What I Did Today Archive 2008

[piskieinboots]

accepted that my Christmas new spuds had caught blight from those naughty Toms and got rid

[rutters]

Removed some tomatoes from tunnel, picked last pumpkin. Talked to butternuts to ask them to ripen , please. Picked another 2lb of tomatoes from 'Ferline' outside, a bit green but they'll ripen indoors fine. Probably last of the courgettes too - roasted 'marrow' with lunch. Cut down some more of the leylandii to make way for a fruit cage. Put some tomato seed in to ferment.

How and why do you ferment Tomato seeds?

cheers

[FionaH]

Planted allium bulbs in back garden. Planted skimmia and euphorbia. Rosemary in front bed

[Flummery]

How and why do you ferment Tomato seeds?

cheers

It's not entriely necessary to ferment them, but adds a touch of finess, I think. You do it when saving the seeds. Scoop out the seed pulp and put it in a jar. I like to add a little water too. Leave for about 3 days. This softens and ferments off the goo around the seeds, which is actually a germination inhibitor. Then sieve them under fresh running water and dry off on a plate. This way you will get tomato seeds that resemble the ones you buy.

However, you will get equally good germination by scraping the seeds individually onto paper towel to dry. You will then be able to pick off, or even just snip apart, the individual seeds and sow, paper and all. Your choice. It's well worth saving tomato seeds. I'm even saving a few F1 hybrids and am getting excellent tomatoes from the next generation.

[rutters]

thanks for the info

[alexihen]

Really busy the last two days. Put the plastic on my second polytunnel - well I watched while two others did the work. All raised beds built and now it only remains to finish filling them with compost and manure when it arrives. Hopefully, we'll be able to start the concrete paths in there this week.

We dug round the first polytunnel clearing all weeds and laying down weed suppressant material and tightened the plastic up. The first tunnel has lengths of wood and bags of stones to hold the plastic down. The second tunnel has dug trenches and the plastic has been buried. I know which was the easiest and quickest job. I did worry with the first one that the plastic wouldn't stay in place during the winter, but no problems. However, I bought a rotavator last week, so dug the trench with that which did make it a bit quicker.

We fixed guttering on the chicken shed which we moved last week, in time for the rain due this week. This goes into a water butt on one side and an old bath on the other, which the geese use to freshen up.

I picked about a quarter of the tomatoes still ripening well, five marrows, carrots for supper tonight and strawberries for pudding. Started to fill up the compost bins, made from pallets, after using the made compost to fill the beds in the new pt.

Arrived back at the house to find the delivery lorry with the sand and gravel we're using for the concrete paths. Half an hour of unloading - exhausted now. A really productive day - off for a long soak in the bath.

[pigletwillie]

Some how our asparagus bed is full of self set spinach so I weeded it out and harvested the leaves to make tonights dinner, spinach and mozerella gratin.

More long sweet peppers were harvested along with another melon, some onions and sungold tomatoes.

[Newbie]

Inspired by Womble's post, i sowed in the greenhouse a pot of Crunchy Salad leaves, Broad beans, Spring onions, Onion sets & Garlic cloves. Thats about it really!

[BrideXIII]

new plastic greenhouse arrived courtesy of my sons, got it all put together, taped all the joints, staked it down, and have joined it to my original one, might not look lovely, but I have double the space now.

spent rest of morning filletting and skining 3 giant fresh caught cod, courtesy of the boat fisherman down the road.
I consider it criminal ( and so does he) that due to not having a cod quota, they have to throw all the cod they catch back, despite the fact they are dead having been brought up in the nets. even more sad is the fact that out of 40 odd nieghbours, I am the only one that uses the ones he brings home and is giving away for free, cos noone else can be bothered to fillet them ( he cleans and descales them), and then have the nerve to moan about the price of fish!!

so tonights dinner was delish pan fried cod, with chives and tarragon, steamed charlottes, and fresh runners from the garden, with a side of rocket and mustard salad.

[kwa50]

Picked last of the tomatoes, picked herbs and 2 peppers and 1 cucumber.

Garden looks a mess, have been away for 14 days. Mowed the front lawn and tidied the front garden up - its looks lovely (if I say so myself). I now need to get my act together and attempt the back garden. I have neglected it a bit, and need to do something about the cabbages and brussels (something has had a good old chew while we have been away).

Want to sit down and plan for next year as well.

kwa50
CraftChallenge.co.uk - Home

[squashman]

Dug over a patch of ground I plan to cover with a polytunnel for overwintering, in the rain and the biting wind...oddly enough, it was strangely therapeutic.

Had a look at my poor butternuts, stunted by a terrible summer but somehow soldiering on and still growing, I've restricted the fruits to 2 per plant, you never know if we get a few weeks of weather like today's I may well end up with something resembling a squash.

[squashman]

...and contructed the (makeshift) polytunnel.

It won't win any prizes for style but should do the job

http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/r...anveg/poly.jpg

[BrideXIII]

Finished of taping the two greenhouses together and bodging in some extra shelves. big enough to stand in and have a smoke now

got out the hammer and nails and jigsaw, used 'donated' wood to build a 3x2 raised bed 12 inches deep for the salad stuffs next season, used broken mini-greenhouse frame to build cloche over the top- perfick.

used left over greenhous plastic to cloche the onion and shallots that are overwintering.

rest of frame will be converted into staging.

[A Life Less Simple]

I watered the plants in the polytennel, picked some beans and had a good look at what needs doing tomorrow when it's my day off.

This is a great thread by the way

[wellie]

I logged onto Grow Your Own, checked my online Mail, sent a hug to a Grapevine girlie, and thought I'd take a look around The Vine before getting an 'early night'?

It shocked me, but this 'What I did Today' thread has had in the region of 83,570 viewings since it was started...... Wow!
... with this much to read, no wonder people like me and Nicos are awake till 'all hours' eh?!!