted it in a large tub until I can sort out a permanent home.
Good idea ;)
Will do the same. Have space next to a very scrawny looking donated gooseberry. If it doesn't improve then will replace it!
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Quite surprising really the main crop potatoes ( sarpo Mira) are up, I could see one up in row 2 yesterday today most in the three rows are up. So I earthed up the three rows :)
I get a very proud feeling seeing my straight rows and I even use a line as a guideline to earth up as I like things looking right
light watering to the plot in general and a quick hoeing in between rows
lastly a top dressing of potash to the rhubarb crowns planted yesterday as well as the two other crowns.
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Good seed sowing session today. Put some sweet corn to chit in airing cupboard then sowed borlotti beans, green and yellow courgettes and some butternut squash. Popped down to plot and threw some fleece over new potatoes as weather could turn chilly tonight.
Cheers HH
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Sweetcorn in root trainers has just started to show through. they will be coming out of the incubator when they are all up. yesterday i sowed my first courgettes. Three varieties. I'll make another sowing in Mid june for a latter crop when the first have mildew. it worked in last years long summer. pumpkin (Golden Hubbard), butternut (Hunter) and Spaghetti Squash all sowed.
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Earthed up spuds, put in 150 onion sets.
Measured my sweetcorn which is growing by the hour. 2 and a half inches lol
Share out the last of the mushroom compost on plot concrete soil down the bottom.
Middle plot looks like a tent city with all the nets.
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Potatoes are now in, only the tomatoes left to go!
Cheers
Aled
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Cut loads of nettles and I mean loads
Started to dig out a gooseberry bush that never fruits, hate gooseberry's anyway
Bagged up a bin bag of rubbish blown on to my plot.
sowed carrots
watered beetroot and spinach seedlings
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Took a risk and planted out the peas, just hope there is no frosts. Also planted out the blades of grass that are my shallots from seed.
Organised support structures for the peas and the broad beans.
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Took a risk and planted out the peas, just hope there is no frosts. Also planted out the blades of grass that are my shallots from seed.
Organised support structures for the peas and the broad beans.
Peas are quite hardy Anne. Provided you have hardened them off OK (assuming you are planting out pot sown ones rather than direct sowing) they will be fine, even if there is a frost now, which there will be. Direct sown ones should be OK now that the soil has warmed up, so they won't rot.
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Allotment inspection day today. Seemed to go well. Intruder caught in someone's greenhouse late morning by another plotholder, same greenhouse where a trug and tray of beans stolen the day before. He leapt over the quite high fence like a gazelle. Police attended, they think they might know who it is.
Went back in the afternoon, did some weeding. Watered the peas. Stokesley and Bullroyd pea bean now showing. Tall varieties (pot sown) looking good. Garlic spray seems to have warded off the pea and bean weevil so far.
Earthed up first and second earlies that are poking through now. Put up bean wigwams and dug over the bed where they will go.
Sowed some rocket and coriander. I have loads of trouble getting anything from these, so hoping for the best. At home potted on peppers and tomatoes. Sowed mizuna and pak choi.
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Called in briefly AM to open the greenhouse door and put everything out and then again at 6.30pm to water and put it all back inside! Watered the onions and garlic and where the various seeds were sown last week, something is showing in a nice straight line but can't remember which is which.... let's wait and see. I'm now away from Thursday very early until late on Friday so happy that the forecast is not so hot, I can leave everything in the greenhouse and check on Saturday morning.
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Weeded onion bed, watered the plants in the PT. Planted out 6 spare lettuce plants that I had (don't know if they will survive but they were drying out too much in the PT so fingers crossed). Started painting the new fencing.
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Weeded onion and asparagus beds. Watered newly emerging seedlings. Checked chitting sweet corn must put into root trainers tomorrow AM!
Cheers HH
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Popped up in my lunch hour and weeded the tulip bed and the onion bed quickly then just wandered round. Found the carrots, parsnips, chard and beetroot all popping up so I am a happy bunny. Picked my first handful of radish for the year and a nice big bunch of tulips for my wife :D
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Popped in for a couple of hours weeding after work. Have been busy digging it over for a while now. It's looking good at the moment. Got plenty of seeds growing in the potting shed. I will have to start sweetcorn again as the first sowing has failed.
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Sowed parsnips & carrots
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Potting on the Tomatos today - fighting the urge to put them straight into the big pots as they have really sprouted but I fear a frost is still possible.
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Earthed up potatoes again as night time temp due to drop on Saturday and for the following few days.
Planted out cauli, Brussels, cabbage and watered well.
Weeded broad beans. Lots of flowers so fingers crossed the beans will follow.
Put up pea netting for next row of peas to go in on Saturday. What a faff that was.
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Earthed up potato's, hoed around the broad beans and peas, fixed the split hose pipe extension and took a load of rubbish to the tip. Altered the watering timer for the greenhouse as it was supplying too much water to the plants :)
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Watered earlies in tubs. Cut x's into black polythene to allow outdoor spuds into the light. Sowed some blue lake french beans in pots. Sowed courgettes and marrows in pots. Got big pots ready to plant toms on their final position tomorrow. Thinned out spinach and beetroot. Transplanted some little gem lettuce outdoors. Had a beer in the sun.
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Got ready for the imminent rain, cut the grass paths, turned the compost, hid from the 'community' group doing the very weedy plot (I feel guilty but as pastors wife I do loads of stuff with them- if I use my plot time I'll have no 'me' time at all to decompress) :wub: dug over the pumpkin or sweetcorn bed- still can't decide..... :blush: never thought I'd be so pleased to see the forecast!
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My beds (x4) have been weeded and I have planted potatoes in one and (for the first time) sown Beetroot (in pods) to go in another, Spinach & Peas (directly) into the remaining 2.
Spent some time today processing the sods of weed ridden soil that I had stock-piled last year. I removed the weeds and will use the soil to mound up the potatoes when they start coming through.
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My tattoos had just started showing through so I earthed them up. Planted out another batch of Alderman peas. The last go out today. I also prepared some large pots with garden compost enriched with chicken manure. These are destined for Inca plum tomatoes grown as bushes. Hopefully the pots will keep the fruit nice and clean. Sowed a small planter with mixed salad leaves
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You earthed up your tattoos? :D :lol:
Have just picked up a composter and driven it to the plot with the roof down. Now sitting in a cafe warming up before skipping over to the orange diy warehouse for some tarpaulins. Very chilly out there, but at least it's stopped raining so I can get stuff done.
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Yesterday I sowed some sweet corn at home, had a sort out of seeds- ones to give away, ones to sow direct, ones to sow at home.
Pigguns you can grown sweetcorn and pumpkins in the same bed
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Was going to put together greenhouse but worked yesterday and didn't think could do it in a day today!
Also base damaged so having to wait for new part. ;)
Stayed home with OH and children in garden.
Not lying on picnic rug like children though.
Chopped up wood from severely pruned apple tree, sewed rocket,salad and mini gem in wooden troughs now free as strawberries moved to plot.
Went to buy slabs to put greenhouse on as decided not to have it just on grass and earth.
Hoping weather fine for next weekend as off work and putting greenhouse up. Very excited :D
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Rescued the small water butt that is precariously perched on a brick since I removed the rotten pallets it was standing on. It had fallen over and taken some of the shed guttering with it. :(
Will be so glad when I have sorted this new area out and I can put the larger blue barrels there.
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Surbie, Damned autocorrect. Ha Ha. Others have a problem with it too. I've had some real howlers :ohmy: :ohmy:
Had a good plot day. Planted out the last of my peas, Netted over my savoy cabbage which had grown on and filled the sawn off bottle cloche. Weeded shallot and onion beds and also the asparagus bed. Counted all the stems as well. Growster would be proud of me
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Well planted my potatoes out second earlys and main crop. Also planted my onion sets out red and white. Then strimmed the paths. I was. Told not to plant out any onions that had started to shoot.after i had done it. Is this the done thing
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Eventually got the peas planted. Not sure if planted is the right term as I start them off in guttering and then slide them out and into a small trench. Much easier as germination rate on the plot is really bad.
Put in the last of the broad beans.
Spent ages feeding strawberries some potash and then watered in.
Dug out a load of thistles that had sprouted in the squash/pumpkin beds.
Weeded raspberry beds on fruit plot.
Came home well chuffed with the day's efforts.
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Stared forlornly at potato patch devoid of any greenery except for emerging thistles.
Watered onion sets, spinach and beetroot seedlings.
Poked earth where the carrot seeds went in to see if there was any sign of life.
Covered 2x2m raised bed rampant with Moroccan mint and nettles black weed fabric.
Mowed paths.
Nurtured new compost dalek with a bag of manure and can of water.
Went to see if the rumour of a duck nesting in a pile of compost bags was true - it is!
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Potatoes planted finally and red onion sets. Have some more from seed but will let them get a bit bigger.
Sowed 2 rows of broad beans direct.
Next visit will be to plant cauli's as they are getting bit big in pots.
Need to finish digging bed where squash and courgettes are to go as is a bit overgrown. ;) Only part of plot left to dig though which is good.
Ground is so hard to work as so dry.
Wish I had a rotivator ;)
Shouldn't be greedy though as at least I've finally got a greenhouse :D
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Stared forlornly at potato patch devoid of any greenery except for emerging thistles.
Went to see if the rumour of a duck nesting in a pile of compost bags was true - it is!
On the positive side, at least you can get the thistles out before the spuds come up.
I love the idea of a duck nesting in compost bags, hope she gets through it all undisturbed.
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My potatoes are just showing, just in time for frost...so covered them up this morning just in case. It's oddly dry though...so I'm hoping for some of this heavy rain...
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Earthed up the potatoes and covered them with fleece due to forecast frost.
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Earthed up the potatoes and took the frost damaged leaves off the earlies
howed the both plots
put fleece cloches over the 6 rows of spuds as there is a frost forecast in the next few days
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Popped down for a quick half hour in my indoor crocs.... eek manure delivery! On with the wellies that live in the shed and 4 barrows later the spuds were 'cloched' with manure over them, broad beans were weeded and I finally got fed up with the PSB after all that waiting and I'm fed up with eating the stuff (I knew 14 plants was too many!) so pulled off the netting and had a large chop of spears- there's a big meeting tonight I'm clerking...PSB for all Govnrs ..mwahahahaha
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Quick hour at plot today.
Planted a row of kestrel and 2 rows of maris peer. Main crop next week.
Sewed sweetcorn and french beans at home.
Ground so much easier to manage now rain has softened soil.
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Popped down to plot this morning and cleared 3 small areas for courgettes and squash. Dug in some manure and mushroom compost along with some multipurpose compost. Added some grow more and few slug pellets for luck!
Hopefully these mini beds will be ready for the plants once the frost danger has gone.😊😊😊
Cheers HH
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Sowed my first runner beans. I'll do a coupe of sowings over the season. Potted on Spaghetti squash, golden hubbards butternuts and courgettes. Earthed up the potatoes.
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Emptied the bottom bits of compost from a dalek and the hotbin and re-filled them both with very fresh manure from this week's delivery. I dug it out of the middle of the pile where it's nice and hot, but by crikey that's powerful stuff. The fumes were pretty intense!
Pulled out LOTS of horsetail. :mad:
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Haven't been down to the lotty for a few weeks so wasn't surprised to see my recently dug bed starting to sprout weeds. Started to dig it back over and dig in the manure that I'd chucked on top - its starting to look plantable which is a good thing as I have lots of seedlings started...
OH continued working on the asparagus bed.
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Plot 1- my better half hadn't been down to the plot for a week and was amazed at the weeds that had grown in that short time, she weeded the rows and also thinned and transplanted the turnips
plot 2- I hoed the rows - weeded one row of beetroot and one of parsnip
then I cleared an area for my new compost dalek made a timber path shutter around it and laid 100mm bark chips all over, my wife then planted some of the turnips that she had over from her plot into an area I had empty from some failed onions.
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Not much time today so weeded broad beans, onions, and checked on module grown beetroot. All doing very nicely and even saw broad bean pods beginning to appear.
Carrots in barrels have germinated, and peas needed encouraging to attach themselves to the netting to begin combing.
Pulled rhubarb stalks to make rhubarb cake tomorrow.
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Continued digging over to get rid of weeds - part now ready for planting seedlings.
OH tidied up bonfire and moved it down the plot and did some tidying and then onto the asparagus bed.
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Couple of hours finishing digging and weeding where squash and courgettes are going. Dug up few stray yellow raspberries from there.
One small patch left to dig over now where sweetcorn will go.
Need to burn pile of old raspberries canes and rhubarb and dig up grass.
Soil so much easier to manage after rain so raked where cauli to go and main crop potatoes.
At home everything coming up.
Growing butternut squash for first time and plants looking really healthy. Lots of celery, cauli, cabbage and pak choi. Onions from seed are bit tiny but might plant anyway
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Put out the outdoor cucumber, we had no choice they are starting to flower. They are now in a fleece bubble, they have two choices.
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Beetroot Queen, I've got a cucumber under a bell cloche outside and two in the green house. Good luck.
Sowed all my first sowing of tender beans. Including Pea Beans that a friend introduced me to. Sowed chard and some more beetroot and carrots.
Planted out some more cabbage and cauliflowers
Green house tomatoes and chillies all in place.
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Covered fruit cage with netting collected rhubarb for crumble!! 😊
Cheers HH
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Nothing yesterday, spent all afternoon in the potting shed sowing new seeds. Should be there later today to finish off the weeding between the onions and shallots.
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Dug over the last 2 beds, planted out the first sowing of mangetout and directly sowed the second batch.
Sowed some carrot seeds and re-sowed my parsnips as despite chitting them I have no shows for the ones I put out 2 weeks ago :mad: one year I will get parsnips to germinate.....
I also took a gamble and planted out my first sowing of runner bean plants - they have been in my blowaway on the balcony for about 3 weeks now and were getting a bit too big for their pots. We are not forecast any night temps below 8 for the next 10 days and are meant to have warm days so have taken the risk. I have my second sowing just emerging in their pots so if I lose them it won't be the end of the world.
I also picked some rhubarb from my huge rhubarb jungle (honestly the 3 crowns I've got could feed the whole town) :wub:
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As above, dug over some beds, weeded as I said earlier. Planted 3 rows of main crops spuds (King Edwards), then planted out 24 Broad Beans. Lot's more to go in over the next few weeks, just like everyone else.
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Sowed my carrots and parsnips. Planted out spring onions and onions from seed. Weeded. Took the fleece off the spuds and earthed them up.
Then helped OH put the plastic on the polytunnel. We were given an old polytunnel that has been awaiting installation for some time. OH had to devise a way of attaching it to an existing dwarf wall from an old greenhouse on our plot and this has taken a while. The plastic has been sat rolled up for nearly 12 months. We took it out to the park next door to unfold it and repair it before rolling it back up to put over the frame. It was filthy and we ended up looking like a couple of coal miners, but the cover is on! Further adjustments still needed but progress.
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not at the plot but garden has been tidied, several tip trips with rubbish, and the plastic and aluminium 4x6 greenhouse we picked up second hand last year has been built (only 1 error in putting the roof on backwards (no instructions)). roof is glazed but the rain started before I could get the sides on.
Grendel
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Hubby going in the rain to put in brocolli lol any excuse to avoid the teenager ::) apparently it cant wait a day longer.
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topped up Dalek 1 with two sacks of seaweed ( also collected today) this one is now full and I can now start Dalek 2 , loads of weeding and filled up the water butt which also has a quarter hessian sack of rotted manure in it.
strimmed around the plot boundary to tidy it up- a busy 5 hours
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Loads of muck spreading, earthed up the spuds,hooray they've surfaced, then I added some manure to the trench,I didn't have any when I planted them so I hope this approach works. Then I made a mini lasagne bed for the brassicas. Then I set up my sealed compost bin under the cherry tree,first laying lots of weed membrane around the tree & fruit bushes.
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Layed membrane on my redug bed, cut out holes for planting, planted romanesca seedlings. Made some more membrane staples and cleared some bricks holding the membrane down to use on the redug bed.
OH chopped tree, cut back some bramble and built some more burn piles. Filled my multitude of recycling bags and planted squash/pumpkin seedlings. Planted on toms and cucumbers in growbags in the greenhouse. Planted bean seedlings and did a whole lot of other things that I've just not got around to. Dug a bit more of asparagus beds.
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Sieved the clay soil on one of my raised beds - what a difference, I now have a fine tilth (top layer at least). Not quite sure what to do with the clay balls I have been left with? I'll put them to one side just now with the weeds to dry out.
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Forked over two beds and removed the weeds from them only three more to go. Planted out my onions grown from seed. Hopefully will get a couple of hours tomorrow as I want to fork over the remaining three beds and sow some carrots, parsnips and beetroot. I also need to earth up the potatoes in the PT.
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Pottered a lot, lots of raking to get the allium bed to a tilth, potted my Roma tomatoes into the pots they'll be growing in (33% clay soil, 33% clay soil mixed in with manure, 33% compost). Reorganised the greenhouse. Killed a couple of slugs.
Planted my Zebrune shallot seedlings for next year (about 40), sowed Camelot 10 shallots seedlings. Gave away Elefant leek seedlings, and the spare shallot seedlings. Ate cake and drank tea :)
Got talked at instead of planting my onion seedlings, then got rained on.
