[New shoot]

A shared thread of our gardening exploits, so let us all know what you have been up to 

Link to last year’s thread :

https://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=135843.0

[snowdrops]

So far on my first trip to the chickens this year I just walked round the site x 2 to get a bit of exercise, but it is rather sunny out there so I might be back with an update lol

[snowdrops]

 Well I’m back having spent a lovely 3 or 4 hours in the garden. Decided I’d wet & forget the patio as it’s so slippy & slimy. But first it needed clearing & sweeping which was a tad difficult as there was a breeze:unsure:
Also cut down the herb bed- note to self to redo it this year as the marjoram or oregano has taken over, just need to obtain some poor soil & I might dig it all out & start again. Also gave the patio troughs a prune, weed & tidy to save mucking the patio once I’d swept & sprayed. All sprayed & down the entry done too so a bonus.
Then I was still raring to go so I got out the leaf vacuum & did all round the greenhouse & the steps up to it, with the thought that if we get the promised weather the same as today tomorrow I’ll clear the paths around there & the shed & wet & forget that, we’ll see . Then I trundled the wheel barrow of pruning’s & a bag full of chopped leaves to the plot on my afternoon visit to the chicken girls.
What a cracking start to the New Year, might copy & paste this onto my gardening diary too & kick start that off again

[mumofstig]

Got as far as opening the gates and that left me nearly ankle-deep in mud  so shut them again and came home. Be some while before it'll be worth trying again, I think *sigh*

[New shoot]

Got as far as opening the gates and that left me nearly ankle-deep in mud  so shut them again and came home. Be some while before it'll be worth trying again, I think *sigh*

I was thinking of going this weekend, but I fear the same fate *sigh*

[snowdrops]

Oh that’s a shame for you both. We can get on ours but it is very wet so I’m staying off mine apart from pulling weeds for the chickens & a bit of tending in the tunnel.

[Subversive_plot]

I spent some time building a secure fence around the remainder of my back yard plot, similar to the fence I built around raised beds 1, 2, and 3 last year.  It should be complete by March if the weather cooperates.

[Aled]

Put some wood ash over the veg patch, and looked in my compost dalek! Its a start.

[Odders]

Dug another dozen or so bricks out of my new plot this afternoon & discovered there's no more than 3-4" of soil over the top of rough quarry waste on this part too. 
I also stripped the 12" of soil from up the side of the plot where I'm putting a 2' wide paved path & will strip the soil off the quarry waste & use it under the path, at the back of where the polytunnel is going & anywhere else which won't be used to grow stuff.
Then I'll use the stripped soil to partially refill, plus 6 ton of topsoil I have coming from my farmer friend.
Might have 8-10" across the whole plot after that (I'll keep growing carrots, parsnips etc. at home, where I have 2' of good black soil.

[Subversive_plot]

Sounds like you have a job ahead of  you Odders, but yes, it's a start! 

[Subversive_plot]

I've been chitting tomato and biquinho pepper seeds and transplanting them into cardboard "pots" made from kitchen paper rolls.  Most of the seeds have chitted just fine, though Marmande tomatoes are being slow to germinate (or are maybe not viable?).  I'll keep an eye on the Marmande, as I thought my Stupice tomato seeds were not viable (until they all sprouted at once!  )

I also applied some water-soluble fertilizer to my spinach, tatsoi, and lettuce.  We are alternating warm and cold spells, but the plants are growing.

[Odders]

Sounds like you have a job ahead of  you Odders, but yes, it's a start!

After clearing another 10' wide chunk of 4" deep, twitch infested soil this afternoon, I decided to explore the southern end of the plot.
Good news; there's at least a spade's depth of half decent black topsoil with little in the way of twitch. I'll now strip off some of it where I'll be laying the path & use it on the upper part where the polytunnel's to go.

[Subversive_plot]

More work on the garden fence today, and probably more of the same tomorrow. There's a lot of drilling holes to attach some webbing to the fence. After drilling, I need to construct a tricky section of fence that is going around a large yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera).  The fence will need painting before I attach the webbing, that may need to wait a couple weekends for better weather.

[Subversive_plot]

More work on the fence today.

Buried a dead squirrel (not in the garden) that fell out of one of our pine trees. Landed right next to raised bed #5.  Burial better than reeking in the wheelie bin for a week. The critters jump from tree to tree 120 feet off the ground, I'm amazed it doesn't happen more often.

Planted more cilantro and spinach in raised beds # 1 and # 4.  Also planted red tatsoi, bok choi, and Chinese cabbage (Napa type) in #4.

Chitting snap peas and snow peas to replace some killed by our big freeze before the holidays.

Packed up some tomato, pepper, and other seeds to share with my sister in Indianapolis.

[Odders]

Dug holes for three polytunnel anchor plates & tubes & set two of them.
Hard work when you find 20kg chunks of concrete & numerous large pieces of quarry waste a few inches down.
Laser level makes getting these in properly a LOT easier & also showed I've more than enough soil in the middle of the area to bring the rest up to the desired level.
Interesting to see the effect of all this work on my blood pressure: Gone from borderline hypertension to normal in two weeks, which proves that sitting inside on yer bum all day is bad for you.