What I Did Today Archive 2008

[Newbie]

Managed to persuade Oh to venture out into the garden & help me insulate the greenhouse with bubblewrap, got 2 and a bit sides done before he had to go back inside to watch the football! Hopefully it will get finished at some point!

[Flummery]

Picked another big bag full of achochas, a slack handful of chard and a few pattypan squashes at the allotment. Also got a pound and a half of rosehips on a walk round the village - rosehip jelly coming up!

[Flummery]

Made rosehip and Bramley apple jelly, apple and rhubarb chutney - then invented green tomato and achocha chutney. Tastes great - can't wait till I've kept it a month or two (except I'll have to, won't I?)

This evening's vegetable curry will feature ---Achochas! If anyone would like some seeds, send me a pm. I've had about 20lb off one plant.

[SlugLobber]

Well, I went a bit mad on Saturday (sorry, am slow at updating!). Despite the rain, I dug up lots of strawbs and gooseberry bushes from a kind freecycler and then planted them out, after clearing a rough-looking flower bed and weeding another.

Then on Sunday morning, again in the rain, I found some nice heather at a car boot sale and also lots of snowdrop/daffie bulbs, so that lot got planted out on Sunday, too. I came to work for a rest yesterday!! I also used up the butternut squash in a soup, which was delish. I also transplanted some pansies, which were a bit straggly due to bigger flowers competing with them for light!

Oh I did harvest some peas, but they didn't make it to the pot - I ate them all raw - oops!

[Winged one]

Hank Hill, at least you got one!! Slugs got all mine in Dublin - too bloomin' prolific this year!

On Sunday, OH and I abandoned the toddler in the care of her great-grandparents and grandaunt. Where she was doted on! Meanwhile, we headed to plot where I set OH to work!! He dug up the last of the Anya spuds (definitely growing those again next year) and dug over that patch for winter, spreading some of the reasonably well composted stuff from the dalek, before plasticcing it for winter.

Then he dug over the area next to it where onions had been earlier (was plasticced temporarily since they were harvested), threw 4 bags used coffee grounds over it and we planted 2 cloves garlic from my mum (I am convinced it's elephant garlic) and a whole bulb of "Solent Wight" garlic (I am keeping the other bulbb of this for spring planting). Alongside, we laid 1 trench of partially sprouted peas (meteor) and 5 v short rows (about 20 seeds) of broad beans (aquadulce claudia) - also partially sprouted. (As per Bluemoon's idea last week - I just didn't have them on windowsill long enough). I DID cover the pea trench with holly branches though in an extra effort to stave off the micies.

I did a lot of weeding - leek bed needed a good seeing to, and so did the turnips. We have actually suddenly got a load of radishes, as well as baby turnips which might be ready for Christmas (carrots didn't even come up! boo). We harvested the last 3 pods of peas, a couple of more borlotti and broad beans (amounted to about a handful of beans once podded in total), and 5 sweetcorn cobs (small but delish!). DH decided we needed some leeks and brussels sprouts as well, and I got another couple of handfuls of calabrese sprouts.

Apart from that, we covered up one more area with plastic, and almost emptied the composter. So it is looking reasonably tidy, and is reasonably under control weedwise, for winter.

DH also spread our home-based dalek contents in the garden at home yesterday (bank holiday here), and gave the lawn a last cut of the season. We re-covered the spuds with fleece, but I think they have succumbed to the cold (they did have almost 12 weeks growing though, so hopefully there will be something there when we investigate). The hanging basket was emptied into the compost as well - tomatoes now finished. I took what I think will be the last baby courgette from the vine, and we will take a couple of more tomatoes tonight. The kale plant is growing well though and we'll start to use that in the next couple of weeks.

[zazen999]

Moved outdoor chilli and pepper plants into Garage. Picked a couple to see if they will turn red in the kitchen.

[coreopsis]

I ordered the rest of the seeds(flowers and veg).Everytime I go to the seed supplier website I behave like shopaholic-I want this and this and that and I WANT IT ALL.I end up with too many seeds so later I'm scratching my head where to put them trying very hard to not to hear my OH laugh and suggestions as where to put them...

[porridgemaker]

Dug out the bolted chinese veg kaiilan and bolted russ. red kale, limed and added my smelly compost and grass clippings to the bed and planted my remaining tomato seedings, and the larger of my aubergine(purple florence) and pepper (calif wonder) seedlings. Also two sugar baby watermelon seedlings.

[littlepooley]

Nothing veg related, but planted the last of my bulbs and planted the rest of my pansies and violas so back garden is sorted for winter now

[Mrs Dobby]

Today we have.....

Planted up 136 cloves of garlic in 1 bed, then 2 beds of Senshui overwintering onion sets (99 in one bed and 136 in the others)!

Mr D went to gather some of the potash from last nights BBQ party at the front of the site, only to bring it back in the wheelbarrow with flames coming out from it, ok, we couldnt use it on the galric and onion beds yet, but it did gove us a lovely warmth on the plot!

Planned out where everything is going for the coming year, and started to clear up ready for next year!

Harvested 2 cabbages, 2 leeks, 14 or so cukes and a little gem lettuce!

[Two_Sheds]

I planted 24 sprouted Aquedulce broan beans into pots, put into cold greenhouse to get going. They'll be planted on the lotty when a few inches tall (it'll give them a headstart over the slugs)

Also sowed some White Lisbon spring onions in celltrays.

[Wren]

Covered over the spring cabbage, May cauliflowers, and young swede plants with their winter fleece today. I did this last year an it seems to produce enough of a small micro climate to keep them growing at a decent rate. Not much else needed doing so i cropped some of the kale and smiled smugly at my sprouts that are not quite ready yet, but have not blown into rosettes and are still nice an firm.

Fingers crossed.

Wren

[sewer rat]

Whilst working in the fruit and veg garden of a samll luxury hotel near me ( which I do two days a week over the winter period) I started to weed one corner of one of the beds - as a result I came away with 68 strawberry runners, which are now housed in my polytunnel roots soaking in water waiting for me to find time to pot them up. This gives me a running total of just over 700 runners this year. And I haven't started to tidy up their actual strawberry beds yet.
I also pruned the blackcurrant bushes and as a result of that I have 112 cuttings in one of the raised beds in my polytunnel. I also gained three large clumps of chives.
All in all not a bad day, in spite of it raining constantly.

[Mrs Dobby]

Didnt get to the plot cos I was working today, but whilst I was sacking 2 staff (and hiring a replacement for one of them), Mr D got down the plot and got a whole bin full of potash (from the bonfire on Saturday), tidied up a bit, harvested Pac Choi and a few other bits, then came home and made a lovely sweet n sour chicken for tea before he went off to work!

[coreopsis]

I got the rest of my seeds-I think I've got enough to feed the village if I planted them all.Now it's "just" the case of digging(lawn conversion to the plot)and getting some manure from the local farmer(started to nag OH-strange request to get a heap of cow's s**t as a Christmas prezzie)