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Rebuilt one of the rotten raised beds - very disappointed with the timber, it hasn't even lasted 5 years. :( It's a foot shorter at 8x3' but gives an extra foot for me to walk and harvest the raspberries.
Still not sown anything to put in the beds outside though :ohmy: :nowink:
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Cut and fit landscaping timbers around the base of the fence we are building around the garden, trimmed off the posts to the same height with the chainsaw. Tilled the ground for the 4th time...still needs another go round.
Waiting for a load or two of wood chips to place on the garden.
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Went up late yesterday to see if the strong winds had done any damage. Apart from a few odd bits blown around, all safe and sound. The broad beans I put in as plants last week were holding up ok, glad about that.
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Got the brocolli in and netted in the rain, it was planned for the night before but rain stopped play.
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Carried on redigging the bed, the soil is mostly nice now. Too windy to lay membrane over it though. Did an experiment making membrane staples with fencing wire - works quite nicely - so took woofer round to where I thought there was an old fallen down fence to reclaim the wire - unfortunately somebody had beaten me to it. Have another source for some disused fence wire though. Took my big bucket (a horses giant water bucket) full of stones to the bottom of the lotty and dumped them into the hedging out of the way. Moved some carpet to expose the next digging patch...
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dashed down inbetween showers to throw beans into the nice damp warmish soil. Got some runners, some pole french and the red broad bean sowings in. The early Peas gone mad in the rain and looking nice and lush. weeds just falling out of the soil with a little tug.
Lifted the fleece from the early dwarf french bean sowing and whilst they've germinated ok the * sluggys had got a good percentage..downside of the rain I guess :wacko: .re pelleted and chucked more seeds in there.
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Quick half an hour down the plot topping up the compost Dalek 1
Many blow aways on other plots had gone in the wind, thankfully my plots had no damage
Took the cloches off the potatoes hope the frost has gone apart from a few weeds the both plots are looking fine
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planted 3 rows of Bedfordshire Champion seedlings and finalised the details of starting my new job tomorrow ;)
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Planted three rows of dwarf Kale and netted . Put in a row of Spinach seeds and covered with fleece . Weeded as the recent rain had produce a lot of little weeds . Cut Asparagus and collected Rhubarb foe a crumble tonight . Potted on Tomatoes in the greenhouse. Everything starting to come together which normally means a disaster is around the corner .
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Spent most of yesterday on the plot with OH. Forked over four of the beds. Strimmed all the paths, racked them and composted the cut grass, tied in all the fruit that we had untied when we were putting up the fence. Earthed up the first earlies. The plot looks great now.
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Put in some more DFB under the gooseberries, which need netting asap as they are vanishing rapidly (tomorrow's job). Started digging the bottom bed over in preparation for onions going in, and I am finding masses and masses of horsetail. At least I can recognise the roots now. ::) Moved a waterbutt into the hedge- though the base I bought seems to be too small and I can't find the receipt anywhere. Hopefully it will do.
Still no sign of the parsnips.
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Tied the bamboo canes in place for the strawberry netting. Trying to stop two-legged variety stealing crop like they did last year.
Weeded raspberry beds, onions and very carefully around parsnip seedlings that have just begun to emerge.
Sowed another two lots of carrots.
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Dug over sweetcorn bed incorporated manure and some mushroom compost.
Harvested asparagus after weeding the beds.
Cheers HH
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Hand weeded the carrot/parsnip bed, potted on the broccoli and cutting flowers as their beds are not ready yet, earthed up potatoes, fed the leeks and got excited that the green, yellow and purple varieties of French beans sown by my 2 small people last weekend are already starting to come up in their root trainers :).
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My corn went out at 18 inches in 3 inch pots it had no choice it is in a mini plastic cage lol I'll upload a pic
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(http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s184/judey_wooo/plot/b301e15d3930df901aa034f40d2f6040.jpg)
First batch of corn lol
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Just given my indoor spuds in pots a good feed of comfrey tea. Ive decided to really feed and water them well this year as i didnt get much of a yield last year. Although that may have been because i moved them outside about now to make way for the tomatoes.
Later i am going to have to remove the weed suppressant membrane, through which my onions and garlic are growing as there is obviously too much light getting through and the weeds are pushing the membrane up. I should have covered it with bark chippings if i had realised sooner. Pity as it was all looking very neat. 😞
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Just given my indoor spuds in pots a good feed of comfrey tea. Ive decided to really feed and water them well this year as i didnt get much of a yield last year. Although that may have been because i moved them outside about now to make way for the tomatoes.
Later i am going to have to remove the weed suppressant membrane, through which my onions and garlic are growing as there is obviously too much light getting through and the weeds are pushing the membrane up. I should have covered it with bark chippings if i had realised sooner. Pity as it was all looking very neat. 😞
Can you cover the weed membrane to stop the light until the weeds die, thick card cut into strips & weighted down would work or add the bark clippings on top of the membrane. Then at the end of the season you can reuse them
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Hi Snows I was hoping to do that but i have left them to grow too big. They are poking well up through the same hole as the onions. If i had done it when the weeds were small I think it would have worked. My own lazy fault.
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Beetroot queen your plot looks immaculate!
Popped down yesterday, hoed around a few beds, harvested so much rhubarb sand mint. Made note of everything I should do in the next 2 weeks - a lot!
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Beetroot queen your plot looks immaculate!
Popped down yesterday, hoed around a few beds, harvested so much rhubarb sand mint. Made note of everything I should do in the next 2 weeks - a lot!
Thanks thats the middle one of three LOL our first plot to take on back in 2008
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I went down and had planned to make up my arch climbing frame for cucumbers and also to paint a rescued 'cold frame'.
However, when I got to the plot I discovered the arch needed a screwdriver to assemble >:( the weather was also very breezy and damp so not ideal for painting!
So I dug out the foundations for the arch, netted the strawberries which are starting to fruit and then had a potter, trying to decide what I will do with the last area I need to clear this summer. Choices are another couple of beds (but do I really need that many?!) or perhaps some sort of seating area. I need some inspiration!
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RJR a pond? A fire pit with seating area? Up cycled pallet furniture?
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Like RJR I dug out my last large bed. I'm thinking brassica bed myself, with a nice proper sized net I can walk under 8) some of my PSB is as tall as me now-I've already got a private seating area I can relax in- it was the first thing that got sited ;)
Made a much better shelter for the cucumber area as my neighbour had offered me a large uPCV ex-conservatory sheet, rude to say no :D
Cleared some of the PSB, strawed the strabs (and was well proud when the guy with the best plot stopped by and admired the strawbs)- mind you they are covered with flowers....
Chucked seeds around, not holding up much hope- the slugs just munch them up.
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Bought a great compost stirrer from a boot sale this morning and gave it some use by turning over the full dalek- a great buy at £2 as it made the job easy
weeded and generally tidied up plot 2 , gave all the plants a liquid manure feed, planted 3 foxgloves in the small area I have set aside for a flower bed
collected and disposed of yet another full bucket of stones and glass
tidied up the cloches and suspended them from the shed roof as I hope they are not now needed until next spring
my better half also weeded plot 1 and transplanted some little gem lettuce.
I have some DIY to do tomorrow but I hope to have a spare hour to go to plot 2 and mow the paths
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RJR a pond? A fire pit with seating area? Up cycled pallet furniture?
No point having a pond - the small site is surrounded by 2 fairly large streams with canals and lakes only minutes away! I would love to up cycle some pallets but transporting them is an issue without a car.... I got 2 down here before for my decking but it did nearly kill me and my arms were useless for about a week after...
Fire pit is a possibility
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Not a lot yesterday or today. SWMBO decided at short notice that the hall, stairs and landing need decorating. I have just got back from B & Q for some more paint.
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Cleared the old leeks finally, cursed mr fox for rolling on my beetroot for the hundredth time this season.
Now bean frame going up and beans going in. Kitchen barrel going up the hill to join the compost mountain.
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Spent a couple of hours yesterday evening and another couple this morning up at the plot. Beans, runner and climbing French are in as are sweet corn, squash (4 varieties) and the chillies are in the green house, Phew!
Eight barrow loads of well rotted muck, from the communal heap just delivered, are around the fruit trees and ready to be covered with membrane :D
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Planted my main crop potatoes and four rows of cauli plants.
Next time will plant onions from seed and sew beetroot, turnip and spinach. Weeded around strawberries.
Lovely day. Plots very busy.
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mowed around the two plots and composted the clippings
liquid feed to peas, broad beans and onions
other plots deserted due to the cold weather and overcast conditions-
why oh why do some plot holders throw stones on the grass paths as it wrecks the community mower >:(
The adjoining path between my plot 2 and next door for instance I cleared 1 bucket of stones off again today which I can only assume must be my plot neighbour as the path only serves our two plots, unless of course others are throwing them there :mad:
Rant over
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It was our annual plant sale today, good day to catch up with other holders. Lots of new faces this year, must have been a big turnover of plots this winter. Hopefully newbies will stick it out.
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Nice weather today, took the battery strimmer down today in fit of tidiness. earthed up the spuds, pulled up more PSB plants and watered some stuff. Fair bit of weeding.
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Put the plastic on the polytunnel for a second time. Properly fixed, so hopefully stays on this time. Weeded. Planted out a few lettuce and 3 tomatoes in the small polytunnel on our daughter's plot. Picked rhubarb and PSB.
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Planted a big, big bed of dahlias. Every single one of last year's tubers - nearly 100 - happily sprouting! Gladioli as well. Moved purple sprouting broccoli and outdoor toms to cold frame. Found space in the greenhouse for mini cucumbers and sweetcorn, just germinated in the house. Watched the goldfinches fighting on the feeders!
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Weeded out couch grass from round the edges of the allotment - it had spread all over the top of the weed suppressant, so not difficult just time consuming.
Strimmed some of the bank in front of the plot. O/w broadbeans just starting to pod, lots of blossom on the fruit trees and bushes, garlic looking good.
Lots of empty space waiting for it to warm up to plant out everything waiting at home.
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Just got back from an hour of weeding between the onions and the shallots. On afternoons this week, so will have to do an hour or so each morning. The small area I am weeding should be ready by the weekend, ready for the transplanting of the beetroot.
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First dose of comfrey tea applied to fruit plot today and will net strawbs tomorrow (becoming urgent).
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Me again......
Nettle tea on brassicas, checked early potatoes as they are starting to flower (that's means they will be ready soon?), transferred peas from guttering to raised bed, weeded onions and had to take tops of broad beans as signs of black fly.
Carrots coming on a great and beetroot planted as modules seem to have teeny-tiny beetroot developing.
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Planted out my second batch of runners, first batch of dwarf French beans and lettuce. Held back my desperation to plant out tomatoes, corn, squash/courgettes
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First crop of comfrey into the compost, watered everything very thoroughly and started on yet more digging to make space for my squashes and possibly an attempt at a munty frame.
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First crop of comfrey into the compost, watered everything very thoroughly and started on yet more digging to make space for my squashes and possibly an attempt at a munty frame.
What's a munty frame?
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Continued redigging, now finished. Layed weed supressant over. Moved carpet/rubbish mylex weed supressant and strimmed down bits that had poked through. Now able to continue on digging, four more runs to get to my half way point....
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harvested lettuce
planted 30 carlton leeks
planted 40 Sultan leeks
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Over saw the stacking of a load of slabs :lol: dD & DS were the ones doing the stacking, it's great to have mummy power :lol:
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First crop of comfrey into the compost, watered everything very thoroughly and started on yet more digging to make space for my squashes and possibly an attempt at a munty frame.
What's a munty frame?
Time to find the post brilliant mods ;) :D
Munty bean frames are life changing! :D
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First crop of comfrey into the compost, watered everything very thoroughly and started on yet more digging to make space for my squashes and possibly an attempt at a munty frame.
What's a munty frame?
It's a genius way of growing runners/climbing beans/peas - more info here: http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=50801.0 (http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=50801.0) and lots more threads if you put munty frame in the search box.
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on holiday this week, so having cleared / tidied the back garden (12 tip runs) the conservatory (14 Bin bags full) yesterday was the turn of the plot, strimmed the paths, rotovated the unplanted section of the plot, and planted carrots potatoes and peas. 5 hours at the plot.
Grendel
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Nothing today unless this rain clears off.
Need to go and buy some compost and some net pegs but somehow taking two tiddlers out in this rain doesnt appeal
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Popped into a garden centre and bought 3 tomato plants to supplement the ones I have grown from seed that are a bit skinny at present. Prayed for the rain to stop ...it didn't. Hope my tomatoes courgettes and corn enjoyed their watering by the rain today......brought them back into conservatory for tonight.
Cheers HH
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Finally planted my pea pods into pots (so the mice don't get them this year!), watered my seed trays and finished painting my garden table!
Lovely sunny day here!!
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First crop of comfrey into the compost, watered everything very thoroughly and started on yet more digging to make space for my squashes and possibly an attempt at a munty frame.
What's a munty frame?
It's a genius way of growing runners/climbing beans/peas - more info here: http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=50801.0 (http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=50801.0) and lots more threads if you put munty frame in the search box.
Nice one Surbie ;) :)
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I'm beginning to lose control of the garden already :ohmy:
I've been messing about with a comfrey press for the last couple of days but I really wasn't happy. I've given up and filled a large hot water header tank with chopped up comfrey and put some weights on top. It certainly holds a lot more comfrey than the soil pipe did and hopefully as the outlet is on the side about an inch off the bottom it shouldn't block as easy either. :unsure:
Put up some supports for the asparagus, I'll let that grow out now, Im really not a fan and may remove the bed this winter.
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Finally did it planted out sweetcorn under cloches and one courgette plant.
Hopefully the weather will be warmer soon!!
Cheers HH
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Spent a couple of hours at the plot today, finally finished the weeding of the plots. The plot's looking tidy at last. Got lots of space now for all the plants I need to transplant now. See what the weather is like over the weekend, might get the sweetcorn in and maybe the beetroot.
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I want one of those Munty-things to sit in! :D Will have to acquire a new plot to have the room, though!
Weeded today. Planted more sweetcorn seed and more climbing beans, moved some stuff from the greenhouse to coldframe and started some zinnias in pots.
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Planted my second set of broadbeans, keeping my fingers crossed that the mice don't find them!
pulled off the tarp on what's going to be the squash bed, dug out a few spuds and oca that I missed last year, lots of vole tunnels hoping they'll move out over night!
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Planted up another tomato (variety Greek) in a pot and put it in the communal polytunnel at the plot, ours still not finished yet. Planted out two green peppers and two okra in daughter's polytunnel and watered the spinach and three tomatoes in there.
On our plot I watered, the ground was surprisingly dry and everything, especially the potatoes, peas and carrot beds needed it.
OH sifted more soil from the rubbish heap at the top of the plot. This is now going more quickly as the plastic is on the polytunnel frame, although door not yet fixed on, and the ground is drying out.
Noticed that amazingly I have got coriander and rocket to germinate. Had no joy with these for the past 3 years!
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More digging...but the end is in near sight...
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Dug out turf to level ground for slabs for greenhouse. At work in the morning to late start but most of slabs ready for tomorrow.
Almost ready for tomorrow to start putting greenhouse up. Missing parts arrived yesterday so hoping all will go smoothly tom ;)
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Thinned out the carrots,parsnips and beetroot then gave them a fragrant liquid feed to keep away the carrot fly,Planted some flowers in the upper flower area.
Weeded the rows
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Manage 6 hours on the plot today. put my bean frame up, planted beans, courgettes squashes and the last row of spuds. Feel like I'm on top of the plot now. Fingers crossed for some nice weather! I wish the wind would disappear! I'm quite sunburnt dispite lots of suncream. Harvested some chives, salad burnet and sage.
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Planted out the Cabbage, Cauliflower and Brussels Sprouts then netted them to keep out the nasties!
TOH cut back the Comfrey and put it in the compost bins then we both sat out on the patio, had a coffee and then did some weeding :D
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Corn went out, as did the courgettes and half of my toms (other half in the blowaway greenhouse still). They really couldn't wait any longer so I will have to take the slight gamble. Also strimmed the paths and weeded round the onions.
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Put up bean sticks and planted runners. Planted pots of parsley in final positions.
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Mainly goferin for hubby, who came & put some of my new slabs down, finished 2 central paths, & stabbed under the water barrels & then he stared on the new path between me & Mike the mole :D. I got up 2 buckets of horse tail I between times, made 2 cuppas, had a sit in the sun.
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Put my runner bean frame up as a temporary fix because I forgot the cable ties, Doh!
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Put in 1, 2,3,4,5............99, 100 cabbages, not sure it was 100 but hubby is still cursing at me. I got carried away and didnt expect them all to grow. Knowing Hubbys spacings they will be close so spring greens will be used as soon as they are big enough so they are not all ready at one time.
At home the climbing french beans are out. More carrots sowed. A huge pot sort and emptied all stuff that failed to show, not many pots but its much tidier now.
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Went down after a twelve hour shift to water everything...seen how much horse tail had come up...feeling :(, got five days off asfrom tuesday. gonna be busy, shed to erect,stuff to go in,ramshackle greenhouse to sort out(including chasing the mice out)...gonna be a busy five days!
Anyone got any tips on the horse tail?
