The 'What I Did Today' Archive - 2007

[Flummery]

Yesterday - Pickled beetroot in balsamic and red wine vinegar (mixed) Added whole cloves and a few home-grown chillies at the vinegar boiling stage. Boiled some young beetroot leaves as a veg - wonderful! Worth growing for that.
Sowed a dozen broadies (the sutton) in modules in the greenhouse. Will plant out when growing strongly (or the pigeon population will be rejoicing!)

[wellie]

Today, I put down my knitting (which is going rather well actually?!) and ventured into The Potager with Trousers. Between us, we did a late harvest of shed-loads of anything that was going to be spoiled by a frost: tomatoes, peppers, chillies and cucumbers, borlotti beans, sugarsnap peas, pattypan squash and calabrese.
I can feel a risotto coming on for tomorrow night's supper...

[Flummery]

Planted 2 step-over apple trees between the seating area and the veg plot - I know they don't get huge crops but we don't need apples coming out of our ears. Nicely utilises a bit of spare space. Mr F enjoyed putting in stakes and stringing wire and knocking in staples. He's very useful!

[Hazel at the Hill]

Went to the Hill to see what 'going away for two weeks' looks like, and discovered that it closely resembles chickweed.

Did cut a cabbage for tea, picked all the barlotti beans from the wigwam and all the first lot of the black turtle bean plants. Will stick them up to 'air' for a bit before shelling.

Also pulled a couple of carrots for tea and am delighted to report 4 small courgettes on the two plants. Thats a massive total of 6 altogether.

[seasprout]

Today.

Dug compost heap number 1 into smallest veg plot. Soil is now 3ft above surrounding ground.

[SarzWix]

Did about half an hour digging on the lottie, then came home and planted tulip, daffodil and crocus bulbs in the new cut flower border with my daughter. Then put violas into gaps in other borders, cut back the roses and weeded. Did some washing.

[Snadger]

Spent most of the day climbing up and down ladders trying to stick on water repellant tape over the glazing bars on the roof of my main greenhouse. Ran out of tape in the end. One of the support beams was rotten so I screwed a brace to it which will hopefully see me through til Spring!
We had the weigh in for the pumpkin show at the lottie with mine being joint 3rd! Heaviest was 42lb and mine was half it's weight at 21lb

Came home with carrier bags full of carrots,red and white ham onions, big onions, calabrese, shallots and sweet red peppers!

Had about six cuppas throughout the day until I knocked the coffee jar over and broke it on the greenhouse floor! Bugger!

[shirlthegirl43]

Got the extension reel run up to the greenhouse and switched on the heater tonight. Cut the tops off my Edzell Blue (or t'other way round) spuds as they were BLIGHTED - what is it with me and spuds this year?!!?

What is the difference between an onion and a ham onion please?

[Snadger]

What is the difference between an onion and a ham onion please?

I'll PM you Shirl...to save boring everybody!

[sewer rat]

Today, I visited McLeod Organics who held an open day. They are prob the biggest organic suppliers and veg box company in the Highlands. Anyway, Donnie McLeod and his staff went out of their way to be helpful to me in terms of advice and encouragement, and to cap it all, I think I have managed to negotiate the acquisition of a scarifier, turnip drill (minus boxes) and a cultivator. Well chuffed
Iona got to feed the chooks, collect, grade and stamp 6 organic eggs and then to show off she correctly identfied 75% of the seeds in the "Guess the seed" competition - beating several local farmers !! She was well chuffed .

[pigletwillie]

It was out with the butter beans as they have all been harvested now, the canes stowed and the bed dug over and covered with 4" of very well rotted manure.

A few dahlias were moved on plot 2 to allow the building of another raised bed and my watering system, to allow a short hose to be "pluged in" at several locations on plot 2, was started.

Finally, a quick harvest and then home.

[Winged one]

Went to the plot yesterday for about an hour, with OH and the toddler. Weeded the brassica bed (where cabbages look good and strong but brocolli and caulis not as strong yet, but all growing which is the important bit). Also weeded our carrots (there's about 6 growing, might grow enough to harvest for Christmas dinner) and french beans (a few flowers are in evidence).

Planted 6 redcurrant bushes (bought 2 packs of 3 from Lidl a couple of weeks ago - thought I had 2 not 6 plants so bonus!!). And a few cloves of garlic beside the onions (onions being pulled by birds, and not a lot of garlic available, but will try more in spring).

Looked at the peas (to the extreme interest of the toddler) but decided that it would be better to leave harvest for next week and we might get a dinner's worth from that patch.

Replaced the nets, tidied up, talked to a neighbour (who hadn't been up for months due to the angry bees on the hive a few plots down) and went home to the demolition site (how can I persuade the builders that starting at 1pm and finishing by 5.30 is not a full days work???).

[bubblewrap]

Planted first lot of garlic I will plant some more in about six weeks or so..

[bramble]

Spent a good part of the day double digging a patch for a new strawberry bed for the spring. When i was finished digging i edged it with strips of perspex and raised the level of the soil by about 6 inches so if we have another wet summer it will have a better chance of the water draining away. Covered the lot over with netting to keep the cats out.

[trousers]

up early to take wellie to southampton for her flight to france to spend ten days with the scarys,and house hunt.