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Transplanted some more spring onions and lettuce this evening. Potted on a few chillis. Pricked out some Cayenne seedlings. Not sure if a bit late but they were free in a magazine so i sowed them as soon as I could. Thinned out and weeded parsnips and beetroot. Planted Four purple sprouting plants. Should be plenty for two of us.
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I was lucky to have an 11 year old helper both Sat and Sun for a few hours who loves planting and sowing so he planted out chard, 2 types of beetroot, chives and flowers for cutting. He also sowed another batch of Queensland Blue pumpkins (after the last batch failed to germinate :( ). They are his favourite for roast pumpkin in the depths of winter. I spent my time digging over/weeding what will be the brassica bed which was full of horsetail and couch grass (with a little added bindweed for good measure :ohmy:) because the green broccoli is desperate to get in the ground.
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Felt as if I achieved something yesterday, really tidied up the hedge more natural light into our outdoor space, and it look a lot neater. Little bit left to do tonight and sorted!
Cheers
Aled
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Worked nights this weekend so have not been down much.
I had hoped to get down to the plot today but it is persisting it down at the moment :(
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As it's now stopped persisting down and its dried out I am going down there now. I will be transplanting some Sweetcorn and Beetroot and then sowing a couple of rows of Carrots, Swede's and Parsnips'.
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Just back from doing what I said in the previous post. Could not have timed it better because guess what, its raining again. Saves me a job.
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I went down briefly at about 4pm to drop off some new netting,fruit cage poles and supports for the growbags. Just had a quick look at the beans I planted out at the week-end - they are looking very sorry for themselves, maybe 2 of the 16 look as though they might perk up and survive the transplanting. Home to germinate some more!
Onions from seed looking a bit yellow and pale, what could that be?
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Ooh, have fun, Chillimummy! Getting a greenhouse is so exciting!
Today I pulled more weeds and nearly pulled my back trying to dig out some woad. It has the deepest, toughest roots - be warned, all, if you ever fancy planting any!
I also planted some more whizzy-coloured zinnias and pretended I was at Chelsea.
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Popped up after tea, picked 3 asparagus spears. Very cold with a bitter wind up there, don't fancy the chances of anything tender even if its protected with a cloche or fleece.
On the up side the weeds are growing mightily so something is surviving....
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Nothing at the plot today, but plenty going on in the potting shed at home. Transplanted some Cabbage and Cauli into bigger modules from where they where sown. Also started off more Cabbage, Cauli, Tom's, Peppers and Chilli's.
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Watered in the polytunnel. No need for that outside.
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Planted out the french beans, risky I know but they were climbing out of there pots.
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Managed to get half the grass cut before the rain came on!!
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Put up some supports for the asparagus, I'll let that grow out now, Im really not a fan and may remove the bed this winter.
Gawd I'd kill for an asparagus bed!! :D
Tried 3 times in 12 years to grow asparagus and failed every time :( :( :( :(
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Ooh, have fun, Chillimummy! Getting a greenhouse is so exciting!
Today I pulled more weeds and nearly pulled my back trying to dig out some woad. It has the deepest, toughest roots - be warned, all, if you ever fancy planting any!
I also planted some more whizzy-coloured zinnias and pretended I was at Chelsea.
Pimento, it took us so long to dug up grass and lay slabs that we didn't even start putting up greenhouse :(
Disappointed but will try again this weekend as slabs done. Still excited :lol:
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Put up some supports for the asparagus, I'll let that grow out now, Im really not a fan and may remove the bed this winter.
Gawd I'd kill for an asparagus bed!! :D
Tried 3 times in 12 years to grow asparagus and failed every time :( :( :( :(
Ooh could they be transplanted to the next county? :lol:
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Re-sowed beetroot, jog on Mr Fox, sticks now added to make his bed a little sharp.
Cucumbers fleeced another layer.
Another bed of brussels in, green this time others are red.
Another bean frame in, didnt learn did I this is frame number four ::)
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Netted my peas in case the pigeons take an interest in the juicy young shoots.
Noted that the spinach hasn't germinated well in the bed - only around 35%. Have sown some in a tray for back-up.
Beetroot seedlings are getting bigger but the germination rate is also disappointing.
Pleased with my incinerator and enjoy burning the weeds.
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Nothing today the mealy bugs at home took priority, ewwwww disgusting little critters, long list building up for tomorrow.
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Yesterday planted my grown from seed onions, red and white. Looking like large blades of grass but hoping they improve ;)
Sowed two rows of peas direct, hurst greenshaft. Peas sown at home in guttering were no show.
Dug over ground ready for pak choi today. Have lots of plants at home and will sow some seed too.
Potatoes finally peeping through soil which was worried as planted weeks ago but hopefully they will come on faster now.
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Today planted all my pak choi plants and sowed row of dwarf beans while I wait for ones I resowed at home to germinate.
Spent few hours digging over and weeding where sweetcorn was last year. Was hard going as had piled all old raspberry canes and rhubarb that had dug up there and under that was lots of weeds. Hard going but ready for this years sweetcorn now. :)
Need to burn all the rubbish now.
Sowed at home some more cabbage as plants have already are bit puny.
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built 8x6 shed, left wife on weeding duties and she seriously loosened all the onions so firmed them back in...hope they`ll be OK :unsure:
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Haven't been for a few days and boy oh boy the plot has changed soooooo much in a short time.
The early potatoes are flowering, the onions needed weeding as did the germinated parsnips bed.
The Brussels and cabbage are coming along a treat and the mangetout are climbing up the netting.
Weeded raspberry bed and strawberry barrels, thinned carrots and beetroot and stood back and realised that it's all go from now on!!
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Planted out my climbing beans and replaced the automatic window opener on the potting shed.
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planted last of my broadbeans, row of cosmos,sunflowers that are 12ins, put potted on chillies in greenhouse. then the heavy drizzley rain made us pack up.
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Went to the plot last night, planted out another courgette, pumpkins ans kidney beans all provided by SHMBO's work colleague ::) all surplus to requirements but had to be put in the plot!
Made her dig a spare bit of ground to put the beans in, that should teach her :lol:
Did some weeding and had fish & chips on the plot followed by a cup of coffee, yummy!
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Weeded the autumn planted garlic which was almost lost in a sea of chickweed :blush:
Rebuilt the raised bed I fix about a fortnight ago, I should have done it properly the first time.
Started to weed the raspberries but was beaten back by some sneaky nettles - I still can't feel my finger tips ::)
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Put out the last of my squash as they were starting to suffer in pots. The courgettes I moved down last week are thriving so I'm not worried.
Weeded a couple of paths and the oca bed - they are growing well now
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Planted out the broccoli (calabrese) and built the net cage to cover it. Weeded the onions/shallots and gave them a liquid feed (and also the leeks still in their tray). Young helper sowed some more French beans to replace those recently eaten by slug/snail >:(. Noticed that some of the potatoes (Sharpe's Express and Charlotte) are getting flower buds :).
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Hi flowertot. What sid you feed your onions and shallots with? and why? I'm wondering about giving mine a boost.
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Planted my lettuce,little gem,webs,iceberg & a new one heritage I think it was called,it's red :). Cleared the brassicas,the purple sprouting was going woody & I've had so much I'm tired of it. Then dug over half of that bed. Had 2 cups of tea, & showed son my new path that hubby had put down for me last week.
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Weeding ,weeding and more weeding .sowed Fennel and thinned out carrots , lettuce , beetroot and coriander.Basil failed so have two rows to reseed . Looking at getting the tomatoes in to the raised beds , but still being patience because of the weather..
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Hi flowertot. What sid you feed your onions and shallots with? and why? I'm wondering about giving mine a boost.
Hi Steve. I used Miraclegro all purpose liquid feed (it's a concentrate so I dilute it). I have very free draining soil on my allotment which needs nutrients added. I understand it's not good to dig manure in when you plant onions so instead I use a liquid feed every now and again to give them a little boost.
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I had a choice, plot or front garden, front garden won, it has now been weeded and the huge bamboo removed, roots were up to 5m from the main plant.
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Went down this afternoon, planted out the cauliflowers I bought from the plant sale at the allotment shop yesterday. Sorted out the courgette and squash which I'm passing on to my son for his community allotment and took them home to be delivered tomorrow, then watered onions and beans even though the skies were heavy and grey, but it still hasn't rained 3 hours later so just as well I did.
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Spent yesterday and today putting up greenhouse with OH in back garden. Hard work!
Yesterday had slow start getting head round instructions but finished separate parts.
Today put it all together quite quickly but putting polycarbonate sheets in was awful :)
Very sore fingers now. :(
Pegged to grass at mo but tomorrow fastening it to base and base to concrete slabs.
Tuesday going for grow bags and then tomatoes can be moved into it.
At moment too tired to feel excited but am sure that will return when it's properly set up ready and my fingers have recovered ;)
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... and my fingers have recovered ;)
I sliced my girly thumbs to bits putting the clips on my 10x8, you'd think someone would come up with a better design or a tool to do it :nowink:
More weeding today, managed to get a nettle wedged between the cuff of my glove and my shirt :mad: Removed some old trellis posts which had rotted at the base 3 years I think for treated timber coated with "ducks back" not impressed, they'll have to be replaced.
Gave the shed a coat with something brown I found in the shed, the wood seemed very dry already this year, it will probably need a few more coats.
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... and my fingers have recovered ;)
I sliced my girly thumbs to bits putting the clips on my 10x8, you'd think someone would come up with a better design or a tool to do it :nowink:
I agree. Have been so excited waiting to put greenhouse up and that part was so difficult that would have given up without OH ;)
Am sure when it is full of my tomatoes and cucumbers then will forget how hard it was to put up :D
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Weeded, weeded and weeded :( also sowed some swede
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Sowed another batch of brassicas, put down weed membrane around the fruit trees, weeded and finally watered :D
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planted 2 aubergines, thinned out the carrots on plot 2, done a load of weeding on both plots.
sowed 1 pepper plant, then planted a load of flowers on both plots inc 2 huge clumps of dahlia's gifted to us by a fellow plot holder
Then made a load of comfrey tea
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We went off to the beach ( naughty really as it should have been a plot day) hubby has just whizzed off for a few hours. Nearly fully planted
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Greenhouse in garden finally finished and fastened in place. :)
Put lots of plants in but getting growbags tomorrow then tomatoes can go in too. Planting again this year in bottomless flower buckets resting on growbags. Am so excited hoping that my harvest will be better. :D Greenhouse 6 x 8 so can fit plenty in.
Last count had 20 tomato plants. Also 5 cucumbers and all looking healthy.
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Congrats on finishing the greenhouse, Chillimummy! Bet it feels great!
Today I did hours more weeding and planted some runner and climbing French beans.
Also harvested the first baby spinach and baby turnips for tea - sweet as anything - yum! :D
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Weeded the potatoes, gave them a good soak and earthed them up with compost. They are getting flower buds :). Dug over and weeded the bed where the French beans will go next weekend - they are desperate to get out on the plot. Watered everything well - it has been so dry here.
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Thanks Pimento.
It feels great and so spacious. :)
Can't wait to get my tomatoes and cucumbers moved into their big pots.
This week getting weed fabric and small stones for the floor of the greenhouse.
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Popped up to the plot yesterday after 2 weeks away with work and was that frustrated with the weed growth I spent 2 hours solid pulling them up. The plot still requires a few more hours to get it sorted but at least the plants can now see the sunlight!!!
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Focussed on fruit / pumpkin / squash plot today ....
Strimmed round plot, pulled/discarded rhubarb (snails had munched through the leaves and the stems had gone mushy), weeded black currants, cut runners off strawbs and gave good watering, weeded summer and autumn raspberries (summer ones look good).
Had time to top dress raised beds where the pumpkins/squash are going so they can go out at the end of the week.
Found a couple of ripe strawbs ....... Say no more 😋
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Found a few more weeds I missed yesterday. Managed to top dress another bed ready for Sweetcorn and courgettes to get planted out tomorrow. Even managed to get my planting mix ready so 16month old son permitting I can get everything in! :D
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Hi Landshark,
What's your planting mix? Just interested to know as mine just get a handful of fish, blood & bone or manure, if they're lucky! Wondering if you have a magic secret! ::)
Pim.
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Dug out more fartachokes
Fed the spuds some chicken poop pellets
Netted blackcurrants, redcurrants and gooseberries.
Thoroughly watered all my squashes and courgettes, they haven't taken well to plot life and have gone brown on their first leaves, new growth looks ok though.
Questioned my sanity...
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Weeded, left plants out to harden off, watered, moved plants around onto 1 staging, moved other staging out!
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The boring essentials - weeding and watering....
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Yesterday planted up pumpkin and squash beds and erected bamboo cane type-thingy to try to stop the foxes digging the plants up. Wrapped a bit of fleece round the structure to keep off the wind over the next few days so the plants would have a chance to get established. Planted put a couple of courgette plants just to finish things off.
Fruit / pumpkin / squash / courgette plot looking ok. Need to catch up with elusive plot holder with the end half of the plot as the weeds are hooooooge and setting seed already. Don't fancy having to spend ages weeding those out!!
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Planted out the French beans (dwarf and climbing) with my young helper (hence the beans are green, purple and yellow ;)). Started to harden off the courgettes as they are getting flower buds :ohmy: and I haven't prepared their bed yet ::).
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Planted out dwarf French beans and a few runner beans that seem to be mixed up with the French beans??
Admired module grown beetroot (first time I've done it this way) as they are now the size of a golfball. Picked a few strawbs and checked on first earliest that have nearly all flowered. couldnt resist a furtle around and came away with some lovely new potatoes for dinner tonight. ☺️
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Finally weeded the onions sets planted this Spring, then weeded a few other beds but didn't have time to tackle the new raspberry bed. Then picked a good box full of strawberries, enough for 2, and pulled the very first carrots of the year, grown from seed sown straight into the ground in mid March. Little finger size and very straight. So pleased :)
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Planted out this stuff and did various other jobs.
(http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii525/emilyrfong/Allotment%20May%202015%20033_zpsgpi6uurs.jpg) (http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/emilyrfong/media/Allotment%20May%202015%20033_zpsgpi6uurs.jpg.html)
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Dug out a new section of bed but had to stop when it got too wet - lots of rain this morning and I'm expanding into the waterlogged end of the plot as well. So I weeded the beds instead, then pulled out some leeks which were going to seed and had a furtle for new potatoes. Dinner tonight included leeks sliced in half and braised in butter and we shared six tiny Lady Christls - the first of the year. Heaven!
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Dug over and weeded the bed for the courgettes/pumpkins to go in next weekend. Potted on the tomatoes into their big final pots and the chillis as well.
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Transferred Toms from small greenhouse at home, into grow bags and pots at plot, strung them to greenhouse roof (bit optimistic greenhouse is 8` high). Planted a couple of 30 litre buckets with sarpo mira...run out of compost for the other 2 tubs. thinned out perpetual spinach and chard...sowed another 2 rows of each. Went on a mares tail pulling session in the spud bed (noticed my earlies, seconds and main crop have all started to flower). Finally sorted a decent frame for the enviro-mesh on the carrot bed (used 8` canes and those rubber connector thingie`s). Got home sowed some b/nut squash and potted on the Bolivian rainbow chillie`s...noticed slug/snail damage to a Trinidad scorpion...moved the super-hots onto higher staging. Knackered.
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Decided that today was the day to plant out quite a few plants. Sweet corn, Callaloo, Courgettes, Pole beans, Cabbages, Brussels sprouts, PSB, Cauliflower. A few more things to go...
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Great day!! Planted out my courgettes, pumpkins, sweetcorn, celery and more kale. Managed to edge the veg beds and weed them all too. My other half also finished building our boundary fence!! :D
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Thursday I weeded between the onions and shallots, hoed the gaps between beds and strimedd the grass. Dug out more fartachokes. Planted out some psb someone gave me, think these will need moving later in the year. Planted some lettuce in gaps between the squashes.
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Popped up for an hour and planted out my sweetcorn and pumpkins for Halloween.
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Earthed up the potatoes!
That's it really, radishes, spinach and lettuce nearly ready to be harvested.
Cheers
Aled
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Spent a bit of time with fellow committee member checking all the dip tanks on the site as the taps have been stolen on at least three of them. What for?? I just don't get it.
Checked and re-adjusted wind breaks round newly planted courgettes and dwarf French beans as weather warning of strong wind in Kent .....
Weeded onions, parsnips (gradually germinating), thinned carrots, picked strawbs, got climbing runner/French bean bed ready for planting up on Wednesday.
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Weeded yesterday - and hurt my back again :(
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Earthed up potatoes which are growing well after slow start. Cauli mostly looking healthy but pak choi bit nibbled so re covered with debris netting.
Weeded onions. Red onion sets looking healthy but seed onions planted couple of weeks ago are looking yellow and droopy.
Broad beans finally showing. Next year will sow early in pots in greenhouse as most of them on other plots are really big ;)
Peas are a no show but only sowed a week ago.
Trimmed grass edges.
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Checked on my poor little battered French beans after last night's gales. I hope they recover.
Put a few slug pellets around the tiny leeklets I planted yesterday. They look awfully little in their big holes. :)
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put up 4 double rows of cane's 26 plants per row ! now I have to decide on the balancing act of what goes where :wacko:
only 10 climbing borlotti germinated ,so I think it will be 2 row's of runner's 1 row of Cobra (not grown before) and fill last row on the borlotti with runner's .
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Set up a double row of 28 canes with pole beans last weekend. When I checked this morning I saw I had to do it again. Completely blown over. Poor beans. Many stripped of all their leaves, as I had tied them to the canes. Tonight I have set it up again in a structurally more sound manner. I think most of the beans will recover, but for the moment it is a sorry sight and an exercise I could have done without.
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Took photos :lol:
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Just planted out some celery seedlings my plot neighbour gave me and pulled up some weeds. Going back later to put out the tomatoes.
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Quick visit after a dentist appt so not really in the mood for much.
Picked strawbs, pulled first cabbage of the season and then home to pick peas growing in the garden.
Fleece put up to protect French beans was shredded so quickly tidied it up and will sort properly tomorrow or Friday.
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Lovely afternoon in sunshine.
Earthed up rest of potatoes.
Planted my small looking greyhound cabbage plants and netted.
My plot neighbor gave me 6 very healthy looking cabbage plants which put mine to shame so planted and netted them too.
Planted loads of iceberg lettuce plants and netted too!
Sowed row of beetroot and dug over next patch to sow but ran out of time to sow spinach, parsnips and radish.
Off work tomorrow so might also plant butternut squash as they are getting rather large ;)
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Lovely day here! Gave all the beds a quick weed, and managed to put a wood border round 7 of my gooseberries, 5 still to do then I can get my netting up! Oh and chased the pigeons from my kale so I netted that as well!!
Great day! :D
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Spent nearly all day at the plot in three sessions, planting out all the things that should have been planted out over the last three windy weeks. So that's beans, courgettes, tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, celeriac, mizuna, pak choi, beetroot, kohlrabi, cucumber, squash, sweetcorn, sprouts, cauliflower, chicory, kale. Now exhausted.
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I managed to get back to the plot yesterday evening with my tomatoes. Dug over the ground, prepared the planting holes for them, laid down weed membrane, cut the holes, planted and tied them all in to canes. I am shattered now, I just hope that is the last of the high winds so they stand a fighting chance of surviving!!!
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Sowed row of spinach,turnip and swede so hoping now that they germinate. ;)
Last year was very sporadic and spinach only appeared after 3rd sowing :(
No sign of peas sown 2 weeks ago so watered and crossed fingers.
Trimmed grass edges and dug area that tomorrow sowing chard into and planting celery plants.
Never grown celery before but sounds difficult. Plants look healthy so need to keep well watered.
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Went on search and rescue for the saffron as I wanted to move them. By 'eck do they multiply quickly. 30 planted last year has turned into 127 corms this year, of varying sizes, some a small onion and some the size of a broad bean.
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Lots, prepared the lasagne bed for the squash, planted a load of gladioli that I found in the shed :wacko:. Also direct sowed runner beans since I've only got 1 come through from my indoor sowings. Also some more broad beans - don't know if that will work but it's got 2 choices. Sat in the shade for a couple of cuppas, 1 with John. Hoed some of the empty beds. Planted the 2 strawberry plants back in the bed now the path is completed.
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Managed whole afternoon at plot. Lovely :)
No show from peas or french beans sowed couple of weeks ago so resowed. Two rows of cobra beans and two rows of sugar snap peas this time. Hopefully soil warmer so success?
Had small area overgrown with grass and some rhubarb gone to flower. Dug out enormous rhubarb root and weeded whole patch. Hard going ;)
Dug out path next to it, re covered with weed fabric and bark.
Ready now for sweetcorn if it ever germinates :D
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Weed membrane down and paving slabs put down had a robin for company for an hour as I turned the earth over- its vaguely flat now but I doubt my groundwork skills will lead to any paid employment ; ;)
So, have a path to the shed and a patio area for entertianing... The slabs were a gift from a friend on the plot - they are far better than anything I have at home... A few toms potted on as well.
Pip pip,
Balders
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Went up and discovered that I had left the water on in the Polytunnel since last Thursday, the PT has a foot of water in the right hand raised bed. I am hoping that it will dry out over the weekend as I am waiting to put my Tomatos in.
I spent a while planting out the courgettes and weeding around the Rhubarb.
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Finally managed to finish off netting the fruit bushes those birds were starting to look interested!! Might actually get to taste the fruit before they're all gone this year.
Checked on my seeds, peapods will need planted next weekend so I'll need to prepare that bed this week, 2nd batch sweetcorn and chard will be another few weeks.
Lovely afternoon and evening here!!
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Went up and discovered that I had left the water on in the Polytunnel since last Thursday, the PT has a foot of water in the right hand raised bed. I am hoping that it will dry out over the weekend as I am waiting to put my Tomatos in.
I spent a while planting out the courgettes and weeding around the Rhubarb.
Oops
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tried out my new toy - petrol mower picked up today for £40 - managed mow down the grass on the plot from about 2 foot, now down to 2" :D
I LIKE my new toy :D
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Finally planted out the courgettes and spooky pumpkins with my 2 small helpers. Edible pumpkins/squash still a little small to go out in this wind - hopefully next weekend.
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Strimmed the paths, weeded a couple of beds.
I am becoming increasingly concerned about my onions. This is my third year - year 1 onions grew well. Last year they were pathetic and didn't do anything but as most people on the plot had the same problem I wasn't too concerned.
This year... My onions are still very very small, some leaves are going yellow at the tip then dying offs completely. I have dug up a few to see if there any problems and I can't see anything - the set still seems solid. It's the same with most of my overwintering onions, shallots and summer onions. I googled and wish I hadn't as there are so many scary looking diseases :(
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Sowed row of chard. Parsnips chitting to go in final row with radish then biggest bed full :)
Next to plant are butternut squash, courgettes and pumpkins. Bed ready, just needs few marestail digging out ;)
Sweetcorn at home showing signs of germination from chitting so into pots soon. Hope they catch up ;)
Sowed at home some mint in big pot.
Gave plot big watering
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Weeding....weeding.....and more weeding...
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Transplanted rhubarb, long story see other thread
Weeded,
Strimmed edges to both plots
Planted pumpkin in a sack of well rotted
Hoed in between all rows on plot 2
Copious amount of water applied all round
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Planted broad bean plants Mike gave me plus what I hope are pea plants & not sweet peas that he also left me. Planted all my bean plants-climbers- runner x1 :wacko:,cannelino, purple podded, yellow, ying & yang x2, Aeron purple star. Dwarf beans- green- blue lake & yellow. Planted fennel. Weeded the parsnips, whoopee I've got loads. Chatted to my old plot neighbour Helen who came up to see me & her old plot had a cuppa & a piece of cake in the sunshine.
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Weeded around the apple trees, planted out the crimson crush and made an attempt at removing the chickweed from the asparagus.
Levelled some of the beds I'd just piled soil on ready for planting the courgettes which have finally germinate :mad:
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It seems I did what a lot of others did, hoed, hoed and then did a bit more hoeing. Strimmed all the paths and then applied some weed killer around some areas of the plot that I am already getting ready for next year. As it's quite a large plot I sometimes don't get around to it all to keep it tidy. I made a decision a while ago now to concentrate on the area's that are good. I keep the first 4 bed's tidy and weed free. Putting weedkiller down now will free up approx another 50% of the plot. Once the stuff does it's work I will dig it all over ready for planting stuff over the winter.
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Yesterday I spent a few hours at the plot, a new tap had appeared at the front corner of the half plot in front of mine courtesy of a couple of the other plot holders in our corner, this brings the tap within a single hose length of my plot. (they are discussing reimbursement with the site manager).
rotovated the remaining unplanted section, its a lovely fine tilth now, raked and planter beans and peas (a frame and 3 rows of seed- middle row peas, outside rows dwarf beans and other beans (mixed)) and a row of cauliflowers.
watered, then came home. I also strimmed my path across the front half of the plot that appears to have been abandoned, I have made enquiries about getting that half to add to my half, but it will be well overgrown before I hear I guess, as they have to contact the tenant before they can agree.
Grendel
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Lovely day, husband took son to visit grandpa so I had a free afternoon! Weeded the last overgrown veg bed, put up netting and prepared it ready to plant out my peas at the weekend. Checked my runner beans and finally they're sprouting!
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Mega-session at the plot yesterday. Went up really early to water as the 'stolen' taps on the stand pipes near me hadn't been replaced so needed to use one further away and knew it could get busy if I left it until later in the morning.
Came home for a bit of brekkie, loaded the truck and went back around 9am.
Weeded onions, parsnips, put stakes up for Brussels, picked two small cauliflowers, took more tops off broad beans to try to stop black fly (the plants are getting shorter and shorter and no respite in black fly either).
Weeded raspberries, picked (and ate) punnet of strawberries, weeded French dwarf beans that survived the strong wind last week, planted out climbing French beans and dwarf runner beans. Never done dwarf runners before so will see how it goes.
Pulled a handful of baby beetroot for tea (yum yum).
Looked at phone and it was after 5pm!!
Came home delighted with what I'd done and promptly set to making the first cauliflower cheese of the season.
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Popped up and sowed another 2 rows of carrots as my daughter has taken to munching baby carrots like there is no tomorrow!!
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First visit since early last Thursday morning, opened the greenhouse up and was very happy to see that Tomatillos, peppers and tomatoes in grow-bags were doing very well and had survived being left in 2 inches of water over the week-end, pinched out side shoots and inspected flowers.... left door open for pollinators to come in but it's very cold today.
Watered garlic, climbing and dwarf beans, pumpkin, cauliflowers, rhubarb and pots of tomatoes and those in the ground (which look a bit shell-shocked). Saw lots of strawberries to be picked at the week-end by Natalia. On my plot, blasted the blackfly on the BB's yet again! watered onions, corn (it's grown) beans, peas and tomatoes, squash etc. Need a SERIOUS day of weeding tomorrow to bring everything back under control. Pulled up couch grass showing itself on the main path.
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Finally managed to get the cover on the polytunnel myself, gave up waiting on hubby to give me a hand! One side was still dug in so I've weighted the other side and put a few ropes over till tomorrow then I can lift the turf and secure it properly. Also sorted out a pile of pots I've accumulated over the winter months. Apart from that it was the usual weeding and watering!
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Planted the leeks instructed by mistraknowitall :ohmy:, weeded the horsetail out of the to be brassica bed,weeded the carrots, netted the fruit bushes, had lunch with Mr S who brought me a coffee & a BLT 8)
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Nothing hubby was still at work at 7pm ::)
Tomorrow will be different
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Sorry this is technically yesterday as I have been so busy its past midnight. Came back from almost 2 weeks away in the sun to find all sorts had happened. One squash totally dead, the rest and the courgettes looking very sad. No better than when implanted them or worse. Some of the currant bushes with snapped off branches and the one black currant infested with something and looking pretty horrible. The leeks seedlings not much changed. The sweetcorn looking pretty miserable and two of them eaten. Had to plant everything out before I went but obviously the horrible weather in the u.k. took it's toll. On the plus side the brassicas all look good, as do the strawberries and the currant bushes bearing loads of fruit despite the damage. The parsnips also doing well after a slow start. So spent about 7 hours weeding, watering and generally tidying up in glorious sunshine. And had a furtle and pulled up the first of the earlies, foremost, and enjoyed with some freshly pulled lettuce for lunch. Then rhubarb and yoghurt for tea. It's good to be back!
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Yesterday it was just a general tidy up before work (on late's this week), but managed to plant out about 20 Beetroot. The day before was much the same but planted out the same number of Broad Beans'. Not sure about today yet as I have to take our eldest daughter to her interview as it's on the way to work.
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Yesterday I spent a few hours at the plot, a new tap had appeared at the front corner of the half plot in front of mine courtesy of a couple of the other plot holders in our corner, this brings the tap within a single hose length of my plot. (they are discussing reimbursement with the site manager).
rotovated the remaining unplanted section, its a lovely fine tilth now, raked and planter beans and peas (a frame and 3 rows of seed- middle row peas, outside rows dwarf beans and other beans (mixed)) and a row of cauliflowers.
watered, then came home. I also strimmed my path across the front half of the plot that appears to have been abandoned, I have made enquiries about getting that half to add to my half, but it will be well overgrown before I hear I guess, as they have to contact the tenant before they can agree.
Grendel
Not on the plot, but about it, last night I received a phone call telling me I can take over the rest of the plot, So I am happy, it looks like its a trip up there at the weekend with strimmer and rotovator to get some clearing done, due to the condition, they wont charge rent for the remainder of the season on that part.
Grendel
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Watered, watered and watered some more. Hopefully after these thunderstorms this weekend my veg will take off in my sandy soil!!
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Took petrol lawn mower down to plot and made paths nice and tidy
Collected some asparagus for tea and threw some water on the most deserving looking veg.
Cheers HH
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As the weather was so nice this afternoon I spent a couple of hours down there. You know what they say "hoe when you see no weeds", well I did that for about an hour even there was no weeds before I started. The ground is now all turned over. Then spent the next hour digging over a new area of the plot to expand it a bit more. Strimmed all the paths as well, plot is looking quite good even if I say so myself.
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Got up early to offload a steaming pile of cow and horse dung to the compost bin....
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/17202358/width/700/height/700/flags/LL)
....and that's about it, as we headed to town and spent the day running errands. Bought a used utility trailer so we'll never have to put manure in the back of this truck again. :lol:
Got home and had time to do a walk through before dark, helped some cucumbers find the trellis, suckered a few tomato plants. Loving this Back to Eden garden so far! Lots of work to get it established but now it's incredibly easy to maintain, lovely to walk in the garden right after a big rain and not even get my shoes wet.
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/17202343/width/900/height/900/flags/LL)
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Went up yesterday after a week away. Beans and courgettes looking a bit unhappy due to all the wind. Re-sowing there I think. One of my kohlrabi and one sweetcorn plant terminal too. Outdoor tomatoes looking surprisingly chipper.
Weeded the carrots which have good germination. Disappointed to discover the parsnips are a no show, despite sowing in May. Not warm enough I think. Will give them another go, maybe small at harvest, but better than no parsnips at all.
Didn't water apart from sweetcorn and squash that looked very dry, as heavy rain forecast for today amd it has duly arrived.
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Sprayed the blackfly on the broad beans with soapy water but I think they just laughed it off >:(. Weeded the carrots and parsnips, mulched the French beans and baby rhubarbs, watered everything, sowed some PSB, kale and another batch of spring onions. Noticed that one of the green broccoli plants is developing a head.
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Spent an hour or so this morning weeding beds. Easy work really after last nights rain.
Collected more asparagus and lettuce.
HH
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after spending the morning clearing brambles on the site of my astronomy clubs observatory (with a mini digger to help) I spent the afternoon clearing weeds, brambles and nettles from my new other half of my plot.
Before pictures
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after pictures and rubbish pile
Grendel
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That last picture Grendel, that's not rubbish, theres logs for the wood burner and tubs and crates which will make great planters, just a thought, Dave
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Been down to the plot this morning, sowed carrots, parsnips and chard.
Fed the tomatoes, chillies and peppers in the greenhouse.
Weeded around the sweet corn and existing carrots, then picked chard, rhubarb and strawberries for dinner.
It won't be long before the early spuds are ready, hmmm!
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Sulkingly went down in the rain (it is been non stop light drizzle/wet must since yesterday morning). Harvested 2 huge tubs of strawbs, some lettuce, one plant if earlies for dinner tonight and dug up my earlier batch of garlic. They really got attacked by rust again so I wasn't holding out much hope but the majority of the bulbs are actually a really decent size. The other variety still have a couple more weeks yet I think...
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That last picture Grendel, that's not rubbish, theres logs for the wood burner and tubs and crates which will make great planters, just a thought, Dave
Well most of it is rubbish, the logs have been left available to anyone who wants them, the tubs and crates are all broken, split of just nasty, andin my tip trip this morning went some thick sheets of wood (i think the paint may have been holding it together, and 7 large plastic trugs of plastic sheet, plastic bags, bin liners, broken pots and buckets.
4 water containers and several buckets have been left handy to the plot tap in the corner of my plot, and I now have about half the rubbish gone.
This morning a fellow plot holder gave me a sheet of corrugated tin to make the 3rd side of a compost heap, the hawthorn in the corner had a haircut (all the branches forming the bottom layer for the compost bin), 5 binbags of part rotted leaves were added to the compost heap, and the bags added to the tip run. the 2 bags of shredded paper will also go onto the heap, and hopefully 1 more trip to the tip should get rid of all the plastic. one area with broken glass has been identified, and 4 large sheets moved to the side off the growing area. that will be cleared on the next tip run. I will then be ready to re-strim to earth level (its down to about 3" at the moment) and start rotovating - not too worried at this stage about rotovating weeds in, all the grasses have shed their seed over the whole lot while strimming, persistant weed roots will be dug up and pulled in due course, at this stage I am just trying to find what we have got.
Grendel
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Busy 5 hours on both plots
weeded both plots, took the netting off the Runner beans on plot 2, harvested the following
plot 1
radish
yellow beetroot
white beetroot
plot 2
lifted two carrier bags of earlies- red duke of York
picked some red beetroot
I cos lettuce and gave another to a neighbour plot holder
planted 1 row of swedes
and surprisingly enough watered loads despite two solid days of rain the earth was dry
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Absolutely nothing but strolling through a couple of times, looking for seedlings to show or weed sprouts and thanking God for it all. Blazing hot and humid today, mixed with thunder storms, so most things are growing well in this weather.
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Weeding & watering as usual. Managed to plant half my peas out, I'll do the rest tomorrow! Picked a carrier bag of Kale for my Dad's dinner. Noticed my Estima pots have some yellow leaves and I've no Epsom salts left so off to the chemist tomorrow. Bought some more tomatoes (San Marino & Ailsa Craig) yesterday from B&Q so got them potted up and moved the cucumbers to bigger pots in the greenhouse which frees up more space on the windowsill.
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Weeded while my young helper sowed more carrots, green broccoli and lettuces :), watered, netted blueberries.
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That’s a great weekends work Grendel!
Last week I planted out my cucumbers, 1 out of 4 succumbed to shock. Dug a small patch of couch grass over to make more room. Weeded parsnips, peas, herbs.
At home I’ve potted on my tomatoes and peppers into their final pots. I’m hoping to find room on the plot for the rest of them but I don’t know if I’ll have space once the sweet corn goes in. infect I’ve realised I probably don’t have room for the kale, kohl rabbi and celery I’ve still got in trays.
Ate peas and more peas :) and strawberries, pulled up my first 2 spuds (not quite ready but I’ll be sick of them soon and the 2 rows either side will appreciate the space).
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Big weeding session this morning. Following the rain the ground has softened enough to get the weeds up, although it is still surprisingly dry. Obviously not enough rain!
Picked two small cabbages.
Squashes and courgettes picking up after their bashing by the wind the other week. Only one looks like it won't make it.
Re sown beetroot has germinated.
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2 BB patches, the early planted ones succumbed to Blackfly very early and I've soapy sprayed and fire hose squirted for the last 2 or 3 weeks and finally tonight, came to the early BB's and I think they may be fewer.... perhaps they are of course just coming onto the other plot BB's! Peas looking good, pulled some carrots for supper. Watered everything. ... autumn onions are coming to fruition better size though not necessarily that many. others all holding it together and the seed sown ones are looking good. Every time I come to the plot I disturb pigeons from one fruit bush or another as I walk along. Beans are beginning to climb and courgettes are looking as though they have settled and beginning to thrive, seem to have lost maybe 3 out of 15 plants. Have a dozen corn seedlings to still go in. AND I hand picked the very first RASPBERRY today - and ate it.
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Planted more half runner beans, more cos romaine lettuce, some Ozark Beauty strawberry sets, some Black-eyed Susan sets, morning glories by the trellis arch over the gate, marigolds amongst the tomatoes, and another row of wildflowers. Placed more mulch material up around the potatoes and trained a few young cukes to stay in their own trellis space where they belong. Those cukes grew a whole foot in height this week due to all the rain and hot, steamy weather!
Last week...
(http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/7/7c/900x900px-LL-7c1dc156_100_3255.jpeg)
And a week later.....
(http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/2/2d/900x900px-LL-2d9dd9d2_100_3286.jpeg)
Applied urine foliar spray to most of the plants, some more than others.
Loving this Back to Eden garden so far for weed control and moisture retention. This is the first year so I won't be seeing the deeper benefits of it all until next year when the chips have composted more.
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Popped down at lunchtime from work to water and pick strawbs- bumper year, and the mountain in the fridge is not reducing- kids are fed up all ready. I can't recall having bowls of raspberrys this early before either. Plot strawbs got offered around to happy teachers this afternoon.
Picked the first of the peas and had some in my lunchtime salad and some home for a treat from the one doing A level Biology tomorrow- she was swotting up on leguminous plants and the nitrogen cycle!
Mange touts lovely too, another picking.
Planted the cues out and another 6 pumpkins, blackfly on the beans is bad this year- I'm going to give up on them. Getting short of space now :D
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Wont be going down to the plot today, yesterday however I did some hoeing, digging and also got some more Sweetcorn in.
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Not been able to get to plot for a week so wondered about weed growth ;)
Not bad at all.
Weeded around onions and broad beans. Potatoes look great, and everything else seems to have really grown in past week. :)
Have small area which needed weeding for my donated artichoke which plot neighbour will be giving me.
Have already planted thornless blackberry there and was going to plant PSB but will keep area for the artichoke.
Not sure how big artichokes get or how to harvest them but I really like them so good use of spare patch.
Finally all my peas and beans are growing. First sowing was no show but used pea sticks second time and wonder if birds ate first ones?
Most have germinated, dwarf beans and sugar snap peas.
Sweetcorn at home all sprouting so hope they catch up ;)
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Popped in after work to water - the soil is like dust now as it has been so dry here lately.
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Weeding and watering ;) :)
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Well I did a fair bit of weeding last night, then watered well and added some liquid organic compost. This morning all my crops look far more lush. Always nice to see.
Cheers
Aled
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Went up with the intention of puddling in my leeks but, on uncovering the bed, discovered it was like concrete. Gave it a good soak to soften it up and will have another go tomorrow.
Planted a dozen beanlings - the bean patch is filling up slowly.
Made homes for two butternut squash plants and installed a Masquerade chilli in the greenhouse.
Got to eat a packet of crisps to turn into a sparkly scarer in an attempt to startle the pigeons away from the sprouts.
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Planted the veg strips I got cheap from B&Q on Wednesday. Got Pak choi, spring cabbage, broad beans, French beans and toms all for 10p a strip with my dads 10% discount so couldn't resist. Had a wee bit space but not anymore!
Had to net my new kale plantings as next doors pigeons were attacking them this morning.
Managed to sow another row each of Spring onions, white turnip & radish but ran out of time for more beetroot. Checked over everything else and noticed I've got my first artichoke!!
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Went to take some photos today : sweet corn, garlic, 2 patches spring onion, crown prince has set 5 fruits(2 on the photos), first year cherry are turning red. Everything is growing much slower than last year, I got first sweet corn last year in mid July, this year they are not even flowering yet.
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Usual watering and weeding, spoke to the secretary re the next door plot as it has not been done this year and I would like it and if i could I would give up one of the half plots giving me a very good size plot ad a half adjacent to each other
harvested my first peas - they did not make it home :tongue2:
another feed of beetroot , possibly the last feed of rhubarb
another feed of swiss chard and my first feed of Kale, broad beans coming on well - I would say a week away from being ready
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Wet, windy, cold, just the usual for this year really. The spuds and brassicas are doing fine, but the
bean bed is very slow. The carrots germinated about six weeks ago and are standing two inches tall.
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only had a very quick visit today, after taking my dad shopping for fathers day, I popped into the plot and cleared the remaining plastic rubbish to the tip, added the shredded paper to the compost heap and noticed the last lot of beans planted were starting to sprout.
Grendel
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Planted my 4 butternut squash, 2 pumpkins and 2 yellow courgettes. Dug over area ready for sweetcorn which are in my greenhouse and really sprouting. Might give them another week then plant.
Weeded around onions and noticed that finally all my sowed seeds are peeping out. Sowed beetroot,spinach,chard and turnip a week or 2 ago so really pleased. Gave them a watering even though it was raining!
In my fruit bed, next to my raspberries, have got quite a few potatoes growing from last years crop. Can't believe I missed so many :D. Dug them out and ended up with enough little potatoes for tea tonight :D
Netted my strawberries and chatted to neighbours.
Lovely day :D
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I had 2 small helpers today and we planted out the butternuts and Queensland Blues, noticed we are getting our first courgettes 8), watered everything, fed the leeks. After helping for a little while, the boys sat up the old apple tree and watched the trains go by.
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Sowed more black turtle beans and carrots.
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Yesterday I finally planted out the sweetcorn (intercropped with lettuce), tomatos (Nova, gardeners delight and Red Zebras) fingers crossed they dont get blight this year! chilli plants and the last of the dwarf beans (intercropped with the cucumbers as I didnt have space for them anywhere else).
Hoed the paths acidently sliced up a courgette
cursed the birds for breaking more currant branches grrr!
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Today...re-positioned cane wig-wams and planted runner and climbing french beans, planted out some lollo rosso that were started in modules, sowed three more rows of beetroot, tied in toms to there strings (noticed i`ve took the top off one thinking it was a side shoot :(), spotted my first couple of courgettes, weeded and finally admitted to myself that the strawberry "fence" id made from pallets laced with soaker hose aint gonna work (on site water pressure too low)... back to the drawing board with that one then.
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Managed to get the tatties earthed up & sprayed with Epsom salts. Also sprayed the toms in the greenhouse with Epsom salts and gave them a feed. Pulled up a few weeds, and started cutting the grass hopefully I'll get it finished when the wee ones in bed!
Noticed that my onions that were planted last autumn are starting to fall over ( great I need the bed for swede!), my summer rasps are forming fruit and the autumn rasps are showing flower buds! :D
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Dug potatoes, pulled a few weeds. 🌱
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Not at the plot, but for the plot...spent all day breaking pallets for the deck I`m putting in front of the shed.
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Tied in a few more rasp canes, finished off cutting the grass. Then spent the rest of the time watering!!
What a lovely day! :D
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Went to the plot last night, fed the tomatoes peppers and chillies then watered the rest of the plot!
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Harvested my first bumper crop of strawberries, a huge pot full. In previous years I've not done too well with them, nor really tired that hard to be honest, but this year I gave the bed a good manuring in spring and thinned out the plants.
Well chuffed.
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Just waiting for TOH to get home then off to the plot for fish and chips and a bit of weeding etc. The usual Friday night routine :D
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Finished planting the squash,cucumbers,sunflowers,gherkins,courgettes, the last ones are going to my daughters tomorrow along with the very spindly leftover tomatoes - I shall be planting them there too :lol:
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Weeded around raspberries. Dug up lots of thistles ;)
Sowed two rows of sugar snap peas next to the two rows already there.
Weeded onions. Planted donated red cabbage Lodero, given 13 of them and a few savoy cabbage. Netted and watered.
Also given 5 each of Zen and Endeavor broccoli and a few sprout plants.
Will plant them at the weekend. Need to patch my remaining net and find something to use as frame.
Will sow more beetroot and spinach at weekend to fill any gaps.
Have chitted parsnips to sow and will take chance and plant sweetcorn.
Running out of space ;)
Have lots of celery at home to squeeze in somewhere
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Weeded the butterfly garden. Picked raspberries and peppers.
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Weeded, the beans, the Beetroot, the onions, spuds, sweetcorn, carrots, turnips and anything else. Hoed all the weeded areas as well., Strimmed all the paths and an area I am looking to expand into. Weather was fantastic as well.
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Weeded all day in each of the gardens, my back is aching and there are still loads of weeds left. :nowink: :nowink:
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Just popped in for a fun half hour with the kids to spray the hosepipe about and eat fresh peas 😊
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Local council had a recycling event where they were giving away free compost, take your own shovel and bags! :D Too good an opportunity to miss, so OH and I did multiple runs back and forth all day with our buckets and tubs. We must have moved about 3 tonne enough to give the garden a good top dressing this autumn. Hopefully by that time my back will have recovered!
I also managed to give 2 of the tattie beds another covering of compost before we had a lovely BBQ ! :)
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Yesterday
Went to our daughters where I covered a large area of her garden with my weed membrane & planted all my spare tomatoes,courgettes x 5,pumpkins & squash x goodness knows(thanks Surbie :lol:) & sweetcorn French & cannelloni beans that I'd sown specifically for her. Doesn't sound much but I was in full sun for most of the day, had to rake & level & dig out various bramble roots on the way. Still a bit worn out this morning
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A quick visit yesterday evening just for a walk out and bit of exercise.
Planted out courgette, squash(little gem Rolet), Avalon melon outside and in greenhouse. Sowed a few beans donated by plot neighbour, Purple Queen, Borlotti and Green? Cannot remember!! :blush:
Watered plot whilst TOH weeded the bean plot, then I dug up our first Charlotte potatoe plant, will be having them for dinner today :D
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up early today to get down the plot while its cool, had been raining in the night - ground still dry as a bone. cleared a 3mx4m section of the new half of the plot, then weeded my existing beds, not too good - only 1 pea groeing in the pea bed, 5 potato plants in the tatty bed, carrots eventually found, and some french beans growing. spent 3 hours, just pottering and tidying.
Grendel
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Yesterday planted all my sweetcorn although some of them are a bit small ;)
Weeded around onions and broad beans and gave everything good watering with hose.
Planted donated pumpkin.
Sowed beetroot and spinach in gaps in rows where seedlings bit sparce ;)
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Gave everything a good soaking, weeded round the caulis - got heads forming already - so early!
Red currants and blackcurrants not showing any signs of ripening despite others on the site looking ready to pick...
Dug up the last of the garlic to dry out
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Nothing, and nothing for the last two weeks either as the world has conspired against me!! I hope it's not too bed when I get there this evening. I'm going to feel very guilty if there are flowering weeds on there.
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Weeded, weeded and weeded...
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Watered the brassicas that did not get planted yesterday, watered the 2 crimson crush tomatoes, the strawberries & the squash. Had a chat with Bob,Chris,Nick,Mike & waved at quite a few others, it was the busiest I've seen it for ages.
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watered both plots , with a watering can due to no hose pipes allowed on our plots :mad:
moved one of the pumpkins which I had planted in a bag of manure and planted it where my earlies were, I was shocked how much roots had formed in the bag but with careful snipping of the bag I removed the bag with no root damage
harvested broad beans and peas
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Gave everything a good soaking in anticipation of tomorrow's heat.
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got to the plot at 8pm when it was a lot cooler thank goodness :)
lots of weeding, watering, hoeing, planted a couple of courgette plants that my SIL didn't want :nowink:
harvested some of the anya potatoes, lots of lettuce and a few strawberries :D
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Spent a very hot morning til 1pm :wacko:
Not able to get to plot for next 2 days so persevered in heat.
Watered seedlings, new rows of sowed peas, pumpkins and sweetcorn.
Given a few plants each of sprouts, cabbage and 2 types of broccoli. Planted, netted and watered in.
Picked pak choi and strawberries.
!
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Not much, too hot!
Edged and weeded the raspberry rows & gave everything in pots a water. Tasted my first gooseberry of the year but think I'll give them another few days!
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Popped in to water everything after work. So dry, so dusty...but the climbing French beans have grown at least a foot in the last couple of days and started to flower :) and my first baby pumpkin is starting to form
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Planted out the leeks and Oca that I'd started in pots.
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up the plot at 8.00am, planted peas and beans to fill the gaps, came home at 8.45 soaked through, rain started at 8.30, had to have a complete change of clothes.
Grendel
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Popped down to the plot after a week on holiday, all well with the plants, weeds going mad in between beds. Have fruits developing on the squash and pumpkin plants and the peas are fattening up. Going back later on to pull up some new potatoes to have with tea later, will be the first harvest of potatoes this year. :D
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Removed Calabrese plants that have done their bit. Dug over bed added chicken manure and sowed some mange toute peas. Hoping that the ominous comments I see about mildew on late peas don't come to reality!
Quick run round watering recently planted Brussels as well as the courgettes/squashes. Despite the storms elsewhere we have had minimal rain and the ground is bone dry, really apparent as I dug trenches for the peas.
Cheers HH
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Planted last of dwarf French bean plants I grew from seed. About 4 dozen plants in now. Warm and raining here so applied some slug pellets to the plot, the blighters will be out en masse I suspect.
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Managed an hour between showers :lol:
Picked lots of strawberries.
I was given lots of plants last year and this year and the crop is amazing and the fruits are huge and delicious :)
Weeded the strawberry bed.
Weeded between my slowly growing seedlings of beetroot,spinach,chard and turnip. Almost whole rows germinated now. :D
Picked some pak choi which is starting to go to seed.
Sweetcorn very small compared to others on site but definitely growing.
Charlotte potatoes have lots of flowers so will dig up a plant tomorrow to see how they are.
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Moved the excess toms from the greenhouse into the poly tunnel and gave it a tidy. Made a start on weeding and edging the veg plots, checked to see if the gooseberries were ready - still waiting. But looks as though my autumn planted onions are ready to lift tomorrow if it's dry. And found my first caterpillar of the season happily munching on my cabbage :(!!
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Absolutely nothing!! It was raining this morning 😃😃😃😃😃😃
Fantastic!!!
HH
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Went to plot but started raining when got there. Needed potatoes for tea so dug up 3 of my charlottes. Delicious :)
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Short trip after dinner to have a look see after the weekend. Had to repair the debris netting brassica cage where my sewing had begun to come undone, so I used a few cable ties to join the 2 pieces together I hand sewed on Sunday, pulled a few weeds, picked 2 big strawberries & half a punnet of raspberries, walked round the site & came home
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Picked loads of lovely, sweet strawberries and scoffed quite a few, as well. Picked a couple more courgettes and some broad beans and baby turnips for tea - the turnips are getting woody now, should've peeled them. Gave the incessant bindweed another dose of glyphosate - probably pointless today, given the showers. Everything looking good now!
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Took my mum and dad for a guided tour. Lovely as they were impressed with plot as not seen it for a while :)
Picked more strawberries which they took home and admired the huge amount of blackcurrants ready for picking. Need to get back in next couple of days ;)
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Had a good day :) in the sun on the plot. Weeded and watered, pulled up failed black-flied broad beans and replaced them with the second batch of French beans (dwarf ones plus a wigwam of Climbing Blue Lake). Also potted on the winter brassicas (3 types of kale, 2 types of PSB) and harvested all the shallots - really pleased with them :D. The enviromesh is worth its weight in gold.
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Trip to tip with OH to get rid of shower door as no longer needed and pile of rubbish/old rhubarb.
OH then finished my sweetcorn protection from old bits of greenhouse perspex.
I dug over area where rubbish had been and hoed weeds between plants.
OH bought small bag of potatoes to plant (32p) as he thought they were bargain. ?Too late to plant but put them in anyway as had space. At 32p, if they don't grow then nothing lost. ;) ;)
Picked a pile of pak choi as flowering. Khol rhabi plants and PSB to go there now when dug over.
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Lifted my autumn onions, great crop, won't be buying any for a long time. Edged and weeded the bed before my OH dug it over :D. Prepared it ready to plant out my swedes tomorrow.
Weeded and edged the rest of the veg beds while OH cut the grass.
Picked some rocket, chives, parsley, radishes and my first 3 globe artichokes for tea tonight!
Only a few strawberries ready which we ate on the spot.
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Just shows how very different things are down here our artichokes finished weeks back tops have all withered back and won't be seen again until the autumn!
Tomatoes are coming on great here now and have been eating some lovely caprese salads with the coeur de boeuf type and fresh cut basil yummy!
Watering the garden is a major chore just now we have had plus 30C for more than a month now and little or no rain at all some thing can cope but really it all needs a drink just now... great for drying the winter fire wood though of which I have 16cubic metres stacked !
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Picked load of pak choi and dug over area ready for next crop.
Cut some branches of blackcurrants back as they were knocking over my broad beans!
So many blackcurrants that am cutting branches bit by bit.
2nd lot in freezer now for jam maybe.
Hoed around everything.
Dug up another couple of charlotte potato plants.
Picked more strawberries, plenty left but some needed throwing as grey and furry :(
Picked some iceberg lettuce. Sowed way to many and they are bursting out of their net so need to start eating a lot!
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Went to the allotment early to try to miss the rain that was forecast for about lunch time. They lied - I got wet! Dried off a bit, then went out to pick peas - got soaked! It had stopped raining, but, of course the peas were absolutely sodden. Dried off again, then picked raspberries - got wet again! Weeded potatoes - yes, that's right - soaked again! I looked as if I was entering into a wet t-shirt competition, (with matching jeans, hair and shoes).
Picked an 'ouch' of gooseberries, and was going to pick blackcurrants, but decided to leave them for another few days. Cut more courgettes, and then noticed that there were quite a few dwarf French beans ready for picking. I swear they weren't there on Saturday. Cut a cauliflower that I didn't notice until I was about to leave, and dug up a root of Lady Cristl potatoes.
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Dug out the broad beans and replaced them with leeks. Transplanted lettuce. Gave the plot a good water.
Cheers HH
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Spent five hours on the plot today, weeding to start with then digging up the remaining half row of Casablanca spuds before sowing Turnips, Parsnips, cabbage, broccoli and rainbow chard.
TOH started by clipping the hawthorn hedge at the bottom of the plot, then digging out the weeds in the hedge shadow and the old rainbow chard which had gone over. She then picked strawberries, broad beans and some of the dried up peas, ready for keeping for seed and the remaining peas for podding. :)
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woke up to heavy rain this morning so delayed my trip to the plot, decided not to take the rotorvator as I thought it might be too wet- took a hoe and under the surface everything was still dry, hoes all the weeds, picked all the onions that now had no stems, all the potato foliage seems to have been nibbled - bar one rogue in the wrong place.
Grendel
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Picked a bucket of broad beans, peas, round courgettes.
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Hoed some weeds, picked some broad beans but mostly too small. Next year will start them in greenhouse earlier.
Cut some more blackcurrant branches, loads left!
Picked lots of iceberg lettuce and some spinach.
Courgettes starting to show but too small to pick.
Potatoes look lovely, covered in loads of flowers.
Everything seems to have doubled in size in last few days :)
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Bit of weeding and general tending to unwind after a 12 hour day at work. Wild flowers I bought a packet of seeds of are flowering, poppies first!
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I have been trying my hardest to keep up the sucessional sowing this year so I have just been and sowed a new row of mixed lettuce, a row of radish and planted up a 2m2 area with dwarf french beans. I figured if they are too late in then they make a good green manure!! Picked 8 courgette and a bag full of mixed salad for tea :)
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29 July 2015
Put up my anti-squirrel, corn protection, debris netting and stake "cage".... Will it be enough?
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Picked up the onions which were supposed to be drying on the bed and put them on racks in the tunnel out of the rain. Cut off the roots and stalks from the ones already drying nicely in there.
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slug pelleted everything with all this rain little blighters will be getting the munchies :unsure:
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Spent a couple of hours down at the plot this afternoon. Hoed all the bed's, pulled approx 40 onion's and picked nearly 3lb of Blackcurrents, which have all been prepared to go into a crumble later.
Also met some new people who have taken over plots either side of me. The first time in about 6 months I have been down at the plot with someone to talk with.
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Watered the polytunnel & tied in the tomatoes. Gave up with red baron onions so lifted them and put into compost (mildew!) weeded and prepped the bed for my brussel sprouts. I'll plant them tomorrow when the OH goes back to work :). Lifted a few potatoes for tonights dinner, found a courgette that was ready and picked some rasps for pudding but the wee one scoffed them while I worked!!
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A quick half hour this evening, got a teen to water whilst I chucked in my planting of french beans and some mange tout on an off chance (or maybe green manure.....). Pumpkins going mad with loads of fruit, my raspberries doing well, but yet another daughter told me she 'liked the backgarden ones much better' (tayberry)as she was picking so that's decided that, up they will all come this autumn.
Got my first yellow courgette, and another cue and picked some fab french beans I'd not spotted (and nor had the slugs!).
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Cleaned up the strawberries (cut down completely). Dug up early potatoes and planted leeks and fennel in its place. Weeded the brassica patch. Ready to go away for holiday.
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Pulled pallets apart for raised bed timber and a good pile of firewood to go with it. Not bad for free!
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Another quick half hour to plant in some (Homebase) PSB plugs as my seedlings have turned out to be pointed cabbages.... :D which am quite excited about as have never (knowingly) grown a decent cabbage before.
Cut some courgettes and a cue, picked beets and beans. Chucked woodash from the massive bonfire of practice exam papers my teens got shot of (one week to A level results! eek) around.
Really chuffed with my teeny tiny toms (thanks Candalot & seed circle) for 100 & 1000 seeds and my first decent Gardeners Delights.
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Weeding, weeding, much weeding!! ::)
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Watered the celery and blue berries, had a word with the toms about the tardy lack of haste in ripening, taste tested couple of rasps, sat in the sun watching a blooming small white playing eenie meenie miney mo with my cabbages, at lest with the large white you stand a chance of spotting eggs >:(
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Good couple of hours weeding in the first proper sun of the year, earthed up spuds and was entertained by a robin after grubs and worms.
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Yesterday - weeded and prepared the bed where the onions had been and finally planted out the PSB. Just need to get the leeks in now that we've cleared lots of the potatoes - then the winter veg will all be in the ground.
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Yesterday we cleared the finished peas and broad beans, then weeded the bed they were in and had a bonfire.
We harvested runner beans, blackberries, carrots, tomatoes and cucumbers.
Noticed the cauliflowers were ready for harvesting so I'll get one for dinner tomorrow, I harvested a nice Stonehead cabbage for our homemade coleslaw for tonight's BBQ with friends!
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Cleared out the last of the summer brassica bed that had unfortunately blown and then flowered before I got to eat them. Planted out the winter brassicas - 2 types of cabbage, cauli and psb. I am going to try really hard to get the plot more productive all year round. Also had to pull up all my tomato plants that were weighed down with fruit as blight got the lot since I last went down 3 days ago :( lost hundreds of fruits am gutted
I did harvest a cauli, courgettes, runner beans and a cabbage at least
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So sorry to read that - that's a horrible thing to see when you visit. :(
I've been digging this morning. Going back up in a bit for some more and to do a bit of harvesting: chicory leaves, chard, kale, tomatoes, aubergines, cucumbers, beans, fennel fronds (the bulb has bolted) and possibly a very small squash.
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Spent all day there yesterday finishing off plot three,our hopes have come to fruition.
To fill you in further we had two plots, numbers 4 and 7 which was a pain due to the distance apart, we could spend hours there and not speak to each other!
Next to plot 4 is plot three which was badly overgrown and we had our eye on that, however the rent was fully paid on it. As it looked so bad we asked if the committee could ask the plot holder to get the weeds under control to stop air bound spread and guess what , he gave it back--Result or what!
We have now been given this plot on the proviso we give back plot 7 which suits us fine
Last weekend we strummed and cleared the plot, yesterday we finished digging it over and sorted out the timber edging.
Winter cabbage will be planted next weekend
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Well today I was up and out by 8am, after a quick walk the local boot fair it was 8.40 before I got to my plot, dug over the potato bed from where the vegetation long since vanished and harvested my 3 salad potatos (from 2 rows), weeded the rest of the plot, getting a few carrots for my troubles. I also managed to weed the one pea plant that had pods on it, so about 5 mange tout for the pot, the good news was the french beans are doing well.
managed to clear some more of the new half of the plot, ready to be rotovated next time. by 11 am it was up to 28 degrees, so I headed for home, having only seen one other brave soul at the plot.
Grendel
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Popped to the plot to get a cauliflower for dinner with the inlaws tonight, should do ok with the cheese sauce ;)
Aviron F1
(http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh550/silhouette1265/Allotment/4AC479BD-3254-4F98-BE49-6138860718A2_zpsb8nxzdul.jpg)
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Wow, what a cauli! 8). Today I dug over the part of the spud bed which has been harvested and planted out the leeks. No time to make space for more so gave some leek seedlings to a plot neighbour and left the last 8 calabrese plants by the trading hut for someone else to use them :)
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Weeding, strimming and more weeding.
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Exactly the same as Eblana above. Oh and I almost forgot, I started to dig over a new piece of ground as an expansion of the plot.
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Finished clearing a space fir a polytunnel. Pic too large to attach!
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Replaced the shed roof which took a bit longer than expected so no time to do anything else today. Will get round to more weeding and clearing later in the week hopefully
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Feeling very pleased with self, cleaned greenhouse plastic inside and out all shiny in the sun now, planted a few more autumn king carrots, watered celery, ha a coffee or two :tongue2:
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Popped up with the kids to harvest some stuff after 11 days away on holiday to find everything still clinging on without being watered!! Popping back on my own in a few hours to soak it all!! Good veg harvest though 😀
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Popped to the plot to get a cauliflower for dinner with the inlaws tonight, should do ok with the cheese sauce ;)
Aviron F1
(http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh550/silhouette1265/Allotment/4AC479BD-3254-4F98-BE49-6138860718A2_zpsb8nxzdul.jpg)
Showoff. ;) ;)
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Just joking Elm street, that's a fantastic Cauli, can't get mine like that, nice one.
I have just had a couple of hours down at the plot. Didn't do that much really as it's not looking that bad at the moment. Did a bit of hoeing, weeding, strimming and a bit more digging on the part of the plot I am expanding into, approx 10ft square.
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No offence taken mugs :lol:
First time growing them as well, I'm really pleased with the variety and we have had another since Sunday about the same size (5 1/2Lb).
They are all arriving at the same time though as there are other two just about ready to harvest and four more that will be ready next week!! Another freezer required I think :D
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Only harvested beetroot, lettuce and blackberries but off the plot I have just bought a 6m x 3m poly tunnel so the work to clear the ground starts soon!!! 😀
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I haven't been on the forum for a few weeks, due to spending any spare time on the plot or in the kitchen jamming.
Over the last couple of weeks I've dug up a lot of new potatos. cut all the spud foliage down apart from the sarpo Mira, the rest were dying and looking unwell - I didn't want my plot neighbors thinking I had blight.
All my allotment tomato's got the same problem as last year (looks like a gnome had strangled the stems) so the green toms are in the fridge.
Picked carrier bags of runner and French beans, made some bean chutney using the recipe on the forum.
Admired the sweetcorn (fingers crossed I get to eat some this year) gave these a tomato plant feed
checked on the squashes and was surprised to find quite a nice crop under the leaves. fed these some chicken manure.
All my onions died at the end of June and the satsuma sized bulbs are in the shed with the small shallots. This bed really needed some organic matter for better nutrients and water retention!
Sowed 2 rows of beetroot where the onions were.
Sowed a row of Florence fennel.
covered over a section of the plot that had peas and potatos in - I just don't have time to do anything with this area at the moment! such a waste!
Hoed the paths and around the herbs on 1 half of the plot will do the other half next week.
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Pruned the plum trees, cut out the old raspberry canes, planted a green and a red gooseberry plant that I picked up for £1.89 each and picked chillis, runner beans and French beans
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Harvested beans and filled the car with ash branches to log up.
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Down to the plot this morning for a few hours, planted the leeks in the old pea/broad bean bed then pruned the raspberries and tied this years canes into the wires. Harvested runner beans, cobra beans, blackberries, plums, tomatoes, chillies, peppers, cucumbers, cabbage and cauliflower phew!
Got home to find my new 5 in 1 strimmer/hedge cutter thingy had arrived so it was off to the DIY store for two stroke oil and chain saw oil ready for the next plot visit
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A quick 2 hours at the plot this morning, paths strimmed, and unplanted ground rotovated, this is extending a good 1/4 of the way into the new half plot now, the soil is good, once to top surface of weeds has been removed, the rotovator sinks easily to its full depth in the soil.
Grendel
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Not on the plot but onions from it have made several jars of caramelised red onion chutney today.
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More of what I have been doing recently.
The Photos;
'Some of the New Fruit Trees' We already had 4 trees 2/3 years old, but, being gluttons for punishment we have added 15 new whips this year.
'The Woodpile' This an adaptation of something I saw at the Alternative Technology Centre some years ago. There are 4 piles and each generates about a cubic yard of compost after 4/5 years. They are also a winter refuge for hedgehogs, toads etc.
'The Compost Process' The newest is nearest which is being moved at the moment. Under the old red carpet is what is being used at the moment which is a mix of the new, the old pile beyond, finished compost from the green bins and some from the woodpile. One of the green bins is being filled and the other is finishing. On the right the large stock tunnel used to have up to about 60 fattening pigs so the ground is pretty rich, but very shaded by the surrounding trees so it is difficult to find anything to take advantage of it.
'The Veggie patch' with weeds I see. Speaks for itself really. This was where the goat stock tunnel was so this ground is quite good too.
Malcolm
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I saw the weather forecast for today so I popped up last night and gave everything a good feed of chicken manure pellets. Hopefully the rain is washing it all in now!! I tied in all my raspberry canes too. A very productive hour :D
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I tied in all my raspberry canes too.
I've just come back from doing the same to my tayberry and loganberry. A satisfying job and they look all neat now with the old canes pruned out and the new ones gathered in from everywhere they were wandering to.
The plot robin was most interested and sat on one of the posts watching throughout. I guess that me crashing around in the undergrowth was disturbing all sorts of goodies for him :D
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Just had four hours down at the plot, the new brush cutter, hedge trimmer and pruning saw have all been tested and work brilliantly!
Trimmed the hedge and topped it off so it is now only 5 foot high instead of 10 foot 😀 that should reduce the shadow on the end of the plot.
Also did the plot neighbours hedge as he hasn't touched it in 18 months and brush cuttered his second plot (he has both plots either side of ours!) because the weeds were taller than me!! I'm 6'2" 😦
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Been away for 2 weeks so didn't know what to expect today!
Strawberry bed full of weeds so started pulling biggest but will save that bed for another visit!
Dug up a few charlotte potato plants and the potatoes are enormous. Three more plants left then kestrel are next to dig up. Loads of broad beans now ready so picked lots of them.
Sugar snap peas are covered with pods now so picked lots of them too. Iceberg lettuce have now turned to mush so dug them up and weeded and dug over area.
Can't believe how quickly squash and courgettes have spread and picked four yellow courgettes.
Have lots of beetroot, turnip, radish, spinach and chard ready but rain stopped me picking them!
Plot has turned from lots of bare soil so totally green in 2 weeks!
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Had my shed delivered to the plot this evening. Just need to get the ground prepared for the base then put it up!!
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Don't seem to be doing much in the past week apart from drinking a mug of coffee and watching the wildlife weather is sun and showers noticed today must do some weeding, I am stuck till the maincrop pots die back, so I can plant up cabbages and all year round caulis plants
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Netted the sweetcorn against the birds who got more than their fair share last yr.
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I was up at the plot yesterday for the first time in a week and wow how things have changed. At long last everything is looking really lush. The main crop spuds are looking great and starting to flower, this is the first year that I have gotten this far without blight getting them so hopefully I will get a good crop. I harvested a Cauliflower, a head of broccoli, some peas, two large beetroots, lettuce and from the Polytunnel I finally harvested my first Tomaoes yipee! and I also got 6 cucs and 4 lovely gherkins.
On the flower front my sweet pea have started going great guns (only 2 months later than normal!). The Dahlias have also started flowering.
I am going to spend most of the day tomorrow up there weeding and tidying up the polytunnel as it was too hot to do anything yesterday.
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Sweated in the sun digging out nettle and bramble roots trying to prepare the patch of ground my shed is going on. Next job is levelling it and laying slabs then I can get it erected next weekend. I also cleared loads of weeds and harvested everything that looked ready!! 😀
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Harvested a Cabbage (for coleslaw), courgettes, little Gem Rolet squash, sweet peppers, chillies and tomatoes.
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As I am afternoons for the next 2 weeks (2pm-11pm) I will be doing at least an hour a day in the morning before work. So this morning I popped down and finished digging over my new 10ft x 10ft section of my plot. This will give me an expansion for next year. I will keep digging it and weeding it because I will probably put my Onion sets in it in a couple of months.
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Very productive few hours at plot ;)
Pulled up cauli that were terrible and only a few edible. Weeded and dug over area. Don't think will grow many next year as they are never very successful.
Used debris netting from them to cover cabbages that were given to me.
Trimmed grassy edges.
Attempted to pull weeds up from path but need to pull up weed fabric and renew on another visit.
Picked french beans, sugar snap peas, spinach and yellow courgettes. Large turnip eaten by slugs so on compost :(
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Yesterday I popped down and hoed the surprisingly large week old weeds! The ground was surprisingly sticky again.
Sowed a few very late french beans, my french and runner beans seem to have stopped already!!
Thinned and replanted my beetroot seedlings, sowed a few more as the germination of the last sowing was so poor.
Sowed some more Swiss chard where the tomato plants used to be.
Pulled up a load of mint, crushed it and put around the sweetcorn apparently mice hate mint!
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picked up 3 compost bins on the way home £5 each. Grendel
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Still in shock from massive slug/snail attack last night. :wacko:The nasty things have been quiet all year but last night for some reason they really struck hard.30 winter density lettuce and 20 'honesty' plants that i transplanted 2 weeks ago all reduced to stalks,total loss.Spinach and spring cabbage badly mauled but might pull through.Didn't touch the french beans though(maybe saving them for tonight).Even picked load's of snail's off my two victoria plum tree's this morning,which I might as well have left there as thanks to all the wind,rain and low temperatures we are experiencing here in North west Nepal ,sorry,Wales have made the crop which is a heavy one,completely useless.All the rain has made the plum's expand so much that they have just split with most of them going mouldy.Why? :(Why? :(.It's only the apples that seem to be doing well without any disease o'r infestation.
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Collected a dozen bags of manure from the local stables and filled up the compost bins on the plot, pulled up a few weeds and enjoyed the sunshine 😀
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Couple of hours down at the plot this afternoon in the glorious sunshine. Dug up one row of spuds, pulled the last of the onions, weeded and did tidy up.
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Picked loads of raspberries, some borlottis (exciting, first time for these) and one sad lonely courgette. The children took lots of photos for the show next week, and hunted for bindweed (competition for the longest root!).
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not going today, I have the wifes hangover from the wedding we went to yesterday (I was driving so had the one sip of champers at the toast). tomorrow I will be taking my new (to me) compost bins down and clearing some more of the new bit of plot and picking beans.
Grendel
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Another couple of hours down at the plot this afternoon in the sunshine. I also got a nasty shock while I was at the plot, my 12yr old daughter came with me and was actually very helpful. I pulled the rest of the beans, while she was digging the area after the beans where pulled up. She did a very good job if I say so myself. While she was digging I also strimmed all the paths and also put the netting over the last of the Brassica cage's.
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Collected a car load of bricks from some nice people giving them away to use as a base for my new shed. Picked tomatoes, French beans and, courgette and my first sweetcorn! Next job is to rope my brother and father-in-law into erecting the shed!!
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Another couple of hours down at the plot this afternoon in the sunshine. I also got a nasty shock while I was at the plot, my 12yr old daughter came with me and was actually very helpful. I pulled the rest of the beans, while she was digging the area after the beans where pulled up. She did a very good job if I say so myself. While she was digging I also strimmed all the paths and also put the netting over the last of the Brassica cage's.
I have to ask, what was the nasty shock? Surely your daughter helping was a pleasant shock? 😊
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Dug up last of my charlotte potatoes and weeded area. Gathered up my red onions that had been drying then dug over that area.
Picked another pile of french beans :lol:
Picked some radish which were enormous so might not taste great.
Chatted to plot neighbour who gave me a bag of tomatoes, mine in the greenhouse still green.
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Dug up the last of the potatoes. Only beetroot and carrots left now.
Cheers
Aled
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OMG THE RAIN! Was going to the plot. Am now trapped in my car waiting for the hail-like monsoon to pass. There wasn't a cloud on the horizon 20 mins ago. At least my flat's wifi reaches the car park below!
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Dug up the last of the potatoes. Ate some mashed yesterday they were lovely!
Cheers
Aled
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Cut haulms off last bed of potatoes, checked pumpkins and squash and started constructing a border to put along edge of 'patio' and 'lawn' in front of shed. A picture would paint a thousand words here but phone internet won't do it.
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Popped down after work on Thursday, admired how everything is growing so fast again with all this rain.
Took some of my winter squashes home to try and encourage a few more to set.
Cleared up a lot of sludgy rhubarb leaves.
Renetted the PSB as it was straining its way out of the old nets, fingers crossed I did a good enough job to keep the birds out.
Hoed the weeds and slugs. sprinkled a few slug pellets where things have been attacked already.
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Something is eating the tops of the sweetcorn, I suspect snails, so I scattered some pellets about, it has been a while since I gave the plot a dose.
Potted up some strawberry runners to sell at the allotment show next week.
I got some brassica plants in the post this morning, so I put them in big pots to fatten them up before they go into the ground.
Very Octoberish weather today, wasn't at all tempted to take off my jacket.
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squeezed a couple of hours in the drizzle on the plot today, strimming and picking. just to get prepared for a big bash on it tomorrow.
The reason for all this activity - a cultivation notice saying it was covered in weeds - this put me in panic mode despite the fact I hade strimmed the paths just 2 weekends back. to be honest when I got there I did wonder what they were going on about - it looked ok ish (see attached picture), a few new weeds but not bad. Anyway 2 1/2 hours of strimming weeding, picking raspberries and beans later just as I was leaving the site manager flagged me down, he apologised most profusely, he had got the plot number wrong and sent the notice to me - not the plot holder of the plot he needed tidying, phew - the relief, still happy with bringing home 2 punnets of raspberries and a half bucket of french beans.
Grendel
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Weeded the PSB bed, hoiked out the dead watermelon plant (watermelon was small but v tasty), added in some kohlrabi seedlings and scattered slug pellets generously. Yesterday's planting of beet seedlings seem to have survived so far. Then sat and had a happy haif hour podding beans for saving and dead-heading the swathes of marigolds, which is fast becoming a favourite job
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I didn't get to the plot today but I spent 6 hours in the garden and it now looks brilliant. I will be up the plot tomorrow to do some weeding and putting supports on the Brussels sprouts and chrysanthemums.
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Got a bed ready with manure, bonemeal and wood ash on top to put garlic, overwintering onions and some shallots in. Watered it well to get the worms going.
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went down again today, moved the pallet seat to the new end of the plot, trimmed the brambles from the fence and did some general tidying.
Grendel
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squeezed a couple of hours in the drizzle on the plot today, strimming and picking. just to get prepared for a big bash on it tomorrow.
The reason for all this activity - a cultivation notice saying it was covered in weeds - this put me in panic mode despite the fact I hade strimmed the paths just 2 weekends back. to be honest when I got there I did wonder what they were going on about - it looked ok ish (see attached picture), a few new weeds but not bad. Anyway 2 1/2 hours of strimming weeding, picking raspberries and beans later just as I was leaving the site manager flagged me down, he apologised most profusely, he had got the plot number wrong and sent the notice to me - not the plot holder of the plot he needed tidying, phew - the relief, still happy with bringing home 2 punnets of raspberries and a half bucket of french beans.
Grendel
You got a warning notice for that, looks really good to me. If you got a warning for that then the people next to me who have plot's had better watch out, compared to you they a disgrace.
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Nothing today as we went shopping for a few things. Yesterday though my youngest daughter and I did a couple of hours in the afternoon. She was happy digging and I was more than happy strimming the paths and giving the plot a general tidy. The leek's I planted last week are looking ok as well. The Beetroot's are almost ready as are the Sweetcorn.
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Wow, what a beautiful day. I just love this time of year. I'm not a skilled gardener and my main skill lies in making nice brown patches, so today has been ideal for me: digging over a quarter of my beds and broadcasting green manure. Covered a few other cleared patches with some cardboard I had cluttering up my shed.
Other than that it's been tidying up the greenhouse, checking pumpkins, picking another load of cucumbers, saying hello to my busy worms in the wormery.
Am much too eager to begin putting things to bed, but have had an incredibly satisfying day. (Though I think I've caught the sun :unsure: )
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Started to tidy up for winter :ohmy: by pulling out the finished first batch of dwarf and climbing French beans and feeding the second batch which are still going strong :). Also pulled out the 3 squash plants (both butternuts and 1 Qld Blue) which have not set any fruit (and then died) plus the 2 Halloween pumpkin plants which have yielded only 1 pumpkin each (and then died) :( and weeded around the remaining Qld Blue plant (1 small fruit) and the courgettes and fed them all in the hope that they may crop a little longer... Much more tidying to be done!
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Weeding! Still got some runner beans, carrots and beetroot left to harvest. Then that's it for the winter.
Cheers
Aled
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Dug up last of charlotte potatoes and a few kestrel and weeded.
Pulled up lots of soggy half eaten turnips and managed 3 whole ones to take home :(
Pulled up a few more beetroot and plenty left.
Picked lots of spinach to get OH to make curry. Potato, spinach, garlic and chilli :)
Path full of weeds so next visit will pull up old weed fabric and renew with fresh and bark chippings too.
Strawberry bed needs really good weeding, need long visit :D
Picked lots of french beans and sugar snap peas. Still lots left before I cut them back.
Picked first cabbage and made coleslaw.
Weeded around generally.
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Sown some green manure in a bed to see how it gets on. Gone for field beans, first time for everything.
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Quick visit to plot today.
Finally some cobs on sweetcorn but need some sunshine if going to have any crop ::)
More time in garden today and greenhouse.
Cut grass, moved herb pots around, quite a few growing at moment, mint, thyme, oregano, parsley, coriander and chives.
Picked last of cucumbers and put plants on bonfire as couple of the plants had mildew. Cucumbers quite small but have had good crop altogether.
Picked some tomatoes which are finally ripening. Moved my excess tomatoes which were outside, into greenhouse so hoping bit of sun and warmth will finally ripen them all.
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Picked a load of odds and ends, including little turnips which didn't, (hooray!!!!), have cabbage root fly in them.
Dug over an area where I've harvested the crop and covered it with plastic ready for the winter.
Still lots of weeding and digging over to do, and the weeds still seem to be growing as quickly as ever.
Took advantage of the lovely autumn day and stopped now and then to have a chat to other 'plotters'.
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Made first bit of border around the 'sitting out' area, and bought flower bulbs to plant in it, tulips, daffs etc for a splash of colour in spring!!
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Weeded, weeded, weeded...
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Show day! Won prizes, helped on the plant stall, got very tired feet.
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Looked at my cucumber's! That's it.
Cheers
Aled
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Picked large cabbage and more beans and peas. They are nearly done so started to pull them up ready to dig over area.
Picked raspberries.
Chopped off more foliage from kestrel potatoes ready to dig up soon.
Next job for plot is dig up potatoes, peas and beans and weed. Need to pull up weed fabric from path and renew also.
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Took bags of home compost ready for next years growing. Picked first corn on the cob, managed to find two of reasonable size, planted 40 , a little bit disappointed . Weeding , pity can't eat them as they seem to do quite well!. Cut back grass verge. Called it a day when heavens opened.
Had cobs for tea, worth the effort.
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Well Yesterday, Sunday, 13 September 2015
But big story of the day is that as I come along to my allotment I have passed an array of what look like the big black boxes musicians use when they are setting up a gig.... "Ah", I think, "maybe they are having a little bit of music to encourage everyone to pass on their spare apples for the cider making". But no, it's GARDENER'S WORLD with Joe Swift doing a piece about cider making ( to be shown on 25th September), who are set up on the allotment just down the path. when I say to Mick that they're making a TV program, his comment is " what do they want to be wasting their time filming on such a messy plot for, you can't see what's what over there!" They do however grow, apples, grapes, hops and a variety of other exotica, but I don't say anything.... and now I know why they were cutting their grass and giving the place a big tidy up on Thursday when I came! I spend the rest of my session there just the other side of the hedge listening to the takes and re-takes. Do feel a bit sorry for the other allotmenteers on plots close by who also help make the various alcoholic drinks but weren't invited to participate.
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Put about 100 senshyu overwintering onion sets in. Planted some snowdrops, crocus, daffodil, tulip bulbs for spring colour and pulled strawberries up as they've had it. And a little bonfire. Pleasant evening after work.
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Dressed onions this evening. Fine harvest!
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Bought 2lb of onion sets plus some winter lettuce and leeks yesterday. Off up to the plot in the morning to put them in.
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Thursday, 17th September
Dug up the maincrop potatoes, Red Rooster - planted on 30 March, fantastic harvest from them. Some of the plants had as many as 20 good sized potatoes, with some quite large!
Also dug up the corn plants on my plot 1 and cleared that bed back to where the 3 Brussels sprouts are, leaving the "tent" over them but not over the corn bed.
Think I will use these 2 beds for onions and garlic over winter.
Then cleared the tomato bed (White Queen) which has been very prolific but sadly very woody centres and now gone to blight. I found them difficult to use though know son T enjoyed the basketful he had. weeded the small bed of carrots just appearing, no sign of the onions coming up in the other small bed, maybe been too dry until the last few days, so perhaps something will happen now.
Picket a dozen or so ripe pears from my tree, very sweet and luscious though some have rotted on the tree. Also picket a punnet of ripe tomatoes from O's greenhouse, nearly the end of these but they have done well once they started to ripen. Tomatillos - lanterns are filling out and getting hard inside so hope they come to something.
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Dug up last of my kestrel and some of them are enormous! Dug up some maris peer too and lots of lovely white potatoes from each plant.
Two rows left to dig up now of desiree. Run out of hessian bags now as crop is much more than expected!
Cut back foliage from last of the potatoes.
In the greenhouse my tomatoes are slowly ripening. Not enough yet for freezing but have an awful lot of tomatoes so hoping for sun for few weeks.
Corn finally has tassels but unless lots of sun, will not be great crop. Last year they were all eaten by something so maybe another try next year ;)
Picked pile of spinach and made spinach and potato soup.
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Weeded the leek bed, harvested some stuff 8) and gave the courgettes and beans a liquid feed in the hope they'll continue producing
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Hip playing up, so I just picked some beans, raspberries and carrots, then spotted as I was leaving they were set up to collect next years rent, so popped home for the cheque book and paid for my whole plot for the year.
Grendel
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chuffed with my day. Dismantled my rotten shed (didnt take much tbh - just blew on it!) And then investigated my compost. For the first time ever, I seem to have managed to get some decent stuff :) Pretty odourless and fine. Really pleased. Have layered it onto my asparagus in the hope they'll be more productive next spring.
Am enjoying feeling I'm preparing the ground (as it were ) for a better season next year.
But have to give many thanks to my parents, who are really helping me to get my enthusiasm back with it all.
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when I got home from the plot I turned the tap to wash my hands and the handle and valve came off in my hand (it was a very old plastic tap), spend most of the rest of the day under the sink fitting a new tap.
Grendel
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Fed the leeks with grow more, prepared a load of wood for edging off a ground height change, tidied shed a bit and took poppy seed heads off ready for sowing next year.
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With the help of my brother I got my shed put up, planted around 100 Spring flowering bulbs for cut flowers and strimmed a mass of brambles down. I am feeling chuffed with my work today
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Built up, levelled, lined and chipped a new path. Took 2 hours.
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Sugar snap peas done now so pulled them up and dug over area. Pulled up some more onions and laid them out to dry. Dug over and weeded again area where cauliflower had been.
Next visit will tackle dwarf french beans as they are also finished and pull up my weed ridden path and get some new weed fabric down.
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It has forecast 5 degrees with isolated frost here so I harvested my crown prince squash and a solitary butternut. This is my first attempt at growing them so I am chuffed 😀
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I hadn't been up in 10 days so I spent yesterday afternoon up the plot and came home laden down with produce :D. Harvested a large supermarket bag of tomatoes, a large bag of French and Runner Beans and a bag of Spinach. The cucs were finished so I harvested the last of them and removed the plants. The foliage on one of the beds of potatoes had died back so I cut it down in case it was blight that had kill it off. Collected a whole basket of apples and three marrows (courgettes that had mutated). I then spent an hour tiding up the cut flower beds I got two large buckets of Dahlias and a bucket of Glads, chrysanthemum and lilies. Oh and also got a lovely bunch of sweet pea. This is the best year I have had on the allotment by a long shot.
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It has forecast 5 degrees with isolated frost here so I harvested my crown prince squash and a solitary butternut. This is my first attempt at growing them so I am chuffed 😀
They look great😊
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Dug over and weeded the bed where some of the French beans were, and then sowed crimson clover green manure.
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I went and admired my wonderful crop of brussel sprouts and dreamt about having them on my plate on Christmas day. I did some weeding and wandering around, planning what to plant where and how to rotate the crops for next year. The squirrels have had all my strawberries this year and something (or more likely someone) has neatly removed every single one of my cauliflowers and broccoli heads! They were netted and covered in raised beds but the net has been pulled back, veg cut away and the netting replaced! There's no sign of any tunneling or holes in the net so I am stumped as to what took all my crops. Next year, I shall put up a tent on my plot and camp out all night with a torch and a big stick.....
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I popped to the plot at lunch time today inbetween the torrential rain.
Admired the weeds, they grow so fast
Picked chillies, cucumbers, mint, french beans and a few small sweetcorn cobs.
Also took some of the browning runner bean seed pods home.
At home noticed some of my toms have started to split already with yesterday's rain so picked what has a little colour on.
Feeling like the seasons coming to a close
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Haven't managed to get to plot for a week between work and rain ::)
Had very productive three hours in the lovely sunshine.
Dug up lots of desiree potatoes and weeded area. Some of the crop are enormous. Still some plants left to dig up too and they will def keep us going through til next year :D
Have lots of different cabbage growing at different times so picked a greyhound cabbage.
Found three spaghetti squash and some yellow courgettes.
Autumn raspberries are lovely and good size. Getting carton full each visit.
Have never managed to grow broccoli before and picked 3 lovely heads of broccoli and really pleased.
Sweetcorn seems to have caught up with everyone else's and ends of tassles are going brown.
As others have said, I have never managed to grow as much as I have this year and I love the endless supply of produce I have :)
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Planted garlic. 5 different varieties from saved stock. One to go. Interestingly the most plump were from ones I bought from a supermarket in France in 2014 so I will be planting some extra rows of those.
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Dug up the last of the main crop potatoes. Setanta and Sipiro Mira - huge potatoes will be growing more of these next year. A bit of slug damage on them but on the whole they were great. Harvested two large bags of tomatoes will have to clear another shelf in the freezer! Got three lovely heads of cabbage and loads of purple Mangtouts (I had sown these late with the view that if needs be they could be green manure but I am getting a great crop off them).
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Cleared and mushroom composted 2 beds. Had help as well - so got 2 compost bins cleared out. Need to prune fruit bushes and final strim before winter. Another couple of beds to put to sleep as well...
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Back off jollies so weeding, bit of watering, tended leeks and a small bonfire this evening.
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Pulled up all the butternut squash tendrils, plus the pumpkins and courgettes etc,
Strimmed the long grass now exposed from the squashes, nice and dry after a bit of sun
Pulled up the last few tomato plants, piled up the supports, water bottles etc
Pruned half the raspberry bed, tied in this year's shoots
Trimmed blackcurrant and took some hardwood cuttings
Picked the first sprouts, cooked and ate them!
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Finally cleaned out neglected corners of the garden yesterday.... and am starting to finally see the benefits of this Back to Eden gardening method after adding wood chips to my garden this spring. I didn't get the best of gardens from doing it this spring but now I'm seeing the potential and what my garden can be next year.
My soil used to be like this. This is earlier this spring, after tilling the garden space 5 times, then had a rainfall...this is typical of our soil, hard pan clay that compacts at the first rainfall after tilling. I had to put my full weight on the fork to get even this deep into the hard clay.
(http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/3/3d/900x900px-LL-3dae866d_100_3153.jpeg)
After a spring and summer under the wood chips, my soil now looks like this....
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/18024013/width/900/height/900/flags/LL)
The weeds I allowed to grow in the areas where the wood chips were too thinly spread still came out of the soil like a knife out of butter, easy to pull and had this loamy, rich compost attached to the shallow roots...
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/18023979/width/900/height/900/flags/LL)
I had one corner and a few other spots where the grasses had taken over pretty badly but they pulled up so easy that I was grinning like a possum all day long....funnest time I've ever had pulling weeds!
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/18023970/width/900/height/900/flags/LL)
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/18023962/width/900/height/900/flags/LL)
I took 3 wheelbarrows like this out of the garden...
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/18024068/width/900/height/900/flags/LL)
...put them in the coop....
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/18024075/width/900/height/900/flags/LL)
...and took two wheelbarrows of composted chicken litter out of the coop and returned that to the garden.
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/18024100/width/900/height/900/flags/LL)
Put deeper wood chips on that~now cleaned out~corner...
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/18024108/width/900/height/900/flags/LL)
...left the flowers and some plants still producing....
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/18024028/width/900/height/900/flags/LL)
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/18023999/width/900/height/900/flags/LL)
...and left the garden, thanking God for leading me to this Back to Eden method and making plans for winter greens, and anticipating next spring's garden!
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Nipped down in lunch break, for a look round, red admirals on the marigolds, lovely sunshine, nipped down after work to give the late veg a little water before dusk.
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Dug up last of my desiree pots and have had a great crop, lots of lovely big clean pots. Minimal scab and not much slug damage.
Picked a couple of squash. Will dig up foliage next visit as all done now.
Pulled up some small beetroot and my first swede.
Have a large area of plot all dug over and weed free for next year.
Sweetcorn tassles starting to turn brown so need more sun!
Last year at this time, only really has sprouts growing.
This year, still lots of things growing, broccoli, lots of varieties of cabbage beetroot, swede, chard, spinach and khol rabi.
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Over the last couple of days I have dug over and weeded 3 patches of ground including taking down the last French bean wigwam. I planted some Spring Duchy cabbages in one patch, sowed some green manure in another and left the third bare because it is so weed infested that it needs at least another forking over before spring to get rid of some more mares tail, bindweed and couch >:(. Very happy with my Autumn clearing process so far - the dry weather has certainly helped.
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I dug up the last row of spuds whilst toh harvested courgettes, toms, cucs, apples and the last of the squash!
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I mowed both plots, mulched the flower beds, dug up all of the squash, courgette and tomato plants and composted them all, planted a row of garlic and fixed the shed. The plot looks nice and tidy now :)
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Good bonfire before the forecasted rain soaks the wood.
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Extended one raised bed, laid the cardboard, straw, compost etc and repaired/re-set the supports on another bed.
Pulled up all the frosted bits of crops left, chucked them onto the compost.
Picked the last few (small and manky) figs but gave them to my neighbour as I've enough fig jam to open a fig jam shop.
Wrung hands in despair as not allowed to have a bonfire anymore. ever. in our neck of French woods
Picked some dried sticks off the bonfire to put in the kindling store.
Picked off some more sticks for supports and put them into the shed
Surveyed what was left of the bonfire and will do more kindling sticks when wood is dry
Picked some sprouts for tea - yummy.
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Extended one raised bed, laid the cardboard, straw, compost etc and repaired/re-set the supports on another bed.
Pulled up all the frosted bits of crops left, chucked them onto the compost.
Picked the last few (small and manky) figs but gave them to my neighbour as I've enough fig jam to open a fig jam shop.
Wrung hands in despair as not allowed to have a bonfire anymore. ever. in our neck of French woods
Picked some dried sticks off the bonfire to put in the kindling store.
Picked off some more sticks for supports and put them into the shed
Surveyed what was left of the bonfire and will do more kindling sticks when wood is dry
Picked some sprouts for tea - yummy.
Is the bonfire rule because of the bush fires? Could you build an outside contained fire pit type thing,sure they're must be loads of tinternet, our son made a chimnea thing out of an old calor gas bottle,with a chimney, could you have a bigger one for your burn able rubbish?
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Pulled up all foliage from squash and pumpkins and dug over area.
Put fresh weed membrane on path covered in weeds!
Next visit will put bark chippings down.
Picked a cabbage, some broccoli and couple of courgettes. Think courgette are almost done now.
Need to prune back blackcurrants and decide what to do with them as blackberries,raspberries and jostaberry all growing in them too. Might dig them up and move two of them.Have 4 bushes and only half plot so 2 is enough.
Plot looking tidy and almost ready for winter.
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Hi all,
Busy at the plot today - one of my beds was covered in horse manure with a layer of grass cuttings over it and then three bags of cheap compost (3 for £10 from B&M) so today have covered all this with a layer of home made compost and then a nice grass-green tarpaulin (looks quite tidy) and compliments the White mustard in the adjacent bed. That's another put to sleep for the winter!
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Been moving wood chips from piles outside the garden to be spread out inside the garden. Many trips, still not done. Trying to get the garden put to bed under a warm blanket before snow flies.
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Took down the runner bean frame and the sweet peas. Lots of big fat pods to shell and freeze.
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Picked the last of the chillies. I am really pleased with this year's crop :).
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Extended one raised bed, laid the cardboard, straw, compost etc and repaired/re-set the supports on another bed.
Pulled up all the frosted bits of crops left, chucked them onto the compost.
Picked the last few (small and manky) figs but gave them to my neighbour as I've enough fig jam to open a fig jam shop.
Wrung hands in despair as not allowed to have a bonfire anymore. ever. in our neck of French woods
Picked some dried sticks off the bonfire to put in the kindling store.
Picked off some more sticks for supports and put them into the shed
Surveyed what was left of the bonfire and will do more kindling sticks when wood is dry
Picked some sprouts for tea - yummy.
Is the bonfire rule because of the bush fires? Could you build an outside contained fire pit type thing,sure they're must be loads of tinternet, our son made a chimnea thing out of an old calor gas bottle,with a chimney, could you have a bigger one for your burn able rubbish?
Sorry Snowdrops, only just seen your posting.
The total ban (it was only just a summer ban prior to this) is SUCH a pain in the neck. We live in a forested area, and there are always trimmings etc to get rid of, sometimes not always wanted for the stove ie laurel leaves, and for our elderly neighbours it is very difficult as not everyone has a car/trailer/van to take them to the commune dump.
The ban seems to be just new red tape - I can't remember reading about any particular problem, and it isn't a country-wide ban, just our department. The summer ban was quite OK, everyone understood as it can get very dry and hot here - we just waited for autumn and burnt stuff then. registered farmers can apply for a bonfire, fill in forms, etc - daft! Just red tape gone potty.
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Yesterday moved slabs to the plot that neighbour & a friend had given me,then while hubby made another lovely path I finished weeding the leeks & took the beans down,boy did it take some separating the string from the plants
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Didn't go to the plot but I ordered 10 apple trees so I can get my cider production started!! 😀🍺🍺
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Today I have mostly been digging Jerusalem artichokes and bind weed out of the raspberry bed :(
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Planted out 10 Apple trees 😀 just need to pop down again this week and mulch around the planting areas.
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Weeding
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Weeding, weeding & more weeding! Still cropping tomatoes and dug up the last of the spuds, covered dug over areas with plastic sheet and cleared debris from under Brussels sprouts.
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Closed things down on Sunday. Harvested the last of the veg (beetroot, tomatoes, & Cucumber). Took down my plastic growing tent, cleaned up all the growing trugs and pots, dug the garden over, put fertilizer on, some soil conditioner, and some lime on one half. Also found half a dozen lovely potatoes, nice bonus! So no more growing now until the spring.
Cheers
Aled
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Popped down in my lunch and managed to finish tying in the raspberry canes and plant out some spring flower bulbs.
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Hauled 13 big bags of leaves and lawn clippings from town yesterday and placed on the garden. Planted potatoes and mounded up materials on top the rows, will follow up with wood chips. Also brought home 12 large pumpkins and 4 large watermelons from a farmer's market...they were overripe and headin' south, so they let me have them for free. I'll feed them to the chickens...will save seed on two of the pumpkin varieties and plant them next spring.
Today I went back to town and collected over 50 huge bags of leaves, chopped leaves, and grass clippings. Hope to do that again throughout leaf season...it's nearly over! Some will be stored for coop bedding, most will be deposited on the garden.
Also borrowed a lawn sweeper from my brother so as to sweep up all of our leaves as well....we have a plenty!
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Beeskissed did I read that right,you planted your potatoes? To grow for next year? Can you give a bit more than explanation please?
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Did a big prune on our neglected and very large fig tree - found six low branches which had sprouted roots so have potted up for swapsies with friends, plus a couple of very weedy elderberries, so chopped them down.
Chipped the above - got a good wheelbarrowful of chips to go onto compost.
Dug another bit of the plot to leave in rough for the weather to break down - just got so put some manure on.
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Cleared around rhubarb and weeded.
Picked couple of swede and a cabbage.
Picked all of the rest of corn cobs but most are not really edible, very dry looking kernels but might be able to salvage some.
Next visit will pull up stalks and dig over and weed area.
Pulled up courgette plants.
Bit of hoeing to keep small sprinkling of weeds at bay.
New path that I made last visit just needs bark laying. Was hoping for a delivery at the plot to use as this happened last year but looks like will have to buy some!
Plot is mostly ready for the winter.
Still got various cabbages growing, broccoli, sprouts, spinach, chard, swede and beetroot. So much more than last year
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Planted another row of taters and added more grass clippings, chopped leaves and regular leaves to the garden today. Tomorrow I'll be hauling even more in to deposit there. Also added more wood chips today. Slowly but surely building some soil.
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What I did in the garden today? Emptied 165 bags of leaves on it, collected from folks living in the nearest town...
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/18179813/width/700/height/700/flags/LL)
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/18179816/width/700/height/700/flags/LL)
Still have some area yet to cover with leaves, but will be collecting again this week and next week...will use some, will store some for winter coop bedding and will store some for later use on the garden.
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/18179814/width/700/height/700/flags/LL)
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Another coat of preservative on my new raised bed which a fellow allotment holder has built for me. Weeding on my hands and knees as forgot my hoe! Planted some alium bulbs. Chatted! And bought 10 bags of well rotted manure. Result :D
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Need to start the leaf mould pile, plenty to be harvested from the lawn. Compost bin needs to be emptied over the plot but this rain isn't helping! Put some wood ash on the plot this morning, plenty more of that this winter!
Cheers
Aled
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Collected another 69 bags of leaves today, for a total of 250. Will be spreading them tomorrow if the weather holds.
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Had all sorts of plans yesterday but multiple rain and hail :ohmy: showers meant that I only managed to sow some broad beans.
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Pumped water out of my pond to stop it overflowing and undermining the foundations!
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finally got to the plot this morning, just to pull some carrots and pick the last beans, its been 5 weeks since I managed to put both buttock muscles into spasm, this is the first weekend I have been able to walk far enough to get to the plot, for the first 2 weeks I was on heavy pain killers, only managing work because I was sat all day and had a heat pad to relax the muscles.
Grendel
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Weather is not helping! Started the leaf pile off, and spread some more wood ash on the pile.
Cheers
Aled
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Pruned apple trees and built pens around them for a leaf depository...then put in a foot of leaves. Didn't have enough stakes and netting to do them all so did every other one. Will do more fine pruning later.
Will be spreading the leaves out on the garden a little more evenly today and will place some on the perennial flower beds. Today it's all about the leaves.
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Well I made it to the plot again, general clearing of the decks so I can get the ground rotovated next time I go there.
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HELP!!
Am I too late to plant green manure on my plot?? It says autumn on the pack .. but December???
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I've got a load of ash to put on the veg patch!
Cheers
Aled
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HELP!!
Am I too late to plant green manure on my plot?? It says autumn on the pack .. but December???
.
Was given a large bag of green manure seed last year, sowed it where I was going to plant potatoes this year!
It grew quickly, though most of it looked like wheat!
When I came to dig it in the soil was like porridge and would not break down, so much for improving and protecting the soil, never again!
Have been on the allotment today, every thing is spic and span, could start planting if it were spring time, never have had the soil turned over this early .
All the soil is in perfect condition, in spite of the green manure usage!
There is no substitute for hard work, all these wonder ideas are just that ideas!
Cheers!
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Spread more wood ash on the plot.
Cheers
Aled
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Went yesterday to pick a few swede and very pleased to see everything ok.
Not been for about 7 weeks because of weather and work :(
Planning on going in the morning as huge pile of pine chippings there. Put weed fabric down on last visit for paths and need the chippings to cover it.
Hoping to get there before they are gone if go tom ;)
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Deserted and very soggy allotment!
Covered paths with pine chippings and dug up some turnips and some beetroot which I expected to have to throw on compost. Quite a few small beetroot and a big one all completely unnibbled ;)
Pruned raspberries too.
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Bored with all things yuletide, so just spent two hours digging on plot and spread a bit of rabbit/straw droppings - feel great now, except for the back :nowink:
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Went to the plot for a few hours. It is very flooded so couldn't do much. The bed with the Glads and lilies in it was under a couple of inches of water so I dug the bulbs/corms out and put them in the PT to dry out. I will go up again in a couple of days and pot them up in large pots to keep them safe until the bed dries out.
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First time down the plot in anger in about 8 weeks. Managed to get the onion bed weeded along with the raspberries and leeks and had a general tidy round. I have loads of ground to dig over so the heavy work starts on my next trip there!!
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an hour and a half on the plot, strimming the paths, I had just got to the point I was going to trim back the raspberry canes, when it tipped it down. by the time I had walked back to the car I was soaked, just as I got in the car the rain stopped again, but I was soaked by then.
Grendel
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First blue sky I've seen in months when I haven't been working. Unfortunately I'm in Cornwall for New Year so 200 miles from my plot. :(
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Thread now locked see you on the new year's thread.